PHEDRA WINTER SCHOOL: Corporate and mercantile bankruptcy, insolvency and debt: approaches from legal and economic history (Venice, 29-31 OCT 2024)

PHEDRA WINTER SCHOOL 

Corporate and mercantile bankruptcy, insolvency and debt: 

approaches from legal and economic history 

Venice, 29-31 October 2024 

Palazzi Minelli e Contarini - Sestiere Cannaregio, 3536 

Free entry 

Program 

October 29th 

12h00-13h15 Lunch 

13h15 Welcome words, introduction – Dave De ruysscher – Vrije Universiteit Brussels-Tilburg 

University  and Luisa Brunori – Cnrs/École Normale Supérieure. 

13h30-14h10 Albrecht Cordes – Goethe-Universität Frankfurt: The debtor's coat. Provisions on 

insolvency, bankruptcy and debtor protection in the law of Lübeck in the XIIIth century 

14h10-14h50 Giuseppe Speciale – Università di Catania: The relationship between ius commune and 

statutory law: bankruptcy procedures and the revocatory action 

14h50-15h10 Coffee 

15h10-15h50 Alarico Barbagli – Università della Magna Grecia: The "consilia" about insolvency and 

bankruptcy in the XIVth-XVth centuries 

15h50-16h30 Fleur Stolker – University of Cambridge: The forgotten history of bankruptcy, 1543- 

1624 

16h30-17h10 Jérôme Sgard – SciencesPo Paris: Insolvency proceedings in England (XVIIth-XVIIIth 

centuries) 

Drink at Centro Tedesco di Studi Veneziani 

20h30 Dinner 

October 30th 

9h00-9h40 Ron Harris – Tel Aviv University: The corporate attribute of limited liability in the XIXth 

century and its interaction with bankruptcy law 

9h40-10h20 Pierre-Cyrille Hautcœur – Paris School of Economics/EHESS: Bankruptcy history from 

the point of view of economic history 

10h20-10h40 Coffee 

10h40-11h20 Annamaria Monti – Università Statale di Milano: Insolvency and bankruptcy in 

XIXth and early XXth-century Italian legal doctrine 

11h20-12h00 Cristina Ciancio – Università del Sannio: Insolvency and bankruptcy in the Kingdom 

of Italy. Codes and commercial courts (XIX-XXth centuries) 

12h00-12h40 Justine Chauvel – Université Paris Est Créteil Val de Marne: The landlord's pledge over 

the commercial tenant's goods. A comparative study of its influence on tenant's bankruptcy in French, 

German, and English territories (XVIIIth-XIXth centuries) 

12h40-14h00 Lunch 

14h00-14h40 Thomas Max Safley – University of Pennsylvania – Law and institutions in early modern 

bankruptcy 

14h40-15h20 Maurits den Hollander – Tilburg University: Early modern insolvency legislation in 

Amsterdam 

15h20-15h40 Coffee 

15h40-16h20 Roberto Ganau – New York University: Imprisonment for debt and bankruptcy in 

Revolutionary England 

16h20-17h00 Mona Bouquin – Université de Dijon: Insolvency Law in the XIXth and XXth centuries: 

a Franco-German comparison 

17h00-17h40 Rodrick Van der Smissen – Vrije Universiteit Brussels: Roman law and the formative 

interpretation of history in the nineteenth-century insolvency law 

19h00 Dinner 

October 31st 

9h00-9h40 Francesca Fusco – Università di Padova: Italian insolvency and bankruptcy terms from the 

Middle Ages to the XXIst  century 

9h40-10h20 Emanuela Fugazza – Università di Pavia: A crime in search of definition: The bankruptcy 

of the merchant from the Ordonnance du Commerce to the Bankruptcy Law of 1942 

10h20-11h00 Thomas Telfer – Western University: Justifying a provincial bankruptcy and 

insolvency power for municipalities:  An analysis of Ladore v Bennett (1939) and its divergence from 

twentieth century federalism jurisprudence in Canada 

11h00-11h20 Coffee 

11h20-12h00 Virginia Torrie – Western University: The influence of Saskatchewan and Alberta in 

the development of the Canadian bankruptcy and insolvency law 

12h00-12h40 Juma Noah Omollo – Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory: 

Legal transfer of the English fraud doctrine for the regulation of bank failure to the Uganda Protectorate 

c. 1885-1965 

12h40-13h20 Máté Pétervári – University of Szeged: The compulsory non-bankruptcy settlement 

procedure in the practice of the Royal Regional Court of Kalocsa (1915-1929) 

13h30 Lunch 

https://phedraproject.wordpress.com/ 

Scientific committee: 

Dave De ruysscher – University of Tilburg/VUB     dave.de.ruysscher@vub.be 

Luisa Brunori – École Normale Supérieure / CNRS     luisa.brunori@ens.psl.eu

REMINDER CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: PHEDRA Winter School, 'Corporate and mercantile bankruptcy, insolvency and debt: approaches from legal and economic history' (Venice, 29-31 OCT 2024)[DEADLINE 20 AUG 2024]

  

Corporate and mercantile bankruptcy, insolvency and debt: approaches from legal and economic history

Venice, 29-31 October 2024

Call for applications

In October 2024, the PHEDRA network will organize a workshop on the history of insolvency and bankruptcy (Middle Ages-19th century). This workshop has the aim to delve into these themes and to explore the combined legal and economic aspects of phenomena connected to insolvency and bankruptcy. From the vantage point of economic history, insolvency is linked to credit, private and public ordering. Legal historians have emphasized the cultural aspects of insolvency regulations and the transplanting of remedies and proceedings.  The hybridity of the problem of insolvency, which touches upon both economic and legal questions, also in their combination, invites further reflection.

The workshop consists of a series of lectures by specialists on the topic and presentations by doctoral candidates on their research. 

PhD students working on a topic that is connected to the theme of the workshop are invited to apply. Accommodation will be provided and costs of travel will be reimbursed. 

The IRN PHEDRA project aims at developing a concerted approach to European research on the history of business law, from antiquity to the present day, apprehended in its « European ecosystem ». This theme remains little explored by historiography, which nevertheless underlines the extent to which commercial norms and practices constitute a fundamental element in the study of issues related to the historical transformation of our societies.

How to Apply
Applicants are requested to send a CV and an abstract of their PhD thesis (maximum 1 page) to the email address phedravenice@gmail.com before 20 August 2024.

If you have further queries, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Best regards,

Prof. L. Brunori

Prof. D. De ruysscher

PRIZE: Human Solvency Historical Research Prize 2024 (DEADLINE: 15 MAR 2024)

(Image source: Fondazione Istituto Internazionale di Storia Economica “F. Datini”)

The Fondazione Istituto Internazionale di Storia Economica “F. Datini” bans the: Human Solvency Historical Research Prize 2024

CALL - REGULATION

1. The prize aims to enhance the historical research of scholars who focus their investigations on the question of economic solvency considered in all its implications, starting from those of the languages, the theological, philosophical and legal lexicons that have structured concepts key such as poverty, common good, public debt, taxation, monetary institution. The intention is to promote a long-term approach by evaluating research and analysis of historical phenomena that developed between the 11th and 18th centuries. In the specific section of the website of the Fondazione Istituto Internazionale di Storia Economica “F. Datini” contains further insights into the research topics covered by the award.

2. The publications and texts of the works may be in one of the official languages of the Fondazione Istituto Internazionale di Storia Economica “F. Datini” (Italian, French, English, Spanish, German) and must be received by 15 March 2024. Unpublished texts must be sent in PDF format while published volumes must be sent in both paper and PDF format. The products must be accompanied by the curriculum vitae and any other scientific title that the candidate deems useful to attach. The address to which to send the copies in PDF format is the following letizia@istitutodatini.it, while the paper format must be sent to the address of the Foundation via Ser Lapo Mazzei 37, 59100 Prato (Italy). In case of delay in the delivery of the paper copy, the date of shipment will be valid.

3. The prize amounts to € 10.000,00 (the amount must be declared for taxation by the person receiving it) paid in a single payment at the time of the award ceremony.

4. Only completed research, prepared in its final version or already published in the period starting from 1January 2022 and until the expiry date of the call for proposals, 15 March 2024 (criterion adopted for this first edition) may be submitted.

The members of the Prize Jury are: Erik Aerts (University of Leuven), Guido Alfani (University of Milan), Philippe Bernardi (University of Paris), Bruno Callegher (University of Trieste), Hilario Casado Alonso (University of Valladolid), Markus A. Denzel (University of Leipzig), Maria Diez Yañez (University Complutense Madrid), Miriam Davide (University of Trieste), Maria Teresa Dolso (University of Padua), Paolo Evangelisti (University of Lleida), Luca Fantacci (State University of Milan), Riccardo Finozzi (Bank of Italy), Antoni Furió (University of Valencia), Roberto Lambertini (University of Macerata), Clement Lenoble (CNRS-CIHAM Lyon-Avignon), Maryanne Kowaleski (University of Fordham, New York ), Angela Orlandi (University of Florence), Maria Clara Rossi (University of Verona), Petra Schulte (University of Trier), Alessandro Silvestri (University of Salerno), Naresh Singh (University of Ottawa), Lorenzo Tanzini (University of Cagliari), Giacomo Todeschini (independent researcher). The Jury is coordinated by the General Secretary of the Prize Paolo Evangelisti (University of Lleida).

5. The Jury will decide by April 23, 2024 which research will be rewarded, sending a communication to the winner.

In the opinion of the Commission, the special mention may be approved for a second research deemed worthy of attention. The work in question does not receive any monetary prize. The Commission's judgment is unquestionable; it may also decide not to award the prize if none of the submitted works has been judged adequate.

6. The Commission may also consider publications not sent but reported by qualified scholars to the Commission. 7. Awarding of the Prize. The prize will be awarded at the opening ceremony of the 55th Study Week entitled “La mobilità sociale nelle società preindustriali: tendenze, cause ed effetti (secc. XIII-XVIII) • Social Mobility in pre-industrial societies: trends, causes and effects (13th-18th centuries)”, organized by the "F. Datini" Foundation, on May 12, 2024.

Further information can be found here.

LECTURE SERIES: E-Lectures program 2019-2020, I-HILT, Institute for the History of International Law - Tilburg Law School

(Source: I-HILT )

I-HILT, Institute for the History of International Law @ Tilburg is a group of researchers from the Department of Public Law and Governance at Tilburg Law School, the Netherlands. The group is responsible for teaching several classes on the subject of the history of international law and relations, next to other legal history subjects. I-HILT organizes a series of lectures on the history of international law at the Tilburg Law School.

In the academic year 2019-2020, the I-HILT institute will continue its series of E-lectures. Please feel welcome to attend any of them in real life. Alternatively, you can watch the recording afterwards on this page. The full program and information about the speakers can be found here. 

A short overview of forthcoming lectures:

27 February 2020, 11:00-12:00, CubeZ 222
Maurits den Hollander, Tilburg University
'Insolvency and Economic Misfortune in 17th Century Amsterdam'

12 March 2020, 11:00 -12:00, CubeZ 222
Dr. Ingo Venzke, University of Amsterdam
'Situating Contingency: How International Law Could Have Been'

26 March 2020, 11:00 to 12:00, CubeZ 222
Remko Mooi, Tilburg University
'Protecting the Foreign Creditor: International Insolvency Procedures in Early Modern Frankfurt am Main'

Each lecture will be 40 minutes accompanied by a question and answer period of 20 minutes. Come to one of the lectures (see program above) or simply stream it here!


More information here

JOURNAL: Comparative Legal History VI (2018), No. 2

(image source: Routledge)

Contents:
Editorial (Heikki Pihlajamäki & Matthew Dyson)

Comparative cultures of accountability: the Scottish Exchequer and the Audit Chamber of Holland between 1477 and 1515 (Maurits den Hollander) (open access)
Abstract:

This comparative paper describes the spread of a new culture of probatory accountability in North-western Europe through the study of the Scottish Exchequer and the Audit Chamber of Holland between 1477 and 1515. It allows to re-evaluate persisting views of an inefficient and archaic Scottish Exchequer, as opposed to the ‘Weberian ideal’ of the Burgundian bureaucracy. Both institutions primarily had a fiscal goal, the auditing of accounts, while archival and judicial tasks supported this process. Through a study of the format of important series of these accounts as well as their marginalia, it has been revealed that by 1515 the daily practices surrounding the auditing process in Scotland and Holland showed important similarities. These cases serve to portray that through the auditors’ work, a new written culture of accountability spread among all governmental officials in either Scotland or Holland.

At the end, the creditors win: pre-insolvency proceedings in France, Belgium and the Netherlands (1807–c1910) (Dave De ruysscher) (open access)
Abstract:

In nineteenth-century France, Belgium and the Netherlands, laws imposing pre-insolvency proceedings had different goals. In a first stage, from around 1810 until about 1860, continuity of businesses in distress was not a policy consideration. Rather, legislators purported to give the creditors early control over the insolvent’s estate, which was most often liquidated. Debtor-in-possession features were mostly conceived of as a temporary reward for cooperation; lowered requirements for re-entry in the market after the winding-up of their business were another advantage for cooperating debtors. This was the same in the three aforementioned countries. In the 1870s and 1880s, the French and Belgian legislators created new pre-insolvency proceedings, which allowed debtors to keep their assets. In the Netherlands, fixed-term moratoriums prevented such an approach. Yet, also in Belgium and France, the exemption of secured creditors hampered the feasibility of compositions, and a goal of saving firms in financial peril.

The long reach of English law: a case of incidental transplantation of the English law concept of vicarious liability into Thailand’s Civil and Commercial Code (Adam Reekie & Srutchada Reekie)
Abstract:

Thailand’s Civil and Commercial Code, introduced in 1925, represents a voluntary major legal transplantation by which Thailand adopted a complete new code based on foreign models. This article traces the development of Section 425, which confers liability on employers vicariously for the wrongful acts of their employees, and reveals that the concepts present in the stated sources of the provision do not match those represented by the section in its final form. Rather, the concepts hint at another source, unstated and hitherto uncredited as a source of this part of the Code, the English law doctrine of vicarious liability. This conclusion sheds new light on the complex process of legal transplantation and legal reform in Thailand during the early twentieth century, challenging the orthodox view, and has wider implications for those considering the societal factors which guide and shape legal reform.

Techniques of empire by land law: the case of the Italian colonies (nineteenth and twentieth centuries) (Elisabetta Fiocchi Malaspina)
Abstract:

Land ownership and property registration played a special role in Italian colonialism, in which public and private interests mingled amidst the ambitions of colonising and economic exploitation. Through the legal system of land registration one can examine how European states, here in the context of Italy, used their colonies to adapt and experiment with the legal frameworks of land ownership. As will be shown in the article, what happened in the colonies might have been impossible to carry out in the European context. In the colonies the options varied between implementing a particular European land law used by a European state in its colonies, duly modified or updated, and a compromise between the already-existing land ownership structure and the European land law. The knowledge acquired by implementing different legal frameworks of landownership and land registration in the colonies conversely influenced the legal systems applied in continental Europe.

Book reviews:
System, order and international law: the early history of international legal thought from Macchiavelli to Hegel (Frederik Dhondt)

The causes of war, volume II: 1000 CE to 1400 CE (Jenny Benham)

Byzantine Legal Culture and the Roman Legal Tradition, 867-1056 (Barbara Biscotti)

Conceiving a nation, Scotland to AD 900 (Anthony Smart)

WORKSHOP: Mercantile and Corporate Bankruptcy and Pre-Insolvency in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Century: Law and Economy (7 December 2018, Tilburg University)

(Source: Tilburg University)

We learned of a workshop on 19^th-20^th century insolvency law at Tilburg University. Attendance is free but with registration

This workshop addresses the highly topical theme of mercantile and corporate insolvency and insolvency regulations. Over the course of the past three decades insolvency legislation has come to embrace pre-insolvency compositions and has been orientated more to continuity and the preservation of the going-concern value of firms. The legal and economic history of insolvency needs further exploration. Because of the interdisciplinary nature of the phenomena mentioned, in this workshop economic and legal historians reflect on the theme. The emphasis lies on methodological challenges in combining economic and legal-historical research. The presentations also tackle issues from a comparative perspective. This follows from the fact that the drafting of insolvency laws since the middle of the nineteenth century was often combined with borrowing and transplanting of legal arrangements and parts of law from elsewhere. The focus of the papers is on Western Europe.

Venue: Meeting room 10th floor, Montesquieu building, prof. Cobbenhagenlaan 221, 5037 DE Tilburg

Programme

9h30 Coffee

10u-10h30 P. di Martino (Birmingham Business School), M. Latham (Leicester Business School) and M. Vasta (University of Siena), “Putting history into the study of legal institutions: bankruptcy and insolvency laws around Europe, 1850-2015”

11h-11h30 D. De ruysscher (Tilburg University, Vrije Universiteit Brussel) en P. De Reu (Vrije Universiteit Brussel), “Averting Bankruptcy in Belgium 1884-1914. Who Made Use of Pre-Insolvency Compositions?”

12h-13h lunch 

13h-13h30 J. Künstreich (Max-Planck Institut für europäische Rechtsgeschichte), “Insolvency and Liquidity during the Crisis of 1857 in Hamburg and Lübeck”

14h-14h30 J. Cepec (University of Llubljana), “How Countries Construct Insolvency Laws. Lessons from the ex-Yugoslav Republics”

15h coffee break

15h30-16h Thomas G.W. Telfer (Western University), “The Legal History of Bankruptcy Law: Reflections on Comparative and Institutional Approaches”

16h discussion and closing remarks

18h informal dinner Esplanade

Attendance of the workshop is free but with registration. Because of the closed set-up and limited seats, please register at d.deruysscher@uvt.nl. This workshop is part of the research conducted under the umbrella of the ERC-funded project CLLS (www.clls.eu).

More information here