BOOK: Andrés LIRA (with the assistance of Pablo MIJANGOS and Francisco Javier BELTRÁN, foreword Erika PANI), Derecho e instituciones en la historia de México [Historia del Derecho en América Latina] (México: Tirant lo Blanch, 2025), 570 p. ISBN 9788410953963

 

(image source: publisher)

Abstract:

Don Andrés Lira ha sido uno de los principales renovadores de la historiografía jurídica mexicana durante el último medio siglo, tanto por la originalidad de sus contribuciones como por su trabajo docente en el Colegio de México y el Colegio de Michoacán, donde ha formado a varias generaciones de historiadores. La presente antología recoge sus ensayos más importantes sobre historia del derecho y las instituciones, distribuidos en cuatro secciones: reflexiones metodológicas, instituciones coloniales, instituciones de la república independiente y el tránsito del individualismo al colectivismo jurídico. Como podrá advertir el lector, Andrés Lira piensa que el historiador del derecho debe poner a su objeto de estudio “en relación con el complejo social en el que se hace evidente, trata de hacerse vigente o se desvirtúa”. De este modo, en lugar de poner la mirada en la obra abstracta del legislador, Lira propone explorar los vasos comunicantes entre la norma jurídica y su experiencia efectiva, así como analizar el modo en que los distintos actores sociales acatan, manipulan, resisten y eventualmente se apropian de un “pretendido orden general” dispuesto en constituciones y códigos.

On the author:

ANDRÉS LIRA es profesor-investigador emérito de El Colegio de México, del cual fue presidente (1995-2005). También ha sido docente en la Escuela Nacional de Antropología e Historia, la Facultad de Filosofía y Letras de la UNAM, la Universidad Iberoamericana y El Colegio de Michoacán, institución que presidió de 1985 a 1991. Sus principales áreas de interés son la historia de las ideas y de las instituciones jurídicas y políticas. Es miembro de número de la Academia Mexicana de la Historia, de la cual fue director entre 2011 y 2017.

Read more here. 

BOOK: Éric ANCEAU (dir.), Nouvelle Histoire de France (Paris: Passes Composés, 2025), 1104 p. ISBN 979104040689, €36

 

(image source: Passés Composés)

Abstract:

L’histoire est trop souvent un champ de bataille où s’affrontent des idéologies. Ces dernières années, des entreprises politiques de toutes sortes ont essayé de s’approprier tel ou tel aspect du passé, de façon partiale et partielle. C’est pourquoi il fallait une nouvelle histoire de France, intégralement revue et renouvelée, afin de mettre un terme à ces querelles. Pour la revisiter, à la lumière des plus récentes découvertes, Éric Anceau a réuni 100 spécialistes unanimement reconnus, des historiens bien sûr, mais aussi des historiens de l’art, des juristes, des sociologues, des économistes, des géographes, des philosophes et des écrivains. Ce ne sont pas moins de 100 chapitres et 340 éclairages qui sont ici proposés dans tous les domaines : des Capétiens, des Lumières et de la Deuxième Guerre mondiale à l’histoire des femmes, du genre ou encore de l’environnement, de Vercingétorix aux Jeux Olympiques de 2024… Brillante mise à jour de nos connaissances, ce livre offre un récit organisé de façon à la fois originale et cohérente, qui revient sur tous les aspects d’une histoire française complexe et nuancée. Un monument construit sur des faits, rien que des faits.

See publisher's website. 

BOOK: Stefano CATTELAN, Mare Clausum: The Formation of the Law of the Sea in Pre-Modern State Practice and Legal Doctrine (c. 1350–1650) [Legal History Library, eds. Dirk HEIRBAUT, Michelle McKINLEY, Matthew C. MIROW and C.H. VAN RHEE, 77; Studies in the History of International Law, ed. Randall LESAFFER, 28] (Leiden/Boston: Martinus Nijhoff/Brill, 2025), ISBN 9789004741393, € 147,34

 

(image source: Brill)

Abstract:

Who owns the sea? This book explores this timeless question by tracing the development of claims over the sea from the late Middle Ages to the early modern era, shedding light on the complex interplay between legal arguments, political interests, and geostrategic realities. By the time Hugo Grotius’s Mare liberum (1609) famously championed the freedom of the seas, competing traditions of ‘claimed seas’ had already shaped European legal debates for centuries. Examining three macro-regions – the Mediterranean, the seas of Northern Europe, and the world oceans – this study challenges the dominant Grotius-centric narrative, offering a broader perspective on how political actors and jurists justified exclusive maritime rights long before John Selden’s Mare clausum (1635). While assessing the Eurocentric foundations of the modern law of the sea, it reveals how historical legal arguments and notions continue to shape contemporary ocean governance.

On the author:

Stefano Cattelan is Postdoctoral Researcher at the Faculty of Law and Criminology at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Research Group CORE) and Adjunct Professor at the Brussels School of Governance. He publishes on the history of international law, with a particular focus on the law of the sea and the laws of war between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries. His research has been supported by the Carlsberg Foundation and the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO).

Read more here: DOI 10.1163/9789004741409.

BOOK: Alain LAQUIÈRE, Éric PEUCHOT & Jean-Félix de BUJADOUX (dir.), Crise de la démocratie parlementaire et réformisme constitutionnel au temps de la Belle Époque [Rencontres, 681; Science Politique, 14] (Paris: Classiques Garnier, 2025), 373 p. ISBN 9782406186144, € 35

 

(image source: Classiques Garnier)

Abstract:

Le réformisme constitutionnel au temps de la Belle Époque aspirait à se déployer dans de nombreux domaines : révision constitutionnelle, réformes règlementaires, modification de la loi électorale ou nouvelle organisation des partis, pour trouver des remèdes à la « crise du parlementarisme ». Autant de questions qui se posent aussi aujourd'hui pour les démocraties européennes.

Read more here: DOI 10.48611/isbn.978-2-406-18616-8.

VACANCY: Postdoctoral researcher in legal history on Labour Evolution: Forging Individual Rights in the Transformation of Early Modern European Empires (Helsinki: University of Helsinki; DEADLINE 15 NOV 2025)

(image source: Wikimedia Commons)

 Description:

The Faculty of Law invites applications for a fixed term employment as a postdoctoral researcher from 1.1.2026 to 31.12.2026. The post is linked to the project Labour Evolution: Forging Individual Rights in the Transformation of Early Modern European Empires, led by Docent Adriana Luna-Fabritius and funded by the Research Council of Finland.

 

The successful candidate will work with Dr Luna-Fabritius and the project team, developing an individual research agenda aligned with the project’s focus on early modern labour governance, coerced labour, legal reforms, patriarchal structures and police regulations across the Portuguese and British empires.

 

The work will include:

• Collect and analyse relevant archival and bibliographical material for the project.
• Produce at least one single-authored, peer-reviewed journal article/or book chapter per year.
• Co-author at least one academic output with the PI or another team member per year.
• Organise and participate in the international conference and contribute to the editing of the resulting volume.
• Teach or co-teach (up to 10% of annual workload).
• Contribute actively to the project and the host institution’s research community.

 

Eligibility and assessment

 

Applicants must hold a PhD (candidates who are in the final stages of completing their doctoral dissertation may also be considered), demonstrate the ability to conduct independent research, and have prior experience of academic publishing (teaching experience is an advantage). A research proposal aligned with the project is expected.

 

Candidates are expected to reside in Helsinki, attend on-site activities regularly, and participate actively in project events. Postdoctoral researchers have a teaching load of 10% of their annual working time, corresponding roughly with one or two courses of 20 hours contact teaching. 

 

Evaluation criteria

• Ability to develop research independently and collaboratively.
• Knowledge and/or experience in intellectual history, legal history, labour history, imperial history, cameral sciences, public law, or science of police in Early Modern period.
• Familiarity with relevant theoretical frameworks (e.g. rights formation, political economy, legal practices, governance and patriarchal regimes in colonial contexts).
• For postdoctoral applicants: a record of peer-reviewed publications.
• Excellent command of English. For work requiring Portuguese sources, proficiency in Portuguese is highly desirable (Spanish is an asset).

 

What we offer

 

The salary for the position will be based on level 5 of the job requirement scheme for teaching and research personnel in the salary system of Finnish universities. In addition, the appointee will be paid a salary component based on personal performance. The annual gross salary is €42,000 - €46,000. There will be a six-month trial period for the position.

 

How to apply

 

The application must be accompanied by the following documents in PDF format:

• a cover letter;

• a curriculum vitae;

• a numbered list of publications (highlight two key items)

• a research plan (max. 4 pages), explaining how your project aligns with Labour Evolution project, including objectives, methodological and theoretical approach, deliverables, and a publication plan. 

• Contact details for one referee and/or one letter of reference

 

Further information about academic portfolios is available on our website.

Other attachments or certificates are not required at this point.

 

Applications must be submitted through the University of Helsinki electronic recruitment system by clicking on the link below. Current employees of the University of Helsinki must submit their applications through SAP Fiori’s Suffeli recruitment portal. The University of Helsinki welcomes applicants from a variety of genders, linguistic and cultural backgrounds, and minorities.

 

Further information about the position can be obtained from Docent Adriana Luna-Fabritius (adriana.fabritius(at)helsinki.fi). Further information about the recruitment process can be obtained from HR Specialist Mella Mattila (mella.mattila(at)helsinki.fi).

 

 

 

The Faculty of Law at the University of Helsinki is the leading Finnish institute of legal education. Some of the degrees awarded by the Faculty are completed at its bilingual Vaasa Unit of Legal Studies. The Faculty's mission is to train qualified, ethically resposible legal professionals for both the Finnish and international markets through research of an international standard and research-based teaching. The Faculty offers undergraduate degrees in Finnish, Swedish and English as well as a bilingual degree in Swedish and Finnish.The Faculty has a teaching and research staff of around 120 people and 2,400 undergraduate and postgraduate students.

More information here. 

BOOK: Ferdinand MÉLIN-SOUCRAMANIEN, La Constitution de 1875. La République parlementaire en France (Paris: Lefebvre Dalloz, 2025),

 

(image source: Lefebvre Dalloz)

Description:

Les lois constitutionnelles de 1875 sont les trois lois de nature constitutionnelle votées en France par l'Assemblée nationale entre février et juillet 1875 qui instaurent définitivement la Troisième République.
Ces lois viennent organiser le régime républicain :
- la loi du 24 février 1875, sur l'organisation du Sénat ;
- la loi du 25 février 1875, sur l'organisation des pouvoirs publics ;
- la loi du 16 juillet 1875, sur les rapports entre les pouvoirs publics.

Read more here. 

CONFERENCE: Les journées régionales d’Histoire de la Justice « Greffes et greffiers » (Dijon: CREDESPO, 6-7 NOV 2025)

 

(image source: CREDESPO)

Abstract:

organisées par l’AFHJ, en partenariat avec l’Université de Bourgogne Europe (Credespo), la Cour d’appel de Dijon, l’École nationale des greffes, le Barreau de Dijon, les Archives départementales de la Côte d’Or, Direction Interrégionale des Services Pénitentiaires et le Conseil National des greffiers des tribunaux de commerce

See here for conference program. 

CONFERENCE: "Les cours souveraines face aux déviances et aux minorités religieuses" (Grenoble: CESICE, 6-7 NOV 2025)

 

(image source: CESICE)

Description:

Du 6 novembre 2025 au 7 novembre 2025 Complément date Le CESICE co-organise avec le CERHIIP un colloque portant sur la thématique "Les cours souveraines face aux déviances et aux minorités religieuses". Ce colloque aura lieu à l'auditorium des Archives départementales le jeudi 6 novembre de 2025 de 9h00 à 12h00 et de 14h00 à 17h00 ainsi que le vendredi 7 novembre 2025 à l'auditorium de l'IMAG de 9h00 à 12h00.

See here for program. 

CONFERENCE: Belgisch-Nederlandse Rechtshistorische Dagen (Nijmegen: Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, 27-28 NOV 2025)

(Image source: Radboud University)

Nederlands-Belgische Rechtshistorische Dagen (donderdag 27 en vrijdag 28 nov 2025)

 

Alle onderdelen van het programma vinden plaats in het Van der Valk Hotel Nijmegen-Lent, Hertog Eduardplein 4, 6663 AN Nijmegen

 

Donderdag 27 november 2025

Tijdstip	Onderdeel
13:00 – 13:30	Ontvangst en welkomstwoord in de foyer
	Zaal A, voorzitter: Corjo Jansen	Zaal B, voorzitter: Vincent van Hoof
13:45 – 14.15	Rik Haverman (VU Amsterdam) – Pluralisme van juridische bronnen in de vroegmoderne rechtspraktijk aan het Hof van Friesland	Gideon de Jong (Radboud Universiteit) – Bisschoppelijke arbitrage: Enkele gevolgtrekkingen uit tekstproblemen in C.J. 1.4.7.
14:15 – 14:45	Brent Lievens (Universiteit Gent) – Het belang van de statenvergaderingen in de Habsburge Nederlanden	Marie-Charlotte Le Bailly (Erfgoedbibliotheek Hendrik Conscience) – Damhouders Practijcke Criminele boekhistorisch bekeken
14:45 – 15:15	Annemieke Romein (Universiteit Twente) – De stemmen van Overijssel: digitale verkenning van provinciaal bestuur aan de hand van de Resoluties van de Staten van Overijssel (1578-1795)	Mark Vermeer (VU Amsterdam) –  ‘Overvloedige vuyle processen, cavillatien, abusive gefabriceerde getuygenissen, instrumenten ende sacken vol papieren’. De conflicten van de familie Van Heessel tegen de Staten-Generaal en de Raad van State inzake het schrijfambt van Peelland (1651-1664)
15:15 – 15:30	Pauze in de foyer
	Zaal A, voorzitter: Corjo Jansen	Zaal B, voorzitter: Vincent van Hoof
15:45 – 16:15	Amber Gardeyn (Universiteit Gent) – Nazi gespolieerde cultuurgoederen in België: een archiefonderzoek naar het Belgische beleid in de naoorlogse periode	15:45 – 16:10	Femke Gordijn (Tilburg University) – Contested Customs: Tariffs, Officials and Mercantile Interests in the port of Late Medieval Southampton (1445-1509)
		16:10 – 16:35	Maurits den Hollander (Tilburg University) – Court, Credit, and Capital: Innovatief Insolventierecht in 17e-eeuws Amsterdam
16:15 – 16:45	Louise Martens (KU Leuven) – “Une certaine expérience”: de ontwikkeling van het Belgische recht inzake activisme en staatsveiligheid na de Eerste Wereldoorlog
		16:35 – 17:00	Rodrick van der Smissen (VU Brussel) – Negentiende-eeuwse insolventierecht: Compromis tussen het verleden en de eigentijdse noden
16:45 – 17:15	Christine Lucardie – Belemmeringen voor vrouwen om toe te treden tot de advocatuur en alternatieven binnen de rechtshulpverlening in België en Nederland (1838-1922)
		17:00 – 17:15	Robin Hermans (Radboud Universiteit) – Aankoopfinanciering in het Romeinse recht
17:20 – 17:25	Boodschap van prof. dr. mr. H. de Jong over Pro Memorie in de foyer
17:25 – 17:45	Uitreiking van de Feenstraprijs van het Tijdschrift voor Rechtsgeschiedenis in de foyer
17:45 – 20:15	Dinerbuffet in het restaurant

 

Vrijdag 28 november 2025

Tijdstip	Onderdeel
8:30 – 9:00	Ontvangst in de foyer
	Zaal A, voorzitter: Corjo Jansen	Zaal B, voorzitter: Rick Verhagen
9:00 – 9:30	Jasper van de Woestijne (Universiteit Gent) – De non-geschiedenis van arbeidsrechtbanken in Nederland. Een verhaal van gemiste kansen of pure efficiëntie?	Vincent van den Eynde (KU Leuven) – Wie erft als er geen kinderen zijn? Het fideï-commis ‘si sine liberis decesserit’ in de vroegmoderne Zuidelijke Nederlanden
9:30 – 10:00	Janwillem Oosterhuis (Maastricht University) – De vrije markt in het Nederlandse handelsrecht van de negentiende eeuw	Derk van Wageningen (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen) – De verwerving van erfdienstbaarheden door een deelgenoot
10:00 – 10:30	Emanuel van Dongen (Universiteit Utrecht) – Rechtsmisbruik in het Frans-Italiaans Ontwerp voor een nieuw Verbintenissenrecht	Florian Herrendorf (Tilburg University) – De zaak Hendrick Schilt: De methodes van uitsluiting van de WIC in Nederlands-Brazilië met betrekking tot haar eigen ambtenaren, 1630-1654
10:30 – 10:45	Pauze in de foyer
	Zaal A, voorzitter: Corjo Jansen	Zaal B, voorzitter: Rick Verhagen
11:00 – 11:30	Robin Navez (ULiège & Universiteit Gent) – “In beide de talen even zeer oorspronkelijk en authentiek zij”. De taaldimensie van de Belgisch-Nederlandse codificatie opdracht (1816-1830)	Kato Desaever (KU Leuven) – Transactionele soevereiniteit in de lobby voor Congo Vrijstaat (1885 – 1900): industriële macht in ruil voor staatsbestuur in een kolonie zonder metropool
11:30 – 12:00	Frederik Dhondt (VU Brussel) – De digitale weg door het publiekrecht van de pruikentijd? Kansen en beperkingen van een machine-readable tekstuitgave	Ilaria Masseroni (KU Leuven) – Polygamy and the Missionary Discourse: Catholic Conceptions of Marriage in the Congo Free State (1885–1908)
12:00 – 12:30	Antoine Leclère (FRS-FNRS) – The formation of a Liège National Convention between 1792 and 1793: a political and legal novelty?	Tomás Kocsis (Open Universiteit) – De staat van oorlog en de staat van beleg in Nederlands-Indië (1854-1904)
12:45 – 13:45	Afsluitende lunch in het restaurant

BOOK: Michał GALEDEK and Anna TARNOWSKA, Shaping the Congress Kingdom of Poland (1815–1830). The Interconnectivity of Constitutional and Liberal Ideas in Europe after Napoleon [Legal History Library, eds. Dirk HEIRBAUT, Michelle MCKINLEY, Matthew C. MIROW & C.H. VAN REE; vol. 79] (Leiden/Boston: Martinus Nijhoff/Brill, 2025), ISBN 978-90-04-73992-5, € 191,18

 

(image source: Brill)

Abstract:

Should the dispute over the interpretation of the 1815 constitution of Congress Poland be considered a key factor that shaped Polish political liberalism, and if so, why? The authors of this volume explore this question against the backdrop of constitutional development in post-Napoleonic Europe. The aim of this book is to illustrate the mutual interdependence between political liberalism and constitutionalism after the Congress of Vienna and to examine how Western European constitutional and liberal ideas intermingled with traditional Polish aristocratic republicanism.

On the authors:

Michał Gałędek, Dr. iur. (2010), Dr. hab. iur. (2018), is Professor and Chair of the Department of Legal History at the University of Gdańsk, as well as Vice-President for Science of the Polish Society for Legal History. His most recent monograph is Ideology and Private Law: Polish Experiences in the Long 20th Century (Brill, 2025). Anna Tarnowska, Dr. iur (2007), Dr hab. iur. (2020), is Professor at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń's Department of the History of Legal and Political Thought and German Law, Chairwoman of the Legal-Economic Chapter of the Scientific Society in Toruń, and Vice-President of the Polish Society for Legal History. She has authored numerous books and articles on legal history and constitutionalism. 

Read more here: DOI 10.1163/9789004739925. 

THESIS PRIZE: Nelly BYTCHKOWSKY, La systématisation du droit à l'Époque moderne : l’œuvre de Louis de Héricourt (1687-1752) (Prix de thèse Ourliac 2025, Académie de législation, Toulouse)

 

(image source: Centre Michel de l'Hospital)

Dr. Nelly Bytchwkosky (Université Clermont Auvergne) won the "Prix de thèse Ourliac 2025" (Académie de législation de Toulouse) for her thesis La systématisation du droit à l'Époque moderne : l’œuvre de Louis de Héricourt (1687-1752) (supervisors: Prof. Nicolas Laurent-Bonne & Xavier Prévost).

Abstract:

À l’époque moderne, en France, le besoin de systématiser le droit est au cœur des esprits, en témoigne les nombreuses systématisations entreprises par des juristes comme François Connan (1508-1551), François Le Douaren (1509-1559), Hugues Donneau (1527-1591) au XVIe siècle, et notamment Jean Domat (1625-1697) au XVIIe siècle avec ses fameuses Lois civiles dans leur ordre naturel (1689). Le droit canonique n’est pas étranger à ce phénomène. Parmi les acteurs, les Lois ecclésiastiques de France du canoniste et avocat Louis de Héricourt (1687-1752) en est l’illustration la plus célèbre. Souvent mentionné dans les études qui touchent à l’histoire du droit canonique et du gallicanisme, sa pensée est pourtant mal connue et mérite d’être replacée dans son contexte. Animé par l’idéal gallican, la défense d’une Église nationale, et la volonté de rendre accessible le droit ecclésiastique français, Louis de Héricourt systématise le droit ecclésiastique. La comparaison de son traité avec sa pratique juridique, relative aux bénéfices ecclésiastiques, vient confirmer qu’Héricourt réalise une systématisation du droit canonique français à l’époque moderne.

The thesis will be published by the "Éditions du CMH". 

(source: Centre Michel de l'Hôpital) 

SEMINAR: Xavier PRÉVOST, L’humanisme juridique entre nationalismes et histoire transnationale (Louvain-la-Neuve/Ottignies: UCLouvain, 10 NOV 2025)

(image source: UCLouvain)

ERC Grantee Prof. dr. Xavier Prévost (Bordeaux) will present his project "ISTHisFrench" at UCLouvain on 10 November 2025 at 17:30.

More information here.

BOOK: Eleanor COWAN, Kit MORRELL, Andrew PETTINGER & Michael SEVEL (eds.), The Rule of Law in Ancient Rome (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2025), ISBN 9780198959328

 

(image source: OUP)

Abstract:

This volume brings together the study of the rule of law—the idea that the law should protect citizens from arbitrary exercises of power—and the study of ancient Rome. Its chapters apply insights and approaches drawn from modern legal theory in order to understand the ways in which Romans thought about law and the place of law in their community, the extent to which Roman institutions and political norms protected citizens against the arbitrary exercise of power, and how these ideas and practices changed with Rome’s transition from republic to empire. Part I offers an overview of the modern concept of the rule of law and some of the challenges and possibilities of seeking a rule of law in ancient Rome. Part II focuses on the Roman republic and the relationship between key institutions and the law (including the senate, magistrates, people, and state religion), as well as the attitudes of some prominent late republican individuals towards the rule of law. Part III on the principate and empire explores aspirations for the rule of law in the wake of civil war, the relationship between the emperor and the law, and the nature of the emperor’s role as above the law but guarantor of justice. Together, the chapters reveal a world where elements of the rule of law are recognizable but inconsistently realized and sometimes subordinate to alternative ideals of justice, popular sovereignty, or the personal authority of individuals.

Table of  contents:

Introduction
Framing Questions
1:The Rule of Law: A Thought Pattern, Michael Sevel
2:In Search of a Roman Rule of Law, Michael Peachin
The Republic
3:Cato and the Rule of Law, Kit Morrell
4:The Populus and the Rule of Law, Amy Russell
5:'Rule of Law' and the Gods in the Late Republic, Catherine Steel
6:The Praetor's Edict and the Rule of Law, Andrew Pettinger
7:Non Iure Rogata: The People, the Senate, and the Rule of Law in Republican Rome, W. Jeffrey Tatum
8:Not in the Last Instance, Andrew M. Riggsby
Principate and Empire
9:Aspiration, Accountability, and Abuse: Augustus and the Law in Post-Conflict Rome, Eleanor Cowan
10:Princeps legibus solutus est an non? Cultures of Legality in the Roman Empire, Tristan S. Taylor
11:The Emperor as the Good Judge: The Emergence of Roman Imperial Jurisdiction as a Discourse on Justice and Rule of Law, Kaius Tuori
12:Some Remarks on Certainty Roman Law, Cosimo Cascione

Read more here: DOI 10.1093/9780198959359.001.0001.

BOOK REVIEW: Simon STERN on The reasonable person: a legal biography by Valentin Jeutner (Comparative Legal History, XIII (2025), nr. 1 (June), pp. 180-186)

(Image source: Taylor&Francis)

Valentin Jeutner sets out to understand the reasonable person’s ‘double life’ as an ‘unpretentious but powerful legal standard and as the common law’s most legendary but also most controversial character’–one that ‘features in virtually all areas of law’, populating areas such as contracts, torts, criminal law and administrative law. Jeutner explains at the outset that the standard’s most important feature is that it demands attention to ‘the perspective of another’: whatever particular traits it embodies, ‘the reasonable person figure is not you’. After a short introduction that previews the argument and collects some of the faux-jocular character sketches that judges and lawyers have composed over time, the book begins a historical review of some of the figure’s precursors and then considers its spread and various instantiations.

To read the full review, please click here. Online access is free for members of the European Society for Comparative Legal History. For further information about the volume on our blog, please visit here.

DOI: 10.1080/2049677X.2025.2500222

BOOK: Ilya A. KOTLYAR (ed.), Regulae Iuris in the Medieval and Modern Age. Essential Stability v. Evolving Contexts [Legal History Library, eds. Dirk HEIRBAUT, Michelle MCKINLEY, Matthew C. MIROW & R.C. VAN RHEE; vol. 78] (Leiden/Boston: Martinus Nijhoff/Brill, 2026), ISBN 978-90-04-73609-2, € 160,93

 

(image source: Brill)

Abstract:

This volume is the first anthology to address the topic of the regulae iuris, or maxims of law, from a uniform methodological point of view. It approaches the regulae iuris as a dynamic system with an ever-evolving structure. The contributors of this volume, being among the leading experts in the field, look at the regulae both in their essence and in their expanding interrelationships, taking account of their changing social and cultural contexts. This volume places the crystallisation and evolution of legal rules within a history of ideas, spanning a wide historical period and going beyond the narrow confines of the history of legal thought.

Contributors:

Ilya A. Kotlyar, Adolfo Giuliani, Maria Kola, David Deroussin, Piotr Alexandrowicz, Ger Coffey, Harry Dondorp, Emanuel G.D. van Dongen, and James R. Gordley.

On the editor:

University of Edinburgh, is an independent researcher who has worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Universities of Tilburg and Ghent. His primary research interest lies in the mutual interaction of legal doctrine and legal practice in European legal history, particularly in the areas of the law of succession and the law of obligations. 

Read more here: DOI  10.1163/9789004736092.

EUTOPIA CONNECTED LEARNING COMMUNITY LEGAL HISTORY 25-26 OPENING LECTURE: Prof. dr. Miloš VEC (Universität Wien), "After 1919 and after 1945: How two World Wars shaped German Thinking on International Law" (ONLINE, 14 NOV 2025, 15:00 Brussels Time)

 

(image source: University of Vienna)

The EUTopia Connected Learning Community Legal History is delighted to welcome Prof. dr. Miloš Vec (Universität Wien) for its annual opening lecture on Friday 14 November 2025.

Within the framework of this year's theme The End of War, Prof. Vec will address the following topic:

After 1919 and after 1945: How two World Wars shaped German Thinking on International Law

On the Speaker

Prof. Vec is currently at the Universität zu Köln as the Second Hans Kelsen Visiting Professor. Prior to being appointed at the Universität Wien in 2012, he taught and carried out research in Frankfurt, Hamburg, Bonn, Konstanz, Tübingen, Lyon II, Vilnius and at the Humboldt University in Berlin. He is a renowned legal historian. 

His publications include the monographs Zeremonialwissenschaft im Fürstenstaat. Studien zur juristischen und politischen Theorie absolutistischer Herrschaftsrepräsentation (Klostermann, 1998), Recht und Normierung in der Industriellen Revolution. Neue Strukturen der Normsetzung im Völkerrecht, staatlicher Gesetzgebung und gesellfschaftlicher Selbstnormierung (Klostermann, 2006) and -recently- Wolfgang Preiser (1903-1997) und sein "Institut für Geschichte des Völkerrechts" an der Universität Frankfurt Denkräume und Sozialwelten eines Völkerrechtshistorikers im 20. Jahrhundert (Nomos, 2025). He obtained the prestigious Otto Hahn Medal of the Max Planck Society in 1997, the Academy Prize of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences in 2008 and has been a senior Global Hauser Fellow at New York University in 2017. Between 2016 and 2020, he wass a permanent fellow at the Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen in Vienna. 

Prof. Vec is co-editor of Constructing International Law – The Birth of a Discipline (with Luigi Nuzzo, Klostermann, 2012), Paradoxes of Peace in Nineteenth Century Europe (with Thomas Hippler, Oxford, 2015), The Transformation of Foreign Policy (with Andreas Fahrmeir and Gunther Hellmann, Oxford, 2015), Western International Law, 1776-1870 (vol. VII of The Cambridge History of International Law, ed. Randall Lesaffer; with Paulina Starski, Cambridge, forthcoming) and The Congress of Vienna and the Transformation of International Law (with Matthias Schmoeckel, Brill, forthcoming). Prof. Vec equally is a member of the editorial board of the book series Studien zur Geschichte des Völkerrechts (Nomos) as well as of the Journal of the History of International Law/Revue d'histoire du droit international (Brill).

Prof. Vec contributes regularily to the leading German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, since 1989.

Practicalities

This lecture (with Q&A) takes place on Friday 14 November 2025 at 15:00 (Brussels/Paris Time), on Microsoft Teams. 

Target audience are lecturers/professors, researchers and students of the associated institutions (Vrije Universiteit Brussel - Prof. Frederik Dhondt; CY Cergy Paris Université - Prof. Caroula Argyriadis-Kervégan; University of Warwick, dr. Rosie Doyle; Univerza v Ljubljani, prof. dr. Katja Škrubej; Universitat Pompeu Fabra Barcelona, Prof. dr. Alfons Aragoneses). Yet, the meeting is also open to external particpants.

Interested listeners or auditors can contact Frederik dot Dhondt at vub dot be for registration.

More information is available on the website of the EUTopia learning community.