On Wednesday, 22 January 2014, Juan José López Burniol, a notary public and the President of the Noguera Foundation, gave a lecture about law and social change in the UIC Graduate Hall. The lecture was part of the continuing education lecture series organized by the Faculty of Legal and Political Sciences.
In his lecture, López Burniol discussed the relationship between law and social change through what he called a process of triple extension. The process consists of an extension of the scene, an extension of the actor and an extension of freedoms. “It maintains that, regardless of the specific scene, actor and freedoms, individual interest should be given priority over public interest. This is something everyone needs to accept”, he said.
“There is economic progress because there is a market. But there’s a market because there’s legal security”, said López Burniol in reference to the demand for security as one of the greatest demands in society.
He concluded his lecture by reflecting on social change from the perspective of family law and inheritance law, a social change caused by the secularization of family law, the recognition of different family structures and the devitalization of marriage.
Juan José López Burniol has a Law degree from the Universidad de Navarra and was an assistant professor of Civil Law at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and Universitat Pompeu Fabra from 1982 to 1990.
