Robert B. Seidman
Post
Professor of Law and Political Science, Emeritus, Boston University of Law.
Education
Fieldston School
(1931-1937)Harvard University
(1937-1941)
B.A, Phi Beta Kappa
Harvard College Honorary Scholar
finished 13th in class of 950
graduated magna cum laude with highest honorsGraduate Teachers College, Winnetka, IL
working for M.S. interrupted by WWII (1941)Columbia University Law School
LL.B.; Law Review: Stone Scholar; Kent Scholar (1946-1948)
Employment
Sullivan & Cromwell, Esqs., New York
Specializing in taxation matters. (1948)Neuberger, Rabinowitz, Shapiro & Boudin Esqs., New York
Labor law and trial work (1948-1951)Single practitioner, Norwalk, CT
(1951-1957)Vogel, Sigsway, Seidman and Harris, Esqs., Norwalk, CT
Partner, trials and appellate work. (1957-1962)
Academic Work
University of Ghana, 1962-64 (Senior Lecturer in Law)
University of Laos, 1964-65 (Senior Lecturer in Law)
University of Ghana, 1965-66 (Special Visiting Research Professor of Law)
University of Wisconsin, 1966-72 (Professor of Law)
University College of Dar es Salaam, 1968-70 (Visiting Professor)
Summer Institute of Law and Development, Wisconsin, Summers 1971/1972 (Co- Director)
University of Zambia, 1972-74 (Professor of Law)
University of Zimbabwe, 1980-83, Visiting Professor of Law
Professor of Law and Political Science, Boston University, 1972-1992; since then, Emeritus
National Science Foundation, seminars (one week each) in Dakar, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Lesotho and Swaziland, Summer 1976 (with Ann Seidman) Co-chairman, Law and Society Studies (Undergraduate Major), 1977-1980
Acting Director, Center of Law and Population, Fletcher School of International Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, 1978-79
Summer Institute of Law and Development, Boston University, Summer 1977 (Co-Director)
Lecturer, Primary Courts Chairmen Training Course, Zimbabwe 1981-83
Lecturer, Zimbabwe program for training magistrates, 1981-83
Co-director (with Ann Seidman), program for training drafters frokm SADCC countries (financed by EEC), 1981-1982
Consultant, Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Ministry of Lands, Resettlement, and Rural Development, and Ministry of Home Affairs Zimbabwe 1980-83
Consultant and principal drafter, SWAPO conference on a proposed constitution for Namibia, 1988
Lecturer, International Law Development Center, Rome, 1984-88
Fulbright Professor of Law, Peking University, 1988-1989
Visiting Distinguished Professor of Law, University of the Witswatersrand (Johannesburg, South Africa) 1998.
Co-Chief Technical Advisor, UNDP Project to Strengthen Legislative Drafting in China 1992-1997
Co-Chief Technical Advisor, UNDP Project to Build a National Legal Structure, Lao P. D. R., 1994- 1997
Consultant (with Ann Seidman) on institutional reform, Belize, 1993
Consultant (with Ann Seidman), SUNY-Buffalo USAID project to strengthen the National Assembly, Mozambique, 1995-1996
Consultant (with Ann Seidman) to the Gauteng Government (South Africa) on drafting issues (1997)
Co-Chief Technical; Advisor, UNDP Project to Strengthen Legislative Drafting in Sri Lanka, 1997- 99
Mission, UNDP/Bhutan, 1999; consultant on legislative drafting issues, UNDP/Bhutan, 2000
Mission, UNDP/Nepal, 1999
Mission, UNDP/Kazakhstan, 2000; Mission, ELIPS project/USAID, Indonesia, 2000Consultant on water law drafting issues, Kazkhstan, Kyrgistan, Kajikistan, Uzbekistan, 2000
Consultant, 2001-2005, various drafting issues, Esthonia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Guyana, Kyrgystan, Afghanistan, (With Ann Seidman), co-presenter, Distance Course in Legislative Drafting for Democratic Social Change, 2000-2003
Subjects taught
Criminal Law, Legal Process, Evidence, Administrative Law, Law and Development, African Law, Sociology of Law, Law and Corporate Power, Legislative Drafting, Jurisprudence, Legislation.
Administrative Posts
Various committee assignments.
Acting Dean, University of Zambia, 1972 (6 months)
Co-Director, Wisconsin Summer Institute in Law and Development (see above).
Co-Director, Boston University Program for Legislative Drafting for Democratic Social Change, 1995 to present.
Member, Board of Directors, ABA/UNDP Program for Recruiting Legal Advisors (2000- present)
Co-Director, International Consortium for Law and Development (ICLAD).
Conference presentations, lectures, etc. (partial listing)
"Legal Sanctions and Development" (paper read at 1972 meeting of African Law Association).
"Law, State Control of the Economy, and the Development of a Bureaucratic Bourgeoisie" (paper read May, 1975 at 1975 meeting of the International Association of African Law, Belgrade, Yugoslavia.
"The Law of Property and Development Theory" paper read at University of Windsor Conference on Law and Development, 1976.
"How the Legal Order Causes Famine," paper read at the University of Windsor Conference on Law and Development, 1977.
"Legislative Drafting and Development" Paper read at Conference on law, Language and Development, Windsor, 1978).
“The State, Law and Development in Zimbabwe", paper delivered at the Southern African Law Students Association Conference, Capetown, 1981
"Law and the State in Independent Namibia: Lessons from Zimbabwe's First Three Years," paper delivered at Conference on Southern Africa, London, 1984.
"The Utility of the Legal Culture as a Category for Understanding Law in China," paper delivered at Conference on The Legal Culture, University of Political Science and Law, Bejing, May 1989.
"On Research on the State, the Law and the Processes of Development", paper delivered at the African Studies Association Conference, Baltimore, November 1-4, 1990.
"Research on law and the Informal Sector", Faculty of Law, Univesidade Eduardu Mondlane, Maputo, Mozambique, August 19-22. 1992.
"Big Bangs and Decision-Making: What Went Wrong", B. U. Conference on Privatization, 1995.
"Using Reason and Experience to Draft Country-Specific Laws," paper read in absentia at the Conference on Vietnamese Law, Ho Chi Minh City, Aug 30-31, 1996.
(With Ann Seidman), “The Human Right to Development,” UNDP/Asia conference, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 1999
(With Ann Seidman), “Law and Development”, City University of Hong Kong, Distinguished Lecturer Series, 7 January, 2000
(With Ann Seidman), “Law and Rural Land Tenures in China,” Conference on Chinese Rural Land Tenures, Haikou, China, 2000
(With Ann Seidman), “Human Rights in Development” UNDP conference, Colombo, 2000
(With Ann Seidman), “Is Law and Development Consistent with Social Reality? Keynote, Conference of Danish Researchers in Development, Copenhagen, 2000.
(With Ann Seidman), “Drafting Defensively against Corruption,” World Bank Conference of Lawyers, Washington, D. C., 2000.
Publications
"The Deadlock in Law and Development," with Ann Seidman, in Law and Development in Africa, Muna Ndulo, ed. (forthcoming).
Drafting for Democratic Social Change: A Manual for Drafters (forthcoming).
"Law and the African Crisis," with Ann Seidman, in The Crisis in Africa, Ben Wisner, ed. (forthcoming).
"Assessing Legislation: A Manual for Legislators," with A. Seidman, N. Abeysekere and J. Seidman, translated into Arabic, Indonesian, and Pashtun (2003).
"Assessing a Bill in Terms of the Public Interest: The Legislator’s Role in the Law-making Process," 1 World Bank Legal Review: Law and Justice for Development 207 (2002).
Legislative Drafting for Democratic Social Change: A Manual for Drafters, with A. Seidman and N. Abeyesekere, Kluwer Law International, translated into Russian, Chinese, Bahassa Indonesian, Sinhalese, Vietnamese, Arabic, Farsi and Macedonian (2001).
"Assessing Legislation to Serve the Public Interest: Experiences from Mozambique," (with Ann Willcox Seidman and Theodosio Uate), 20 Statute Law Review 1.
Making Development Work: Legislative Reform For Institutional Transformation and Good Governance, (with Ann Willcox Seidman and Thomas W. Waelde), The Hague; Boston: Kluwer Law International.
"International Transfer of Knowledge About Law - Lessons From China and the Lao People's Democratic Republic," 3 Yearbook of Law & Legal Practice in East Asia 1.
"Beyond Contested Elections: the Process of Bill Creation and the Fulfillment of Democracy's Promises to the Third World," (with Ann Seidman) 34 Harvard Journal on Legislation 1.
"Building Post-Apartheid Rural Institutions: Transforming Rural Reconstruction and Development Policies into Law," in No More Tears --: Struggles for Land in Mpumalanga, South Africa, Richard Levin and Daniel Weiner, eds., (Africa World Press).
Legislative Drafting for Market Reform: Some Lessons from China, (with Ann Willcox Seidman and Janice Payne), New York: St. Martin's Press.
"Drafting Legislation for Development: Lessons From a Chinese Project," (with Ann Seidman), 44 American Journal of Comparative Law 1.
"Big Bangs and Decision-Making: What Went Wrong?," (with Neva Makgatle and Ann Seidman), 13 Boston University Journal of International Law 435.
"The Present State of Legislative Theory and a Proposal for Remedying Its Sad Condition," (with Ann Seidman), 8 Journal of Legal Research (Korea) 319.
"A General Theory and Methodology for Investigating the Function of Law in Relation to Government Institutions: The Case of the Development Bank of South Africa," (with Ann Seidman and Michael McCord), Ed., Hugh Corder, Administrative Law Reform, 1994.
State and Law in the Development Process: Problem Solving, Law and Institutional Change in the Third World, (with Ann Seidman), (London: Macmillan).
"A General Theory of Law and Development," (with Ann Seidman), 10 Praxis 45.
"Changing a Leopard's Spots," (with Neva Makgetla), 86 Work in Progress, South Africa 5; republished in The Namibian, Friday, 11 December 1992.
"Justifying Legislation: A Pragmatic Institutionalist Approach to the Memorandum of Law, Legislative Theory and Practical Reason," 29 Harvard Journal on Legislation 1.
"A Comment of Professor Wu and Mr. Cao's Paper," (in Chinese) Beijing University Journal of Legislation.
"Constitutional Lessons from Zimbabwe," in Mazur (ed.), Breaking the Links: Essays in Honor of Ann Seidman.
"The Memorandum of Law," 15 Seton Hall Legislative Journal 319.
"The SWAPO Draft Constitution for Namibia," in 1987 Third World Legal Studies (1990).
"The Applicability of Law and Economics to Policymaking in the Third World," with Neva Seidman Makgetla, 23 Journal of Economic Issues 35 (1989).
Book Review, Watson, "Legal Transplants," Boston University Law Review, (1975) has been translated into Chinese and published in 1989 Chinese Journal of Comparative Law.
"The Political Economy of Corruption," Jilin University Law Review.
"A Reply to Professor Martin," 5 Lesotho Law Journal 473.
"Screening Out Flies and Mosquitoes: The Role Of Sociology of Law in China's Reforms," with Ann Seidman, 1989 PERLS in Chinese; also in 3 Peking University Journal of Comparative Law.
"Drafting for the Rule of Law: Maintaining Legality in Developing Countries," 12 Yale Journal of International Law 84.
"Legal Drafting and the Defeat of Development Policy: the Experience of Anglophonic South Africa," (with Neva Makgetla), 5 Journal of Law and Religion 421.
"Perspectives on Constitution-Making: Independence Constitution for Namibia and South Africa," 3 Lesotho Law Journal 45.
"The Role of Law: Equity Between Urban and Rural Groups," 30 Howard Law Journal 425.
"Investment Regulation for the Benefit of the Host Country," (with Neva Makgetla), in Seidman, Seidman, Nela and Makamure, Strategies for Dealing with Transnational Corporations, Zimbabwe Publishing House.
"On Teaching Law and Development," 86 Third World Legal Studies Annual 53.
"Foreign Private Inventors and the Host Country," 19 Journal of World Trade Law 637 (1985).
"The Political Economy of Customary Law," with Ann Seidman, paper delivered at Conference on Customary Law, Lisbon, Portugal (1984). Published in Journal of African Law (1986).
"Research Priorities: the State, Law and Development," 8 Contemporary Crises 329 (1984).
"To What Extent Can We Use Experience to Decide What is Just? A Case Study from Zimbabwe," 29 American Journal of Jurisprudence 1 (1984).
"Law and Poverty," in Conklin and Amersinghe, Jurisprudence for Third World Students (Sri Lanka).
"Rules of Recognition in the Primary Courts of Zimbabwe: on Lawyer's Reasonings and Customary Law," 32 International and Comparative Law Quarterly 871.
"International Law and Development," (with Ann Seidman), paper delivered at Conference on International Law Harare, and published in the proceedings of the conference.
Law, Order & Power. 2d ed., (with W. J. Chambliss), New York: Addison- Wesley.
"On Restructuring the Colonial State: How a Bill Became a Law in Zimbabwe," Africa 116.
"Law, Development and Legislative Drafting in English-Speaking Independent Africa," 19 Journal of Modern African Studies 133.
"The Individual in African Law: Zimbabwe's New Primary Courts," paper delivered at Conference on the Individual in African Law, Swaziland, 1981, and published in the conference proceedings.
"State, Law and Development in Zimbabwe," (with Martin Payne), 5 Journal of South African Affairs 149.
"Law and Stratification: The African Case," 3 Crime, Law and Social Change 17 (1979).
"Development Planning and the Legal Order in Black Anglophonic Africa," 14 Studies in Comparative International Development 3.
"Law, Population and Development," Law and Population Program, Fletcher School of International Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, Medford, MA.
"Law and Choice: A reply to David Williams," Contemporary Crises.
"Legislative Drafting and Development," published sub. nom. "Law, Development and Legislative Drafting in English-Speaking Africa," 16 Journal of Modern African Studies .
State, Law and Development, N.Y.; St. Martin, Croom Helm, Ltd. (London).
"The Lessons of Self-Estrangement: On The Methodology of Law and Development," in Rita Simon (ed.), Yearbook of Research in Sociology of Law (Greenwich, Conn: Johnson Associates).
"Why Do People Obey the Law? The Case of Corruption in Developing Countries," 5 British Journal of Law and Society 45.
Book Review, Robert Martin, "Personal Freedom and the Law in Tanzania," Journal of Comparative Law.
"Elites, Law and Development: A Review of Brun Otto Bryde, The Politics and Sociology of African Legal Development," 15 African Law Studies 78.
Review Article, Robert C. Pozen, "Legal Choices For State Enterprises in the Developing World," 7 Boston University Law Review 940.
Book Review: Wheeler, "Beyond the Punitive Society," 56 Boston University Law Review 425.
"The Lessons of Self-Estrangement: On the Methodology of Law and Development," Yearbook of the Sociology of Law (R. Simon, ed.).
Book Review: Watson, "Legal Transplants: An Approach to Comparative Law," 55 Boston University Law Review 682; Chinese Journal of Comparative Law (trans. into Chinese).
"Copper-Based Underdevelopment: Some Theses for Further Testing," in A. Seidman (ed.), Natural Resources and National Welfare: The Case of Copper (New York, Praeger, 1975) p. 439.
"Law and Development: The Interface Between Policy and Implementation," 14 Journal of Modern African Studies 641.
"Law and Development: The Roles at the Interface of Means and Ends," 14 Journal of Modern African Studies.
"Some Theses for further Research," in A. Seidman (ed.), The International Copper Industry, Praeger 1975.
"Appeals from Criminal Corrections," (with W. J. Chambliss), in D. Glazer, Handbook of Criminology 651.
Judicial Review in Anglophonic Africa," 35 Ohio State Law Journal 820.
"Facilitative Law and the Free Market," Journal of Economic Issues. Reprinted in Samuels, Institutional Economics.
"Law and Stagnation in Africa," Zambia Law Journal 39.
"Law and Development: A General Model," Law and Society Review 342.
"Administrative Law and Legitimacy in Colonial Africa," 5 Law & Society Review 169.
Law, Order and Power, (with William J. Chambliss), Addison-Wesley.
"Opinion Styles in East Africa," Eastern African Law Review 337.
Sociology of Law: A Research Bibliography, (with W. J. Chambliss), (Glendassary Press, 1970).
"The Communication for Law and the Process of Development in Anglophonic Africa," Wisconsin Law Review 680.
"The Ghana Penal System," (with J. D. Abaka Eysion), in Milner, African Penal Systems (Routledge and Keegan Paul).
"A Note on the Construction of the Gold Coast Reception Statute," 13 Journal of African Law 45.
"Constitutions in Independent Africa: Form and Legitimacy," Wisconsin Law Review 83.
"The Judicial Process Reconsidered in the Light of Role Theory," Modern Law Review 516.
"The Reception of English Law in Africa Revisited," Eastern Africa Law Review 47.
"The Ghana Penal System: An Historical Perspective," University of Ghana Law Journal.
A Sourcebook of the Criminal Law of Africa, (Sweet & Maxwell).
"Law and Economic Development in Anglo-Phonic, Sub-Saharan, Independent Africa," Wisconsin Law Review 999. Reprinted in Hutchinson, African Law.
"Mens Rea and the Reasonable African -- Mistake of Fact," International and Comparative Law Journal 1135.
"The Defense of Insanity in the Law of Ghana," University of Ghana Law Journal 42.
"Constitutional Limitations on Administrative Law in Nigeria," 2 Nigerian Law Review 386.
"On the Teaching of Jurisprudence in Africa," Journal of the Society of Public Teachers of Law 145.
"The Inarticulate Premise," 3 Journal of Modern African Studies 567.
"Witch-Murder and Mens Rea," 28 Modern Law Review 46 (1965); also in Chambliss, Readings in Law and Society.
"Research in African Law and the Processes of Change," Occasional Paper, University of California, Los Angeles.