BOOK: Amelie TSCHEU, Publizistischer Landesverrat in der Weimarer Republik [Beiträge zur Rechtsgeschichte des 20. Jahrhunderts] (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2024), 380 p., ISBN 978-3-16-163808-4

 

Book abstract:

Nach der Niederlage im 1. Weltkrieg verpflichtete der Versailler Friedensvertrag das Deutsche Reich zu einer weitreichenden militärischen Abrüstung. Pazifistischen Journalisten, die über illegale Rüstungsmaßnahmen der Reichswehr berichteten, drohte unter dem Vorwurf des publizistischen Landesverrats ein Verfahren vor dem Leipziger Reichsgericht. Dessen Urteile gegen Kritiker der illegalen Rüstung gelten in der bisherigen Forschung als exemplarischer Beleg der antirepublikanischen Weimarer Justiz. Demgegenüber zeigt Amelie Tscheu die kontinuierliche Wechselwirkung zwischen der Rechtsprechung des Reichsgerichts und der Außen- und Militärpolitik der Weimarer Regierungskabinette im Verlauf der 1920er- und frühen 30er-Jahre auf. Sie verbindet die Analyse klassisch rechtswissenschaftlicher und allgemein geschichtswissenschaftlicher Quellen, um den publizistischen Landesverrat als politische Straftat im Spannungsfeld von Recht und Politik zu begreifen.

Table of contents: 

Einleitung
A. Einführung in die Thematik des publizistischen Landesverrats in der Weimarer Republik

B. Vom Kaiserreich zur Republik

C. Die Verfahren wegen publizistischen Landesverrats im Kontext der militärpolitischen Entwicklungen

D. Der publizistische Landesverrat als politische Straftat und das Verhältnis der Judikative zum republikanischen Staatssystem

E. Der Fall Felix Fechenbach vor dem bayerischen Volksgericht 1922 und das Verfahren gegen Walter Oehme (Urteil vom 28.08.1923 - 7J69/23)

F. Der Ponton-Prozess gegen Friedrich Küster und Berthold Jacob (Urteil vom 14.03.1928 - 7J63/25, RGSt 62,65)

G. Der Weltbühne-Prozess gegen Carl von Ossietzky und Walter Kreiser (Urteil vom 23.11.1931 - 7J35/29)

Read more here.

CONFERENCE: Occupation ou autorité légitime ? Le comportement des gens de guerre en procès, XIVe-XVIe siècles (Bruxelles: UCLouvain Saint-Louis, 21 MAR 2025)

(Image source: Université Saint-Louis)

This research workshop, organised as part of the F.R.S.-FNRS Welchange Project À l’origine du crime de guerre/The Cradle of War Crimes, seeks to address a crucial question regarding the conduct of war: how could military personnel, active in territorial control missions or armed occupations, be legally sanctioned? Late medieval and early modern occupations provide particularly fertile ground for studying the various processes of regulation between soldiers and local populations. These processes involve not only local authorities, military justice systems, or sovereign jurisdictions, but also more informal methods of conflict resolution. While regions such as Normandy and English-occupied Calais have been extensively studied, recent research has also highlighted other areas, such as the Boulonnais region invaded by Henry VIII, as well as the military conquests of colonial empires. Examining the regulation of military violence within contexts of occupation requires particular focus on the distinctions between ordinary wartime violence and war crimes. This workshop aims, in particular, to explore how the often-blurred line between the two is influenced by both the necessity of maintaining order and the occupying power’s need to present itself as a legitimate authority. As such, the aim of this workshop is to facilitate a collective discussion on justice practices and the regulation of military violence in contexts of occupation. We seek to consider the long-term impact of these judicial practices on perceptions of armed violence, the customs of war, and ultimately, the development of international law.

Program

10:00: Welcoming coffee
10:30: Eric Bousmar (UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles) – Introduction
10:40: Christophe Masson (ULiège) & Quentin Verreycken (UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles) – Doing Historical Research with a Social Impact: The ‘Cradle of War Crimes’ Project
10:55: Michael Depreter (UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles) – The Political Trial of History's First War Criminal? Peter von Hagenbach Facing Historical and Historiographical Judgment
11:10: Perrine Stennier (ULiège) – A Journey Through the Archives of Communal Trials of the Papal Soldiers in Central Italy during the 15th Century
11:25: Discussions on the project
11:35: Coffee break
11:45: Anne Curry (University of Southampton) – English Military Disciplinary Ordinances, Late 14th-Early 16th Centuries
12:35: Lunch break
14:00: Rémy Ambühl (University of Southampton) – Recriminations Against English Captains After the Fall of Lancastrian Normandy (Around the Early 1450s)
14:50: Neil Murphy (Northumbria University) – Soldiers, Civilians and Henry VIII's Wars of Occupation
15:40: Coffee break
16:00-17:00: Final discussions

Practical information

• When: Friday, 21 March 2025
• Where: UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles (43 boulevard du Jardin botanique – 1000 Bruxelles) /Room P61 (Préfecture, 6th floor)
• Who: Eric Bousmar, Michael Depreter, Perrine Stennier, Christophe Masson) et Quentin Verreycken (Comité organisateur
• Contact: quentin.verreycken[at]uclouvain.be

More information can be found here

BOOK: Donal K. COFFEY & Stefan VOGENAUER (eds.), Legal Transfer and Legal Geography in the British Empire [Global Perspectives on Legal History; 25] (Frankfurt am Main: Max-Planck-Institut für Rechtsgeschichte und Rechtstheorie, 2025), XVII + 328 p. ISBN 978-3-944773-48-3, € 20,27 [OPEN ACCESS]

(image source: MPILHLT)

Presentation:

The legal history of the British Empire is in its infancy. The research field Legal Transfer in the Common Law World in the Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory under the Directorship of Prof Stefan Vogenauer has been engaged in scientific examination and analysis of this field. In 2021, the Third Legal Histories of Empires Conference was held in the National University of Ireland, Maynooth. A stream looking at the state of the art in Legal Transfer in the Common Law World was organized by Stefan Vogenauer and Donal Coffey, who have co-edited this volume which flows from that stream. The book argues that a comparative approach can overcome jurisdictional and ahistorical biases still often present in the legal history of empires. In an imperial legal superstructure, such as the British Empire(s), models of legislative and interpretative methods were self-consciously adopted and adapted to different jurisdictions. Moreover, the process of decolonisation disclosed similarities and divergences in the legal development of these territories. Useful insights can be gleaned from a comparison across different methodologies which are concerned with a similar normative framework between and within societies, and their relationship to the natural world. The volume has two parts. The first presents four case studies for legal transfers in chronological order. Philip Girard’s chapter traces the evolution of the law regulating employers’ liability for injured workers in Quebec. Matilde Cazzola’s work looks at the evolution of the ‘protective principle’ and its deployment through a comparative lens, with a particular focus on the United Kingdom and the Australian colonies in the 19th century. Scott A. Carrière looks at the evolution of law in colonial Newfoundland, and in particular at the relationship between contract law, charters, and Company States. In Hong Kong, Christopher Roberts and Hazel W. H. Leung analyse the evolution of vagrancy law. The second part contains a number of contributions engaging with the burgeoning field of legal geography in the context of the Empire. This is based around the ‘Property [In]Justice’ ERC group in University College Dublin headed by Amy Strecker. It includes chapters on the Caribbean by Amanda Byer, Southern Africa by Sonya Cotton, Kenya by Raphael Ng’etich, and a chapter by Sinéad Mercier on Ireland. The different areas of law covered – including inter alia public law, employment law, land law – demonstrate the vitality of the comparative method.

Table of contents:

IX         Table of Cases

XII        Table of Legislation

1          Donal K. Coffey and Stefan Vogenauer
             Preface

             Part I
             Legal Transfer in the Common Law World: From the Early Modern Period until the Present

7           Scott A. Carrière
             Law and Legalism in Corporate Newfoundland, 1583–1699

37        Matilde Cazzola
             Aboriginal Protection and parens patriae: Indigenous Youths, Juvenile Delinquents and the Reformatory Principle
             in Australia and England

73        Philip Girard
            On the Edge of Many Empires: Employers’ Liability in Quebec’s Industrial Age, 1880–1931

105      Christopher M. Roberts and Hazel W. H. Leung
            The Legacies of Vagrancy Law and the Reconstruction of the Criminal in Hong Kong, 1945–2022

             Part II
             Landscape, Law, and Spatial Justice in the former British Empire

139      Amy Strecker and Amanda Byer
             Introduction: Landscape, Law, and Spatial Justice in the former British Empire

151       Amanda Byer
              Reserving Space: Land, Nature, and Empire in the Development of
              Commonwealth Caribbean Environmental Law

187       Sonya Cotton
              Legislating “Community” in Southern Africa’s Plural Properties

239       Raphael Ng’etich
              Competing Notions of Land in Colonial Kenya and the Impact on Present-Day Land Governance

239       Sinéad Mercier
              A Haunting Absence: Tracing the Origins of International Energy Law from the Laboratory of Ireland

319       Index of Names

321       Index of Subjects

327       Contributors 

 Read more here: DOI 10.12946/gplh25.

BOOK: Randal LESAFFER (ed.), The Cambridge History of International Law. Volume 6. International Law in Early Modern Europe [Part of The Cambridge History of International Law] (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2025), 800 p., ISBN 9781108485616; £120

 

 (image source: Cambridge University Press)

Abstract:

Volume VI of The Cambridge History of International Law offers a survey of the law of nations in early modern Europe through a balanced treatment of legal theory and diplomatic practice. Bringing together a wide range of scholars, this volume builds on recent historiographical insights from different disciplines, including legal history, diplomatic history, and the history of political thought. It considers all major themes ranging from the allocation of jurisdiction over land and sea, war- and peace- making, trade and navigation to diplomacy and dispute settlement. A unique overall synthesis of early modern law across nations in Europe.

Table of contents:

Part I. International Law in Renaissance Europe (1492–1660)

1. The law of nations in Renaissance Europe Randall Lesaffer

2. Territory and jurisdiction in Renaissance Europe Tamar Herzog

3. Beyond the free sea. The law of the sea in Renaissance Europe Louis Sicking

4. War and the use of force in Renaissance Europe Anuschka Tischer

5. Warfare on land in Renaissance Europe Valentina Vadi

6. The law of maritime warfare during the transition between medieval and early modern Europe Alain Wijffels

7. Peace-making in Renaissance Europe Randall Lesaffer

8. Trade and navigation in Renaissance Europe Dave De Ruysscher

9. Diplomacy in Renaissance Europe Dante Fedele

10. Dispute settlement in Renaissance Europe Guido Braun

11. The Ottoman encounter and the law of nations in the Renaissance Maurits H. van den Boogert

Part II. International Law in Old Regime Europe (1660–1775) 12. The law of nations in Old Regime Europe Randall Lesaffer

13. Territory and jurisdiction in Old Regime Europe Frederik Dhondt

14. The law of the sea in Old Regime Europe Kinji Akashi

15. War and the use of force in Old Regime Europe Randall Lesaffer

16. Warfare on land in Old Regime Europe Stefano Cattelan and Raymond Kubben

17. Maritime warfare in Old Regime Europe Stefano Cattelan

18. Peace-making in Old Regime Europe Randall Lesaffer

19. Trade in Old Regime Europe Dave De Ruysscher

20. Diplomacy in Old Regime Europe Linda S. Frey and Marsha Frey

21. Dispute settlement in Old Regime Europe Christoph Kampmann

22. The Ottoman encounter and the law of nations in the Old Regime Maurits H. van den Boogert.

Read more here.

BOOK: Sarina LANDEFELD, Individuals in International Humanitarian Law. A Historical Analysis [Studies in International Law] (London: Bloomsbury, 2025), 352 p. ISBN 9781509968220

 

(image source: Bloomsbury)

Abstract:

This book offers a new, more critical perspective on the regulation and protection of individuals under international humanitarian law. Providing a historical account of the changing conceptualisation of individuals since 1864, the study draws on social constructivism. This approach casts light on the struggle of making sense of, and agreeing on, the position of individuals in armed conflicts during the law-making process, often hidden by international humanitarian law's conventional narratives. This intriguing study grapples with a difficult and disputed area of the law of armed conflict, making a singular and significant contribution which will be welcomed by all scholars in the field.

 Table of contents:

1. Introduction
2. Constructing Individuals for International Humanitarian Law
3. The Early Written Laws of War
4. The Inter-War Years and the 1949 Geneva Conventions
5. From the 1949 Geneva Conventions to the 1977 Additional Protocols
6. The Post-1977 Era
7. Conclusion

On the author:

Sarina Landefeld is Lecturer in Law at the University of Leicester, UK.

Read more here. 

(source: ILReporter)

BOOK: Massimo VALLERANI, Regimi di cittadinanza nell’Italia comunale (Rome: Viella, 2024). ISBN: 9791254696729

(Image source: Viella Editore)

About the book

Nelle città medievali abitare o nascere in un luogo non fanno diventare le persone dei cittadini e non garantiscono l’assegnazione di diritti civici in via definitiva. Diventare cittadini resta un lavoro faticoso, una condizione temporanea da mantenere con azioni ripetute nel tempo che mostrano la volontà di essere civis (abitare, pagare le tasse, militare nell’esercito, lavorare). In questa concezione dinamica e attiva di cittadinanza, non tutti avevano le stesse risorse. Tra Duecento e Quattrocento si affermano regimi diversi di cittadinanza, graduati secondo la possibilità o meno di partecipare alla vita politica. Questo libro ricostruisce la lenta trasformazione della civilitas da sistema di controllo dell’appartenenza a filtro selettivo di élites politiche riprodotte per via familiare. La divisione della cittadinanza in sfere di diritti differenziati aiuta a comprendere le complesse dinamiche di inclusione e di esclusione che ancora oggi caratterizzano il mondo contemporaneo.

About the author

Massimo Vallerani insegna storia medievale all’università di Torino. Ha studiato i sistemi politici e giudiziari di età comunale (Medieval public justice, 2012), e coordinato ricerche sui poteri eccettuativi nel basso medioevo (Sistemi di eccezione, 2009), le relazioni tra fiscalità e cittadinanza (Valore delle cose e valore delle persone, 2018) e in generale le forme di appartenenza alla città. Ha pubblicato il manuale Storia medievale, con Luigi Provero, nel 2022. È membro della direzione di «Quaderni storici» e direttore de «L’Indice dei libri del mese».

Table of contents

Introduzione

1. Classificazione. La definizione degli status di appartenenza

1. Il sistema della classificazione: liste di inclusione e liste discriminanti
2. Gradazioni di status e sistema documentario
3. La divisione originaria. Cittadini e comitatini negli estimi
4. La civilitas a Bologna: i registri del 1287 e la cittadinanza “per sentenza”

2. Valutazione. Il valore delle persone e il costo della cittadinanza

1. Modelli di valutazione: fra auto-denuncia e valore imposto
2. La costruzione del valore dei cives a Bologna: le carte di estimo del 1315
3. Logica del valore o logica del prelievo?
4. Gli estimi e il valore dei cives
5. Appendice. Le carte di estimo dei Galluzzi

3. Esclusione. Instabilità delle condizioni di civis e stati diminuiti di cittadinanza

1. L’esclusione politica: i bandi politici e le liste di sospetti
2. Banditi a Bologna: censimento e gradi di esclusione (1277-1308)
3. Gli evasori delle collette e la non protezione del comune
4. Un caso di esclusione (parziale) di massa: i Malpaghi a Bologna nel 1309
5. La criminalizzazione del debito e i suoi effetti
6. Conclusioni
7. Appendice. Consilia sull’evasione

4. Negoziazione. La contestazione dello status, tra testimonianze e libri

1. La contestazione dello status economico
2. Difendere l’identità civica: le prove di cittadinanza
3. Contestare la categoria di nobilis e lambertazzo
4. Un sistema autosufficiente: i libri come prova
5. Appendice. Le Intentiones a difesa nei processi di cittadinanza

5. Selezione. La manipolazione degli status e i limiti alla partecipazione

1. La modifica dello status come atto amministrativo: il “come se”
2. La (ri)produzione degli status: l’estensione genealogica degli status nella prima metà del Trecento
3. L’invenzione dell’origo: restringere e selezionare la cittadinanza
4. L’articolazione artificiale della cittadinanza nel XV secolo: i privilegi di cittadinanza e la frammentazione delle forme di appartenenza

6. La moltiplicazione dei livelli di civilitas e la separazione fra appartenenza e partecipazione

1. Nuove gerarchie di cives fra XIV e XV secolo
2. Restringimento della partecipazione politica: dal criterio genealogico all’ereditarietà delle cariche
3. Esiti moderni: dalla frammentazione dei livelli di cittadinanza alla ridefinizione delle gerarchie sociali
4. L’impossibile ritorno al Comune: forme di uso politico dell’età comunale

Epilogo

Bibliografia

Indice dei nomi

More information can be found here.

BOOK: Simona FECI, L’acquetta di Giulia. Mogli avvelenatrici e mariti violenti nella Roma del Seicento (Rome: Viella, 2024). ISBN: 9791254696699

(Image source: Viella Editore) 

About the book

Nella Roma di metà Seicento, pochi anni dopo l’epidemia di peste, viene scoperta in modo rocambolesco l’esistenza di una rete di avvelenatrici: alcune preparano un veleno “perfetto”, conosciuto in tutta Italia come l’«acqua tofana», altre lo acquistano e se ne servono per liberarsi dei loro mariti. È il più clamoroso fatto di cronaca nera del secolo e uno dei pochissimi complotti tutti al femminile della storia. La trama collettiva che viene alla luce ci accompagna nelle pieghe di una città barocca dove trovano posto tutti gli elementi di un potenziale romanzo: amore e veleno, violenza, crimine e morte, sotterfugi ed esibizionismo, denaro e solidarietà. Pronte a sfidare il potere dei padri, il sapere dei medici e l’azione degli inquirenti, le protagoniste e le loro storie offrono uno straordinario passepartout per raccontare la condizione delle donne nel secolo di Artemisia Gentileschi, della monaca di Monza, di Cristina di Svezia.

About the author

Simona Feci is Associate Professor of Medieval and Modern Legal History in the Department of Law at the University of Palermo. She is a member of the PhD Committee on “Human Rights: Evolution, Protection and Limits” at the University of Palermo. She is President of the Società italiana delle storiche (Italian Association of Women Historians) (2016-2020), after serving on the executive board for two years (2014-2016). Her current research projects focus on the history of the family, domestic violence in the early modern period and women’s rights in Italy. Among her publications, see: Pesci fuor d’acqua. Donne a Roma in età moderna: diritti e patrimoni, Rome, Viella, 2004; La violenza contro le donne nella storia. Contesti, linguaggi, politiche del diritto (sec. XV-XXI), ed. with Laura Schettini, Rome, Viella, 2017.

Table of contents

Introduzione

1. Veleno e violenza
2. Venefici e narrazioni

1. Vite barocche di donne (quasi) comuni

1. Giovanna de Grandis
2. Le intermediarie
3. Girolama Spana
4. Veleni, fattucchierie, curiosità
5. L’acquetta

2. Un affare di donne

1. Una rappresentazione attendibile?
2. Identità, mobilità e socialità
3. La rete
4. Conflitti e violenza coniugale
5. Sottrarsi alla violenza, coltivare aspirazioni, inseguire desideri
6. Madri e figlie
7. Il prezzo della colpa
8. Brodini, minestre e altre prelibatezze
9. Congedarsi dal mondo
10. Brusii e sospetti

3. Il processo

1. Entra la corte
2. Veneficio e parricidio
3. La scoperta della trama
4. Il corpo del reato
5. Interrogatori, confessioni, testimonianze
6. «Per sradicar simil sorte di genti»
7. Cecilia Bossi «ucello di campagna»
8. La duchessa di Ceri

4. Memoria e fortuna dell’acquetta

1. La morte per via di giustizia
2. Storie cantate, relazioni e cronache
3. Il veleno e la peste
4. Il regime delle professioni
5. L’emulazione e la fama

Ringraziamenti

Bibliografia

More information can be found here.

BOOK: Victor LE BRETON-BLON, L'évolution de la lettre de change pendant la seconde modernité. Étude conjointe des actes de la pratique, des règlementations royales et des discours à travers le port de Bordeaux (1673-1789) [Etudes d'Histoire du Droit et des Ideés Politiques; 35] (Toulouse: Centre Toulousain d'Histoire du Droit et des Idées Politiques, 2025), 978-2-36170-299-1, € 40

 

(image source: Université Toulouse-Capitole)

On the author:

Victor Le Breton-Blon, docteur en histoire du droit de l'Université de Bordeaux, enseignant-chercheur contractuel à l'Université Bretagne-Sud. Ses thèmes de recherche portent sur l'Histoire du droit des affaires, l'Histoire de la vie économique, financière et monétaire de l'Ancien Régime et l'Histoire de la pensée économique.

On the series:

Le Centre Toulousain d'Histoire du Droit et des Idées Politiques (EA 789) publie depuis 20 ans des travaux individuels et collectifs au sein de la collection Études d'Histoire du Droit et des Idées Politiques. Elle accueille les travaux d'historiens du droit mais aussi d'autres historiens et de juristes publicistes et privatistes.

Read more here. 

CONFERENCE: Gian Piero Bognetti, intellettuale nella Milano del Novecento. Note dal Fondo Bognetti conservato all’Istituto Lombardo (Milan: Istituto Lombardo Accademia di Scienze e Lettere; 21 MAR 2025 h. 9:30) [ONLINE]

(Image source: Istituto Lombardo Accademia di Scienze e Lettere)

La donazione da parte della famiglia all’Istituto Lombardo Accademia di Scienze e Lettere del Fondo Bognetti, nella sua articolata composizione, è l’occasione per ripensare e ricordare il percorso di studioso e ricercatore ‘curioso’ di Gian Piero Bognetti, appartenente ad una famiglia di educatori, di cui si ripercorrono le origini ottocentesche. Grande storico del diritto, come dimostra il suo incessante e originale lavoro scientifico, Gian Piero Bognetti è soprattutto un intellettuale, ricchissimo di interessi: dalla storia alla storia dell’arte, dall’archeologia alla letteratura, egli si rivela capace di costruire nella Milano del Novecento demi siècle una rete di relazioni con uomini di cultura nell’ambiente ambrosiano, nell’Italia di allora e al di là delle Alpi.

THE EVENT WILL TAKE PLACE IN HYBRID MODE: In person at the Sala Adunanze of the Istituto Lombardo, located at Via Brera 28, Milan, and online, according to the details provided in the flyer.

PROGRAMME

09:30 - Saluti introduttivi 

• Stefano Maiorana (Presidente Istituto Lombardo)

 09:40 - Prima sessione

Presiede Gigliola di Renzo Villata (Istituto Lombardo, Università degli Studi di Milano)

• Antonio Padoa Schioppa (Istituto Lombardo, Università degli Studi di Milano): Gian Piero Bognetti e la storia del diritto
• Gianmarco Gaspari (Istituto Lombardo, Università degli Studi dell’Insubria): Bognetti e il giovane Manzoni
• Marco Sannazaro (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore di Milano): Gian Piero Bognetti e Castelseprio: un rapporto di affetto e scienza
• Gian Maria Varanini (Deputazione di storia patria per le Venezie, Università degli Studi di Verona): Bognetti e il mondo veneziano

11:30 - Seconda sessione 

Presiede Antonio Padoa Schioppa (Istituto Lombardo, Università degli Studi di Milano)

• Gigliola di Renzo Villata (Istituto Lombardo, Università degli Studi di Milano): Gian Piero Bognetti e la sua corrispondenza: l’amplissima rete di relazioni di un intellettuale nella Milano demi siècle 
• Simonetta Polenghi, Valentina Chierichetti (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore di Milano): L’impegno educativo della famiglia Bognetti a Milano tra Otto e primo Novecento
• Rita Pezzola (Istituto Lombardo): Il Fondo Bognetti all’Istituto Lombardo Accademia di Scienze e Lettere

More information can be found here

JOURNAL: Focus Section "Re-Reading Historic Articles in the ZaöRV", Zeitschrift für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht/Heidelberg Journal of International Law LXXXIV (2024), nr. 4 [OPEN ACCESS]

(image source: Nomos)

Introducing the Anniversary Series (Robert Stendel)

Die Befreiung: Moslers europaföderale Sprengung des staatsrechtlichen Denkens (Armin von Bogdandy)

Abstract:

1951 befreite Hermann Mosler das deutsche juristische Denken transnatio- naler Phänomene aus den Fesseln des staatsrechtlichen Denkens. Medium der Befreiung war die Zeitschrift für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völ- kerrecht, Anlass der Vertrag zur Gründung der Europäischen Gemeinschaft für Kohle und Stahl (EGKS). Konkret legte Mosler einen Weg frei, das Gemeinschaftsrecht jenseits des staatsrechtlichen Dualismus von Landesrecht und Völkerrecht als eine neue und neuartige Rechtsordnung zu denken, und zwar in föderalen und verfassungsrechtlichen Kategorien. Er zeigt, dass der politische Wille zu einer völkervertraglich verfassten Föderation souveräner Staaten kein juristisches Paradoxon ist, sondern vielmehr ein Weg in eine bessere Zukunft. Voraussetzung ist allerdings staatsrechtliche Dogmen zu sprengen. So geht es zunächst geht es um die Fesseln, veranschaulicht an Aufsätzen, mit denen Carl Bilfinger in der ZaöRV das juristische Denken in der ersten Sattelzeit zu orientieren suchte. In deren Gegenlicht gewinnt Mos- lers Befreiung klare Konturen. Abschließend wird untersucht, welchen Fes- seln Mosler nicht entkam.

Outside of this section:

Constructing Youth as Progress: Tracing Shared Efforts of the League of Nations and the United Nations (Julian Hettihewa)

Abstract:

A more comprehensive understanding of progress and international law can be obtained if youth is included in the analysis. While youth is gaining increasing prominence in international law, it continues to be neglected by international legal scholarship. This is especially problematic in the context of progress and international law as youth is constructed by international law as progress. This article presents a historical account of youth’s construction as progress, focusing on the efforts of the League of Nations (LoN) and the United Nations (UN) to educate youth in order to promote peace, to prevent another world war. This contribution highlights the continuity of historical patterns and identifies the function of youth as progress as an instrument to conceal power-differentials. Furthermore, this article reveals structural commonalities between interna- tional law and youth. Both embody the Messianic announcement of something universally and inherently good, albeit always postponed: progress.

Visions of International Law in the Nineteenth Century: The Experience of the French Intervention in Mexico (Tania Tilano)

Abstract:

This article explores how Mexican liberal republicans engaged creatively with international law to contest the French Intervention (1862–1867). Their novel vision of enforcing international law through domestic criminal law went beyond mere appropriation; it was a projection of the future. Mexican republicans envisioned international law as a tool to mitigate the asymmetries between European powers and postcolonial nation-states like Mexico. The article demonstrates how postcolonial actors effectively deployed international law, showcasing its potential to contest hegemony on multiple levels: as a language, as a strategy, as an instrument, and as a symbol.

Book reviews:

• Gaillet, Aurore: La Cour constitutionnelle fédérale allemande. Recon struire une démocracie par le droit (1945-1961) (Peter Huber)
• Mahlmann, Matthias: Mind and Rights. The History, Ethics, Law and Psychology of Human Rights (Mónica Mazariegos Rodas)
• Duve, Thomas and Herzog, Tamar (eds.): The Cambridge History of Latin American Law in Global Perspective (Juan C. Herrera)

Issue DOI: 10.17104/0044-2348-2024-4 (open access) 

BOOK: Antonio Manuel HESPANA, Filhos da Terra. Mestizos Identities at the Margins of Portuguese Imperial Expansion (ed. Cátia A.P. ANTUNES/transl. Noelle RICHARDSON) [European Expansion and Indigenous Response, ed. George Bryan SOUZA; 45] (Leiden/Boston: Martinus Nijhoff/Brill, 2021), 421 p. ISBN 978-90-04-71350-5, € 135

 

(image source: Brill)

Abstract:

Filhos da Terra narrates the history over time of the so-called ‘Portuguese communities’ living outside the boundaries of the Portuguese Empire but identified locally and by other European empires as ‘Portuguese’. Concepts such as ‘tribe’, ‘diaspora’, and ‘society of métissage’ have been widely used to define these groups.

On the author, editor and contributors:

Cátia Antunes, Zoltan Biedermann, Tamar Herzog, Noelle Richardson, Sophie Rose, and Ângela Barreto Xavier.  António Manuel Hespanha was Professor of Legal History and Theory of Law at the Faculty of Law, Nova University of Lisbon. His major work As Vésperas do Leviathan (1986) was groundbreaking in establishing a new history of the political institutions and of the nature of the State in Portugal in the Early Modern period. A prolific writer, he was guest professor at Yale University, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, University of Macau and the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (Paris). He was also the General Commissioner for the Commemoration of the Portuguese Discoveries Committee (1995-1998). For all his academic, intellectual, and political contributions, he was awarded the honor of Grand Official of the Military Order of Sant’Iago da Espada (2000) by the President of the Republic of Portugal, Jorge Sampaio.

Table of contents:

General Series Editor’s Preface
List of Illustrations
Foreword: Filhos da Terra in English – The Raison D’Être [OPEN ACCESS]
The Legal Dimensions of Empire: Filhos da Terra and the Normative Order [OPEN ACCESS]
Portuguese Identity, Métissage and Liminality  [OPEN ACCESS]
Translator’s Note [OPEN ACCESS]
Glossary [OPEN ACCESS]

Introduction
 1 A ‘Portuguese’ Identity?
 2 The Analytical Perspective

1 Chapter title to be come
 1 The Portuguese ‘Informal Empire’
 2 The ‘Shadow Empire’
 3 Developments in the ‘Historiography of the Atlantic’

2 Chapter title to be come
 1 Methodological Approaches in the Historiography of the ‘Informal Empire’
 2 Notes of Caution
 3 Observing Identity: Methodological Questions

3 Chapter title to be come
 1 The ‘Provinces of the Shadow Empire
 2 Guinea
 3 The Americas
 4 Angola
 5 Mozambique
 6 The Indian Ocean and South Asia
 7 Mainland Southeast Asia
 8 The Far East

4 Chapter title to be come
 1 The ‘Portuguese Tribe’

5 Chapter title to be come
 1 Power and Governance in the ‘Shadow Empire’

6 Chapter title to be come
 1 Questions of Identity: External Differentiation and Internal Homogeneity

7 Chapter title to be come
 1 The Universalism of the Portuguese

Afterthoughts: Conversing about Diversity in Empire

Bibliography
Index  [OPEN ACCESS]

Read more here: DOI 10.1163/9789004713512. 

BOOK: Aleksander GREBIENIOW, Estate Planning by Agreement in the Sources of Roman Law [Warschauer Schriften zum römischen Recht und zur europäischen Rechtstradition, eds. Tomasz GIARO, Jakob FORTUNAT STAGL, Maria NOWAK, and Aleksander GREBENIOW; 2] (Boston/Paderborn: Brill/Schöningh, 2025), XX + 459 p. ISBN 978-3-506-79508-3 [OPEN ACCESS]

 

(image source: Brill/Schöningh)

Abstract:

The present book encompasses various legal phenomena pertaining to wealth transfer mortis causa in the world of Roman law. It demonstrates that succession in property rights could be realised by agreements of various kinds, which – though not building a coherent legal concept and being much different from the modern understanding of contractual succession – served as will-substitutes, i.e. functional equivalents to the Roman testament. The study goes back to the ancient sources in order to select and examine any testimonies of agreements aimed at regulating patrimonial relationships after death: agreements having immediate effect between the living, those enforceable only at the death of the deceased, and finally, settlements altering the order of succession mortis causa long after his passing away. It uncovers a series of societal patterns of behaviour staying behind legal institutions. The extent of the already ancient phenomenon of estate planning by agreement and the diversity of the dogmatic issues involved provides a notable starting point for discussions on the contemporary inheritance law dogmas.

Table of Contents:

Preface................................................................................................ 3

CONTENTS....................................................................................... 4

Abbreviations...................................................................................... 7

Introduction....................................................................................... 11

1 The Methodological Framework...................................................... 15

1.1 Objective, Objects of Research and Thesis................................. 15

1.1.1 The Notion of Estate Planning............................................. 15

1.1.2 Correspondent Concepts in Ancient Roman Law.................. 17

1.1.3 Additio: The Notion of Contractual Succession.................... 27

1.1.4 Thesis................................................................................ 30

1.2 The State of the Field................................................................ 31

1.2.1 Romanistic Scholarship on Contracts of Succession Mortis Causa........................................................................................ 31

1.2.2 Roman Law and Social Realities......................................... 37

1.3 Sources, Methods, and Research Plan........................................ 52

1.3.1 Sources.............................................................................. 52

1.3.2 Method.............................................................................. 56

1.3.3 Research Plan.................................................................... 60

2 The Institutions of Estate Planning................................................... 62

2.1 Successio anticipata: Juridical Acts Concluded and Executed During Life............................................................................................... 62

2.1.1 Divisio ab intestato............................................................ 66

2.1.2 Donationes...................................................................... 127

2.1.3 Dowries........................................................................... 180

2.1.4 Peculia............................................................................ 185

2.1.5 Specific Cases of Anticipated Succession........................... 192

2.1.6 Conclusions Concerning Anticipated Succession................ 197

2.2 Juridical Acts Mortis Causa Enforced at Death......................... 200

2.2.1 Mancipatio familiae.......................................................... 200

2.2.2 Stipulationes.................................................................... 209

2.2.3 Pacta............................................................................... 237

2.2.4. Pacta Dotalia Mortis Causa............................................. 259

2.2.5 Mandatum Post Mortem and Related Institutions................ 295

2.2.6 Conclusions on Wealth Transfers Enforced at Death........... 318

2.3 Agreements Concerning Succession Mortis Causa Concluded Post Mortem........................................................................................ 324

2.3.1 Venditio hereditatis.......................................................... 324

2.3.2 Postmortal Pacts and Transactiones................................... 327

2.3.3. Conclusions regarding Postmortal Arrangements............... 335

3 Conclusions.................................................................................. 337

3.1 General Observations.............................................................. 337

3.2 Specific Observations............................................................. 340

3.3 Final Observations.................................................................. 350

4 Bibliography................................................................................. 354

5 Index of Sources........................................................................... 389

Read more here (DOI 10.30965/9783657795086).