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19 February 2025

CONFERENCE: Grotian Law and Modernity at the dawn of a new age. 400 years of the Jure Belli Ac Pacis 1625-2025 (The Hague: Universiteit Leiden, 19-20 JUN 2025)

 

image source: Universiteit Leiden


On the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the first publication of De jure belli ac pacis by Hugo Grotius in 1625, an international conference will be organized by the Grotiana Foundation, the Paul Scholten Centre for Jurisprudence at the University of Amsterdam, the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies at the University of Leiden, Max-Planck-Institut, and the Department of Public Law and Governance at Tilburg University.

The major aim of the conference is to foster new narratives on the thought of Grotius, in general legal theory as well as in international law against a the backdrop of present-day rapid, fundamental changes that challenge the very foundations of the modernist paradigm, of which Grotius may be considered a key trailblazer. The core question of the academic conference is to what extent Grotian thought about general legal theory and international law is still relevant today, and what adaptations current foundational changes to our world make necessary. In this context, discussion of the many trajectories of reception, appropriation and reinterpretation of Grotius in different times and places, offers a valuable, additional perspective.

Through the conference ‘Grotian law and modernity at the dawn of a new age’, the organizers want to stimulate debate on the constitutional impact of current changes for the global legal order through the lens of a long-term historical analysis. The speakers in the conference are invited to reach back to Grotius’ thought and work as a starting point for discussing the foundations of the modern legal order of the past four centuries and the changes this is currently undergoing. They are asked to use this long-term historical framework to make sense of current upheavals and look for direction towards the future of law.

The conference program falls into three parts (with parallel sessions) and the full agenda can be found here.

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Programme for "400 Years Grotian Law"

Day 1: 19 June 2025

Venue: Wijnhaven Building, Turfmarkt 99, 2511 DP The Hague

09:00 - 09:30:
Registration and Coffee

09:30 - 09:45:
Opening and Welcome (Room 2.01)

09:45 - 10:30:
Keynote Address I (Room 2.01)
Theme: Lineages of Grotian Thought
Speaker: Martine van Ittersum
Followed by Q&A.

10:30 - 11:00:
Coffee Break

11:00 - 12:30:
Parallel Thematic Panels:

  1. Part I: Lineages of Grotian Thought (Room 3.16)
    Chair: Anne Peters
    Panelists:

    • Alain Wijffels: Is De iure belli ac pacis a Law Book?
    • Sarah Mortimer: Christianity and Citizenship in Seventeenth-Century Protestantism
    • Marco Barducci: Grotius in the ‘Long Seventeenth Century’: The Case of Italy
    • William E. Butler: The Carnegie Translation of Grotius and Public Opinion
  2. Part II: Modernity and General Theory of Law (Room 3.46)
    Chair: Inge van Hulle
    Panelists:

    • Daniel Lee: Imperfect Rights
    • Mónica Garcia-Salmones & Pim Oosterhuis: Grotius and Hobbes on Human Nature
    • Gustaaf van Nifterik: Grotius and Hobbes on Sovereignty
    • Johan Oltshoorn: Grotius on Just War and Self-Defence
    • Dave De Ruysscher: Grotius’ Legacy in Dutch Commercial Law
  3. Part III: Modernity and International Law (Room 3.60)
    Chair: Jens Iverson
    Panelists:

    • Letizia Lo Giacco: Public Authority and International Criminal Law
    • Stefano Cattelan & Louis Sicking: Coastal Seas in Grotius’ De Iure Belli ac Pacis
    • Daniel R. Quiroga-Villamarin: Unequal Leagues in Contemporary International Law
    • Harald Kleinschmidt: Grotius on Security and Extraterritoriality

12:30 - 14:00:
Lunch Break

14:00 - 14:45:
Keynote Address II (Room 2.01)
Theme: Modernity and General Theory of Law
Speaker: Annabel Brett
Followed by Q&A.

14:45 - 15:15:
Coffee Break

15:15 - 17:00:
Academic Session (Room 2.01)
Keynote Speech by Philippe Sands

19:00:
Speakers’ Conference Dinner


Day 2: 20 June 2025

Venue: Wijnhaven Building, Turfmarkt 99, 2511 DP The Hague

09:00 - 10:30:
Keynote Address III (Room 2.01)
Theme: Modernity and International Law
Speaker: Hilary Charlesworth
Followed by Q&A.

10:30 - 11:00:
Coffee Break

11:00 - 12:30:
Parallel Thematic Panels II:

  1. Part I: Lineages of Grotian Thought (Room 2.02)
    Chair: Francesca Iurlaro
    Panelists:

    • Jiangmei Liu: Grotius’s Defence of Dutch Colonial Imperialism
    • Emanuele Salerno: Florentine State Liberty in the Bellum Diplomaticum
    • Frederik Dhondt: Grotius in French Diplomacy (1720-1762)
    • Matthew Cleary: Grotius Societies and International Law
  2. Part II: General Theory of Law and Governance (Room 3.60)
    Chair: Janne Nijman
    Panelists:

    • Anthony Lang: Grotius as a Universalist
    • Gaëlle Demelemestre: Universality of Law and Cultural Plurality
    • Andriws Gonzalez Barrera & Femke Gordijn: Colonial Companies and Grotius’ Concepts of Sovereignty
    • Mikki Stelder: Rereading Grotius through Black and Indigenous Studies
  3. Part III: International Law and Governance (Room 2.01)
    Chair: Letizia Lo Giacco
    Panelists:

    • Ruti Teitel: Religious Division in International Law
    • Maria Varaki: Grotian Quest for Legal Moderation
    • Bryce Hollander & Janet Lord: Jus Post Bellum and Disability Rights
    • Jens Iverson: Grotian Tradition and Transitional Justice

12:30 - 14:00:
Lunch Break

14:00 - 15:30:
Parallel Thematic Panels III:

  1. Part I: Lineages of Grotian Thought (Room 2.02)
    Chair: Hans Blom
    Panelists:

    • Elena Jie Chih: Reinterpreting Justice in Grotius
    • Alberto Clerici: The Roman Inquisition and De Iure Belli ac Pacis
    • Luigi Lacchè: Grotius and Alberico Gentili
    • Susan Harris Rimmer: A Feminist Conversation with Grotius
  2. Part II: General Theory of Law and Governance (Room 3.60)
    Chair: Jacob Giltaij
    Panelists:

    • Andreas Follesdal: Grotius and Convention Refugees
    • Ville Kari: Grotius on Global Commons Property
    • Romain Cuttat: Grotius on Collective Rights
    • Joris van de Riet: Kant and Schmitt on Grotius
  3. Part III: International Law and Governance (Room 2.01)
    Chair: Eric De Brabandere
    Panelists:

    • Edward Jones Corredera: Latin America’s Debt to Grotius
    • Theodore Christov: Grotius in America
    • Zulal Muslu: Ottoman Sovereignty and Grotius
    • Hirofumi Oguri: Grotius in Japanese International Legal Scholarship

16:00 - 17:00:
Closing Remarks (Room 2.01)

17:00 - 18:00:
Farewell Reception


BOOK: Martin LÖHNIG (ed.), Varieties of Social Civil Procedure. The Reform of Civil Procedure Law in Central Europe in the Interwar Period [Schriften zur Rechtsgeschichte; 225] (Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 2025), 168 p., ISBN 978-3-428-19210-6

Cover: Varieties of Social Civil Procedure

ABOUT THE BOOK:

After the collapse of the state structure in the centre of Europe as a result of the »Great War«, the new nation states often initially adopted the law that had previously applied on their territory. However, they soon sought to create their own legal order by enacting codifications in the central areas of law. The standardisation of national court constitutions and procedural law played a central role in this. Two very different models were available. On the one hand, there was the liberal German ›Reichszivilprozessordnung‹ of 1877, on the other hand, there was the Austrian ›Zivilprozeßordnung‹ of 1895, which established the model of social civil procedure. It was not intended to be a code for Rudolf Ihering’s »struggle for justice«, but to serve »as a state welfare institution« (Franz Klein) and a means of social policy. All Central European countries have embarked on the path towards a social civil process and have broken with the liberal tradition, albeit in very different ways.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Martin Löhnig
Battle Rule or Welfare Institution? German Civil Procedure Law in the Interwar Period

Kamila Staudigl-Ciechowicz
Civil Procedure Law in Austria in the Interwar Period

Eszter Cs. Herger
In the Service of »Truth«. Civil Procedure Law in Hungary in the Interwar Period

Anna Stawarska-Rippel
The Phenomenon of Departing from Legal Solutions of Expert Bodies in the Legislative Process – the Polish Interwar Experience. Historical or Current Dilemmas?

Petra Skřejpková
The Development of Civil Procedure in the Interwar Period

Mirela Krešić and Dunja Milotić
Civil Procedure Law in Central Europe. Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes/Yugoslavia (1918–1941)

Find more here.

CALL FOR PAPERS: Yale WHC working group: Cultures of (Good) Legislation / Cultures of (Good) Administration [DEADLINE 22 FEB 2025]

(image source: Wikimedia Commons)

 

Abstract:

The Yale Whitney Humanities Center Working Group “Cultural Foundations of Law and Public Administration“ plans on publishing an edited volume on Cultures of Good Legislation / Good Administration that will address different cultural contexts (West/Global South/Asia). A hybrid symposium at Yale is also intended to foster the dialogue between the contributors. The group is mainly interested in theoretical inquiries or empirical case studies of good legislation / good governance in a cultural or decolonized context. We are in particular looking for essays that inquire in how cultural factors influence governance and legislation. We are also looking for essasy that investigate how cultural factors have impacted legislation or cultures of administration, how they limit an evolution of legislative or administrative culture, or how they create distinct advantages for a particular legal or administrative culture. We are also looking for essays investigating how the cultural predetermination of legislation or administration limits the transferability of legislative or administrative frameworks between different legislative or administrative cultures, in particular as part of the export of Western ideas and institutions in a globalized world (from human rights to administrative principles). Welcome are both traditional and postcolonial perspectives. We in particular seek for papers that inquire how colonial legal or administrative concepts, institutions or practices embedded in the legislative or administrative frameworks of former colonies create challenges nowadays due to the cultural differences of the colliding legislative or administrative cultures, or how they create advantages. We welcome general and more theoretical essay, but we are in particular looking for case studies that deal with a specific country or a specific cultural legislative or administrative challenge. The reason for our inquiry is to understand the cultural determination of legal and administrative cultures. At the same time, we aim at developing a foundation for non-western and non-hegemonial models of Good Legislation and Good Administration.

Topics:

Non-Western principles of good legislation

  • Non-Western principles of good administration
  • The principles and discontents of colonial legislation 
  • The discontents of colonial administration
  • The cultural pre-determination of legislation, its potential and discontents
  • The cultural pre-determination of administration, its potential and discontents
  • The language of good legislation
  • Decolonizing good legislation 
  • Decolonizing good administrative legislation
  • Decolonizing good administration
  • Decolonizing the language of good legislation
  • Other empirical studies on countries of the Global South or Asia on cultural topics pertaining 

to good legislation or administration. 

  • Cultural aspects of legal translation.
  • Decolonizing legal translation
  • Cultural aspects of Environmental Legislation/Politics & of Sustainable Development
Practical:

Please submit a four-line abstract, a brief bio including a list of relevant publications, and a 300-400 word extended abstract until latest February 22, 2025 via email to: culturalfoundations@outlook.de Accepted papers will be due in late 2026 Our intended publisher is Routledge (also the venue of our last edited volume)

 Sources: H-Law.

18 February 2025

ESCLH CONFERENCE 2025: Registration open [DEADLINE 15 MAR 2025]

 

(image source: University of Szeged)

The registration module for the Biennial ESCLH Conference in Szeged is now open.

More information here.

See also conference website here.

BOOK: Laila SCHESTAG, Zwischenrecht. Die allgemeinen Regeln des Völkerrechts in der frühen Bundesrepublik [Grundlagen der Rechtswissenschaft; 53] (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2024), 287 p., ISBN 978-3-16-163841-1

 Cover von 'undefined'

ABOUT THE BOOK:

»Das Völkerrecht geht unter allen Umständen dem Bundesrecht und auch dem Bundesverfassungsrecht vor«. Mit diesem Satz des späteren Außenministers Heinrich von Brentano nahm der Parlamentarische Rat die bis heute gültige Fassung von Artikel 25 GG einstimmig an. Noch in der ersten Hälfte der 1950er Jahre stieß der Vorrang des Völkerrechts auf breite Zustimmung. Heute weist die Verfassungsauslegung den allgemeinen Regeln des Völkerrechts nur noch einen 'Zwischenrang' zu: Sie stehen über dem einfachen Recht, aber unter dem Verfassungsrecht. Wie lässt sich die radikale Offenheit des Grundgesetzes gegenüber dem Völkerrecht im Moment der Verfassungsgebung erklären? Warum war sie nicht von Dauer? Diesen Fragen geht Laila Schestag in ihrer ideengeschichtlichen Studie nach. Entlang der Genese zentraler verfassungsrechtlicher Begriffe wie 'Völkerrechtsfreundlichkeit' und 'offene Staatlichkeit' zeigt sie, wie Deutungs- und Bedeutungswandel von Artikel 25 GG den politischen Selbstfindungsprozess der frühen Bundesrepublik spiegeln.
Die Arbeit wurde mit dem Promotionspreis der Juristischen Fakultät der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin 2024 ausgezeichnet.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Recht einer Zwischenzeit. Einleitung
Erster Teil: Vor der Verfassung - Die Entstehung von Artikel 25 des Grundgesetzes

Kapitel 1. Motive
Kapitel 2. Entwürfe
Kapitel 3. Diskurse

Zweiter Teil: Unter dem Grundgesetz - Vom internationalen Provisorium zur nationalen Verfassung
Kapitel 1. Revolutionäre Popularität? Die Rangfrage zwischen 1949 und 1957
Kapitel 2. Vom besetzten Provisorium zum europäischen Staat
Kapitel 3. Saturierter Staat? Die Rangfrage zwischen 1958 und 1976

Ein vergessenes Potential? Schluss

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Laila Schestag: Geboren 1993; Studium der Rechtswissenschaft an der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin; 2018 Erstes Juristisches Staatsexamen; 2021-22 Forschungsaufenthalte am European University Institute in Florenz und am Hans Kelsen-Institut in Wien; 2024 Promotion (HU Berlin); Rechtsreferendariat am Kammergericht Berlin.
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0150-1635

Find more here

 


PODCAST: Nobles et érudits, pour un célibat choisi ! [Le Cours de l'Histoire] (France Culture, 11 FEB 2025)

Introduction:

Les personnes célibataires ne sont pas rares au 17ᵉ siècle, même si les cas ne sont pas mis en avant dans les sources. Dans son étude Le Siècle du célibat. Des célibataires nobles en France au XVIIᵉ siècle (Presses universitaires de Rennes, 2025), l'historienne Juliette Eyméoud recense que "près d'une femme sur deux ne se marie pas, un peu moins chez les hommes." Les personnes non mariées ne sont pas encore appelées "célibataires". Pour les identifier, l'historienne repère les termes de "sans-alliance" ou "sans hoir" – ce qui signifie "sans héritier" – dans les actes notariaux. Elle n'inclut pas les veufs ou les veuves, car ces personnes ont été mariées et n'ont pas le même statut que les célibataires.

Interviewees:

Juliette Eyméoud Docteure en histoire moderne et conservatrice des bibliothèques Mathias Valverde Doctorant en histoire moderne à l’Université de Strasbourg 

 Read more here.

17 February 2025

BOOK: Catherine RIDEAU-KIKUCHI (ed.), Contrats du livre imprimé (Italie du Nord, 1470-1528). « Et ainsi les parties se sont accordées… » (Paris: Classiques Garnier, 2024). ISBN: 9782406173830

(Image source: Classiques Garnier)


ABOUT THE BOOK

Dans la seconde moitié du XVe siècle en Italie du Nord, des contrats documentent les relations entre les acteurs de la production et du commerce du livre. Ces contrats organisent et transforment les relations entre les hommes et les femmes au travail dans l’imprimerie naissante.


More information can be found here.

14 February 2025

CALL FOR PAPERS: International Congress Crime, Surveillance and Mobilities in the Atlantic, 19th and 20th centuries (Lisbon: CIES - Iscte – Lisbon University Institute, 10-12 SEP 2025) [DEADLINE 1 MAR 2025]

 

From 1870 onwards, there was an increase and diversification of mobility in the Atlantic, facilitated by developments in maritime transport that presented different characteristics from the transport of enslaved people from Africa to the Americas or the commercial connections from the eighteenth-century. Geographically, there was an increasingly intense population flow involving Europe, in particular Southern Europe, and the Americas, regions with old colonial connections. In addition to include several other elements, such as the sharing of knowledge and the intensification of commercial relations, the increase in mobility also entailed new and worrying risks for Nation-States and Empires.

The increase in the circulation of people, goods and ideas also meant greater ease in the mobility of individuals who were dedicated to criminal practices. Moreover, the representation in the mass media of criminal risks that transcended national and imperial borders, forced the authorities of each country to develop collaboration strategies that went beyond its own borders, as the historiography dedicated to the study of the repression of anarchism and communism, as well as the different cross-border types of theft, fraud and forgery has demonstrated. From the end of the 19th century there was an increase in national and international debates about illegal criminal activities - or in criminalization proceedings - that transcended national or imperial borders and the development of a broad perception of the expansion of criminal behaviours of a shifting and itinerant character. Among these activities were, in addition to the traditional smuggling, enhanced by events such as wars and economic crises, human and drug trafficking, counterfeiting of money and other forms of financial fraud, or arms trafficking, to name just a few examples.

In political terms, the first decades of the 20th century witnessed a period of forced migrations related to revolutionary political dissidence, especially after the Russian Revolution and the “red triennium” in the Americas, but also motivated by the world wars and fueled by the emergence of authoritarian regimes in several countries. The perception of the increasing number of victims of forced mobility and the economic, social and psychological impact they had on individuals, but also in the places of departure and arrival, gave rise to broader discussions about these phenomena. Laws restricting the entry of migrants and the deportation of foreigners were passed in different countries across the Atlantic world, while transatlantic surveillance began to be organized at international police congresses held from New York and Rome to Buenos Aires.

Aspects such as the revolutionary threat, criminal risks and forced mobility demonstrated that the world was facing new political and social risks, which posed challenges to traditional forms of surveillance. These phenomena gained increasing importance and notoriety in the press, in the security policies of each country and in international institutions such as the League of Nations. The relationship between increased mobility and the circulation of political dissidents, criminalized subjects and populations forced to migrate, such as refugees, has acquired greater protagonism in practices and representations at a global level and demonstrated the need to rethink surveillance regimes in order to guarantee the safety of populations and observance of the law. States and their police forces, but also diplomacies and non-governmental actors, engaged in the prevention and repression of these threats, internationalizing dialogues and collaborations, which resulted in the development of international and transnational forms of surveillance of people, goods and information, in the exchange of knowledge in criminal investigation or extradition of criminals.

As part of the project International collaborations: crime and police cooperation in the Ibero-American Atlantic, 1870-1940, financed by the  of the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation of Portugal and hosted by CIES-Iscte, this international meeting aims to bring together researchers working in the study of criminal behaviours of a transnational nature, transnational mobilities and the development of forms of international and transnational political and cross-border surveillance, involving the Atlantic and connecting Europe, the Americas and Africa, during the 19th and 20th centuries. This congress aims to contribute to the expansion and deepening of the historiographical debate surrounding the transnational movement of people and the surveillance of international crime in the Atlantic axis. Proposals should follow the following thematic axes:

·       Forms of transnational criminal behaviour, such as economic-financial crimes, counterfeit currency, human trafficking, drugs and weapons, etc.

·       National, imperial and international control and surveillance on migration and mobility.

·       Internationalization of political, technical and public debates around the criminal question.

·       Development of forms of international police cooperation, such as information sharing schemes, exchange and international circulation of police officers and development of international policing institutions.

·       Development of forms of international judicial cooperation, such as international legal discussion associations, development of cooperation mechanisms between judicial systems and international development of common judicial policies.

·       Expansion of political surveillance by state agents and cooperation in terms of combating political movements such as anarchism and communism.

·       Non-governmental surveillance mechanisms developed, for example, by civil society groups, banks and other private companies.

·       Activities developed by international institutions such as the League of Nations, the United Nations or the International Criminal Court.

 

Paper proposals may be written in Portuguese, Spanish or English and must include the author's name, institutional affiliation, the title of the proposal, the abstract (maximum 500 words), three keywords, a biographical note (maximum 200 words) and electronic contact. Proposals must be sent by March 1st, 2025 to the following email: congressocrivimo.cincra@gmail.com. Papers may be presented in Portuguese, Spanish or English.

Check our website: International Congress CINCRA

Local Organizing Committee:

Fábio Alexandre Faria (CIES - Iscte – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa)

Gonçalo Rocha Gonçalves (CIES – Iscte – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa)

Maria João Vaz (CIES - Iscte – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa)

Emmanuel Berger (CIES - Iscte – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa)

Fernando Cepulli (CIES - Iscte – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa)

Mariana Mesquita (CIES - Iscte – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa)

Rebecca Dias (Instituto Diplomático e CIES - Iscte – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa)

Scientific Board:

Cristiana Schettini (Universidad de San Martin – Argentina)

Diego Galeano (PUC – Rio de Janeiro - Brasil)

Diego Pulido Esteva (Colegio de Mexico - México)

Emmanuel Berger (CIES - Iscte – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa)

Fábio Alexandre Faria (CIES - Iscte – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa)

Gonçalo Rocha Gonçalves (CIES – Iscte – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa)

Irene Vaquinhas (Universidade de Coimbra)

Marcos Bretas (Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro – Brasil)

Maria João Vaz (CIES - Iscte – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa)

Mariana Cardoso Ribeiro (Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia – Espanha)

Martin Albornoz Crespo (Universidad San Martin – Argentina)

Mikel Aizpuru Murua (Universidad del País Vasco – Espanha)

Pedro Oliver Olmo (Universidad de Castilla – La Mancha - Espanha)

Yvette Santos (Université de Lyon)

More information here.

BOOK: Andrea RAPINI, Lo Stato della felicità. Una storia sociale della Scienza dell’amministrazione in Italia (1875-1935) (Rome: Viella, 2024). ISBN: 9791254695494

(Image source: Viella Editore)


ABOUT THE BOOK

Questo libro racconta la genealogia, la vita e la morte – tra il 1875 e il 1935 – della Scienza dell’amministrazione: una disciplina universitaria molto diversa da quella attuale. All’epoca, infatti, si proponeva di ridurre le disuguaglianze sociali con l’ambizione di porre persino il tema della felicità. Cercò di farlo contrastando lo sbriciolamento delle scienze sociali in sottocampi incomunicanti e l’egemonia del formalismo giuridico nelle facoltà di Giurisprudenza e nella cultura dello Stato. Per gli scienziati dell’amministrazione quel sapere – e il liberalismo collegato – era incapace di guidare le élites politiche verso la risoluzione positiva della “questione sociale”. Nel corso di settant’anni, la Scienza dell’amministrazione fu sconfitta e di essa si è poi persa ogni traccia, sepolta dalla nuova identità che la disciplina si è data a partire dagli anni Sessanta del secondo dopoguerra fino ad oggi. Il libro disseppellisce quelle tracce, ricostruisce le condizioni di possibilità di questa sconfitta e mostra i suoi effetti di lungo periodo.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Andrea Rapini è professore di Storia contemporanea presso il Dipartimento di sociologia e diritto dell’economia dell’Università di Bologna. I suoi studi hanno riguardato principalmente la storia e la memoria dell’antifascismo; la storia d’impresa; la sociologia di Pierre Bourdieu e la storia dei saperi. Tra le sue ultime pubblicazioni: Histoire des savoirs et relations de pouvoir. Les métamorphoses de la science administrative italienne (1875-1935), in «Annales. Histoire, Sciences sociale», 2 (2024), pp. 1-34 (con Pierre Weill).


TABLE OF CONTENTS

Prefazione di Sabino Cassese

1. Introduzione

  1. La Scienza dell’amministrazione come problema storico
  2. Modus operandi
  3. La struttura del libro

2. Lo State building e l’istituzionalizzazione della Scienza dell’amministrazione
  1. Radici nazionali e transfert internazionale
  2. Regolamenti, frontiere, territori
  3. La consacrazione: spie
  4. L’attrazione delle altre discipline: Luigi Rava
3. Chi decide che cos’è la Scienza dell’amministrazione?
  1. Il modello italiano di Università tra Francia e Germania
  2. Il reclutamento dei reclutatori
  3. Dagli individui alle reti
  4. Vittorio Emanuele Orlando tra nucleo di coordinamento e periferia decisionale
  5. Discipline e disciplinamento: Giovanni Vacchelli
  6. Appendice: Misure centro/periferia nei due periodi
4. Scienza dell’amministrazione, guerra totale e riforma sociale
  1. La guerra moderna, il lavoro e la cura della popolazione
  2. Una nebulosa riformatrice: analisi prosopografica
  3. Le proposte della Commissione per lo studio della Legislazione sociale e della previdenza
  4. L’invenzione delle classi medie
  5. Sul bordo del precipizio: Scienza dell’amministrazione, Stato liberale, fascismo
  6. Quando non si «apre la sala»
5. La deistituzionalizzazione della Scienza dell’amministrazione
  1. L’Università Cattolica, Romeo Vuoli e l’istituzionalizzazione delle Scienze politiche
  2. Scienza dell’amministrazione e corporativismo
  3. La tetrarchia
  4. Ai margini della disciplina: Carlo Francesco Ferraris
  5. L’anomalia: Guido Cavaglieri
  6. Il nomos della disciplina: Oreste Ranelletti
6. «L’uomo baco»: conclusioni

More information can be found here.


13 February 2025

CALL FOR PAPERS: Compromis à la belge - The Role of Compromise in Legal History [29th Annual Forum for Young Legal Historians] (Ghent: UGent, 17-19 SEP 2025); DEADLINE 18 APR 2025

(Aula Academica, Ghent)

The Ghent Legal History Institute hosts the 29th edition of the Annual Forum for Young Legal Historians from 17 to 19 September 2025

If you wish to present a paper at the conference, please submit a proposal including an abstract of no more than 250 words and your CV to aylhforum2025@gmail.com by April 18, 2025.

Read more here.

BOOK: Luca LOSCHIAVO (ed.), The Civilian Legacy of the Roman Army. Military Models in the Post-Roman World [History of Warfare, eds. Kelly DEVRIES, Aimée FOX, John FRANCE, Paul JOHNSTON & Frederic C. SCHNEID; 144] (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2024). ISBN: 9789004698017

(Image source: Brill)


About the book:

The Roman army represented an important social and organizational reference model for the Romano-Barbarian societies, which progressively replaced the Western Empire in the transition from Late Antiquity to Early Middle Ages. The great flexibility of the decision-making and organizational solutions used by the Roman army allowed the ‘new lords’ to readapt them and thus maintain power in early medieval Europe for a long time. From a perspective ranging from political, social and economic history to law, anthropology, and linguistic, this book demonstrates how interesting and fruitful the investigation of this specific cultural imprint can be in order to gain a better understanding of the origins of the civilization that arouse after the fall of the Roman world.

Contributors:

Francesco Borri, Fabio Botta, Francesco Castagnino, Stefan Esders, Carla Falluomin, Stefano Gasparri, Wolfgang Haubrichs, Soazick Kerneis, Luca Loschiavo, Valerio Marotta, Esperanza Osaba, Walter Pohl, Jean-Pierre Poly, Pierfrancesco Porena, Iolanda Ruggiero, Andrea Trisciuoglio, Andrea A. Verardi, and Ian Wood.
Editor: Luca Loschiavo, Ph.D. (1994) is full Professor of Medieval and Modern Legal History at the University of Teramo (Italy). He has published 3 books as author (the last one is L’età del passaggio. All’alba del diritto commune europeo (secoli III – VII), 2019); 8 as coeditor; and 80 essays on medieval legal history.

Table of conents:

1. Transformation of the Military in the Late Antique West (Ian Wood)
1: The Words of the Soldiers
2. Hospitalitas (I.): The Munus Hospitalitatis and Its limits (Andrea Trisciuoglio)
3. Hospitalitas (II.): The Changing Meaning of Hospitalitas (Pierfrancesco Porena)
4. Warrior Names and Military Language of the Westgermanic Peoples: Franks and Langobards (Wolfgang Haubrichs)
5. The Gothic Language of Warfare (Carla Falluomini)
2: Social and Juridical Structures
6 Militia and Civitas between Third and Sixth Century CE (Valerio Marotta)
7 Persecuting Latrones, Maintaining Disciplina, Enforcing the Velox Supplicium: The Frankish Centena Accordind to Childebert II’s Decree (Stefan Esders)
8 Soldiers’ Marriages: Before and after the Fall of the Empire (Francesco Castagnino)
9 Soldiers’ Inheritance: The Testamentum Militis and other Privileges from the Imperial Constitutions to the Leges Barbarorum (Iolanda Ruggiero)
3: Symbols, Rituals and Identity Models
10 The Cingulum Militiae in the Early Middle Ages: Between Status and Function (Andrea A. Verardi)
11 Answering the Call to Arms: Lex Visigothorum 9.2 (Esperanza Osaba)
12 ‘Traditionskern’, ‘Gefolgschaft’: More Questions Than Answers (Francesco Borri)
13 The Lombard Army Between Myth and Reality: Farae, Arimanniae, Arimanni (Stefano Gasparri)
4: Geometries of the Power and Military Justice
14 Laeti and Gentiles: Military Germanic Settlements in Roman Gaul (Jean-Pierre Poly)
15 Personality of Law or Ius Speciale Militum? Around the Origins of the Leges Barbarorum (Luca Loschiavo)
16 Late Roman Military Justice and the Birth of Ordeal (Soazick Kerneis)
17 Collective Criminal Responsibility and Comrades’ Solidarity: From Roman Military Formations to Barbarian Armed Bands (Fabio Botta)
18 From the Roman Army to the Laws of the Kingdoms: Concluding Remarks (Walter Pohl)

More information can be found here.

12 February 2025

BOOK: Mathieu TILLIER, Naïm VANTHIEGHEM, Mariages et séparations en Égypte au Moyen Âge. Actes inédits sur papyrus, papier, parchemin et tissu [Archiv für Papyrusforschung; Beihefte] (Berlin: De Gruyter 2024). ISBN: 9783111450339

(Image source: De Gruyter)


One day of December 875, the weaver ʿUmar b. Mūsā, married Ḥalīma bint Nafīs before illustrious witnesses from Fusṭāṭ. Some six centuries later, in the spring of 1411, Lady Fāṭima bint Fatḥ al-Dīn celebrated a second wedding with Ṭūġān, a promising Mamluk officer, and hosted him with her retinue in her Cairene palace. Present-day historians would know nothing of them had their marriage contract not withstood the ravages of time, as have the hundred or so documents that Mathieu Tillier and Naïm Vanthieghem are publishing, translating and studying for the first time in this volume. Rich or poor, free or enslaved, the men and women of Medieval Egypt adopted the habit, from at least the eighth century CE onwards, of having their unions recorded in order to lay down the terms and conditions of their marriage. Dissolution by repudiation (ṭalāq) or amicable divorce (ḫulʿ) were also entrusted to the care of notaries. The hitherto unpublished documents collected here, which span across the Abbasid, Fatimid, Ayyubid and Mamluk periods, provide a unique insight into matrimonial strategies among commoners as well as elite members, and into marital relationships and legal practices, both in the capital and in the Egyptian countryside. After a first part devoted to the editing of marriage contracts and divorces deed as well as a few related documents, the authors offer a detailed study of matrimonial practices in medieval Egypt based on Arabic documents.


On the authors

Mathieu Tillier, Sorbonne Université, Paris, France
Naïm Vanthieghem, IRHT-CNRS, Paris, France.


More information can be found here.

11 February 2025

FELLOWSHIP: Brennan Center's Steven M. Polan Fellowship in Constitutional Law and History 2025-2026 (DEADLINE 15 FEB 2025)

(image source: Legal History Blog)

 Abstract:

The Brennan Center [for Justice] is inviting applications for the 2025-26 class of the Steven M. Polan Fellowship in Constitutional Law and History, a fellowship program aimed at enhancing public understanding and appreciation of the meaning and promise of the United States Constitution. The Fellowship is open to outstanding individuals from an array of professional backgrounds – including historians and other experts in constitutional law and history – working on projects to spur urgently needed debate over the proper understanding of our Constitution at this crucial moment, when new approaches to constitutional interpretation including originalism, incubated by the conservative legal movement over the past half century, have gained traction in the courts. These projects may include conducting legal and historical research, publishing original writing, crafting amicus briefs, organizing symposia and public events, spearheading public education projects, and other activities as appropriate.

Practical aspects:

Proposals are due by February 15, 2025. These nonresident, part-time fellowships will be one year in duration. Fellows will be awarded compensation in the form of a $40,000 stipend. The Fellowship is open both to experienced individuals with a proven track record of achievement and expertise and to people at earlier stages of their careers who demonstrate the potential to develop into leaders in their field. We’re looking for visionaries who are animated by the challenge of reclaiming our Constitution as an enduring plan of government suited to the needs of a changing country.

Read more here and here.

(source: Legal History Blog)

BOOK: Manuel BASTIAS SAAVEDRA (ed.), Beyond Property. Ownership Regimes in the Iberian World (1500-1850). The Normative Role of Kinship and Community (Leiden: Brill, 2025). ISBN: 9789004722712 [OPEN ACCESS]


ABOUT THE BOOK

Explore a new perspective on land relations with Ownership Regimes, which shifts focus from traditional legal views to socio-historical contexts. This book reveals how land holding was influenced by diverse practices, including doctrine, laws, customs, regional kinship, and community ties. By understanding these as components of a broader normative framework, scholars from different regions show how complex social, religious, and cultural norms shaped efficient and enduring land-use arrangements. It challenges historians and legal scholars to examine the interplay of these norms in the Iberian world, uncovering how they defined ownership, division, regulation, and conflict resolution in various regions.

Contributors are: Manuel Bastias Saavedra, Alessandro Buono, Thiago Mota, José Carlos De La Puente Luna, Íñigo Ena Sanjuán, Alcira Dueñas, Marta Martín Gabaldón, Carolina Jurado, Crislayne Alfagali, and Rosa Congost.


ABOUT THE EDITOR

Manuel Bastias Saavedra, Ph.D. (2012), is Associate Professor of Latin American History at Leibniz University Hannover. His research focuses on the legal and institutional history of the Spanish and Portuguese empires. He currently leads the IberLAND project, funded by the European Research Council.


TABLE OF CONTENTS

  1. Manuel Bastias Saavedra, Beyond Private and Common. Ownership Regimes in the Iberian World (1500–1800) 
  2. Alessandro Buono, The Rights of Things and the Obligations of the Owner. Exploring the Deep Normative Grammars of the Early Modern Ownership Regime
  3. Thiago Henrique Mota, Guests in Foreign Lands. Land Control and Ownership in Greater Senegambia in the Face of the Portuguese Presence (16th and 17th Centuries)
  4. José Carlos de la Puente Luna, A Widow’s Tale. Shifting Land Regimes and the Interplay of Household and Community in Colonial Peru
  5. Marta Martín Gabaldón, Ownership and Seigniorial Relationships. Land and Territory in Colonial Tlaxiaco (the Mixteca, Mexico)
  6. Carolina Jurado, Domestic Rights in Indigenous Communal Lands and the Expression “Menester” during the Execution of the 1591 Royal Decrees in Charcas, Viceroyalty of Peru
  7. Íñigo Ena Sanjuán, Concordias, Sentencias Arbitrales, and Vistas. Ownership and Possession of Grassland in the Valleys of Ansó and Hecho (17th–19th Centuries)
  8. Alcira Dueñas, Amparos and Mapas. Communal Land Possession and Dispossession in the Late Colonial Andes
  9. Crislayne Gloss Marão Alfagali, Sobas, Ilamba, and Residents. On the Diverse Meanings of Land in Angola’s Hinterland in the 18th century
  10. Rosa Congost, Epilogue: The Necessary De-Westernisation of the Models of Land Ownership. Reflections on the Idea of Feudal Remnants in Core Western Countries


More information can be found here.


BOOK: Peter JACKSON, William MULLIGAN & Glenda SLUGA (eds.), Peacemaking and International Order after the First World War (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2025), ISBN 9781108827348, 29,99 GBP

 

(image source: CUP)

Abstract:

The Paris peace settlements following the First World War remain amongst the most controversial treaties in history. Bringing together leading inter-national historians, this volume assesses the extent to which a new international order, combining old and new political forms, emerged from the peace negotiations and settlements after 1918. Taking account of new historiographical perspectives and methodological approaches to the study of peacemaking after the First World War, it views the peace negotia-tions and settlements after 1918 as a site of remarkable innovations in the practice of international politics. The contributors address how a wide range of actors set out new ways of thinking about international order, established innovative institutions and revolutionised the conduct of inter-national relations. They illustrate the ways in which these innovations were layered upon existing practices, institutions and concepts to shape the emerging international order after 1918.

About the editors:

Peter Jackson, University of Glasgow Peter Jackson is Chair in Global Security at the University of Glasgow. He is the author of France and the Nazi Menace (2000), Beyond the Balance of Power (2014) and La France et la menace nazi (2017). He has taught, held fellowships and visiting appointments at Carleton University, Yale University, Aberystwyth University, the Institut d'études politiques (Paris) and the University of Paris Panthéon-Sorbonne. William Mulligan, University College Dublin William Mulligan is Professor of History at University College Dublin. He has written widely about the First World War, including The Origins of the First World War (2017) and The Great War for Peace (2014). He has held visiting fellowships at the Institutes for Advanced Study in Princeton and Berlin. Glenda Sluga, European University Institute, Florence Glenda Sluga researches and teaches at the European University Institute in Florence. She is a fellow of the Australian Humanities Academy, and of the Royal Society of New South Wales. Her previous publications include The Invention of International Order: Remaking Europe after Napoleon (2021), and Internationalism in the Age of Nationalism (2013). 

Table of contents:

1. Introduction Peter Jackson, William Mulligan, and Glenda Sluga
Part I. Ordering Concepts:
2. Vocabularies of self-determination in 1919: the co-constitution of race and gender in international law Sarah C. Dunstan
3. Recasting the 'fabric of civilization': the Paris Peace Settlement and international law, Marcus M. Payk
4. State sovereignty Leonard V. Smith
5. The crisis of power politics Peter Jackson and William Mulligan
6. The challenge of an absent peace in the French and British Empires after 1919 Martin Thomas
Part II. Institutions:
7. A 'new diplomacy'?: the Big Four and peacemaking, 1919 Alan Sharp
8. The League of Nations: the creation and legitimisation of international civil service, Karen Gram-Skjoldager
9. The enforcement of German disarmament and the international order of the 1920s Andrew Webster
10. Planning for international financial order: the call for collective responsibility at the Paris Peace Conference Jennifer Siegel
11. Raw materials and international order from the Great War to the crisis of 1920–1921 Jamie Martin
Part III. Actors and Networks:
12. The Great Conversation: a discussion on peace after the First World War Carl Bouchard
13. An alternative international relations: socialists, socialist internationalism and the postwar order Talbot Imlay
14. The Paris Peace Conference and the origins of global feminism Mona L. Siegel
15. Colonial nationalists and the making of a new international order Erez Manela
Part IV. Counterpoint:
16. The persistence of old diplomacy: the Paris Peace Settlement in perspective T. G. Otte

Afterword: new histories of international order Glenda Sluga.

Read more here (DOI 10.1017/9781108907750) 

10 February 2025

BOOK: Gianmarco PALMIERI, Le prigioni del Papa. Cultura, legislazione e pratiche penitenziarie nello Stato pontificio (1831-1870) (Rome: Historia et ius, 2025), 440 p. ISBN: 979-12-81621-09-1 [OPEN ACCESS]

 

(Source: Historia et ius)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Indice 
Introduzione 1 
CAPITOLO I - IL CARCERE PENALE 
1. Ad continendos homines, non ad puniendos: la parabola di un brocardo 15 
2. Una storia parallela: il carcere nel diritto canonico 24 
3. Carcere e Illuminismo penale 36 4. La “questione penitenziaria” e i “prison reformers” 46

CAPITOLO II CARCERE E PENA NELLA RESTAURAZIONE PONTIFICIA 
1. La rete carceraria e i primi interventi normativi 61 
2. L’ordinamento penale 75 
3. La scienza giuridica tradizionale e la teoria della pena 83 
4. L’influenza di Romagnosi e Carmignani sulla criminalistica pontificia 89 
5. Funzioni complementari del carcere 105 5.1. Il carcere ad correctionem patris 105 5.2. Il carcere per debiti 117 

CAPITOLO III IL PONTIFICATO DI GREGORIO XVI 
1. I regolamenti gregoriani 133 
2. L’attenzione per la condizione degli internati: la “visita ai carcerati” 140 
3. La commissione “Rufini” del 1833 150 
4. Immediate esigenze di riforma 165 5. La recrudescenza della criminalità 174 

CAPITOLO IV IL PONTIFICATO DI PIO IX: PARTE I 
1. Nuovi e vecchi indirizzi dottrinari 179 
2. Gli ideologi di Pio IX 191 
2.1. Carlo Luigi Morichini e l’apologia del “primato pontificio” 191 
2.2. Luigi Pianciani: un “vecchio partigiano” del carcere cellulare 201 
2.3. Pellegrino Rossi penitenziarista 210 
3. La genesi di un “mito” 221 
4. La riforma dei codici 229 
5. Il riassetto amministrativo 238 
6. I tentativi di riforma nel periodo statutario 242 

CAPITOLO V IL PONTIFICATO DI PIO IX: PARTE II 
1. La Repubblica Romana e l’emergenza carceraria 257 
2. Il programma riformistico di De Merode: carceri minorili e femminili 266 
3. L’appalto per la fornitura carceraria del 1856: un’occasione di riforma 279 
4. Una riforma “in via amministrativa”: epilogo 291

 CAPITOLO VI LA RECLUSIONE POLITICA 
1. La giustizia politica nello Stato pontificio 305 
2. Spazi e pratiche della reclusione politica 315 
3. I “Quaderni dal Forte” di Marcello Tedeschini 327 
4. Considerazioni conclusive sulla reclusione politica 332 

Considerazioni conclusive 335 
Appendice documentale 343 
Fonti e bibliografia 375 
Indici dei nomi 425

The volume's PDF is available here.

LECTURE SERIES: Spring 2025 History of International Law Speaker Series (Boston: Boston University, JAN-MAR 2025)


(image source: BU)

Abstract:

The Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future [at Boston University] is pleased to announce the International History Institute’s (IHI) Spring 2025 “History of International Law” speaker series. All three events will be held in the Pardee School of Global Studies’ Riverside Room at 121 Bay State Road. The series is open to the public

Line-up:

Thursday, January 30 | 5:00-6:30 pm
Keynote Lecture: “The Law of International Society: Remarks on a Domesticated Notion”

Martti Koskenniemi, Professor Emeritus of International Law, University of Helsinki

Wednesday, February 26 | 4:00-5:30 pm
Book Talk: “Odious Debt: Bankruptcy, International Law & the Making of Latin America”

Edward Jones Corredera, Senior Research Fellow, Max Planck Institute for
Comparative Public Law and International Law

Discussant: Felipe Ford Cole, Assistant Professor, Boston College Law School

Wednesday, March 26 | 4:00-5:30 pm
Book Talk: “Arbitrating Empire: United States Expansion & the Transformation of International Law”

Allison Powers Useche, Assistant Professor of History, University of Wisconsin–Madison

Discussant: Andrei Mamolea, Assistant Professor of International Relations, Pardee School of Global Studies, Boston University

Registration here

 (source: Legal History Blog)

BOOK: H.E. CHEHABI & David MOTADEL (eds.), Unconquered States: Non-European Powers in the Imperial Age (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2024), ISBN 9780198863298

 

(image source: twitter)


Abstract:
In the heyday of empire, most of the world was ruled, directly or indirectly, by the European powers. Unconquered States explores the struggles for sovereignty of the few nominally independent non-Western states in the imperial age. It examines the ways in which countries such as China, Ethiopia, Japan, the Ottoman Empire, Persia (Iran), and Siam (Thailand) managed to keep European imperialism at bay, whereas others, such as Hawai‘i, Korea, Madagascar, Morocco, and Tonga, long struggled, but ultimately failed, to maintain their sovereignty. Its chapters address four major aspects of the relations these countries had with the Western imperial powers: armed conflict and military reform, unequal treaties and capitulations, diplomatic encounters, and royal diplomacy. Bringing together scholars from five continents, the book provides the first comprehensive global history of the engagement of the independent non-European states with the European empires, reshaping our understanding of sovereignty, territoriality, and hierarchy in the modern world order.

Read more here: DOI 10.1093/oso/9780198863298.001.0001.



07 February 2025

JOURNAL: Tijdschrift voor Rechtsgeschiedenis/The Legal History Review/Revue d'Histoire du Droit XCII (2024), nr. 3-4

(image source: Brill)

Articles
Revisiting possessio naturalis and possessio civilis in Roman law: a new perspective emerges? (João Costa-Neto)
DOI 10.1163/15718190-20243411
Abstract:
This is a brief critical assessment of the distinction between possessio naturalis and possessio civilis in Roman law. The text provides a concise historical outline of the distinction. Costa-Neto re-examines conventional perspectives concerning possession, including those proposed by Savigny, Jhering and Riccobono. It also examines the notion of possessio naturalis as proposed by D’Angelo and Klinck in recently published works. Costa-Neto underscores the differences from possessio civilis and mere detention and concludes that, even if a ‘quite dominant’ view basically reduces naturalis possessio to mere detention, a new trend is gradually emerging: naturalis possessio as an independent and separate institution, distinct from detention.

The Libri feudorum Review of a new edition of the Latin text and a new translation into English, with a survey of the formation of the Libri feudorum and their Glossa ordinaria, of manuscripts, printed editions and previous translations (Jeroen M.J. Chorus)
DOI 10.1163/15718190-20243412
Abstract:

This article mainly reviews Attilio Stella’s new edition of the Latin text of the Libri feudorum and his new English translation thereof. Additionally, it seemed useful to recall and summarize Peter Weimar’s authoritative and convincing views regarding the notoriously complicated history of the formation of the Libri feudorum and their Glossa ordinaria. Moreover, some remarks are made on the surviving medieval manuscripts and the printed editions (1472–1896) of the Latin text. Previous translations into various languages (1493–2016) are discussed. Stella’s new translation is then addressed. It may be called sound and solid. It is but rarely that some nuance does not return in the translation. If the choice of Lehmann’s Latin text (1896) is debatable, its inconvenience has been compensated by references to Osenbrüggen’s standard edition (1840). Stella’s annotation to the translation is rich and ingenious and gives delightful explanations of many unclear or ambiguous passages.

Book reviews 

  • J.D. Ford, The emergence of privateering. [Legal history library, 62; Studies in the history of international law, 24]. Brill / Nijhoff, Leiden – Boston 2023. X + 416 p. (Alain Wijffels)
  • S. Longfield Karr, Jus Gentium in humanist jurisprudence, On justice and right. [History of European political and constitutional thought, 9]. Brill, Leiden – Boston [2022]. 400 p. (Gaëlle Demelestre)
Kroniek / Chronique / Chronicle

Articles
In memoriam Liesbeth Josephina van Soest-Zuurdeeg, 1939–2024 (Marguerite Duynstee)
DOI 10.1163/15718190-20243401
First paragraph:
Op 30 mei 2024 overleed te Leiden Dr Liesbeth van Soest-Zuurdeeg, de ‘stille kracht’ achter het Tijdschrift voor Rechtsgeschiedenis, die zich 60 jaar lang met zeer veel toewijding voor het Tijdschrift heeft ingezet. Geboren op 15 februari 1939 te Amsterdam, heeft zij een groot deel van haar jeugd in Utrecht doorgebracht waar zij het Stedelijk Gymnasium bezocht en in 1957 het diploma Gymnasium α behaalde.

Die Gottesmutter als Schiedsrichterin Michael Psellos, Rede auf das in den Blachernen geschehene Wunder (Dieter R. Simon & Diether R. Reinsch)
DOI 10.1163/15718190-20243402
Abstract:

Among the numerous writings that Psellos left behind, there is small but significant number of legal works. In the speech edited here, which was written und delivered on behalf of Emperor Michael vii Doukas, the focus is on a private arbitration procedure. The unusual and novel aspect lies on the fact that the Virgin Mary herself was appointed as the arbitrator. Psellos provides a detailed description of the approach, course and outgoing of this unique process.

Salvation and the Roman empire: Eusebius of Caesarea on pastoral peace and the martial shepherd (Francesco Rotiroti)
DOI 10.1163/15718190-20243403
Abstract:

The present article is the first in a diptych looking at the pastoral characterisation of Constantine in the works of Eusebius of Caesarea through the lens of institutional theory. Through pastoral discourse, I argue, Eusebius systematises key elements of the policy and functions of the first Christian emperor, thus contributing to the institutional construction of the early Christian basileiā. Central to this construction are pastoral narratives of peace and warfare, drawn from earlier traditions but revisited and remodelled. By identifying the so-called pax Constantiniana with the pastoral peace preannounced by the prophets, Eusebius’ panegyric at Tyre, in particular, repositions the Roman empire within the conceptual framework of Christian soteriology. The perceived peace of the empire becomes a juncture of salvation history, brought about by the divine shepherd through the agency of the pious emperors. Eusebius’ later works reiterate the association of the pastoral metaphor with warfare already articulated in the panegyric at Tyre, but also innovate it significantly, as the soteriological underpinning of the shepherd’s military engagement becomes increasingly blurred.

A Biscayan jurist in the Renaissance Fortún García de Ercilla (ca. 1486–1534) and the echo of his homeland’s legal and political culture on De pactis (1514) (Mikel Mancisidor)
DOI 10.1163/15718190-20243404
Abstract:
Fortún García de Ercilla (Fortunius) was a quite known jurist in his century, quoted and discussed by some significative authors of his time. He was also a politician with relevant mandates in the service of Emperor Charles v. However, his name faded away in the following centuries. It is only very recently that his contributions to different areas of law, as well as to Castilian and Navarrese politics, have been vindicated. This article a) begins with a brief outline of his hitherto insufficiently well-known biography; b) proposes an updated list of his written works, including news of two recent findings, and places him as an actor in the communicative process that sixteenth century law was; and c) defends the hypothesis that the political and legal culture of his homeland, and the specific position of his lineage, allows a better understanding of some of the implications the topic of his first work, De Pactis (1514), had for him.

Struggling for legal primacy in the Zwin: Bruges and Sluys, 1492–1520 (Femke Gordijn)
DOI  10.1163/15718190-20243405
Abstract:

This article examines a series of conflicts between the city of Bruges and its main outport Sluys brought before the Council of Flanders and the Great Council of Malines around the turn of the sixteenth century. Although Bruges’ commercial successes declined during this period, the previously consolidated hierarchical relationships with Sluys persisted as the courts continuously judged in Bruges’ favour. This contribution attempts to expose the underlying legal dynamics that determined Bruges’ continued primacy over its outport.

Co-ratification in practice The Treaty of the More and the city of Rouen (1525) (Daniel Bökenkamp)
DOI 10.1163/15718190-20243406
Abstract:

This contribution examines the role of the city of Rouen in the co-ratification of the Treaty of the More in 1525. On looking into the deliberations of Rouen’s city council, this article provides a local perspective into the participation of cities in treaty processes, challenging the traditional view that such affairs were solely the domain of monarchs and their courts. This contribution analyses the correspondence of the Regent of France, Louise of Savoy, and the council of Rouen. The findings reveal how Rouen’s City Council balanced loyalty to the French crown with efforts to preserve local interests, using diplomatic channels and delaying tactics. This case-study illustrates the complexity of power politics in 16th-century France, where cities like Rouen played a significant, yet often overlooked, role in shaping international agreements. The article contributes to broader historiographical debates on the development of modern diplomacy and the agency of cities.

Droit au coeur de la science politique Le ‘Trésor’ de Jean de Chokier, canoniste liégeois (1571–1656) (Wim Decock)
DOI 10.1163/15718190-20243407
Abstract:

This article serves as a prolegomenon to further studies on the political and legal thought of Jean de Chokier (1571–1656). Trained in Roman law and canon law at the University of Orléans, he became one of the most prominent canon lawyers, political thinkers and humanist scholar of the Principality of Liège, an Imperial State situated in the Western part of the Holy Roman Empire. Author of major works in canon law, history and political science, he became vicar general of the Diocese of Liège under Prince-Bishops Ferdinand and Maximilian-Henri of Bavaria, successively. He belonged to the Neo-Stoic network around Justus Lipsius (1547–1606), the humanist jurist from Overijse. Inspired by this intellectual movement, Chokier published legal, political, historical and literary treatises next to performing his duties as an ecclesiastical administrator. His life and writings reflect the osmosis between humanist erudition, political commitment and legal knowledge that characterized the careers of many of the great jurists of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Considering that Chokier was foremostly trained as a canon lawyer and also professionally active in this domain, this article invites readers to take a fresh look at Chokier’s political and juridical oeuvre from a canon law perspective. 

Courts and judicial transformation in modern China The architecture of the late Qing dynasty Daliyuan and local courts (Tao Han and Li Chen)
DOI 10.1163/15718190-20240301
Abstract:

The Daliyuan and the local courts in the late Qing dynasty served as the loci of judicial power in the early days of modern China. Following the doctrine of separation of powers, these judicial organs emerged during the preparation for constitutionalism and the quest for judicial independence in the late Qing dynasty. The government brushed aside the standard design of the government office, drawing inspiration from the designs of the highest courts in constitutional states in the East and West. Despite the financial constraints, significant funding was allocated to the construction of the Daliyuan premises. The grand and majestic Western-style structure was designed for high purposes. In addition to its customary functions, it was also entrusted with a political mission – impressing the world writ large with the successes of judicial reform and the image of China’s new-fangled judiciary. Due to a lack of funding, the local courts had downsized architecture, yet they still incorporated Western styles, mirroring the design of the Daliyuan. The transformed style of these courts offers insight into the prevailing philosophy of the reform and the new regime. It also illuminates the tension and fusion of legal culture that contributed to the modernization of the Chinese legal system.

Le travail forcé au Congo (1960–2001): entre décolonisation du droit et vestiges du joug du droit colonial belge (Christian Via Balole)
DOI 10.1163/15718190-20243409
Abstract:

This article examines the enduring influence of Belgian colonial law on forced labour in the Congo, particularly in the context of the process of decolonising Congolese law. It demonstrates two key points: first, that remnants of colonial law persisted beyond colonisation, and second, that these remnants shaped the development of new legal frameworks by an independent Congo to perpetuate the exploitations of the Congolese population. The analyses reveal a stark contrast between the pro-independence rhetoric advocating freedom of labour by repealing colonial law and the post-colonial law that continues the subjugation of the Congolese people. Ultimately, the article highlights the damaging influence of the former coloniser, which impeded the new Congolese state’s ability to implement a truly sovereign policy. Conversely, this enduring influence provided a pathway for President Mobutu to seize power and further advance the exploitative economic of the Congo and its people rooted in Belgian colonial law.

Not Feuerbach: the origin of the adage Nulla poena sine lege in the Ancien Régime (François Pierrard)
DOI 10.1163/15718190-20243410
Abstract:

The expression Nulla poena sine lege is one of the most widely used Latin legal adages in the world. It is one of the formulas of the principle of the legality of offences and penalties. Lawyers and legal historians unanimously date its invention from 1801 and attribute it to Paul Johann Anselm von Feuerbach (1775–1833), the promoter of the Bavarian Criminal Code of 1813, which served to disseminate it. However, a consultation of the archives held at the Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv in Vienna has forced us to revise this conclusion. The first occurrence found dates back to 1777, but the adage appears to be even older, as it was already considered a maxim in the Austrian Netherlands. Originally, the adage Nulla poena sine lege does not seem to have had the positivist and legicentrist connotation that it has had since the 19th century. 

 Read the full issue here.