BOOK: Edern DE BARROS, Condillac et Mably. Deux frères théoriciens d'une démocratie tempérée [Politique de l'Esprit] (Paris: Mare & Martin, 2025), 510 p. ISBN 978-2-36222-137-8, € 45

 

(image source: Mare & Martin)

Abstract:

Condillac (1714-1780) et Mably (1709-1785) sont deux frères dont l’influence sur la Révolution française fut considérable. Figures majeures des Lumières, ils furent durablement séparés par l’historiographie depuis 1789. Condillac, associé aux Idéologues, serait le père du libéralisme français ; Mably, figure de la démocratie égalitaire, un précurseur du communisme. Cette étude déconstruit cette opposition et révèle leur républicanisme libéral commun. À la croisée du droit, de l’histoire et de la philosophie, l’ouvrage articule trois volets : une méthode empiriste fondée sur le lien entre droit naturel et histoire ; une théorie politique de la « démocratie tempérée » fondée sur la souveraineté populaire ; et une critique du « despotisme légal » des physiocrates, au nom d’une liberté économique républicaine. Appuyé sur une lecture comparée de leurs oeuvres complètes, ce livre renouvelle en profondeur notre compréhension des Lumières.

Read more with the publisher. 

VACANCIES (1 POSTDOC, 1 PHD): "History of Ethics and Law of Responding to Suffering" (Virpi MÄKINEN) University of Helsinki/Faculty of Theology (DEADLINE 17 DEC 2025)

(image source: Helsinki University)

The Research Council of Finland funded centre of excellence in Meliorist Philosophy of Suffering (leader: Sami Pihlström) announces fixed-term employment (doctoral researcher and postdoctoral researcher) in legal history/history of ethics.

The positions are placed in the work package "History of Ethics and Law of Responding to Suffering", lead by Virpi Mäkinen (University of Helsinki).

For more information, please see:

Doctoral researcher: https://jobs.helsinki.fi/job-invite/4561/

Postdoctoral researcher: https://jobs.helsinki.fi/job-invite/4565/

BOOK: Mark Philip BRADLEY (eds.), The Cambridge History of America and the world (Cambridge: CUP, 2022 [paperback 2025]), ISBN 9781108419208

(image source: CUP)

Abstract:

The Cambridge History of America and the World offers a transformative account of American engagement in the world from 1500 to the present. Representing a new scholarship informed by the transnational turn in the writing of US history and American foreign relations, the four-volume reference work gives sustained attention to key moments in US diplomacy, from the Revolutionary War and the Monroe Doctrine to the US rise as a world power in World War I, World War II and the Cold War. The volumes also cast a more inclusive scholarly net to include transnational histories of Native America, the Atlantic world, slavery, political economy, borderlands, empire, the family, gender and sexuality, race, technology, and the environment. Collectively, they offer essential starting points for readers coming to the field for the first time and serve as a critical vehicle for moving this scholarship forward in innovative new directions. 

Contents:

Table of Contents Volume I. 1500–1820 Edited by Eliga Gould, Paul Mapp and Carla Gardina Pestana Volume II. 1820–1900 Edited by Kristin Hoganson and Jay Sexton Volume III. 1900–1945 Edited by Brooke L. Blower and Andrew Preston Volume IV. 1945 to the Present Edited by David Engerman and Max Paul Friedman. 

On the editors:

Mark Philip Bradley is the Bernadotte E. Schmitt Distinguished Service Professor of History at the University of Chicago. He is the author of The World Reimagined: Americans and Human Rights in the Twentieth Century, Vietnam at War, and Imagining Vietnam and America: The Making of Postcolonial Vietnam. He is recipient of fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. 

Read more here. 

BOOK: Marjoleine KARS, Michael A. MCDONNEL & Andrew M. SCHOCKET (eds.), The Cambridge History of the American Revolution (Cambridge: CUP, 2025), 3 vol. ISBN 9781108496629, 400 USD

 

(image source: CUP)

Abstract:

Those interested in the American Revolution-whether it be history buffs, undergraduates, teachers, or specialists-will find this collection provocative, informative and educational. Featuring almost ninety chapters by renowned and upcoming scholars, this three-volume collection considers the astonishing diversity of Revolutionary experiences: from silk-wearing legislators to starving Senecas, enslaved tobacco pickers to enraged tenant farmers, free black soldiers to struggling white seamstresses, mobile Tuscarora families to ambivalent sailors, and radical scribblers to reactionary preachers. It will cover the Revolution's earliest roots to its full fruit. In addition to important broad, topical essays, the volumes spotlight shorter yet innovative “viewpoints” that reveal the Revolution's drama on a human scale, telling the compelling stories of individuals, families, events, and objects. Accessible and authoritative, The Cambridge History of the American Revolution will be the chief reference text on the American Revolution for years to come.

 Table of contents:

Volume I. Revolutionary Contexts Volume II. Revolution Volume III. Continuities, Changes, and Legacies.

 On the editors:

Marjoleine Kars , Massachusetts Institute of Technology Marjoleine Kars is a Senior Scholar at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Professor Emerita at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She is the author of Breaking Loose Together: The Regulator Rebellion in Pre-Revolutionary North Carolina (2003) and Blood on the River: A Chronicle of Mutiny and Freedom on the Wild Coast (2022). Her work has won numerous prizes, including the Cundill History Prize and the Frederick Douglass Book Prize. Michael A. McDonnell , University of Sydney Michael A. McDonnell is Professor of History at the University of Sydney. He is the author of two prize-winning books, Masters of Empire: Great Lakes Indians and the Making of America (2024) and The Politics of War: Race, Class, and Conflict in Revolutionary Virginia (2012). He has served as a Distinguished Lecturer for the Organization of American Historians (OAH). Andrew M. Schocket , Bowling Green State University Andrew M. Schocket is Professor of History and American Culture Studies at Bowling Green State University. He is the author of Founding Corporate Power in Early National Philadelphia (2007) and Fighting over Founders: How We Remember the American Revolution (2015). He is co-director of the Magazine of Early American Datasets.

Read more here. 

CALL: Positions on the Editorial Board (Comparative Legal History; DEADLINE 15 JAN 2026)

 

 

Journal Comparative Legal History

 

Call for Positions on the Editorial Board

 

Deadline: 15 January 2026

 

 

The European Society for Comparative Legal History (ESCLH) is seeking applications for positions on the editorial board of its flagship journal, Comparative Legal History, including at least an articles editor and a reviews editor.

 

Evidence of scholarly ability, experience in editing or a willingness to learn quickly, willingness to contribute to journal projects beyond the narrow scope of the job title, and membership (or a commitment to become a member if appointed) of the ESCLH are requirements. Full training in the journal’s processes will be provided as needed.

 

You would contribute to the advancement of comparative legal history as part of a warm, supportive, and dedicated team.

 

The journal is an official academic forum of the ESCLH. It was first published in 2013 and aims to offer a space for the development of comparative legal history. The journal welcomes contributions that explore law in different times and jurisdictions from across the globe.

 

Applications, indicating to which position/s is being applied, with a brief cover letter and short CV (no more than 4 pages) should be sent to Luisa Brunori (Vice-President of the ESCLH), at luisa.brunori@ens.psl.eu, by 15 January 2026.

 

The ESCLH particularly welcomes applications from people underrepresented in academia generally, and in the ESCLH and the journal particularly.

 

These positions are not paid.

 

SEMINAR: Catherine VOLPILHAC-AUGER, "Montesquieu et les "exilés"" (Séminaire Parlement(s) et cours souveraines, 12 DEC) [HYBRID]

 

(image source: Parlementdeparis dot hypotheses)

Séminaire Parlement(s) et cours souveraines

La prochaine séance du séminaire “Parlement(s) et cours souveraines”  aura lieu :

                                      Vendredi 12 décembre 2025 (16h30-18h30)

Catherine VOLPILHAC-AUGER (ENS Lyon, IHRIM, UMR 5317), « La grande crise de 1753 : Montesquieu et les parlementaires exilés à Bourges  ».

Répondant : Thibault BARBIEUX ( Université Versailles -Saint Quentin)

Le séminaire se tiendra dans les locaux de l’Institut d’Histoire du Droit-Jean Gaudemet (salle Administration ou salle Collinet, selon la disponibilité), 4 rue Valette, 75005 Paris, esc. de gauche sous le hall, 3e étage.

Voici le lien de connexion ZOOM pour toutes les personnes qui ne pourraient pas se déplacer à l’Institut, sachant que nous vous remercions, lorsque vous le pouvez bien sûr, de privilégier la présence dans nos locaux.

Participer à la réunion Zoom

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83968347357?pwd=z1uP60q7oK5ekpzbYAEmqnF8M5Wtzk.1

ID de réunion: 839 6834 7357

Code secret: 35560

(source: Parlementdeparis)

SERIES: Émigrés européens - des récits oubliés/Auswandern! Deutsche Schicksale aus drei Jahrhunderten (arte.tv)

 

(image source: arte)

Arte devotes a series of three episodes to migration, including the legal aspects.

Abstract (French):

C’est l’histoire de l’une des plus grandes migrations européennes. Celle de gens fuyant la misère ou les persécutions et espérant une vie meilleure. Ils vont descendre les fleuves du Rhin et du Danube, du XVIIe siècle jusqu'au lendemain de la première guerre mondiale, et vont peupler des contrées en Amérique, dans l’Est de l’Europe, en Russie et sur le continent africain.

Abstract (German):

Deutsche Auswanderer haben – im Guten wie im Schlechten – die Welt geprägt. Was 1618, zu Beginn des 30-jährigen Krieges am Rhein begann, wird zur Geschichte einer Migration über drei Jahrhunderte und vier Kontinente. Millionen Deutschsprachige flohen vor Verfolgung, Hunger und Kälte, suchten in der Ferne ein besseres Leben – und wurden dabei oft zu Spielbällen im Machtkampf um neue Territorien. Eine Geschichte von Hoffnung, Flucht und Neuanfang.

Watch all episodes for free here. 

INTERVIEW: François WAQUET, "Le droit romain à l’origine de la légitimité politique occidentale" (Paris: Collège de France)

 

(image source: Collège de France)

Introduction:

Comment les monarques européens ont-ils légitimé leur pouvoir pendant des siècles ? Au cœur de cette question se trouve un héritage souvent méconnu, mais décisif, celui du droit romain. Bien après la chute de l’Empire romain, cette tradition juridique a servi de socle intellectuel et institutionnel aux monarchies européennes. Elle a fourni des outils de gouvernement et une rhétorique de légitimation qui ont traversé les âges jusqu’à constituer les fondements de notre système politique contemporain. Rencontre avec François Waquet*, historien du droit romain au Collège de France.

On the interviewee:

François Waquet est chercheur en histoire du droit romain sur la chaire Droit, culture et société de la Rome antique du Pr Dario Mantovani.

Read the full interview here. 

VACANCY: University assistant predoctoral [Chair for Globalisation and Legal Pluralism, Department of Legal and Constitutional History] (Wien: Universität Wien, DEADLINE 21 DEC 2025)

 

(image source: Uni Wien)

The University of Vienna is a community of almost 11,000 individuals, including approximately 7,700 academic staff members, who passionately pursue answers to the profound questions that shape our future. They represent individuals driven by curiosity and a relentless pursuit of excellence. With us, they find the space to try things out and unfold their potential. Are you inspired by their passion and determination? We are currently seeking a/an

 

University assistant predoctoral 

34 Faculty of Law  

Job vacancy starting: 01.01.2026 | Working hours:  30,00  | Classification CBA: §48 VwGr. B1 Grundstufe (praedoc) 

Limited contract until: 31.12.2029

Job ID: 4931

There are many good reasons to become involved in research and teaching at the University of Vienna. One reason in particular why some 7,700 academics have joined this university is that they thrive on curiosity and continuous exploration in their quest for scientific achievement. Do you feel the same? Then join our team!

Your future position:

As a predoc university assistant, you will join the team of Prof. Dr. Lena Foljanty, Chair for Globalisation and Legal Pluralism, at the Department of Legal and Constitutional History. The chair’s research deals with globalisation processes in law from a historical perspective. We are particularly interested in PhD projects on colonial and decolonial processes, colonial epistemologies, transculturality, and critical examinations of Eurocentric historiography. Projects that bridge the gap between historical and current challenges are also welcome, provided that they include a legal history aspect.

The duration of employment is 4 years. Initially limited to 1.5 years, the employment contract is automatically extended to 4 years if the employer does not terminate it within the first 12 months by submitting a non-extension declaration.

Your future tasks:

You will be actively involved in research, teaching and administration, which means:

• You will be involved in research and publication projects.
• We expect you to conclude your dissertation agreement within 12-18 months.
• You will work on your dissertation and its completion.
• You will hold courses independently in accordance with the provisions of the collective bargaining agreement.
• You will take on administrative tasks in research and teaching.

Your profile:

• Completed Master's degree or diploma in law or in a neighbouring discipline, e.g. history, social sciences, cultural and social anthropology (or equivalent qualification)
• Excellent command of English and/or German, ability to express yourself well in writing and speaking
• Knowledge of further languages for research on intercultural topics would be an advantage.
• You must be able to contribute to the chair's research and the department's teaching obligations.
• You should be a team player with good social and communication skills.
• IT user skills (MS Office, Moodle, Zoom)
• Preferably basic experience in teaching and in academic writing and research methods, as well as familiarity with the processes and structures of a university

What we offer:

Work-life balance: You will have flexible working hours and can work from home part of the time. 

Inspiring working atmosphere: You will be part of an international team in a casual working environment.

Good public transport connections: Your workplace is easily accessible by public transport.

Internal further training: We provide opportunities to continually expand and develop your skills.

Fair salary: The basic salary of EUR 3,714,80 (for full-time work) increases if you have relevant prior work experience.

Equal opportunities for all: We welcome every new personality to the team!

 

How to apply:

• With your academic CV/letter of intent
• With a summary of your research interests/PhD project proposal (max. 2 p.)
• Certificate of completion of your Master's degree/Diploma
• Proof of further qualifications where appropriate
• Via our job portal/Apply now button

 

If you have any questions, please contact:

Lena Foljanty  

lena.foljanty@univie.ac.at

 

We look forward to new personalities in our team! 
The University of Vienna has an anti-discriminatory employment policy and attaches great importance to equal opportunities, the advancement of women and diversity. We place particular emphasis on enhancing women’s representation among the academic and general university staff, particularly in leadership roles, and therefore expressly encourage qualified women to apply. Given equal qualifications, preference will be given to female candidates.

 

University of Vienna. Space for personalities. Since 1365.

 

Application deadline: 21.12.2025

(more information here)

BOOK: Ulrike LUDWIG & Quentin VERREYCKEN (eds.), The Power to Pardon in Medieval and Early Modern Christian Europe [Einheit & Vielfalt im Recht/Legal Unity & Pluralism, eds. Ulrike LUDWIG & Peter OESTMANN, 6] (Wien: Böhlau, 2025), ISBN 978-3-412-53386-1 [OPEN ACCESS]

 

Abstract:

In medieval and early modern Christian Europe, the power to exercise pardon over rigor of justice was one of the strongest manifestations of sovereignty and, as such, it was almost ubiquitous. For merciful rulers, pardoning was a means to enforce peace and assert the supremacy of their judicial authority, whereas for subjects, it was primarily a way to save their lives and escape punishment, often at a lower cost than other mitigating practices. Studying the predominant role of pardon in medieval and early modern societies, this collective volume examines how pardons operated within complex legal systems marked by a plurality of legal orders, where various means of conflict resolution coexisted and litigants had to navigate multiple levels of authorities.

On the editors:

Ulrike Ludwig is a university professor of early modern history at the University of Münster and co-director of the Käte Hamburger Kolleg ‘legal Unity and Pluralism’; Quentin Verreycken is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Louvain.

 Read the full book here: DOI 10.7788/9783412533861.

BOOK: Nicolas BELL-ROMERO, The University of Cambridge in the Age of Atlantic Slavery (Cambridge: CUP, 2025), ISBN 9781009652544, 35 GBP [OPEN ACCESS]

 

(image source: CUP)

Abstract:

In this powerful history of the University of Cambridge, Nicolas Bell-Romero considers the nature and extent of Britain's connections to enslavement. His research moves beyond traditional approaches which focus on direct and indirect economic ties to enslavement or on the slave trading hubs of Liverpool and Bristol. From the beginnings of North American colonisation to the end of the American Civil War, the story of Cambridge reveals the vast spectrum of interconnections that university students, alumni, fellows, professors, and benefactors had to Britain's Atlantic slave empire - in dining halls, debating chambers, scientific societies or lobby groups. Following the stories of these middling and elite men as they became influential agents around the empire, Bell-Romero uncovers the extent to which the problem of slavery was an inextricable feature of social, economic, cultural, and intellectual life. This title is also available as open access on Cambridge Core.

On the author:

Nicolas Bell-Romero , Tulane University, Louisiana 

Read the book here: DOI 10.1017/9781009652582.

BLOG: New Global Legal History Blog ANT.E (Areas – Norms – Time, Entangled) (Wien: Universität Wien)

 We received the following announcement:

We are happy to announce the launch of our blog ANT.E at ante-blog.univie.ac.at.

ANT.E is Areas – Norms – Time, Entangled.

ANT.E is a blog and an international platform for discussion and scientific exchange.

ANT.E looks at processes of the globalization of law from a historical perspective, focusing on the experiences of the Global South.

ANT.E wants to bridge the past and the future and to challenge Western, post-/semi-colonial narratives.

ANT.E discusses topics from different perspectives in brief essays by researchers from various fields, tying them together in colloquies.

Our first colloquy on “Unseen Agencies of Transformation” features contributions by Ivelina Masheva, Surutchada and Adam Reekie, Hailegabriel Gedecho Feyissa, and an introductory comment by Makiko Hayashi.

Join us as a reader and/or contributor – contact us at ante.rg@univie.ac.at.

We look forward to hearing from you!

 

The ANT.E publishers and team

ENCYCLOPEDIA: Alain COLLIGNON & Dirk LUYTEN, "Henri Rolin" (BelgiumWII)

 

(image: Henri Rolin as President of the Belgian Senate; source: Belgian Senate)

Alain Collignon and Dirk Luyten (both Belgian State Archives/CegeSoma) published a new biographic lemma on Henri Rolin (1891-1973): lawyer, Professor, diplomat at the UN, judge at the European Court of Human Rights and prominent politician in Belgium (Senator, Minister of Justice).

Read the article here.

BOOK: Michela BARBOT, Les règles de la valeur. Les prix et l'estimation au prisme du droit (XVIIe-XVIIIe siècle) [Études d’histoire du droit et des idées politiques, ed. Florent GARNIER; 36] (Toulouse: Presses de l'Université Toulouse Capitole, 2025), 235 p. ISBN 9782379281396 [OPEN ACCESS]

(image source: OpenEdition)

Abstract:

Comment les prix et la valeur étaient-ils appréhendés par les juristes de l’époque moderne ? Et quel était le statut juridique accordé aux opérations d’estimation ? Alors que ces questions ont été essentiellement abordées sous le prisme des notions forgées par les canonistes de la Seconde Scolastique espagnole, cet ouvrage se concentre sur un terrain d’étude très peu exploré dans cette perspective : il s’agit du droit civil français et italien du XVIIe et XVIIIe siècle. Menée à partir de sources documentaires de nature différente (ouvrages, traités, dictionnaires, recueils de jurisprudence, procès-verbaux d’expertise, règlements, ordonnances, manuels d’estimation), cette enquête croise l’histoire de la pensée, des normes et des pratiques pour s’intéresser, à la fois, aux qualifications juridiques élaborées en matière de prix et de contrats, aux procédés d’évaluation formalisés et adoptés par les estimateurs, aux règles législatives et coutumières qui encadraient ces opérations, ainsi qu’aux conditions institutionnelles qui en assuraient la légitimité. En adressant la question des prix et de l’estimation à partir de leur dimension contractuelle et procédurale, cette analyse comparée permet non seulement de questionner la prétendue universalité du lexique économique néo-scolastique, mais aussi, et surtout, d’observer la pluralité des solutions légales et politiques qui ont été apportées à un même défi : celui de réduire les incertitudes sur les prix afin de favoriser la correcte formation et exécution des engagements juridiques dans lesquels ils sont fixés.

On the author:

Historienne de l’économie et du droit, Directrice de Recherche au CNRS et Professeure attachée en sciences humaines et sociales à l’École normale supérieure Paris-Saclay.

Read more here DOI 10.4000/14r35.

BOOK: Lauri MÄLKSOO, Russia, the Soviet Union, and Imperial Continuity in International Law (Oxford: Oxford university press, 2025), ISBN 978019895593

 

(image source: OUP)

Abstract:

This book, a sequel to the author’s Russian Approaches to International Law (OUP, 2015), presents the history of international law in Russia and the Soviet Union, from the perspective of Russia’s imperial doctrines and practices in international law. Starting from the expansion of Muscovy in the sixteenth century and connecting the discussion with the Russo–Ukrainian war of our time, the book discusses key Russian international lawyers and their arguments against the backdrop of the Russian and Soviet history and territorial expansions. International legal doctrines such as regarding the termination of treaties (clausula rebus sic stantibus), state identity and continuity, right of peoples to self-determination, balance of power, and special status of great powers are discussed throughout the book, in the context of different historical periods. The imperial views of leading Russian and Soviet international lawyers such as Feodor Martens, Evgeny Korovin, Evgeny Pashukanis, Fedor Kozhevnikov, and Grigory Tunkin are discussed in detail. The book challenges the view that Tsarist Russia was a semi-peripheral power in the context of European international law. The book also challenges Lenin’s concept of imperialism—namely that it is the last stage of capitalism. The book maps the history of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union in the context of international legal arguments and ideas which facilitated the continuity of the Russian Empire. By doing this, the book offers a new account of the global history of imperialism in international law by which imperialism is not tied primarily to West European Empires. The book makes extensive use of original resources from Russian and Soviet literature on international and constitutional law.

Read more here: DOI 10.1093/9780198955962.001.0001.

ARTICLE: Paolo AMOROSA, "Before Integration through Law: Cappelletti and Calamandrei on Judicial Review as Social Justice, 1944–1957", European Constitutional Law Review XXI (2025), nr. 3 [OPEN ACCESS]

(image source: CUP)

Abstract:

The intellectual legacy of Cappelletti and Calamandrei – envisioning judicial review as an instrument of social justice – the post-war project of substantive legality – groundwork for the Integration through Law project – the EU’s neoliberal turn – the European Court of Justice’s entrenched market constitutionalism – the elusive goal of a Social Europe

Read more here  (open access): 10.1017/S1574019625100849

BOOK: Georgios GIANNAKOPOULOS, The interpreters. British internationalism and empire in southeastern Europe, 1870-1930 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2025), ISBN 9781526160133, 85 GBP

 

(image source: Manchester University Press)

Abstract:

The book offers a new interpretation of the cultural and intellectual exchanges between Britain and southeastern Europe in an age of imperial transformation. It considers systematically the question of the management of ethnic difference in multinational imperial states as diverse as Britain, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire. It traces the regional experiences and impact of British scholars and public intellectuals steering through competing nationalisms and translating regional national questions to British and international audiences. The emphasis on past attempts to reconcile liberal democracy and nationalism with imperial rule continues to resonate in our day as intellectuals confront the challenges presented the rise of ethno-nationalist politics and shifting place of Britain in Europe.

On the author:

Georgios Giannakopoulos is Senior Lecturer in Modern History at City St George's, University of London.

Read more here. 

JOURNAL COMPARATIVE LEGAL HISTORY: David Schorr (Tel Aviv) Appointed New Editor

  

Journal Comparative Legal History

 David Schorr Appointed New Editor

The European Society for Comparative Legal History (ESCLH) is delighted to announce that David Schorr will be the new Editor for its flagship journal Comparative Legal History.

 

David Schorr will start his term as Editor on 1 January 2026. David is currently one of the Reviews Editors of the journal, and a Senior Lecturer at Tel Aviv University. He has a wealth of experience in comparative legal history, with a particular expertise in environmental legal history in and across multiple jurisdictions.

 

The position of editor is currently held by Agustín Parise, who is standing down to become President of the ESCLH. Agustín has been involved with the journal since its conception, acting subsequently as Reviews Editor and Articles Editor. The ESCLH thanks Agustín for his years of work for the journal.

 

Seán Patrick Donlan was the first Editor of the journal. Heikki Pihlajamäki was the second Editor, having previously held the position of Articles Editor. The journal is an official academic forum of the ESCLH. It was first published in 2013 and aims to offer a space for the development of comparative legal history. Based in Europe, it welcomes contributions that explore law in different times and jurisdictions from across the globe.

PRIZE: Max Planck-ASLH Dissertation Prize for European Legal History in Global Perspective 2025 to Vladislav LILIC and Daniel R. QUIROGA VILLAMARÍN

 

(image source: MPILHLT)

Description:

This year's Max Planck-ASLH Dissertation Prize for European Legal History in Global Perspective recognizes two remarkable works. Vladislav Lilić and Daniel R. Quiroga Villamarín offer research that enriches the study of state formation, international order, and the built environments that shaped global governance.

Vladislav Lilić’s dissertation, ‚Empire of States: Law and International Order in Ottoman Europe, c. 1830–1912,‘ completed at Vanderbilt University, presents a fresh account of Balkan state formation. He traces how Montenegro and Serbia took shape through legal conflicts inside imperial institutions. By following figures ranging from Ottoman officials to pastoralists, he shows how disputes over land, authority, and public order gradually redefined political belonging and enabled provincial states to form within the empire before entering the international arena. The work rests on multilingual research, a precise structure, and a clear analytical contribution to debates on sovereignty and legal pluralism.

Daniel R. Quiroga Villamarín’s dissertation, “‘Architects of the Better World’: Democracy, Law, and the Construction of International Order (1919–1998),‘ completed at the Graduate Institute in Geneva, examines the emergence of an international parliamentary complex across the twentieth century. He follows the creation of international assemblies from interwar Geneva to the end of the Cold War and analyzes how architectural designs circulated across regions. By linking these physical spaces to global political aspirations, he offers a spatial history of international law grounded in extensive archival research in Europe, Africa, and the Americas. The study introduces a distinctive conceptual frame conveyed through clear and persuasive prose. The Max Planck-ASLH Dissertation Prize honors outstanding dissertations in European legal history with a global orientation, submitted for PhD or JSD degrees awarded in the previous calendar year. It supports work on European legal interactions beyond Europe, transregional legal processes, and theoretical developments connected to imperial or global currents.

Jury:

Lauren Benton (chair) Yale University Thomas Duve Max Planck Institute for Legal History Fahad Bishara University of Virginia Matthew Mirow Florida International University

Source: MPILHLT. 

SEMINAR: The Global History of the Establishment of the Permanent Court of International Justice, 1919 to 1922 (Copenhagen: CEMES/INNER_LEAGUE ERC Project, 1-2 DEC 2025)

 

(image source: CEMES)

Abstract:

This seminar will discuss the draft book chapters of a new monograph on the establishment of the Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ). The book will tell the story of how the PCIJ was imagined, developed and established from the negotiations of the Covenant in Spring 1919 as part of the Peace Treaty negotiations over the famous negotiations of the court Statute by the Advisory Committee of Jurists in Spring of 1920 to the ultimate decision on the nature of the Court and the selection of judges by the League of Nations Council and Assembly in 1920-1921. The opening meeting of the PCIJ took place on 15 February 1922 and would fundamentally change the system of international law and its historical trajectory.

Program:

Monday 1 December 13.00-17.00

South Campus, 11b-2-29

Introduction (Haakon Ikomomou and Morten Rasmussen (University of Copenhagen)

The Negotiations of the League Covenant in Paris (Karin van Leeuwen (Maastricht University))

Latin America (Andrei Mamolea (Boston University, ONLINE)

Commentators: Associate Professor Megan Donaldson (University College London) and Professor Leonard Smith (Oberlin College)

Tuesday 2 December 10.00-16.00

South Campus, room 12-3-07

Scandinavia, the Netherlands and Switzerland (Karin van Leeuwen and Haakon Ikonomou)

The Advisory Committee (Morten Rasmussen)

The final decision of the Council and First Assembly and establishment of the PCIJ (Morten Rasmussen)

Commentators: Associate Professor Megan Donaldson

More information here. 

DATASET: Transcripts of the Nürnberg Trials (Harvard: Harvard Law School Library, 20 NOV 2025) - PODCAST: "1945. Crime contre l'humanité, forger un concept pour le droit" (France Culture, 26 AUG 2025)

(image source: Harvard Law School Library/Lorin Granger)

 

At the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the opening of the Nürnberg Trials, Harvard Law School's Library publishes the "first complete set of digitized Nuremberg Trials records". 

First paragraph:

Beginning today, the Harvard Law School Library is making available online the first complete, fully searchable, digitized collection of official evidentiary documents and trial transcripts in English from all 13 Nuremberg Trials, at https://nuremberg.law.harvard.edu/. On the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the first trial on November 20, 1945, researchers, scholars, and learners around the globe for the first time have open access to a fully searchable digital archive. Led by the library’s Nuremberg Trials Project, the effort to digitize, transcribe, and catalog official documents from the library’s Nuremberg Trials collection has spanned more than a quarter century.

More information here.

See also this podcast, "1945. Crime contre l'humanité, forger un concept pour le droit" in the series Crimes contre l'humanité. Nommer, dénoncer, juger (France Culture: Le Cours de l'histoire) with Anne-Laure Chaumette and Bénédicte Vergez-Chaignon here.

BOOK: Jean-Paul JEAN, Les juges devant l'histoire. Savoire dire non, de Vichy à nos jours [Histoire] (Rennes: Presses universitaires de Rennes, 2025), 342 p. ISBN 9791041305179, €25

 

(image source: PUR)

Abstract:

Comment des juges, qui ont prêté serment de fidélité au maréchal Pétain et servi le régime de Vichy, ont-ils pu ensuite présider les tribunaux de l’Épuration ? Quel a été le rôle effectif de la justice dans l’application des lois sous l’Occupation, dans la persécution des Juifs et la répression des résistants ? La présentation de parcours de procureurs et de juges tout au long des années noires, attentistes, collaborateurs, résistants, ou vichysto-résistants, remet en contexte les situations concrètes auxquelles les magistrats ont été confrontés et les choix qu’ils ont effectués en conscience. Pourquoi Paul Didier a-t-il été le seul à refuser de prêter serment à Pétain ? Qu’ont réellement fait les magistrats résistants ? De quelle façon la magistrature a-t-elle contribué à l’exclusion des Juifs ? Quelle est la réalité du parcours controversé du vichysto-résistant André Mornet, procureur général qui a requis la peine de mort contre Pétain ? Comment ont été jugés après-guerre les magistrats des sections spéciales ? Pourquoi les procès de l’Épuration n’ont-ils pu s’appuyer que sur des éléments très partiels ? Nombre de documents inédits, provenant des archives publiques et privées, illustrent ces analyses. La remise en perspective de cette période sombre de l’histoire, qui s’éclaire aussi par les réformes de l’après-guerre, dont font partie l’accès à la magistrature des femmes et les prémices de la justice pénale internationale, ouvre au débat sur les enjeux contemporains de la justice, pilier de l’État de droit partout menacé par les dérives populistes et autoritaires.

 Table of contents:

La justice défaite (1940-1944)

• La soumission de la justice
• L’exclusion des magistrats, fonctionnaires et avocats juifs
• La justice de Vichy appliquée aux Juifs et aux francs-maçons
• Le serment de fidélité au maréchal Pétain
• Les sections spéciales
• « Juger les responsables de la défaite ». Riom, un procès politique
• Des magistrats au cœur de la collaboration
• Prudence, formalisme et soumission de la hiérarchie judiciaire
• Des magistrats résistants peu nombreux
• L’opportunisme patriotique. Les vichysto-résistants de la justice
  

Refaire justice (1944-1946)

• La justice se relève
• Des procès sous tension devant les cours de justice
• Comment juger, dès la Libération, l’attitude d’un magistrat sous l’Occupation ?
• Pétain devant ses juges
• Les magistrats français au procès de Nuremberg
• Deux femmes résistantes intègrent la magistrature
• La lente émancipation de la magistrature

On the author:

Jean-Paul Jean, président de chambre à la Cour de cassation (H), ancien professeur associé à l’université de Poitiers, expert du Conseil de l’Europe, intervenant à l’ENM et à Sciences Po, est secrétaire général de l’Association des cours suprêmes judiciaires francophones (AHJUCAF) et vice-président de l’Association française pour l’histoire de la justice. Il a notamment publié Histoire de la justice en France (Royer et aliii, PUF, 2016), Le système pénal (La Découverte, 2008) et dirigé Juger sous Vichy, juger Vichy (La Documentation française, AFHJ, 2018), 70 ans après Nuremberg, juger le crime contre l’humanité (Dalloz, 2017) et Barbie, Touvier, Papon. Des procès pour la mémoire (Autrement, 2002)

Read more here.

BOOK: Maurits DEN HOLLANDER, Court, Credit, and Capital. Amsterdam's Insolvency Legislation in the Dutch Golden Age [Studies in Legal History] (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2025), 312 p. ISBN 9781009631051, 95 GBP

 

(image source: CUP)

Abstract:

Seventeenth-century Amsterdam was a city of innovations. Explosive economic growth, the expansion of overseas trade, and a high level of religious tolerance sparked great institutional, socioeconomic and legal changes, a period generally known as 'the Dutch Golden Age.' In this book, Maurits den Hollander discusses how insolvency legislation contributed to the rise of a modern commercial order in seventeenth-century Amsterdam. He analyzes the procedure and principles behind Amsterdam's specialized insolvency court (the Desolate Boedelskamer, 1643) from a theoretical perspective as well as through the eyes of citizens whose businesses failed. The Amsterdam authorities created a regulatory environment which solved insolvency more leniently, and thus economically more efficiently, than in previous times or places. Moving beyond the traditional view of insolvency as a moral failure and the debtor as a criminal, the Amsterdam court recognized that business failure was often beyond the insolvent's personal control, and helped restore trust and credit among creditors and debtors.

Read more on Cambridge Core. 

CFP: 'Intellectual property: Historical perspectives' - Special Issue of the Revista Chilena de Historia del Derecho [DEADLINE 31 DEC 2025]

 

 CfP: Intellectual property: Historical perspectives

Special Issue of Revista Chilena de Historia del Derecho

 

The Revista Chilena de Historia del Derecho, a fully electronic journal, invites original, unpublished contributions for a special issue on the histories of intellectual property.

Since the 15th century and the invention of printing in Europe, intellectual property has gradually developed into a legal institution, marked by the meeting of the logics of creation, economics and law. Its history and dissemination evidence the changing relationship between the author, inventor, creator, or breeder, society and the State.

The aim of this special issue is to examine this institution over the long term and beyond European borders. The aim is to gain a better understanding of the historical conditions that led to the emergence of the various forms of intellectual property from the 18th century onwards (literary and artistic property, copyright, patents, etc.).

Contributions may focus on, but are not limited to, the following areas:

·        History of copyright and related rights

·        History of pharmaceutical patent and drug law

·        Brand history and trade mark registration.

·        History of scientific property (inventions, discoveries)

·        History of corporate law and its relationship with employees’ skill and knowledge

·        History of the legal professionalisation of intellectual property rights (specialised lawyers, agents and courts)

·        History of the protection of plant varieties and living organisms

·        The historical challenges of protecting intangible heritage.

 

Contributions may also address specific methodological or theoretical issues, provided they have a historical dimension.

Proposals for articles (title, an abstract between 300 and 500 words, accompanied by a 5-line bio-bibliographical note) should be sent to the coordinators of this special issue (addresses: J.A.Bellido@kent.ac.uk and gabriel.galvez-behar@univ-lille.fr), with a copy to the editorial board of the Revista Chilena de Historia del Derecho at the following address: aargouse@derecho.uchile.cl

Provisional timetable

Deadline for proposals: December 31, 2025

Notification of acceptance: January 15, 2026

Closing date: August 31, 2026

Publication date: December 2026

 

Articles, written in French, Spanish or English, must be between 7000 and 9000 words (approx.), and comply with the magazine's editorial standards (available at https://historiadelderecho.uchile.cl/index.php/RCHD/about/submissions).