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Honors and Awards

Hay named U.S. Reporter for 2014 Congress on International Comparative Law

Emory University School of Law |

L.Q.C. Lamar Professor of Law Peter Hay was recently named U.S. national reporter for the International Academy of Comparative Law’s 2014 Congress in Vienna. He will write on private international law and proof of foreign law in litigation. Hay was chosen by the American Society of Comparative Law, and his work will be published in a special edition of the American Journal of Comparative Law.

“There’s a lot on these topics in our literature and case law, but nothing systematic and comprehensive,” Hay said. “Apart from the congress, I think [the report] could also be quite useful for the bench and the bar when dealing with cases involving foreign law.”

Hay was named professor emeritus of law earlier this year. He has served on the Emory Law faculty since 1991 and is an expert on conflict of laws, European community law, comparative law, contracts and sales, and jurisprudence.

Hay was born in Berlin and earned his JD from the University of Michigan. Following graduation, he was Michigan Foreign Law Fellow at the Universities of Göttingen and Heidelberg from 1959-1960. Afterward, he returned to the States to teach law.

Hay’s career has included professorships at the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Illinois, and the University of Dresden. He has regularly served as visiting professor at institutions here and abroad.

Since 1975, Professor Hay has been an honorary professor at the University of Freiburg in Germany. In 1989, Hay received the research prize of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Germany. He was elected a titular member of the International Academy of Comparative Law, a member of the American Law Institute in 1984 and a member of the American Academy of Foreign Law in 1986.

Hay was also awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Pécs on Nov. 8. Hay’s association with the university dates from the late 1990s. Hay and University of Pécs Professor László Kecskés, head of the Department of Civil Law, taught a common course on European law at the Central European University in Budapest. Hay has served as visiting faculty and lecturer many times since.


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