Girona Evidence Week

In the presentation of the 1st Michele Taruffo Girona Evidence Week, we pointed out that evidential legal reasoning had become the object of numerous national and international congresses and meetings, but that the field was missing a common link between perspectives (theoretical and practical, legal and philosophical, forensic) and traditions (continental, Anglo-Saxon, oriental, etc.). Our aim, then and now, is for the Michele Taruffo Girona Evidence Week to be a meeting point for all members of the international community who are dedicated to or interested in evidential legal reasoning.

The first edition of the congress brought together almost five hundred specialists from forty-four countries. Of these, one hundred and thirty-nine gave a lecture, presented a paper or participated in a panel discussion, a short course or in one of the thirty parallel workshops that were organised during the week.

At the 2nd MTGEW, held in June 2025, more than six hundred people from all five continents participated. Throughout the week, we scheduled five plenary lectures, two panels, four short courses, and more than fifty workshops.

In this latest edition, Portuguese was added as an official language of the congress, alongside English and Spanish.

Why “Girona Evidence Week”?

Although it is still an evidential legal reasoning congress, the format departs from the usual one. Over the course of a week, a wide variety of activities that go beyond conventional lectures will be offered. These activities will be scheduled during the two main parts of the congress:

1. The first, consist of five plenary lectures, two panel discussions on central topics of evidential legal reasoning and four parallel short courses on various themes.

2.  The second part will be held on the last two days of the week. It includes a wide variety of parallel workshops on a broad range of topics in the field.

While the organizing committee coordinates the plenary lectures, panels, and short courses, the workshop programme is built through a rigorous selection of proposals received from a call for workshops. The aim is to offer a diverse programme covering different analytical perspectives, legal cultures, and languages, allowing participants to select those of most interest to them.

Although the Michele Taruffo Girona Evidence Week is an in-person event, the short courses are offered online.

Why the “Michele Taruffo” Girona Evidence Week?

The work and person of professor Michele Taruffo are undoubtedly key factors in the growth of interest in evidential legal reasoning in countries with a Romano-Germanic tradition, especially, in Italy and Latin America. His general theory of evidential problems, based on the analysis of comparative law, has also made him an important presence in debates in the Anglo-Saxon world and, more recently, in China.

Until his death in December 2020, Taruffo was a researcher at the Chair of Legal Culture of the University of Girona. After the establishment of our research centre, he participated in all the projects we developed in the field. Not surprisingly, he was also an outstanding lecturer on the master’s degree in Evidential Legal Reasoning as well as a member of the advisory committee of Quaestio facti. International Journal on Evidential Legal Reasoning. The Michele Taruffo Collection, which comprises more than thirteen thousand titles and a small collection of contemporary art works, has been hosted by the University of Girona since March 2020.

In short, the enthusiasm that motivates us to organise an international congress on evidential legal reasoning, the Girona Evidence Week, is explained by the important influence of our beloved mentor Taruffo. For all these reasons, and in recognition of the immense value of his work, we pay homage to him by naming this congress, which will take place in Girona every three years, after him.