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31 July 2014

CFP: Doctoral Seminar by Prof. Emily Kadens (KU Leuven, October 3rd 2014)

What: Doctoral Seminar by Prof. Emily Kadens The Trouble with Custom followed by paper presentations by early-stage scholars 
Where:  Museumzaal MSI 02.08, Mgr Sencie-Institute, Erasmusplein 2, Leuven (B) 
When: October 3rd 2014, 9.00am-5.00pm 

Deadline: August 25th 2014 (send an email to: lectio@kuleuven.be

Historians of all types take for granted that something called "custom" existed. Then they use the term lazily, as did people in the pre-modern era, to refer to many types of legal rules and norms. But if we take seriously the Roman law definition adopted by the medieval jurists that custom is repeated behavior over time to which the majority of the community has tacitly consented to be bound, then how did this custom work? How was it formed? How did it evolve over time? What effect did writing have on it? What was its relationship to enacted and learned law? Is the Roman concept of custom and its reality in practice the same as the German distinction between Gewohnheitsrecht and Rechtsgewohnheit? And, most fundamentally, did custom as defined by the Roman law actually ever exist at all? If not, why did the jurists spend so much energy debating its intricacies? 

On the occasion of the presentation of LECTIO’s new book series, Professor Emily Kadens 
(Northwestern University School of Law, Chicago) will deliver a public lecture on Thursday 2 
October entitled ‘The Intellectual History of Custom’. In addition, on Friday 3 October she will 
lead a seminar on ‘The Trouble with Custom’. 

After an introductory session by Professor Kadens, the seminar will provide the opportunity to 
selected doctoral and post-doctoral scholars to present their research during a paper session and to discuss it with Professor Kadens and the other participants. We particularly welcome paper proposals that deal with one of the following topics: 
1. The relationship between custom as it worked in daily life and the legal theory of 
custom; 
2. The use of custom as an argument in law, philosophy, theology, philology, history, etc.; 
3. The interaction between legal history and intellectual history Interdisciplinary approaches and case studies that illustrate these topics from a historical or present day perspective are an asset. 
Successful applicants are expected to give a 10-minute ‘Work-in-Progress’ talk in English followed by a 20-minute discussion. 

A paper (max. 10 pages) and a short CV should be submitted no later than 25 August 2014 to 

For organizational purposes, scholars who want to attend the seminar without presenting a paper are also asked to register before that date. 

All participants of the doctoral seminar will receive a reading assignment by the end of August 
2014. 





30 July 2014

CONFERENCE: "Understanding legal reasoning: a role for history and philosophy in modern private law"(Groningen, 11-12 September 2014)

WHAT: Conference on the theme "Understanding legal reasoning: a role for history and philosophy in modern private law"
WHERE: Congreszaal, Het Kasteel,
Melkweg 1, 9718 EP Groningen
WHEN: Thursday 11th September 2014 3:00-5:00 pm; Friday 12th September 2014 9.30 am -4.45 pm

The Groningen Centre for Law and Governance (GCL) and the Department of Private and Notarial Law of the Faculty of Law of the University of Groningen, will organize the conference Understanding Legal Reasoning, A Role for History and Philosophy in Modern Private Law on 11 and 12 September 2014.

all information here

Conference theme

The Connection of Private Law with History and Philosophy
The privileged flow of communication which used to link private lawyers to legal historians and philosophers is nowadays reduced to a trickle. Today, most private lawyers, influenced by a European trend in higher education which encourages specialisation at the expense of foundational subjects, ask themselves why historical and philosophical modules have not yet been removed from the academic curricula in favour of legal subjects perceived as more in line with current developments.
Yet, the European legal systems were developed by jurists who were well aware of the historical and theoretical roots of their science. For example, the Pandectists, the forefathers of the influential German civil code, developed German law largely on the basis of Roman law. Even the English common law contains clear examples of the fruitful relationship linking private law to history and philosophy. Thus, William Blackstone, the author of the Commentaries on the Laws of England – arguably the most systematic and certainly the most influential analysis of English law – and the first Vinerian Professor of English Law at Oxford University, was an excellent classical scholar.
Whereas the detachment of private law from historical and philosophical investigations has its roots in the eighteenth and nineteenth century, it is during the twentieth century that the fading interest for historical and philosophical studies in Europe becomes an indisputable fact. The demise of Roman law as a system of living law, the expansion of commercial law after the Second World War, the pressure on higher education institutions to produce as many lawyers as possible in the shortest possible time: these are just some of the factors which might have contributed to the decline of the productive cross-fertilisation. For their part, legal historians and philosophers bear their share of responsibility for the present situation: beyond the lively discussion concerning the cultural and legal roots European private law, there have been few attempts to include private lawyers in the modern theoretical and historical debates and to highlight the practical significance of foundational subjects for the enhancement of the legal skills.

JOURNAL: "Legal History e-journal" (Vol. 18, No. 64: Jul 15, 2014)


Legal History e-journal 

Vol. 18, No. 64: Jul 15, 2014

All articles here

JOURNAL: "LAW EDUCATOR: COURSES, MATERIALS & TEACHING eJOURNAL" (Vol. 10, N. 20, July, 2014)


"Law educator: courses, materials & teaching e-journal"

Vol. 10, n. 20, July, 2014

all articles here

BOOK: Halpérin's Five Legal Revolutions Since the 17th Century: An Analysis of a Global Legal History

Jean-Louis Halpérin's Five Legal Revolutions Since the 17th Century: An Analysis of a Global Legal History (Springer) has been published:

This book presents an analysis of global legal history in Modern times, questioning the effect of political revolutions since the 17th century on the legal field. Readers will discover a non-linear approach to legal history as this work investigates the ways in which law is created. These chapters look at factors in legal revolution such as the role of agents, the policy of applying and publicising legal norms, codification and the orientations of legal writing, and there is a focus on the publicization of law.

The author uses Herbert Hart’s schemes to conceive law as a human artefact or convention, being the union between primary rules of obligations and secondary rules conferring powers. Here we learn about those secondary rules and the legal construction of the Modern state, and we question the extent to which codification and law reporting were likely to revolutionize the legal field.

These chapters examine the hypothesis of a legal revolution that could have concerned many countries in modern times. To begin with, the book considers the legal aspect of the construction of Modern States in the 17th and 18th centuries. It goes on to examine the consequences of the codification movement as a legal revolution before looking at the so-called “constitutional” revolution, linked with the extension of judicial review in many countries after World War II. Finally, the book enquires into the construction of an EU legal order and international law.

In each of these chapters, the author measures the scope of the change, how the secondary rules are concerned, the role of the professional lawyers and what are the characters of the new configuration of the legal field. This book provokes new debates in legal philosophy about the rule of change and will be of particular interest to researchers in the fields of law, theories of law, legal history, philosophy of law and historians more broadly.​

Recommended. - SPD

29 July 2014

BOOK: Birks on The Roman Law of Obligations

The Roman Law of Obligations*** Exclusive 30% discount from Oxford University Press ***

Peter Birks
Edited by Eric Descheemaeker
Now: £35.00 (was £50.00)

The Roman Law of Obligations presents a series of lectures delivered by the late Peter Birks as an introductory course in Roman law. Discovered in complete manuscript form following his death, the lectures are published here for the first time.

Customers can claim the discount by visiting our website at www.oup.co.uk/law, adding a book to the shopping basket, and entering the code ALAUTH14 in the promotional code box.

25 July 2014

WORKSHOP: The Making of Commercial Law (Helsinki, 1-3 September)



Nomôdos announced the Program of a Workshop to be held at Helsinki early September, on the history of commercial law, featuring several members of our society. More information below:

Preliminary Programme
(subject to changes)
Sunday, 31 August 2014

19.30 Meeting at hotel lobby: City walking tour and welcome drink
Monday, 1 September 2014
Session 1: Sources and Commercial Law
9.30-12.00, venue: Lecture room P545 (faculty meeting room), Faculty of Law, Porthania, Yliopistonkatu 3
  • Eberhard Isenmann: Legal, moral-theological and genuinely economic opinions on questions of trade and economy in 15th and early 16th century Germany.
  • Dave De Ruysscher: Merchant manuals as sources.
  • Heikki Pihlajamäki: Constructing a field of law: sources of commercial law in Scandinavia.
Lunch, 12.00-13.30, venue TBA
Session 2: Commercial Legal Conflict Resolution in the Baltic Sea Region
13.30-15.00, venue: Lecture room P545 (Faculty meeting room), Faculty of Law, Porthania, Yliopistonkatu 3
  • Justina Wubs-Mrozewicz: Mercantile conflict resolution in practice: connecting diplomatic and legal sources from Danzig c. 1460-1580. 
  • Marko Lamberg: Commercial law according to the protocols from the Stockholm Town Court, c. 1475-1650: preliminary reflections.
Coffee Break, 15.00-15.30
Session 3: Superior Courts as Fora for Commercial Legal Conflicts 1
15.30-17.45, venue: Lecture room P545 (Faculty meeting room), Faculty of Law, Porthania, Yliopistonkatu 3
  • Alain Wijffels: Records and sources of commercial litigation before the Great Council of Mechelen (15th-16th centuries). 
  • Peter Oestmann: Court records as sources for the history of commercial law: The Oberappellationsgericht Lübeck as commercial court.
  • Mia Korpiola: Svea Court of Appeal records as a source of commercial law. 
Dinner, 19.00, venue TBA
Tuesday, 2 September 2014
Session 4: Superior Courts as Fora for Commercial Legal Conflicts 2
9.00-10.30, venue: Lecture room P545 (faculty meeting room), Faculty of Law, Porthania, Yliopistonkatu 3
  • Anja Amend-Traut: The high imperial courts (the Aulic Council and the Imperial Chamber Court) and commerce.
  • Boudewijn Sirks: The High Council of Holland and Zealand (to be confirmed).
Coffee Break, 10.30-11.00
Session 5: Comparing English and Continental Commercial Law
11.00-12.30, venue: Lecture room P545 (faculty meeting room), Faculty of Law, Porthania, Yliopistonkatu 3
  • Guido Rossi: Comparing the sources of English and continental commercial law - with the example of maritime insurance law. 
  • Margrit Schulte Beerbühl: Bankruptcies, speculation bubbles and the law: bankruptcy law vs. bankruptcy management in late eighteenth-century Hamburg and London.
Lunch, 12.30-14.00, venue TBA
Session 6: Custom and Codification in French and Italian Commercial Law
14.00-16.15, venue: Lecture room P545 (faculty meeting room), Faculty of Law, Porthania, Yliopistonkatu 3
  • Richard Court: Genoese merchants and the consuetudine 
  • Edouard Richard: Rise of usages in French commercial law and jurisprudence (17th-19th centuries)
  • Olivier Descamps: On origins of the French Commercial Code: vicissitudes of the Gorneau Draft.
Session 7: Expanding Horizons: Universal and Non-European Commercial Law
16.30-17.15, venue: Lecture room P545 (faculty meeting room), Faculty of Law, Porthania, Yliopistonkatu 3
  • Albrecht Cordes: Levin Goldschmidt and the concept of universal commercial law.
Wednesday, 3 September 2014
Steering group meeting
Contact: 
  • Jussi Sallila, Faculty of Law, Legal History, P.O. Box 4, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland - jussi.sallila@helsinki.fi

CONFERENCE: Treaty Breaches. The Obligatory Force of Diplomacy and Its Limitations. (Munster, 17-19 September 2014)

HSozUKult announced an interesting conference hosted by Prof. Martin Kintzinger (Münster) on the legal history of medieval and early modern international relations. Program and platform text below:

Welche Brechungen und Verwerfungen bewirken kulturelle, mediale und soziale Grenzen auf dem Feld der vormodernen diplomatischen Interaktion? Welche Bedeutung besitzen sie für deren symbolische Inszenierung? Und welche Rolle spielen diese Grenzen dort, wo diplomatische Verbindlichkeit infragegestellt wird – kurz: Wo Verträge gebrochen werden?
Mit diesen Fragen beschäftigt sich das von Prof. Dr. Martin Kintzinger geleitete DFG-Projekt „Symbolische Kommunikation und kulturelle Differenz. Visualisierung interkultureller Diplomatie im westeuropäischen Spätmittelalter“, das vom 17.-19. September 2014 in Münster seine Abschlußtagung veranstaltet. Unser besonderes Interesse gilt der Erzeugung von Verbindlichkeit und den Problemen, die dabei auftreten. Im Rahmen der Abschlußtagung werden wir unterschiedliche Perspektiven auf diesen Problemkreis bündeln, indem wir den „Bruch des Vertrags“ sowie seine Antizipationen und Nachwirkungen in den Blick nehmen.
Die Beiträge sind auf drei Feldern angesiedelt:
1. Normative Auseinandersetzung mit Vertragsschlüssen und –brüchen: Explizite und implizite Handlungsnormen; juristische, ethische, philosophische Diskurse zu Vertragsschluß und Vertragsbruch.
2. Phänomenologie des Vertragsbruchs in vormodernen Gesellschaften.
3. Probleme der Verbindlichkeitserzeugung über kulturelle Grenzen hinweg.

BLOGPOST: A Legal History Survival Guide (Mary Dudziak)

Prof. Mary Dudziak (Emory University) has published a short research guide to legal history for the use of historians of US Foreign Relations. Although its orientation is maybe outside the scope of our organisation, she provides useful guidelines for our colleagues in history department on how to tackle the legal side of their subjects.

(source: Legal History Blog)

BOOK: The founders of international law (Éditions Panthéon-Assas, "Les Introuvables"), 2014 [1904]



Nomôdos announced the updated edition of the early 20th century collective work "Les fondateurs du droit international", discussing Martens, Bynkershoek, Pufendorf, Wolff... 

Summary and presentation:

Publié en 1904 par un collectif de jeunes universitaires, parmi lesquels Jules Basdevant et George Scelle, l'ouvrage Les fondateurs du droit international consacre à dix grands auteurs du passé qui ont contribué à construire la doctrine du droit international des études qui ont gardé, aujourd'hui encore et malgré les progrès de l'histoire du droit international, tout leur intérêt scientifique. Comme l'écrit le professeur Denis Alland dans une préface d'une grande finesse historique et doctrinale, «il n'y a toujours pas beaucoup d'ouvrages qui puissent être comparés aux Fondateurs, ne fût-ce que par l'étendue du champ que l'ouvrage embrasse, par le temps qu'il fait gagner à ceux qui, tout en ne se destinant pas à devenir des historiens érudits du droit international public, souhaitent bénéficier de quelques lumières sur des doctrines passées qui ont, à un titre ou à un autre, contribué à l'émergence de cette discipline.»
Charles Leben
«Cet ouvrage sera apprécié: je l'espère et j'en suis certain. Tous ceux qui lui ont consacré leurs efforts ont agi dans un même esprit, ils ont réussi à lui donner une unité véritable; ils ont entendu livrer au public un exposé exact des doctrines des différents maîtres dont ils avaient entrepris de réveiller le souvenir et ils l'ont fait. C'est bien une histoire des doctrines de ces jurisconsultes que nous possédons là, histoire écrite par des hommes qui ont lu leurs ouvrages (il n'est pas inutile de le dire) et qui possèdent du reste des connaissances fort étendues en droit international. Un pareil livre n'existait pas; il existe maintenant. Ne puis-je pas dire en toute sincérité à nos jeunes docteurs qu'en l'écrivant ils ont rendu un réel service à la science.»
A. Pillet
Sommaire
  • F. de Vitoria par J. Barthélemy
  • A. Gentilis par H. Nézard
  • F. Suarez par L. Rolland
  • H. Grotius par J. Basdevant
  • R. Zouch par G. Scelle
  • Pufendorf par P. Avril
  • C. Van Bynkershoek par J. Delpech
  • C.-F. de Wolff par L. Olive
  • E. de Wattel par A. Mallarmé
  • G.-F. de Martens par H. Bailby

BOOK REVIEW: Gisela Naegle on Richard W. Kaeuper (ed.), Law, Governance and Justice. New Views on Medieval Constitutionalism, Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff, 2013 (Francia-Recensio 2014-2)

Recensio.net published a review by Gisela Naegle (Giessen/Paris) of a collective work on medieval constitutionalism, edited in Brill's Medieval Legal Practice Series.

The full text is available here.

BOOK: Translations of Francisco de Vitoria by J.-P. Poujou (Paris, Bibliothèque Dalloz, 2014, 2014, 428 p.)



Nomôdos announces the publication of a French translation of the Spanish neo-scholastic author Vitoria's De Justitia by the philosopher Jean-Paul Coujou (Toulouse). More information at the Dalloz website. In addition, other recent French Vitoria-translations are signalled in the Nomôdos-post.

BOOK: C. Puigelier, "The Art of Being a Savant. How Science and Law Were Written in the 18th and 19th Centuries" (Mare et Martin, 2014)


Nomodôs announced the publication of a work at the crossroads of law and the general development of science in the eighteenth century. Interestingly, the work has been published both in French and in English.

More information here.

Présentation éditeur
Les XVIIIe et XIXe siècles ont vu éclore des talents de science et de droit. Les mathématiques, la botanique, la géologie, la physique, la géographie seront des motifs d’évasion vers les secrets du monde ou les armes des hommes. Le droit est l’une de ces armes : l’éprouvette ou le compas vont être posés aux côtés d’arrêts de Cours de justice ou de livres de droit.
Il s’agit d’échapper à l’obscurité et à l’irrationalité. L’expérience joue un rôle considérable. Il n’est plus possible de croire sans voir. Il n’est plus possible de dire sans garantir. La garantie passe (également) par des droits. Il n’est plus possible d’expérimenter ou d’opérer sans le respect de la dignité ou de l’individualité.
Le parcours n’est pas sans heurts. On se dispute, on se ferraille, on s’empoigne pour accepter ce qui paraît naturel au droit français du XXIe siècle. L’homme ne peut être un outil de la science sans son consentement et le respect d’un ordre (qui va devenir public).
Il n’est pas étonnant que la science et le droit s’associent ou qu’ils trouvent des chemins pour s’entretenir. Tous deux sont des causes de remue-ménage. Le cerveau aime se mettre à la disposition des incertitudes. Il est (souvent) prêt à s’installer dans l’ombre des complications.
Certains hommes ont pourtant arraché cet organe humain qu’est notre machine à penser des griffes de la bêtise. 

CALL FOR PAPERS: "Complicity" Conference (Sydney, 9-12 December 2015)

The Law & Humanities blog posted a Preliminary Call for Papers for a Law & Humanities Conference, to be held in Sydney from 9 to 12 December 2015 on the theme of "Complicity", with the sponsorship of the "Law, Literature and Humanities Association of Australasia".

More information here.

BOOK: "Law and Custom in Korea", by Marie Seong-hak Kim


This book sets forth the evolution of Korea's law and legal system from the Chosǒn dynasty through the colonial and postcolonial modern periods. This is the first book in English that comprehensively studies Korean legal history in comparison with European legal history, with particular emphasis on customary law. Korea's passage to Romano-German civil law under Japanese rule marked a drastic departure from its indigenous legal tradition. The transplantation of modern civil law in Korea was facilitated by Japanese colonial jurists who themselves created a Korean customary law; this constructed customary law served as an intermediary regime between tradition and the demands of modern law. The transformation of Korean law by the brisk forces of Westernization points to new interpretations of colonial history and it presents an intriguing case for investigating the spread of law on the global level. In-depth discussions of French customary law and Japanese legal history in this book provide a solid conceptual framework suitable for comparing European and East Asian legal traditions.
  • A comprehensive survey of Korean legal history, covering traditional law, colonial law and modern Korean law
  • The first book in English on Korean colonial law and jurisprudence
  • The first book that approaches Korean legal history from a comparative perspective, providing comparisons between East Asian legal history and European legal history
  • courtesy www.cambridge.org

22 July 2014

CFP: "Remaking North American Sovereignty:Towards a Continental History of StateTransformation in the Mid Nineteenth Century" (30 July - 1 August 2014, Canada)


WHAT: "Remaking North American Sovereignty: Towards a Continental History of StateTransformation in the Mid Nineteenth Century", Call for Papers

WHERE:  Banff Centre in Banff, Alberta,Canada

WHEN: 30 July - 1 August 2014

CONFERENCE: "the 17th International Conference on the History of Concepts" (Bielefeld, 28-30 August 2014)



WHAT:  "the 17th International Conference on the History of Concepts"

WHERE: University of Bielefeld

WHEN: 28-30 August 2014

PHD STUDENTSHIP: Digital Panopticon (2014/2018)






WHAT: Digital Panopticon, 6 Phd studentships
WHERE: Universities of Liverpool, Sheffield and Tasmania
WHEN: 2014/2018

The Digital Panopticon is a four-year international digital history project to link together existing and new genealogical, biometric and criminal justice datasets held by different organisations in the UK and Australia, exploring the impact of the different types of penal punishments on the lives of 66,000 people sentenced at The Old Bailey between 1780 and 1875. We have six PhD studentships available with topics including convict lives and careers, recidivism, social and spatial worlds, and the impact of digital resources on the history of crime, spread across the Universities of Liverpool, Sheffield and Tasmania.

The deadlines for applications are 28 July (Liverpool and Sheffield) and  31 July (Tasmania). The UK-based studentships will be interviewed in August, to start 1 October 2014.

More information about all of the studentships can be found here here

17 July 2014

CFP: British Legal History Conference 2015 - Law: Challenges to Authority and the Recognition of Rights‏ (Reading, 8-11 July 2015)

WHAT: "The British Legal History Conference 2015 – Law: Challenges to Authority and the 
Recognition of Rights
WHERE: University of Reading
WHEN: 8-11 July 2015

In celebration of the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta the theme of the British Legal History Conference 2015 at the University of Reading is ‘Law: Challenges to Authority and the Recognition of Rights’. 

While different forms and ideas of authority have shaped law historically, law has also been  moulded by, and influenced, challenges to authority brought to assert and seek recognition of rights. Magna Carta resulted from one such challenge, but challenges to social, economic, political and doctrinal authorities existed before Magna Carta and have continued to occur since. The British Legal History Conference 2015 is concerned to explore how law, both public and private, has been shaped by, and shaped, challenges to authority brought to seek the recognition of rights. It welcomes papers which examine how law, legal processes and legal actors have developed in response to such challenges to authority, and indeed how an understanding of the law has itself often influenced these challenges. While the conference will explore challenges of different natures and from different epochs, proposals concerned with Magna Carta, and particularly its impact beyond England, are welcomed. 
 In addition to this general call for papers, the 2015 Conference will also include a special session for young and less experienced scholars. The organisers welcome proposals from postgraduate and early career researchers for this session. 

Proposals for papers (maximum 300 words) should be submitted to BLHC2015@reading.ac.uk 
by 30 September 2014. 

JOURNAL: Law crime and History, vol. 4,issue 2



MASTER: Law and compared normativities between Rome and Paris



The University of RomaTre and the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (Paris) in collaboration with the Sorbonne, have recently established a new Double Master Degree caracterized by an original structure and a fresh aim. The goal of this master is in fact to open the doors of law departments to people trained in humanities and social sciences in order to be introduced to the world of legal as well as other kinds of normativities. The master is of course open also to law students. The students will spend one year in Paris and one year in Rome and the cost of the apartments will be included in the enrollment fees. They will be admitted to a number of regular courses held in the 3 universities involved, as well as to ad hoc seminars and stages (e.g. in the legal clinics of the RomaTre University).  


Enrollment is possible at the University of RomaTre until the end of July 2014.

Master in diritto e normatività comparate
Dir. Prof. Emanuele Conte (Univ.RomaTre) and 
Prof. Paolo Napoli (CENJ - EHESS Paris)

For more information, click here or write to giuseppina.santilli@uniroma3.it.     

For the description of the Master in French, please click here.                                                                      



14 July 2014

DOCTORAL TRAINING PROGRAM: Legal Culture (University of Toulouse, 2014-2017)

Nomodôs announces a cycle of training and study on legal culture, specifically aimed at Ph.D.-students in law (and the humanities). More information below:

Le projet DIKE propose une recherche pluriannuelle et pluridisciplinaire sur les fondements, les contours et les contenus des droits et cultures juridiques en Europe (Antiquité – Période contemporaine). 
Animé par une équipe de chercheurs de l’Université Toulouse 1 Capitole et d’universités étrangères, il se déroulera de novembre 2014 à juin 2017. Il s’adresse en particulier aux doctorants d’histoire du droit inscrits à l’université Toulouse 1 Capitole ou dans tout autre université française et étrangère ainsi qu’à tous les autres doctorants que des approches scientifiques et méthodologiques peuvent intéresser (comparatisme juridique et historique, histoire du droit, histoire, droit privé, droit public, philosophie du droit, histoire culturelle du droit). 
Un cycle de trois ans de formation à la recherche et par la recherche autour des l’Histoire des justices en Europe. 
Un programme annuel de recherche: 
  • trois journées d’études chaque année (novembre, février, avril) 
  • une semaine doctorale (fin juin-début juillet) 
Une formation doctorale: les journées d’études et la semaine doctorale sont ouvertes à tous les doctorants français ou étrangers. Elles sont prises en compte au titre de la formation doctorale de l’Ecole doctorale de Droit et Science politique de l’Université Toulouse 1 Capitole dans les conditions suivantes : 25 heures pour les participants aux journées d’études et à la semaine doctorale (journée d’études = 12 heures ; semaine doctorale : 13 heures) et 3 heures pour chacune des journées d’études pour les auditeurs. 
Des rencontres interactives: Les différentes activités proposées permettent d’inviter des professeurs et doctorants français et étrangers à discuter de leurs écrits et de leurs travaux en cours, présenter des sources, établir des bilans historiographiques, réfléchir à des éléments méthodologiques et épistémologiques ou encore dégager des perspectives de recherches. L’approche se veut résolument diachronique et comparatiste. 
Une valorisation des travaux par une publication collective annuelle. 
Une inscription obligatoire et validée au titre de la formation doctorale ou professionnelle. 

PROJET: 
Le projet DIKE consiste en une recherche pluriannuelle et pluridisciplinaire sur les fondements, les contours et les contenus des cultures juridiques européennes, contemporaines et modernes. Animé par une équipe de chercheurs de l’université Toulouse 1 Capitole et d’universités étrangères, il débutera, de façon opérationnelle, à partir d’octobre 2014 et portera pendant ses trois premières années d’existence sur le thème de l’Histoire des justices en Europe. 
Au-delà de sa dimension «Recherche» évidente, fondée notamment sur la pluralité des approches scientifiques et méthodologiques (comparatisme juridique et historique, histoire du droit, histoire, droit privé, droit public, philosophie du droit, histoire culturelle du droit, études de «toutes» les justices), ce projet se caractérise également par une très forte ambition de formation, en particulier destinée aux doctorants d’histoire du droit inscrits à l’université Toulouse 1 Capitole ou dans tout autre université française et étrangère ainsi qu’à tous les doctorants (en droit privé, droit public, science politique, droit européen, international et comparé, littérature, etc.) qu’une approche fondamentale de la justice intéresse. Dikè constitue donc pour l’ensemble de ces jeunes chercheurs, une formation à la recherche et par la recherche à partir d’un questionnement portant sur les droits et cultures juridiques en Europe (Antiquité – Période contemporaine). Il s’adresse également aux professionnels du droit (magistrats, avocats, etc.) au titre de la formation professionnelle continue ou dans la perspective d’un échange scientifique entre universitaires et praticiens. 
Le projet Dikè permet de nouer et développer des partenariats avec des universités étrangères. Constitué en réseau international, il a vocation à dédoubler à l’étranger les journées d’études et à réunir à Toulouse les doctorants et enseignants-chercheurs français et étrangers au cours de la semaine doctorale. 
Sur la base d’un programme thématique d’une durée de trois ans, le projet Dikè invite des enseignants-chercheurs, des doctorants et de jeunes docteurs français et étrangers à présenter leurs propres réflexions, leurs lectures et, éventuellement, à discuter de leurs écrits ou travaux en cours. Chaque programme annuel s’articule de la façon suivante: trois journées d’études et une semaine doctorale sur le thème retenu pour l’année, déclinant lui-même le thème choisi pour les trois ans. Les journées d’études réunissent un nombre limité d’intervenants enseignants-chercheurs et privilégient l’échange scientifique avec les doctorants préparés à la rencontre par l’équipe organisatrice locale. La semaine doctorale a vocation à réunir chaque année à Toulouse l’ensemble des publics participants, français et étrangers. Elle permet aux doctorants, accompagnés par les chercheurs confirmés impliqués dans le projet, d’éprouver différents exercices pratiques et théoriques : analyse et maniement des sources, établissement de bilans historiographiques, présentation de communications, réflexions épistémologiques et méthodologiques, discussions avec les auteurs, etc. 
Le premier thème triennal est celui de l’Histoire des justices en Europe. La première année portera sur les fondements, symboles et représentations. Le colloque inaugural de novembre 2014 sera plus précisément consacré aux aspects épistémologiques et méthodologiques permettant de poser les attentes de chercheurs reconnus d’histoire de la justice, d’histoire comparée, de droit international et d’un juge international. 
Une valorisation des travaux est prévue en lien avec le site internet du CTDHIP ainsi que la création d’une collection spécialement consacrée à ces travaux pionniers en histoire comparée du droit et des institutions (publication annuelle des communications et échanges issus des journées d’études). A l’issue du cycle de trois ans, un colloque international et une publication collective originale clôtureront le premier programme triennal. 
Porteurs du projet DIKÈ 
  • Ludovic Azéma, MCF Histoire du droit, CTHDIP, UT1 Capitole 
  • Caroline Cabée, MCF Histoire du droit, CTHDIP, UT1 Capitole 
  • Lycette Corbion, MCF Droit privé, IDETCOM, UT1 Capitole 
  • Béatrice Fourniel, MCF Histoire du droit, CTHDIP, Univ. JF Champollion, Albi 
  • Florent Garnier, Pr Histoire du droit, CTHDIP, UT1 Capitole 
  • Jean-Christophe Gaven, Pr Histoire du droit, CTHDIP, UT1 Capitole 
  • Mathieu Soula, Pr Histoire du droit, CTHDIP, Univ. Reims 
Comité scientifique DIKÈ 
  • Martine Charageat, MCF Histoire, Bordeaux 3 
  • Jean-Louis Halpérin, Pr Histoire du droit, ENS 
  • Jacques Krynen, Pr Histoire du droit, UT1 Capitole 
  • Wanda Mastor, Pr Droit public, UT1 Capitole 
  • Tomás de Montagut, Pr Histoire du droit, universitat Pompeu Fabra 
  • Francesco Aimerito, Pr Histoire du droit, universita degli studi del Piemonte Orientale 
  • Ludovic Azéma, MCF Histoire du droit, CTHDIP, UT1 Capitole 
  • Caroline Cabée, MCF Histoire du droit, CTHDIP, UT1 Capitole 
  • Lycette Corbion, MCF Droit privé, IDETCOM, UT1 Capitole 
  • Béatrice Fourniel, MCF Histoire du droit, CTHDIP, Univ. JF Champollion, Albi 
  • Florent Garnier, Pr Histoire du droit, CTHDIP, UT1 Capitole 
  • Jean-Christophe Gaven, Pr Histoire du droit, CTHDIP, UT1 Capitole 
  • Mathieu Soula, Pr Histoire du droit, CTHDIP, Univ. Reims 
Membres associés DIKÈ 
Les enseignants-chercheurs étrangers qui souhaitent, dans le cadre de leur laboratoire et en partenariat avec le CTHDIP, organiser dans leur université d’origine une ou plusieurs «Journées d’études Dikè» peuvent demander aux porteurs du projet le statut de «membre associé». Les thèmes de ces journées d’études sont nécessairement les mêmes que ceux des journées toulousaines et préparent les doctorants étrangers à leur participation à la semaine doctorale européenne organisée à Toulouse. Le statut de membre associé est accordé à tout moment du cycle triennal par les porteurs du projet et jusqu’à son terme. 
Publics: 
  • Doctorants en histoire du droit 
  • Doctorants en droit privé, droit public, science politique 
  • Doctorants en lettres ou sciences humaines et sociales 
  • Professionnels du droit et de la justice 
*Les journées d’études et la semaine doctorale sont ouvertes à tous les doctorants français ou étrangers. Elles sont prises en compte au titre de la formation doctorale de l’Ecole doctorale de Droit et Science politique de l’Université Toulouse 1 Capitole dans les conditions suivantes: 25 heures pour les participants aux journées d’études et à la semaine doctorale (journée d’études = 12 heures ; semaine doctorale : 13 heures) et 3 heures pour chacune des journées d’études pour les auditeurs. 
Inscriptions sur HTTP://CTHDIP.UT-CAPITOLE.FR/ à partir du 1er juin et jusqu'au 30 septembre 2014
Déroulement 
  • Conférence inaugurale (1h à 1h30) + Débat: par un collègue français ou étranger sur le thème retenu
  • Operatorium: présenter des sources, établir des bilans historiographiques, réfléchir à des éléments méthodologiques et épistémologiques ou encore dégager des perspectives de recherches 
  • Lectio / Quaestio: à partir d’un ouvrage ou d’écrits d’un enseignant-chercheur et en sa présence, discussion de ses écrits et de ses travaux en cours (programme de lecture annoncé en amont du Séminaire pour que les participants puissent préparer la discussion) 
  • Disputatio: présentation de travaux en lien avec la thématique du Séminaire par des doctorants ou de jeunes docteurs et un contradicteur (soumission des travaux en amont du Séminaire)

08 July 2014

FELLOWSHIP: JEV-Fellowship for European Administrative History 2015


 The Legal History Blog signals an opportunity for early-stage researchers working or intending to work on European Administrative Law (16th-20th Century), at the MPI for European Legal History in Frankfurt am Main. Deadline: 30 September 2014 (for Fellowships covering the year 2015).
At the end of 2012 Prof. Dr. Erk Volkmar Heyen, Professor of Public Law and European Administrative History at the Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University of Greifswald until his retirement and the editor of the "Jahrbuch für europäische Verwaltungsgeschichte/Yearbook of European Administrative History" (JEV) published from 1989 to 2008, donated a research fellowship in the field of European Administrative History ("The JEV-Fellowship for European Administrative History"). The fellowship falls within the framework of the German University Foundation (Bonn, Germany).

The scholarship is intended to benefit the next generation of scientific researchers, particularly doctoral and post-doctoral students, and specifically for the final phase of their research project for a duration of no longer than 12 months. The scholarship is based on the usual rates for doctoral fellowships of the German Research Foundation (DFG). Should a fellowship be awarded for research abroad, the local conditions will be the determining factor. Marital status will not be deemed a consideration, and neither will travel- nor other costs be reimbursed.

The Board of the German University Foundation decides on and awards the fellowship based on a proposal by a jury. This jury is based at the Max Planck Institute for European Legal History (MPI) in Frankfurt, where the founder worked in the 1980s. Currently the permanent members of the jury are: the Managing Director of the Max Planck Institute, Prof. Dr. Thomas Duve, Prof. Dr. Stefan Brakensiek, Professor of Early Modern History at the Institute for History of the University of Duisburg-Essen, and Priv.-Doz. Dr. Peter Collin, Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute. The German University Foundation provides for the payment of the fellowships and informs the recipients about the terms and conditions and the legal requirements to be complied with by the recipients in their personal capacities.

Early stage researchers from Germany and abroad are invited to apply. In accordance with the thematic and methodological spectrum covered by the JEV, the scholarship is open to all historical disciplines, provided the research project addresses an aspect of European administrative history from the period of the sixteenth to the twentieth century. The importance of the research topic should impact beyond the national level. Comparative research questions are particularly welcome.

CONFERENCE: Criminal Law and Emotions in European Legal Cultures: From 16th Century to the Present (MPI for Human Development, Berlin, 21-22 May 2014)




HSozuKult signals the call for papers of a conference to be held next year in May at the Berlin-based MPI for Human Development, focusing on "Criminal Law and Emotions in European Legal Cultures: From 16th Century to the Present". Deadline: 1 October 2014.

Mission statement:
KEYNOTES
Elizabeth Lunbeck (Vanderbilt University)
David Sabean (UCLA)
ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION
Dagmar Ellerbrock (MPIB/TU Dresden)
Terry Maroney (Vanderbilt University)
Legal institutions and jurists have often perceived themselves and promoted an image of their role and activity as essentially ‘rational’. Yet, emotions have always been integral to the law, particularly in the case of criminal law. Emotions were and are taken explicitly or implicitly into consideration in legal debates, in law-making, in the codified norms and in their application, especially in relation to paramount categories such as free will, individual responsibility and culpability, or the aggravating and mitigating circumstances of a crime. Emotions could directly or indirectly play a role in defining what conduct was legally relevant, worthy of legal protection or in need of legal proscription; in why and how it was necessary to punish, and what feelings punishment was meant to evoke.
Legal scholars in the past did not shun the complex relationship between law and emotions. Yet it is in the last two decades that specialists from different disciplines, from law theory to psychology, from philosophy to history, have shown an increasing and lively interest in unravelling the role played by passions, feelings and sentiments in criminal law. Special attention has been focused on three key areas: norms, practices and people.
This two-day conference seeks to historicize the relationship between law and emotions, focusing on the period from the sixteenth century to the present. It aims to ask how legal definitions, categorizations and judgments were influenced by, and themselves influenced, moral and social codes; religious and ideological norms; scientific and medical expertise; and perceptions of the body, gender, age, social status. By examining the period between the sixteenth century and the present day, this conference also seeks to challenge and problematize the demarcation between the early modern and the modern period, looking at patterns and continuities, as well as points of fissure and change, in the relationship between law and emotions. In particular, it seeks to question the extent to which ideas about law and emotions fundamentally shifted around the eighteenth century—the traditional marker of the ‘modern’ period.
This conference will explore how legal professionals, as judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys and other legal officials, handled different forms of knowledge about emotions in the practice of law, in accordance with, or in opposition to, general social and cultural attitudes and public opinion. It will further investigate the presence and absence—and their meanings—of emotions in the courtroom, as a fundamental aspect of criminal law practices. It will take into consideration not only the emotions which were shown, expected and provoked but also the ones which were repressed, controlled or proscribed by different legal actors and the public. Finally it will also include analysis of how legal understandings of emotions were portrayed in the media and in the wider society.
We invite submissions from scholars of different historical disciplines, working on early modern and modern periods and particularly encourage proposals from scholars working on Northern, Central and Eastern European countries, and the non-Western world.
The conference will be held in English.
Accommodation and travel expenses for those presenting will be covered by the Max Planck Institute for Human Development. If you are interested in participating in this conference, please send us a proposal of no more than 300 words and a short CV by 1 October 2014 to cfp-emotions@mpib-berlin.mpg.de. Papers should be no longer than 20 minutes, in order to allow time for questions and discussion.
Dr. Laura Kounine, Center for the History of Emotions, Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin
Dr. Gian Marco Vidor, Center for the History of Emotions, Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin

COURSE: "Spanish and italian jurists and their work in the new world" (Erice, 30 September - 4 October 2014)


WHAT: 34th Course of the International School of Ius Commune on the theme "Spanish and italian jurists and their work in the new world"

WHERE: Erice, Sicily, Italy

WHEN: 30 September - 4 October 2014


04 July 2014

CONFERENCE: "Traditions and changes", Third biennal ESCLH 2014 CONFERENCE (Macerata, 8-9 July 2014)

WHAT: Traditions and Changes, Third Biennial ESCLH Conference
WHERE: University of Macerata, Law Department, Macerata, Italy
WHEN: 8-9 July 2014
We are glad to announce that the Third Biennial ESCLH ConferenceTraditions and Changes, will be held on July 8-9, 2014 at the University of Macerata (Italy).
In the fantastic Italian environment of Le Marche region, participants will share new perspectives in the field of Comparative Legal History.
All information here
Facebook page here

NOTICE: British Crime Historians Symposium 4, registration NOW OPEN (26-27 September 2014)

 
What: British Crime Historians Symposium 2014 -Registration open

Where: University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom

When: 26/27 September 2014

 Registration here

The bi-annual British Crime Historians Symposium highlights leading research in the history of law, crime and criminal justice.
This year’s conference welcomes scholars to submit panels or proposals related to any aspect of the criminal justice system in the British Isles and former colonies.
In particular, they are interested in the following areas:
  • New directions in the study of criminal justice history
  • Innovations in methods and dissemination
  • Public histories of crime and their impact
  • Interdisciplinary perspectives
  • Crime and policing across the British Empire

03 July 2014

BOOK: J.O. Sunde (ed.), Constitutionalism before 1789


Pax Forlag (Oslo) published a collective work under the direction of Prof. J. O. Sunde (Bergen), assembling contributions on constitutionalism in Pre-Revolutionary Europe (link).

Contents:
  • "The Constitution of Peace and Liberty in the Catalan Medieval Legal Tradition. An Example of the Interaction between Religious Law and Secular Law in the European Middle Ages" (Prof. Aniceto Masferrer, Valencia)
  • "Galbert of Bruges on the Flemish 1127-1128 Crisis - An Early Experiment in Constitutionalism, Parliamentarism and Popular Sovereignty Inspired by Feudal Law" (Prof. Dirk Heirbaut, Gent)
  • "Quod Omnes Tangit, Debet Ab Omnibus Approbari" (Prof. Orazio Condorelli, Catania)
  • "Propagating Constitutional Reform in the Middle Ages: the Baronial Rebellion" (Prof. Leidulf Melve, Bergen)
  • "Whose Constitution? Grass-Roots and Hierarchial Visions of the Late Medieval Church" (Prof. Wolfgang Müller, Fordham)
  • "Mixed Constitution in the Scandinavian Realms in the Middle Ages" (Dr. Frode Hervik, Bergen)
  • "Induced by the Devil ? Christian I and the Privilegium" (Dr. Biörn Tjällén, Stockholm)
  • "Power, Reason and Equity. Two Juristic Accounts of Royal Authority in Sixteenth-Century Scotland" (Dr. Andrew R C Simpson, Aberdeen)
  • "On the Development of the Term "Verfassung" from the Plurality of the Ancien Régime's "Leges Fundamentales"" (dr. Heinz Mohnhaupt, emeritus, MPI Frankfurt)
  • "Above the Law - Norwegian Constitutionalism and the Code of 1274" (Jorn Oyrehagen Sunde)
Abstract:
The great era of constitutionalism spans from the French revolution of July 1789 to the octroyed French constitution of June 1814. Yet, the European constitutional mechanisms and way of reasoning can be traced much further back. This project displays the need to expand, restrain and at the same time legitimise state power from the 12th century and beyond the great era of constitutionalism in order to demonstrate its historical reach.
The Church was an early example of a state-like and centralised power, and thus contributed greatly to the development of a state organised Europe. This project examines the Church as a driving force behind constitutional reasoning and as a developer of constitutional practice throughout the Middle Ages. Feudal law, with its contractual based system of rights and duties, could regulate society on several levels and thus was another source for constitutional reasoning and practices.
Constitutional reasoning and practices developed in varied places such as the city-states of Flanders, the kingdoms of Norway and England, and the Iberian Peninsula. They continuously influenced state formation and politics in countries such as the Scandinavian kingdoms, as well as being the object of scholarly studies in Scotland, Germany and France. As a result, philosophers of the Enlightenment and the revolutionary movements could draw on a multitude of practices and theories during the 18th century.