JOURNAL: Tribonien 2022/2 (n°7)

 

(image source: cairn)

Les enjeux éthiques et démocratiques de la désignation des gardiens de la Constitution (Lauréline Fontaine)
DOI 10.3917/trib.007.0008
First lines:

En soi, l’idée de « garde » de la Constitution est susceptible de recouvrir un champ très élargi de compétences et de vigilance. Toute autorité ou tout individu peut être chargé, souvent par la Constitution elle-même, de veiller à son bon respect. Célèbre est ainsi la disposition de la Constitution française de 1791 qui « en remet le dépôt à la fidélité du Corps législatif, du roi et des juges, à la vigilance des pères de famille, aux épouses et aux mères, à l’affection des jeunes citoyens, au courage de tous les Français », faisant de toute personne un gardien de la Constitution. Pour la Commission européenne pour la démocratie par le droit, autrement appellée Commission de Venise, « il va de soi que le Parlement est le premier garant de la Constitution ».

Retour sur la problématique des nominations au Conseil constitutionnel français à la lumière des expériences étrangères (Wanda Mastor)
DOI 10.3917/trib.007.0076
First lines:

La question des nominations au Conseil constitutionnel français revient sur le devant de la scène académique au rythme imposé par l’article 56 de la Constitution : elle « se renouvelle par tiers tous les trois ans ». Lors des dernières nominations de 2019, nous avions nousmême cédé à la tentation de l’appel du format éditorial, « criant » en compagnie de Philippe Blacher que « pour être juge, il faut être juriste ! ». Notre conclusion insistait sur le point central de l’argumentation : « Les apparences, en droit, comptent autant que la réalité. La composition actuelle du Conseil constitutionnel français nuit à la crédibilité et à la légitimité de l’institution. La démocratie française a aussi besoin de moraliser les procédures de nomination aux plus hautes fonctions. En poursuivant la logique de politisation (et non de juridictionnalisation), le Conseil s’éloigne de l’image qu’il devrait renvoyer aux citoyens : celle d’une véritable juridiction. Et c’est précisément en défense de la justice constitutionnelle que ces quelques lignes sont délivrées ».

Le recrutement des juges à Rome (Bruno de Loynes de Fumichon)
DOI 10.3917/trib.007.0088
First lines:

Au chapitre de L’Esprit des lois où il esquisse son projet de constitution pour le Royaume de France, Montesquieu propose d’adopter, pour la justice civile, le modèle de l’héliée. L’assemblée judiciaire de l’Athènes antique, composée de citoyens tirés au sort, pour un an, réunis en formations variables et éphémères, lui inspire cette remarque :La puissance de juger ne doit pas être donnée à un sénat permanent, mais exercée par des personnes tirées du corps du peuple, dans un certain temps de l’année, de la manière prescrite par la loi, pour former un tribunal qui ne dure qu’autant que la nécessité le requiert. De cette façon, la puissance de juger, si terrible parmi les hommes, n’étant attachée ni à un certain état, ni à une certaine profession, devient, pour ainsi dire, invisible et nulle.

L’arrêt Blanco (Tribunal des conflits, 8 février 1873). Discussion avec Grégoire Bigot (Rémi Faivre-Faucompré) (open access)
DOI 10.3917/trib.007.0124

L’élection de Vézelay selon Vauban (Marie-Amée Latournerie, intr.)
DOI 10.3917/trib.007.0138
Abstract:

La Description géographique de l’élection de Vézelay fait partie d’écrits que son auteur avait collationnés et reliés en douze tomes sous le titre Oisivetés de Monsieur de Vauban, Ramas de différents mémoires de sa façon sur différents sujets, écrits dont l’existence a été révélée par Fontenelle, secrétaire de l’Académie des sciences, lorsqu’il a, le 2 mai 1707, prononcé l’éloge funèbre de Vauban qui avait été nommé membre honoraire de cette Académie en 1699.

Correspondances et vie privée. Approche comparée des protections de la confidentialité en droits français, américain et anglais (Arnaud de Solminihac, Xavier de Bonnaventure)
DOI 10.3917/trib.007.0148
First lines:

Voilà une véritable et sincère description de ce petit et mauvais pays, faite après une très-exacte recherche, fondée non sur des simples estimations, presque toujours fautives, mais sur un bon dénombrement en forme et bien rectifié. Au surplus, ce pays serait très-capable d’une grande amélioration, si, au lieu de toutes les différentes levées de deniers qui se font pour le compte du roi par des voies arbitraires, qui ont donné lieu à toutes les vexations et voleries qui s’y font depuis si longtemps, on faisait :

Read the full issue on Cairn. 

REMINDER CFP: XXVIII Annual Forum of Young Legal Historians, Religion and Ethics in Legal History (Milan: University of Milan/University of Milan-Bicocca, 4-7 September 2024) (DEADLINE: 31 MAR 2024)

(Source: AYLH)

The call for papers for the next Annual Forum of Young Legal Historians has just been published on the conference website.

Introduction

We are delighted to announce that the University of Milan and the University of Milan-Bicocca are hosting the 28th Annual Forum of Young Legal Historians (AFYLH).

The purpose of this forum is to bring together young legal scholars to share ideas, foster collaborations and contribute to the expansion of academic research and knowledge in the field of legal history.

The forum will be composed of three days: the first day as welcoming day with keynote speakers, and numerous parallel sessions over the following two days.

The broad theme of the 28th Forum is Religion and Ethics in Legal History.

The full call for papers, including information on submissions (DEADLINE: 31 March 2024) can be found on the conference website.

SEMINAR: La question de la souveraineté sur les océans et le début de la modernité (Cergy-Pontoise: CY Cergy-Paris Université, 29 MAR 2024 h. 14:30)

(Image source: Portail Universitaire du Droit)

La question de savoir qui a le droit de gouverner les océans et d'en réglementer l'utilisation reste d'actualité. Cette présentation vise à montrer comment cette problématique a agité l'esprit des juristes et des diplomates depuis le début de l'époque moderne, lorsque les découvertes géographiques ont ouvert de nouveaux horizons et des problèmes juridiques complexes. En particulier, l'évolution du concept de mare clausum, selon lequel les Etats pouvaient acquérir des droits exclusifs sur la mer, sera abordée.

THE SPEAKER

M. Stefano Cattelan, Chercheur post-doctoral à la Vrije Universiteit Brussel - CORE

PRACTICAL INFORMATION

Conférence organisée par Carlos-Miguel Herrera, directeur du CPJP, CY Cergy Paris Université. La session sera animée par la Professeure Caroula Argyriadis-Kervégan

La conférence aura lieu dans la salle B322 de la Faculté de droit de l'Université de Cergy-Paris.

More information can be found here.

BOOK: Muriel BONNAUD, Justice et société dans la châtellanie de Bressuire (XIVe-XVe sièce) [Bibliothèque d'histoire moderne; 35] (Paris: Classiques Garnier, 2024), 577 p. ISBN 9782406159674, € 52

 

(image souce: Classiques Garnier)

Book abstract:

Cette étude porte sur les interactions entre une justice seigneuriale et sa population, durant les deux derniers siècles du Moyen Âge. Le tribunal y apparait davantage comme un lieu de négociation plutôt que de coercition.

Read more here: DOI 10.48611/isbn.978-2-406-15969-8.

SYMPOSIUM: 'Il Turco, l’Impero, l’Europa Contrapposizioni radicali e percorsi di pace, prima e dopo la caduta di Costantinopoli (Udine: Università di Udine, 12 APR 2024)

(Source: Università di Udine)

ore 14:30 Aula Pier Paolo Pasolini - Palazzo di Toppo Wassermann via Gemona 92 Udine

Relatori: prof. Marco Cavina (Università di Bologna, prof. Andrea Zannini (Università di Udine) prof. Valerio Gigliotti (Università degli studi di Torino) prof.ssa Antonia Fiori (Università degli Studi La Sapienza), prof. Giuseppe Mazzanti (Università di Udine)

SEMINAR: 'Diritto publico e diritto privato. Una genealogia Storica' (Milano: Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 4 APR 2024)

(Source: Storia del diritto)

BOOK: Pierpaolo BONACINI, Un Ducato in difesa. Giustizia militare, corpi armati e governo della guerra negli Stati estensi di età moderna [Collana di Studi di storia del diritto medievale e moderno - Monografie; 12, eds. Paolo ALVAZZI DEL FRATE, Giovanni ROSSI & Elio TAVILLA] (Roma: Historia et Ius, 2023), 400 p. ISBN 9791281621039 [OPEN ACCESS]

 

(image source: historia et ius)

First paragraph:

L’ambito della giustizia e della giurisdizione militare in età moderna costituisce un settore di ricerca che rimane a tutt’oggi periferico rispetto agli orientamenti della storiografia italiana. Il divario è stato osservato in anni recenti proprio dagli specialisti di tale periodo notando che, nel panorama degli interessi privilegiati dagli storici del diritto, ma non soltanto, «un ruolo senza alcun dubbio assai marginale è stato riservato a quei lavori dedicati allo sviluppo di una giurisdizione militare indipendente»1. Lavori che questi ultimi orientano piuttosto verso secoli più recenti, l’Ottocento e il Novecento, caratterizzati dalla diffusione della normativa militare nella forma di un diritto pubblico speciale racchiuso all’interno di testi unici strutturati in forma di moderni codici2. Su una linea del tutto analoga si orientano anche le meritorie ricerche, edite una ventina di anni or sono a cura di Nicola Labanca e Pier Paolo Rivello, che affrontano una molteplicità di percorsi connessi all’esperienza della giustizia militare nella storia d’Italia e di alcuni tra i suoi dominii coloniali in riferimento al lungo arco temporale esteso dalla Repubblica Cisalpina, sullo scorcio del secolo XVIII, sino all’odierna fase repubblicana.

Read the full book in open access here.

ESCLH BLOG TEAM: New composition (as of 26 MAR 2024) - How to reach us - How to suggest posts

(image: Rijksmuseum Library, Amsterdam)

(1)

Following the most recent call for bloggers, the ESCLH Blog team has been reshuffled.

We first of all would like to express our profound gratitude to the outgoing team members:

• Dr. Piotr Alexandrowicz (postdoctoral researcher at the Poznań Society for the Advancement of Arts and Sciences): dr. Alexandrowicz has been with us since 15 november 2022 
• Arthur Barrêto de Almeida Costa (PhD candidate, University of Firenze): Arthur Barrêto has been part of our team since 2019
• Dr. Filip Batselé (postdoctoral assistant, Vrije Universiteit Brussel/voluntary researcher, Ghent Legal History Institute): dr. Batselé has been part of our team since 2018
• Dr. Priyasha Saksena (lecturer in law, University of Leeds): dr. Saksena  has been with us since 2022
• Dr. Kamila Staudigl-Ciechowicz, postdoctoral researcher at the University of Vienna (Department of Legal and Constitutional History) and lecturer and research fellow at the University of Regensburg (Chair of Private Law, German and European Legal History and Canon Law): dr. Staudigl-Chiecowiz has been with us since 2022

We welcome four new contributors:

• Dr. Ida Ferrero: Ida Ferrero graduated in law at the University of Turin and she has completed her PhD in legal history at the University of Milan. From 2022 she is a researcher at the Department of Law of the University of Turin. She teaches European History of law in the Global law and Transnational legal studies course. She is the author of three monographs and several articles and contributions in books.
• Shardool Kulkarni: Thesis Programme Candidate, Zvi Meitar Center for Advanced Legal Studies, Buchmann Faculty of Law, Tel Aviv University. In the past, he has worked as an Academic Fellow at the National Law University Delhi, where he co-taught courses on judicial process, law and poverty, and constitutional theory. His scholarly interests lie at the intersection of legal history, constitutional law, and judicial process reform.
• Michael Reichenthaler: doctoral candidate at the Faculty of Law at the University of Regensburg, where he also studied law. He specialises in the history of administrative law in the 19th and 20th centuries. His particular focus is on the administrative courts and their legal foundation.
• Armando José Santana Bugés: PhD-Fellow awarded by the Ministry of Education (Spanish Government) at the University of Jaén. He is focus on legal history (the origin of parliamentary system, democracy and citizen´s representation). Visiting fellow in Stanford University, Harvard University and WZ Berlin

Three other team members remain on board:

• dr. Marco Castelli: postdoctoral researcher at the University of Milan and lawyer. He also collaborates with the research group in legal history at the University of Brescia. He obtained the degree of Master of Law (University of Brescia, 2019) and of Doctor in Law (University of Milan, 2023). His main field of interest is the rediscovery of Aristotle's Natural Philosophy and its effects on Medieval legal theory and political thought.
• dr. Stefano Cattelan: Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) Fundamental Research Project postdoctoral researcher at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and Adjunct Professor at the Brussels School of Government
• Prof. Frederik Dhondt: associate professor of legal and political history at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Faculty of Law and Criminology/voluntary researcher at the Ghent Legal History Institute; president of the Royal Commission for the Publication of Old Laws and Ordinances of Belgium

(2) 

We reiterate our thanks to the loyal readers and followers of our blog, which attracts an impressive number of internet users (296 000 in the past six months), from all corners of the world and most legal traditions. The blog can be followed in several ways:

• The website (https://esclh.blogspot.com);
• An RSS-feed reader, such as Feedly;
• The X account (https://www.x.com/esclh), which automatically retweets posts added to the blog
• The automated daily mail through follow it (see form on the right on this page)

(3)

Reaching us with proposals for posts is quite easy: the Gmail account of the blog (esclhblog@gmail.com) is the unique channel to suggest an announcement. We prefer this channel, rather than one-on-one e-mails to the persons listed above. 

We gently remind our readers of the instructions set out in the right-hand column of the blog. Proponents need to provide us with a file in MS Word and an image. Bloggers are volunteers and have to organize their time efficiently. We would -of course- appreciate drafts formatted according to our own bibliographical template, as some of you have already done in the past. 

BOOK: Cesare PINELLI, Costituzionalisti del Novecento (Macerata: Quodlibet, 2024). ISBN: 9788822921109

(Image source: Quodlibet edizioni)

ABOUT THE BOOK

Il volume raccoglie studi dedicati al pensiero di costituzionalisti vissuti nel Novecento. Sono confronti fra due o più autori, o singoli ritratti di protagonisti dei dibattiti intorno alle questioni fondamentali del diritto costituzionale, con excursus su studiosi stranieri che variamente vi influirono. Ne emerge una lettura complessiva, pur se priva di ambizioni di completezza, degli esiti del costituzionalismo italiano del secondo dopoguerra.

Si parte dalla questione del diritto di voto sviluppata da Gaetano Mosca e dagli studi sugli ordinamenti giuridici di Santi Romano, per poi soffermarsi soprattutto sulla prima età repubblicana, quando la Costituzione appena approvata si candidava a fare da spartiacque fra due epoche. Vezio Crisafulli, Carlo Esposito e Costantino Mortati avevano preparato il terreno per radicare un’idea di Costituzione molto lontana da quella che aveva allignato sotto lo statualismo nelle due varianti dello stato liberale e dello stato fascista. Nei decenni successivi, proprio il passaggio dallo statualismo al costituzionalismo avrebbe funzionato da sfondo comune alle riflessioni dei giuristi dell’età repubblicana. Riportarle oggi alla luce consente di recuperare una profondità di pensiero che aiuta ancora ad orientarsi in un periodo di forti polarizzazioni tra chi sente che la carta costituzionale è ormai stata tradita e chi la ritiene ormai superata, in nome di una visione imbastardita di realismo giuridico.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Cesare Pinelli è professore di diritto costituzionale alla Sapienza e membro della Commissione per la democrazia attraverso il diritto (Commissione di Venezia). Tra i suoi libri più recenti ricordiamo: Diritto pubblico (il Mulino, 2018, 2022), Lavoro e costituzione (Editoriale Scientifica, 2021), Disinformazione e democrazia (con Claudia Hassan, Marsilio, 2022) e I diritti nelle piattaforme (con Ugo Ruffolo, Giappichelli, 2023).

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Presentazione

I. La questione del diritto di voto in Gaetano Mosca e nei costituzionalisti italiani

II. La costituzione di Santi Romano e i primi Maestri dell’età repubblicana

III. Il confronto sull’interpretazione fra Emilio Betti e Vezio Crisafulli e il contributo di Tullio Ascarelli

IV. La prefigurazione delle «situazioni straordinarie»: una costante del pensiero espositiano

V. La costituzione in senso materiale di Costantino Mortati

VI. L’esperienza costituzionale degli Stati Uniti d’America e la teoria delle forme di governo di Mortati

VII. Disciplina e ruolo costituzionale dei partiti nel pensiero di Carlo Lavagna

VIII. Pluralismo politico e unità statale nel saggio sui partiti di Heinrich Triepel

IX. Nel centenario della pubblicazione di H. Kelsen, Essenza e valore della democrazia

X. Diritto, legge, Costituzione. Variazioni sul tema

XI. Il dibattito sull’interpretazione costituzionale fra teoria e giurisprudenza

XII. Diritto e politica costituzionale nel pensiero di Aldo M. Sandulli

XIII. Antonio La Pergola, giurista-costruttore

XIV. Forme di governo antiche e contemporanee nel pensiero di Norberto Bobbio

XV. Massimo Severo Giannini costituzionalista

XVI. Il tempo della Costituzione nel pensiero di Leopoldo Elia

XVII. Sguardi oltre Atlantico di costituzionalisti italiani fra gli anni Sessanta e gli anni Ottanta

XVIII. Generazioni

More information can be found here.

BOOK: Wim DECOCK, Jan HALLEBEEK & Tammo WALLINGA, Fondements romains du droit [Précis de la Faculté de Droit et de Criminologie de l'Université catholique de Louvain] (Bruxelles: Intersentia/Larcier, 2024), € 95

 

(image source: Larcier Bruylant)

Abstract:

Ce manuel transporte le lecteur au coeur du creuset des cultures juridiques européennes : le droit romain et ses interprétations évolutives à travers les siècles. Véritable socle du droit privé, le droit romain a forgé des concepts juridiques fondamentaux tels que l’émancipation, la succession ab intestat, le fidéicommis, l’usufruit, la responsabilité aquilienne, la gestion d’affaires, le commodat, l’action rédhibitoire, et bien d’autres. Mais au-delà de la terminologie de base du droit, les Romains ont façonné la grammaire même du raisonnement juridique et fourni les clés de l’administration de la justice en Europe et au-delà. Plaçant l’accent sur des domaines clés tels que le droit des biens, les contrats et la responsabilité civile, cet ouvrage explore également la procédure, le droit des personnes et les successions dans la tradition romaine. Une attention particulière est accordée aux recyclages, souvent empreints d’une certaine créativité interprétative, des textes du Corpus iuris civilis de l’Empereur Justinien (527-565) aux époques médiévale et moderne. Dès la création des universités à la fin du XIe siècle, c’est en effet autour du Corpus iuris civilis que s’est édifiée la formation des juristes et plus largement celle des responsables de la société. Pour l’étudiant.e en quête de maîtrise du langage et du raisonnement juridiques, l’étude du droit romain s’impose encore aujourd’hui comme une voie privilégiée, offrant une immersion inégalée dans les fondements des systèmes juridiques modernes. En outre, l’analyse du droit romain permet à toute personne intéressée de se familiariser avec un langage technique qui, pendant de nombreux siècles, a formé les esprits des hommes et femmes lettrés. De ce fait, la tradition romaniste est devenue une sorte de deuxième Bible de l’Occident (P. Legendre) et une partie substantielle du patrimoine culturel de l’humanité.

On the authors:

Wim Decock : Professeur de droit romain, d’histoire du droit et de droit comparé à l’Université catholique de Louvain. Il enseigne également l’histoire du droit à l’Université de Liège. Jan Hallebeek : Professeur émérite d’histoire du droit à l’Université libre d’Amsterdam (VU Amsterdam) Tammo Wallinga : Professeur de droit romain et d’histoire du droit à l’Université Erasmus de Rotterdam et professeur d’histoire du droit privé à l’Université d’Anvers.

Read more here. 

 

 

BOOK: Bernard RIBÉMONT, "Car me jugez le dreit". Droit et justice dans l'épopée médiévale [Esprit des lois; Esprit des lettres; 16] (Paris: Classiques Garnier, 2023), 699 p. ISBN 9782406150374,

 

(image source: Classiques Garnier)

Summary:

L’objet de cette étude consiste, par un « jeu de miroir » entre la fiction épique et une certaine réalité, théorique et pratique, du juridique et du judiciaire, à comprendre ce que l’on peut considérer comme un « droit et une justice épiques ». 

Foreword by Claire Gauvard. 

Read more here. DOI 10.48611/isbn.978-2-406-15037-4.

 

 

BOOK: Lauren BENTON. They Called it Peace: Worlds of Imperial Violence (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2024), 304 p., ISBN 9780691248479

 

(image source: Princeton)

Abstract:

Imperial conquest and colonization depended on pervasive raiding, slaving, and plunder. European empires amassed global power by asserting a right to use unilateral force at their discretion. They Called It Peace is a panoramic history of how these routines of violence remapped the contours of empire and reordered the world from the fifteenth to the twentieth centuries. In an account spanning from Asia to the Americas, Lauren Benton shows how imperial violence redefined the very nature of war and peace. Instead of preparing lasting peace, fragile truces ensured an easy return to war. Serial conflicts and armed interventions projected a de facto state of perpetual war across the globe. Benton describes how seemingly limited war sparked atrocities, from sudden massacres to long campaigns of dispossession and extermination. She brings vividly to life a world in which warmongers portrayed themselves as peacemakers and Europeans imagined “small” violence as essential to imperial rule and global order. Holding vital lessons for us today, They Called It Peace reveals how the imperial violence of the past has made perpetual war and the threat of atrocity endemic features of the international order.

On the author:

Lauren Benton is the Barton M. Biggs Professor of History at Yale University and recipient of the Toynbee Prize for significant contributions to global history. Her books include A Search for Sovereignty: Law and Geography in European Empires, 1400–1900 and (with Lisa Ford) Rage for Order: The British Empire and the Origins of International Law, 1800–1850.

Read more here. 

BOOK: Wim KLOOSTER (Ed.), The Cambridge History of the Age of Atlantic Revolutions (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023), 2400 p. 9781108567817, 3 vol. 320 GBP

 

(image source: CUP)

Abstract:

In three volumes, The Cambridge History of the Age of Atlantic Revolutions brings together experts on all corners of the Atlantic World who reveal the age in all its complexity. The Age of Atlantic Revolutions formed the transition from an era marked by monarchical rule, privileges, and colonialism to an age that stood out for republican rule, legal equality, and the sovereignty of American nations. The seventy-one chapters included reflect the latest trends and discussions on this transformative part of history, highlighting not only the causes, key events, and consequences of the revolutions, but stressing the political experimentation, contingency, and survival of colonial institutions. The volumes also examine the attempts of enslaved and indigenous people, and free people of color, to change their plight, offering a much-needed revision to R.R. Palmer's first synthesis of this era sixty years ago.

Table of contents:

Volume I. The Enlightenment and the British Colonies Volume II. France, Europe, and Haiti Volume III. The Iberian Empires. 

See here for the hardback and here for the digital version. 

BOOK: Marc-William PALEN, Pax Economica: Left-Wing Visions of a Free Trade World (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2024), 328 p. ISBN 9780691199320

 

(image source: Princeton)

Book abstract:

Today, free trade is often associated with right-wing free marketeers. In Pax Economica, historian Marc-William Palen shows that free trade and globalisation in fact have roots in nineteenth-century left-wing politics. In this counterhistory of an idea, Palen explores how, beginning in the 1840s, left-wing globalists became the leaders of the peace and anti-imperialist movements of their age. By the early twentieth century, an unlikely alliance of liberal radicals, socialist internationalists, feminists, and Christians envisioned free trade as essential for a prosperous and peaceful world order. Of course, this vision was at odds with the era’s strong predilections for nationalism, protectionism, geopolitical conflict, and colonial expansion. Palen reveals how, for some of its most radical left-wing adherents, free trade represented a hard-nosed critique of imperialism, militarism, and war. Palen shows that the anti-imperial component of free trade was a phenomenon that came to encompass the political left wing within the British, American, Spanish, German, Dutch, Belgian, Italian, Russian, French, and Japanese empires. The left-wing vision of a “pax economica” evolved to include supranational regulation to maintain a peaceful free-trading system—which paved the way for a more liberal economic order after World War II and such institutions as the United Nations, the European Union, and the World Trade Organization. Palen’s findings upend how we think about globalisation, free trade, anti-imperialism, and peace. Rediscovering the left-wing history of globalism offers timely lessons for our own era of economic nationalism and geopolitical conflict.

On the author:

Marc-William Palen is a historian at the University of Exeter and the author of The “Conspiracy” of Free Trade: The Anglo-American Struggle over Empire and Economic Globalisation, 1846–1896. 

Read more here. 

CONFERENCE: 'Les communs fonciers dans l’espace alpin'. Convegno internazionale in memoria del prof. Gian Savino Pene Vidari' (Aosta: Università della Valle d'Aosta, 8 APR 2024)

(Source: Università della Valle d'Aosta)

The programme is available here.

BOOK: Rafael Ramis BARCELÓ, La Segunda Escolástica. Una propuesta de síntesis histórica (Madrid: Dykinson, 2024), pp. 443 (open access)

ABOUT THE BOOK 

This book is a historical synthesis of the second scholasticism. Based on the sociology of science and the history of ideas, a study method is proposed, a chronological division, with various periods and stages, is explained, highlighting the causes and consequences and the most relevant features of each era. Starting from three dimensions (schools, authors and themes), the development of the second scholasticism is studied, in dialogue with the other manifestations of the culture of its time, and in the epilogue the transition to the third scholasticism is analyzed. This book tries to underline the integration of the second scholasticism within the framework of modern thought.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rafael Ramis Barceló (Mallorca, 1983) is Full Professor of History of Law and Institutions and deputy director of the Institute of Hispanic Studies in Modernity (IEHM) of the University of the Balearic Islands. He graduated in Law, Philosophy, Comparative Literature, Religious Sciences, Political Science and Sociology, and received a doctorate in Law. His lines of research are the history of legal thought, the history of universities and the history of ideas (15th-18th centuries).

The book can be downloaded for free here.

BOOK: Elisabetta FIOCCHI MALASPINA, "Dans cette diversité, des principes d'unité": intrecci transnazionali nei sistemi di pubblicità immobiliare tra Otto e Novecento [Collana di Studi di Storia del diritto medievale e moderno - Monografie, eds. Paolo ALVAZZI DEL FRATE, Giovanni ROSSI & Elio TAVILLA; 11] (Roma: Historia et Ius, 2023), 360 p. ISBN 9791281621015 [OPEN ACCESS]

 

(image source: Historia et Ius)

Abstract:

This book covers the period between the 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries. It investigates the different land registration systems in certain European countries, the relationship between Europe and the African colonies regarding the systems of land ownership and land registration, and the international scientific collaboration developed to deal with problems that might arise when introducing a European land registration system in a colonial context. It may seem that these three issues merit independent investigation, given their breadth and the many possible viewpoints from which they could be studied. However, by researching them together within a manifestly national legal institution such as a land registration system, the transnational entanglements, that took place across various spatial-temporal contexts, can be discerned. To convey the dynamism and complexity of these topics, the book has adopted the structure of Greek tragedy, a literary genre that best achieves the concept of entanglement. The first episode takes place in Europe. Some mechanisms occurring between the 18th and 19th centuries are examined to understand how land registration was used to «harmonise» property without limiting its contents. From the construction of the national space, the scope of the research is expanded to demonstrate how European debates on land registration systems were, in reality, discussed and resolved in several parts of the world. In the African colonial context, the introduction of a specific land regime responded to the creation of an «organised colonial space». The type of land registration system depended not only on the decisions of the «motherland», which might introduce its own system, but also on geographical, historical, political, and legal factors. These factors were decisive in selecting, for the second episode, three African colonies with particularly interesting land regimes: Eritrea, Congo Free State, and Togo. This second episode shows that the majority of colonial empires, before deciding which system to adopt and how to regulate relations between citizens and foreigners from Europe and local populations, always sought «inspiration» from models adopted by other colonial powers. In 1894, former colonial officials and administrators, as well as jurists, founded the Institut Colonial International in Brussels, which is the subject of the third episode. It aimed to construct a common space to discuss and resolve colonial problems, such as teaching, acclimatisation, labour in the colonies, and above all, property and land tenure. The ambitious goal of the members of the Institut Colonial International was to «scientifically» construct a variety of legal principles that would create unity across systems of land register legislation, despite the profound diversity of individual colonies.

Read the full book here in open access. 

BOOK: Marie DEJOUX, Pierre-Anne FORCADET, Vincent MARTIN, Liêm TUTTLE, La justice de Saint Louis. Dans l'ombre du chêne (Paris: PUF, 2024), 304 p. ISBN 9782130863199, € 28

 

(image source: PUF)

Abstract:

Que Saint Louis soit passé à la postérité comme un roi de justice tient à la force d’une image, profondément gravée dans l’inconscient de générations de Français : celle du bon roi rendant ses arrêts sous son chêne à Vincennes. Allusion pourtant fugace de Joinville, le chêne mythique a éclipsé l’essentiel, dans les mémoires et dans les travaux des historiens : l’exercice concret, quotidien et pratique de la justice, orchestré notamment par le Parlement, institution judiciaire pluriséculaire fondée précisément au temps du saint roi. Cet ouvrage de synthèse entend démontrer qu’en ce mitan du XIIIe siècle et après plusieurs décennies de considérable accroissement du domaine royal, la justice fut l’un des chemins privilégiés par la Couronne pour conforter sa légitimité́ et forger sa souveraineté. À la croisée de l’histoire et de l’histoire du droit, ce livre retrace une page centrale et pourtant méconnue de l’histoire de la justice française.

Read more here. 

BOOK: Julie DOULEY, La grâce au féminin. Les femmes face au pardon princier dans les Pays-Bas Autrichiens (1762-1794) [Histoire, Justice, Sociétés] (Louvain: PUL, 2024), 136 p. ISBN 9782390614241, € 14,9

 

(iamge source: PUL)

Book abstract:

Au cours des dernières décennies, les lettres de rémission ont bénéficié d'une aura importante parmi les historiens de la justice, donnant lieu à de nombreux projets de recherche et études.  Au cours des dernières décennies, les lettres de rémission ont bénéfi cié d'une aura importante parmi les historiens de la justice, donnant lieu à de nombreux projets de recherche et études. Pourtant, malgré le fl ot de publications qui en découle, force est de constater l’absence de travaux portant sur une catégorie de population spécifi que : les femmes. En effet, si l’étude de la pratique miséricordieuse fait intuitivement penser aux lettres de rémission, il n’est pas étonnant d’associer le pardon à une fi gure masculine se présentant « aux pieds de Sa Majesté ». Cette déduction s’explique par le fait qu’historiquement, les lettres de rémission se concentrent sur l’homicide, crime de sang, dont les femmes semblent être traditionnellement éloignées. Bien trop souvent jugées absentes ou quantitativement peu importantes, ces dernières semblent avoir été le plus souvent mises de côté, voire oubliées. C’est donc dans une profonde volonté de pallier le manque d’études portant sur les femmes face au pardon princier que s’inscrit cette présente recherche. En travaillant essentiellement sur les dossiers de grâce ordinaires issus du fonds du Conseil privé sous le régime autrichien, cette étude se concentre spécifi quement sur les femmes candidates à la grâce dans la seconde moitié du XVIIIe siècle : identifier, incriminer, pardonner, tels sont les trois temps de cette réflexion.

Table of contents:

Remerciements 7
Préface 9
Introduction 13
Première partie
Liminaires 17
Chapitre I
Les sources 19
1. Présentation des sources 22
2. Critique 26
3. Aperçu quantitatif 26
4. Conclusion 31
Chapitre II
Droit de grâce et réformes pénales dans les Pays-bas autrichiens 33
1. Le droit de grâce au XVIIIe siècle : entre continuité et évolution 33
2. Torture et prison à la croisée des réformes pénales 35
2.1. De la torture... 38
2.2. ... À l'établissement de maisons de correction 42

Deuxième partie
Les femmes face au pardon princier dans les Pays-Bas autrichiens 45
Chapitre III
Identifier 47
1. Cadre général : les femmes sous l’Ancien Régime 49
1.1. Un être juridiquement incapable 49
1.2. Faible par nature 51
1.3. Ange ou démon ? 55
2. Au cœur des lettres 57
2.1. De la déclinaison de l’identité... 57
2.2. À la description au fil du récit 62
2.3. Un nombre important de détenues 66
3. Conclusion 66
Chapitre IV
Incriminer 69
1. Les motifs de la déviance 71
2. Les faits incriminés 75
2.1. Délits contre les biens 80
2.2. Délits contre l’autorité 81
2.3. Délits contre les personnes 82
2.4. Délits contre les mœurs et la religion 83
3. Les peines 85
4. Conclusion 89
Chapitre V
Pardonner 91
1. Solliciter 93
1.1. Seule ou accompagnée dans la démarche ? 95

1.2. La supplique : une préparation minutieuse ? 99
2. Apprécier 100
2.1. Les circonstances atténuantes 101
2.2. Les divergences d’avis 105
3. Conclure 106
3.1. « ... moyennant qu’elle paye les frais et mises de justice » 107
3.2. Bilan 107
3.3. Un après ? 109
4. Conclusion 111
Conclusion générale 113
Table des figures 117
Sources et bibliographie 119
1. Sources 119
1.1. Sources inédites 119
1.2. Sources éditées 122
2. Bibliographie 122
Index 131
Table des matières 133

Read more with the publisher. 

BOOK: Anne PETERS & Tom SPARKS (eds.), The Individual in International Law [The History and Theory of International Law, eds. Nehal BHUTA, Anthony PAGDEN & Benjamin STRAUMANN] (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2024), 448 p. ISBN 9780198898917, OPEN ACCESS

 

(image source: OUP)

Book abstract:

Shifts across the corpus of international law have brought the international legal system into a closer alignment with the interests of the individual. This has led to a great and growing interest in the roles and status of individuals in international law, and provided new impulses for debate. The Individual in International Law is an exploration of what is described as the humanisation of international law. It examines how international law has accommodated individuals, and how individual status, rights, and obligations have become denser and more important in the international legal system. Split into two parts, the book analyses the humanisation of international law in different historical periods and from various theoretical perspectives. The first part focuses on the historical evolution of international law, exploring how the interests of individuals have shaped the development of the legal system from antiquity to 1945, providing a counterpoint to State-centric readings of international law's history. The second part contains theoretical debates, critical approaches, and interdisciplinary investigations, offering perspectives from ius positivism and ius naturalism, Marxism, TWAIL, feminism, global law, global constitutionalism, law and economics, and legal anthropology. The book aims to stimulate further research on the humanisation and dehumanisation of new fields ranging from the ius contra bellum to climate law. The editors' introduction and conclusion frame the contributions, draw together their findings, and address critiques comprehensively. Written by a team of acknowledged experts in their fields, this volume elucidates how the interests, rights, obligations, and responsibilities of individuals have shaped international norms and regimes, and suggests how a reoriented transformative humanism can inform and develop international law in an era of profound ideological, ecological, and technical challenge. This is an open access title. It is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International licence. It is available to read and download as a PDF version on the Oxford Academic platform.

Table of contents:

Contributors
Acknowledgments
1:Introduction: The History and Theory of the Individual in International Law, Anne Peters & Tom Sparks
1
The Individual in the History of International Law
2:The Individual in International Law in Antiquity, Eleanor Cowan
3:Individuals and Group Identity in Medieval International Law, Dante Fedele & Alain Wijffels
4:From Exemplary Individuals to Private Persons with Rights: International Law 1500-1647, Vitoria, Gentili, and Grotius, Francesca Iurlaro
5:From Re- to Demoralisation: The Individual in International Law, 1648-1789, Mark Somos
6:The Individual in International Law in the Nineteenth Century, 1789-1914, Inge Van Hulle
7:Before Human Rights: The Formation of the International Status of the Individual, 1914-1945, Anne Peters
2
The Individual in the Theory of International Law
8:Legal Positivism and the Individual in International Law, Gleider I. Hernández
9:The Individual in International Law from the Contemporary Sacred Natural Law Perspective, Rafael Domingo
10:The Individual in Secular Natural Law Theories of International Law, Tom Sparks
11:The Status of the Individual in International Law: A TWAIL Perspective, B.S. Chimni
12:The Individual in Feminist Approaches to International Law, Ruth Houghton
13:A Marxist Account of the Individual in International Law, Marina Veličković
14:Global Law and the Individual, Angelo Jr. Golia
15:Global Constitutionalism and the Individual, Başak Çalı
16:The Individual in (International) Law and Economics, Anne van Aaken
17:Individual Personhood in Anthropological Approaches to International Law, Marie-Claire Foblets
18:Conclusion: Reconsidering the Individual in International Law, Anne Peters & Tom Sparks
Index

 On the editors:

Anne Peters, Director, Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, and Tom Sparks, Senior Research Fellow, Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law Tom Sparks is a Senior Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, where he works on international environmental law, the humanisation of international law and legal theory. He wrote his doctoral thesis at the University of Durham, entitled Towards a Human-Centred International Law: Self-Determination and the Structure of the International Legal System. The thesis won the Global Policy North network of research universities' prize for the best doctoral dissertation of 2018. He is the author of Self-Determination in the International Legal System: Whose Claim, to What Right? (Hart 2023). Anne Peters is Director at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law Heidelberg, a professor at the universities of Heidelberg, Freie Universität Berlin, Basel, and Michigan. She has been a member of the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) in respect of Germany (2011-2015), served as the President of the European Society of International Law (2010-2012) and as President of the German Society of International Law (DGIR) (2019-2023). She is a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration and an associate member of the Institut de Droit International.

Download the full book here. 

SEMINAR: The Encyclopedism of Renaissance Humanist Jurists (Edinburgh: The University of Edinburgh, 10 MAY 2024)

(Image source: Edimbourgh Law School)

The expression “Legal humanism of the Renaissance” refers to the movement that emerged from the full integration of law into humanist knowledge, which began at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries. Starting with a critique of medieval scholasticism for the study of legal texts, this intellectual movement proposed new methods for producing legal ideas based on an encyclopedic approach. Although there were many methodological differences between the legal scholars grouped under the banner of humanism, they shared the conception of a legal science that is not closed in on itself. Thus, they applied to law the humanist idea that knowledge forms a vast body made up of elements that may be intellectually differentiated, but which remain interrelated: the understanding of one of these elements must therefore logically call upon all those related to it. Not only did these scholars master the legal sources (Roman law, canon law, customs, royal legislation, court decisions, etc.), but they constantly referred to history and geography, philosophy and theology, philology and rhetoric, literature and poetry, mathematics and architecture, agronomy and astronomy.

The encyclopedism of Renaissance humanist jurists then caused an upheaval in the understanding of law, while participating massively in the production of knowledge beyond legal ideas. Presenting such an approach can contribute to the current debate which, faced with the extreme compartmentalisation of disciplines and even a growing separation between legal branches, is calling for greater use of interdisciplinarity.

THE SPEAKER

Xavier Prévost is an associate of the faculties of law, associate of economics and management, paleographic archivist (graduate of the École des chartes) and a former student of the École Normale Supérieure of Cachan. Xavier Prévost is a junior member of the Institut universitaire de France (promotion 2020) and professor of legal history at the University of Bordeaux, where he directed the Montesquieu Research Institute (IRM – UR 7434) from 2016 to 2022 and chaired the legal history section from 2021 to 2023. Since December 2023, he has been first vice-president of section 03 (History of law and institutions) and vice-president of group 1 (Law and political science) of the National Council of Universities. His research concerns law and legal knowledge during the Renaissance and questions, more particularly, the emergence of legal modernity.

More information can be found here.

SEMINAR: 'Diritto e legge nel crepuscolo dell'assolutismo giuridico' con Bernardo Sordi (Verona: Università di Verona, 21 MAR 2024)

(Source: Storia del diritto)

CALL FOR PAPERS: 19th ESIL Annual Conference, IG History of International Law Pre-conference Workshop, "Historical Perspectives on Technological Change and International Law" (Vilnius: University of Vilnius, 4 SEP 2024) DEADLINE 22 MAR 2024

(Source: ESILHIL)

The European Society of International Law’s interest group history of international law has a call for papers for the interest group's event in the margins of ESIL’s next annual conference.

2024 ESIL Annual Conference Technological Change and International Law

Call for Papers: Historical Perspectives on Technological Change and International Law

The ESIL Interest Group on the History of International Law cordially invites submissions of papers for its upcoming workshop centered on the theme “Historical Perspectives on Technological Change and International Law”. This gathering seeks to unravel the mysteries of technological evolution and its enduring legacy upon the edifice of international law.

We are intrigued by the historical development of various technologies across different spatial and temporal contexts within international law. All papers that delve into the debates concerning technological change in international law or explore the influence of technological change on international law are warmly welcomed.

Centuries have witnessed the inexorable march of technological innovation, each stride leaving an indelible mark on the canvas of international law. Technological change – whatever that may be, but as reasonably defined by an author - has impacted international law, just as international law has responded and evolved in the wake of new technological advancements. New disciplines and fields emerged, and old doctrines and theories disappeared. Novel technologies even prompt the emergence of entirely “new” fields of international law, such as international labor law, international environmental law, and air and space law, contributing to the so-called fragmentation of international law.

History is rife with examples and case studies illustrating the intricate interplay between technology and international law. With regard to the law on the use of force, the requirement for a formal declaration of war has been undermined by the advancement of telecommunications. Technological advancements in weaponry (e.g. chemical and nuclear weapons) have reshaped international humanitarian law. Similarly, the law of the seas has adjusted for innovations in ship-building and seafaring technologies (maps, cartography, GPS). Technology also affects the way and extent to which states project their powers. The limit of three nautical miles no longer defines the limit of the territorial sea now that coastal batteries can shoot beyond this range. The industrial revolution also caused international law to evolve. The inventions of the telegraph and railway required new commercial arrangements, enabled  the expansion of colonialism, and caused a surge of Western investments abroad. For example, in the mid-19th century, the industrial extraction of sugar from beets in Western Europe distorted the international sugar trade for decades, leading to the conclusion of dozens of treaties. Sometimes, an invention causes entirely new fields of international law to emerge. The airplane and space exploration created the need for aerospace law. But sometimes, too, international law fails to catch up with technological changes. For example, the Hague Convention on Explosives from Balloon in 1907 failed to become a general prohibition against aerial bombardments. Such failures to address technological change are equally important moments in the history of international law.

In reviewing the history of technological changes and international law, authors are encouraged to engage in discussions evaluating how international law has both succeeded and failed to accommodate and regulate technological changes. We welcome papers from all methodological perspectives, as long as they address technology and the history of international law.

Papers could address any of the following topics, but also any topic that addresses technological change (reasonably defined by the author) and the history of international law:

•        Governance, preservation, and dissemination of knowledge in international legal history

•        The role of international regulation in the rise of new technologies

•        The influence of new technologies on human rights, both advancing and undermining

•        The impact of technological changes on broader socio-political and sovereign processes

•        How technological changes have affected the development and codification of international law

•        The influence of technological changes on the law of treaties and state responsibility

•        The effects of technological changes on international adjudication

•        The constitutionalization of international law in response to technological changes

•        The emergence of technology-specific international law

•        The impact of technological changes on the laws of war, peace, the use of force, and arms control

•        How technologies have shaped concepts of sovereignty

•        The appearance or disappearance of disciplines, principles, and concepts within international law due to technological changes

•        Case studies of failures to foresee and regulate technological changes in international law.

•        The impact of inventions like the steam engine, railways, and telegraph on international law

We are particularly interested in papers that engage with non-Western perspectives on the historical perspectives on technological change and international law. We welcome submissions from scholars and practitioners at all stages of their careers, and particularly encourage submissions from early-career scholars and scholars from underrepresented regions and perspectives.

The Interest Group is unable to provide funding for travel and accommodation. Selected speakers will be expected to bear the costs of their own travel and accommodation. Some ESIL travel grants and ESIL carers' grants will be available to offer partial financial support to speakers who have exhausted other potential sources of funding.

Please see the ESIL website for all relevant information about the 19th Annual Conference. The Interest Group workshop is open to ESIL members, and all participants are required to register for the Annual Conference. There will be an option to register just for one day to attend the workshop; however, all participants are warmly invited to attend the entire event.

Selected speakers should indicate their interest in being considered for the ESIL Early-Career Scholar Prize, if they meet the eligibility conditions as stated on the ESIL website. The ESIL Secretariat must be informed of all selected speakers who wish to be considered for the Prize before 30 April.

Submissions should include an abstract of no more than 500 words, a short bio of the author(s), and contact information, in Word (not PDF). Abstracts should be submitted by the 22^nd of March, 5 pm (CET) to anastasia.hammerschmied@univie.ac.at. The abstract and bio should be separated to allow for anonymous review by the convenors. The workshop will take place on the 4^th of September (time slot TBA), and will provide an opportunity for participants to engage in a critical discussion of their research and to receive feedback from other scholars and practitioners. Remote participation will be possible, but in-person presence is highly preferred.

Convenors

Anastasia Hammerschmied – Florenz Volkaert - Jaanika Erne – Sze Hong Lam (Ocean)

(Source: ESILHIL Blogspot)

 

 

CALL: The Unseen History of International Law: A Census Bibliography of Hugo Grotius’s De iure belli ac pacis (Heidelberg: MPI for Comparative Public Law and International Law)

(image source: Wikimedia Commons)

 

Call for action! Thanks to the generous support of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, we launched a five-year project to uncover an aspect of the history of international law by examining all surviving copies of the first ten editions of Hugo Grotius’s seminal On the Rights of War and Peace (De iure belli ac pacis, IBP). The ambition is to publish the resulting census bibliography in 2025, the 400th anniversary of IBP’s first publication.

In our pursuit of locating IBP copies, your help in the search of Grotius‘ IBP copies is greatly appreciated! If you know of or hold any hard copy of any of the following IBP editions, please click on the link for that edition, and fill out the very brief questionnaire regarding the copy.

-        For the 1625 IBP: https://survey.academiccloud.de/index.php/681736?lang=en

-        For the 1626 IBP: https://survey.academiccloud.de/index.php/889362?lang=en

-        For the 1631 IBP: https://survey.academiccloud.de/index.php/575734?lang=en

-        For the 1632 Janssonius IBP: https://survey.academiccloud.de/index.php/353911?lang=de

-        For the 1632 Blaeu IBP: https://survey.academiccloud.de/index.php/115821?lang=de

-        For the 1642 IBP: https://survey.academiccloud.de/index.php/955414?lang=en

-        For the 1646 IBP: https://survey.academiccloud.de/index.php/124888?lang=de

-        For the 1647 IBP: https://survey.academiccloud.de/index.php/776362?lang=de

-        For the 1650 IBP: https://survey.academiccloud.de/index.php/318594?lang=de

IBP has been generally regarded as the inception of modern international law ever since its first edition in 1625. The first generation of readers valued IBP for its lucid systematisation of legal doctrine and irenic potential. In the middle of the Thirty Years’ War, one of the most traumatic conflicts in European history, IBP removed religion from international law, offering warring factions a common moral foundation and procedural standards and rules for negotiation. In terms of disciplinary genealogy and professionalisation, the first chair in public international law was established to expound IBP, and given to Samuel Pufendorf in Heidelberg. For centuries, commentaries, expositions and other forms of engagement with IBP dominated international law scholarship. A very large portion of what we now regard as primary sources in international law was originally written as secondary literature on IBP; and all major international law scholars had engaged with IBP since its first appearance in 1625. At key moments, including the demise of the Holy Roman Empire, the fall of Napoleon and the end of both world wars, multinational projects were devoted to restarting international law by reissuing IBP with new commentaries.

What if we could find and systematise all the annotations that thousands of statesmen, diplomats, and international law scholars have left in their copies over the last 400 years? Our project’s premise is that despite the enormous literature on IBP’s reception and influence, we cannot understand its impact without uncovering the history of IBP as a physical object, with thousands of unpublished annotations arguing or agreeing with the text, and updating and adapting its contents. Though a great deal has been written about the iconic role of IBP, what has never before been done is a census bibliography that locates and examines every surviving copy, and documents and analyses readers’ annotations, and the copies’ dissemination and movement over time throughout the world. When finished, the census will transform our understanding of the historical trajectories of international law.