CONFERENCE RECORDING: Thomisme et Droit (Toulouse: Université Toulouse Capitole/Le Mans Université/IRJS-Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, 25-26 JAN 2024)

The recordings of the conference Thomisme et droit, huit siècles d'histoire are available through CanalU-tv. Click on the video above for the opening (other sessions here)

Description:

Colloque organisé par le Centre Toulousain d'Histoire du Droit et des Idées Politiques (CTHDIP, Université Toulouse Capitole), le Themis-Um (Le Mans Université) et l’IRJS (Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne), sous la direction de Cyrille Dounot (UT Capitole) et Pierre-Louis Boyer (Le Mans Université).

More information here. 

ARTICLE: Jedidiah J. KRONCKE & Haimo LI, "The Global Scope of Competitive Legalities in the Early 19th-Century South China Sea: The Topaz Incident" (European Journal of International Law XXXV (2024), no. 4., 929-958)

(image source: OUP)
 

Abstract:

This article examines the 1807 capture of the American merchant vessel Topaz by the British cutter HMS Diana in waters outside of Macau. By unearthing the full transnational context of this event, the article establishes the under-appreciated global scope of post-colonial American foreign policy as well as the early 19th-century Anglo-American rivalry that culminated in the War of 1812. Moreover, explicating the transnational dynamics of the Topaz incident demonstrates the similarly under-appreciated centrality of the China trade to this growing geopolitical rivalry. This trade was materially critical to the resolution of British ambitions in Europe during the Napoleonic Wars, and such importance drove aggressive British reactions to the rapid success of the USA as a re-exporter of Chinese goods. Similarly, Sino-American trade relations were a symbolically charged arena for American ambitions to establish a distinct post-colonial identity as a true adherent to the law of nations. Herein, recovering the full diplomatic and legal aftermath of the Topaz incident also reveals the importance of prize law as a global forum for this era of Anglo-American rivalry as well as how prize law’s particular form of quasi-privatized legality played into often opportunistic American invocations of ‘commercial empire’. The article’s mapping of the local and transnational reactions to the Topaz incidentalso challenges extant scholarship’s focus on Opium War-era treaty negotiations as the primary driver of Qing understandings of Western legalities by highlighting the neglected importance of pre-Opium War legal interactions, especially commercial interactions and conflicts.

Read the article here: DOI 10.1093/ejil/chaf001.

CFP: 'Territory(ies): notion, limits and extensions' (Lille: Centre d'Histoire Judiciaire, 14 NOV 2025) [DEADLINE: 6 JUL 2025]

 

(Source: CHJ)

Territory(ies): notion, limits and extensions 

Call for papers: Doctoral Conference, CHJ, Lille  

14 November 2025 

Understood as part of the earth’s surface in the usual sense, described by Sextus Pomponius in the Digest as ‘all the land within the boundaries of any community’, territory is defined in modern and contemporary times as ‘a constitutive element of the State, for which it forms the geographical basis and whose powers it determines’. The link between territory and public and judicial authorities thus predates the concept of the State. The civil authority freely administers and organises its territory, which is divisible and divided. It can also create subdivisions within the same territory, which have a greater or lesser extent of autonomy and their own powers, as in the case of French decentralisation or the devolution of power in the United Kingdom. 

The notion of territory inherently includes the idea of its own limit, i.e. the border, and raises the question of its extension.  

National borders can be natural (theory of the natural borders of France) or artificial (borders of the European colonies in Africa and Asia). It can be physical, such as a city wall, but it can also be vague, such as the limes of ancient Rome or the demarcation of the European continent from Asia. The border divides an internal space (the territory itself) from a space beyond, in which sovereignty no longer applies and public authority no longer has any power. It is therefore possible, as the Roman jurist Paul wrote, to disobey ‘the judge who exercises jurisdiction outside his territory’. In this context, the rules of international private and criminal law clarify the problems raised when a legal act or crime is committed abroad and provide solutions to conflicts of law and jurisdiction. This consideration of borders invites us to examine how war shapes territory, particularly through annexation, recognition of a newly-formed state or state succession. These different ways of altering borders can bring up complex legal issues. Medieval jurists developed the ‘just war theory’, derived from Roman fetial law and the reflections of Christian thinkers of late antiquity. International law has gradually incorporated mechanisms to limit the effects of war on territories and populations, but these legal principles are difficult to reconcile with geopolitical realities. At national level, the extension of borders through the incorporation of new territories can lead to the establishment of special public and private law statutes, as in certain overseas territories, former French colonies, or in the British Overseas Territories. 

Territories are constantly extending their borders to new horizons, such as the sea from the end of the Middle Ages and the sky and space in the 20th century. Diplomacy is instrumental in exploring and sharing these new territories and spaces. More generally, diplomacy is a means of preventing or resolving border and territorial disputes between states, as well as maintaining peaceful international relations and boosting economic exchanges.  

The aim of the doctoral conference at the Centre d'Histoire Judiciaire (CHJ, ULille), to be held in Lille on 14 November 2025, is to explore the notion of territory(ies) in all its diversity, mainly through its legal and historical meanings, but not exclusively. Proposals for papers from PhD candidates and young researchers, in French or English, should be sent by 6 July 2025 to territoire-s@univ-lille.fr, in PDF format (4,000 characters including spaces), along with a short CV. 

Papers may be published subject to acceptance by the scientific committee. 

More information are available here.

CALL FOR PAPERS: Conference: 'Strategien und Justiz: Geschichte strategischer Prozessführung in Deutschland', 27. Jahrestagung des Forums Justizgeschichte (Wustrau, 26-28 September 2025) (DEADLINE: 31 May 2025)

27. Jahrestagung, Strategien und Justiz: Geschichte strategischer Prozessführung in Deutschland

Geschichte strategischer Prozessführung in Deutschland

In Rechtsstaaten mobilisieren Personen und Gruppen das Recht zur Veränderung von Politik und Gesellschaft. So klagt vor dem Oberlandesgericht Hamm der Landwirt und Bergführer Saúl Luciano Lliuya gegen den Energiekonzern RWE: Er will erreichen, dass sich der Konzern anteilig an Kosten für Schutzmaßnahmen gegen eine Flutwelle durch den Gletschersee Palcacocha beteiligt. In Karlsruhe gehen Pflegekräfte gerichtlich gegen die Zustände in deutschen Heimen vor; in Straßburg wehren sich Flüchtlinge aus Mali juristisch gegen Rückschiebungen an der spanischen EU-Außengrenze; Opfer eines Fabrikbrandes in Pakistan verlangen Schadenersatz von einem deutschen Discounter; Jemeniten verklagen die Bundesregierung wegen der Beteiligung an tödlichen Drohneneinsätzen.

Strategische Prozessführung ist ein schillernder Begriff, Definitionen gibt es viele. Von traditioneller Prozessführung unterscheidet sich „strategic litigation“ (auch: „impact litigation“ oder „public interest litigation“) jedenfalls darin, dass sie jenseits des Prozesserfolgs der vertretenen Partei im jeweiligen Einzelfall auch gesellschaftliche Veränderung anstrebt. Mit strategischen Klagen in ausgewählten Fällen sollen Präzedenzentscheidungen mit Breitenwirkung erstritten werden, mit massenhaften Verfahren wird (politischer) Druck erzeugt, mit Selbstanzeigen oder Aktionen des zivilen Ungehorsams werden Prozesse zur öffentlichen Skandalisierung ungerechter Straftatbestände initiiert. Verteidigung oder Nebenklage können die Bühne eines politischen Strafprozesses nutzen, um gesellschaftliche Zustände und staatliche Praktiken zu kritisieren.

Es geht also um Aktivismus mit Mitteln des Rechts (Christian Helmrich). Zwischen dem Kaiserreich, der Weimarer Republik und der Bundesrepublik haben unterschiedliche Akteur:innen auf verschiedenen Rechtsgebieten strategische Prozesse geführt: Für Arbeits- und soziale Rechte, für die Gleichberechtigung der Geschlechter, gegen Diskriminierung und Antisemitismus, für den Mieter- oder Umweltschutz.

Für Gerichte ist strategische Prozessführung eine Herausforderung: Wie gehen deutsche Richter:innen damit um, wie reagieren die Prozessordnungen und -kulturen auf Verfahren, in denen Beteiligte übergeordnete Ziele jenseits des konkreten rechtlichen Erfolgs verfolgen? Und welche Seite der – vermeintlich so unpolitischen – Justiz zeigt sich dabei? Interdisziplinär ließe sich diskutieren, inwiefern strategische Prozessführung justizielle Expert:innen weiter ermächtigt und wie insgesamt ihre (möglichen) gesellschaftlichen Wirkungen einzuschätzen sind. Die gegenwärtige politische Entwicklung drängt schließlich zur Frage, welche strukturellen verfassungsstaatlichen Voraussetzungen gegeben sein müssen, damit strategische Prozessführung überhaupt Erfolge erzielen kann.

Wir suchen Beiträge auch junger Wissenschaftler:innen, die sich mit diesen oder benachbarten justizhistorischen Fragen beschäftigen. Eine Darstellung des vorgeschlagenen Beitrags (max. 500 Wörter) und ein kurzer Lebenslauf sind erwünscht. Einsendungen bitte bis zum 31. Mai 2025 an: info@forum-justizgeschichte.de.

Kontakt

info@forum-justizgeschichte.de

Find more here.

 

BOOK: Paolo GROSSI & Mario SBRICCOLI, Carteggio (1962-2004) - a cura di Luigi Lacchè (Milano: Giuffrè Editore, 2025). ISBN: 9788828874607, €48,45, pp. 363

 

(Source: Giuffrè)

ABOUTH THE BOOK

Il carteggio tra Paolo Grossi (1933-2022) e Mario Sbriccoli (1941-2005) offre al lettore un osservatorio privilegiato per tracciare un capitolo importante della storia del diritto e della cultura giuridica nell’Italia del secondo Novecento. Il maestro fiorentino, che più tardi sarà giudice e presidente della Corte Costituzionale, incontra a Macerata, nel 1962, uno studente dalle spiccate doti intellettuali. Il giovane professore è all’inizio della sua prestigiosa carriera, lo studente è alla ricerca di una guida autorevole. É il principio di un grande sodalizio destinato a durare decenni. L’epistolario svela, senza filtri, il graduale processo di “riconoscimento”; Grossi e Sbriccoli, lettera dopo lettera, disegnano un percorso comune in cui l’uno “insegna” qualcosa all’altro: Grossi emergerà come indiscusso caposcuola, fondatore di istituzioni fiorentine e figura di primo piano della cultura italiana, Sbriccoli, a sua volta, come maestro pronto ad aprire nuove strade e a contribuire in modo decisivo allo sviluppo della storia del penale e della giustizia.

Grazie al carteggio è possibile entrare nel cuore di una vicenda straordinariamente ricca dal punto di vista umano e scientifico, testimonianza eloquente, viva, “universale” di quella che è una relazione esemplare tra maestro e allievo costruita sulla base di alcuni valori fondanti: il rigore, il pluralismo, il rispetto dell’autonomia, la valorizzazione di ciò che appartiene alla singolare personalità di ogni studioso.  

Collana: Per la storia del pensiero giuridico moderno

A cura di: Luigi Lacchè (Ordinario di Storia del diritto medievale e moderno nell’Università di 

Macerata)

SSRN: Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law Series

 

(image source: SSRN)

The Origins of the Calvo Clause: Why Carlos Calvo Supported Napoleon III's Vision for Latin America (Edward Jones Corredera)
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5092143
Abstract:

This chapter sheds light on the imperial origins of the Calvo Clause. It shows how and why Carlos Calvo, traditionally known as a stalwart supporter of the Monroe Doctrine, initially supported Napoleon III’s imperial vision for the advancement of the interests of the “Latin race” in Latin America. It emphasises how Calvo’s legal thought had a dual role as a critique and an instrument of imperial ambitions. It studies how Carlos Calvo’s diplomatic role as the representative of Paraguay tasked with the resolution of the Canstatt affair in Europe informed his views on international law, intervention, and the role of race in relations between the anglosphere, Latin America, and France. Drawing on his understudied Una página del derecho internacional (1862), this article shows how Calvo marshalled the comments on the affair of leading contemporary statesmen and jurists, such as Édouard Drouyn de Lhuys and Robert Phillimore, his querelle with Juan Bautista Alberdi, the father of Argentinian constitutionalism, and the support of his course of journalists writing in the leading European periodicals of his age, in order to encourage British officials to respect Paraguay’s sovereignty, and to bolster the principle that foreign claims had to be settled according to local laws. Above all, this chapter considers the continuities between Calvo’s defence of Napoleon III’s imperial gaze and his defence of the Monroe Doctrine, encouraging a more contextualised reading of the role of empire, intervention, and diplomacy in the emergence and popularisation of Calvo’s clause and doctrine.

A Histoire Juridique Commune? Historiographical Frames in European and Inter-American Human Rights Narratives (Daniel R. Quiroga Villamarín)
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5098631 
Abstract:

In every human rights court procedure, arguments related to history —tacitly or explicitly, willingly or unwittingly— are rehearsed by legal professionals, especially in difficult cases that attempt to bring closure to ‘historical wrongs.’ With this in mind, in this article, I interrogate the ways in which historiographical frames underpin human rights narratives, focusing on cases concerning authoritarianism and state violence in the European and Inter-American systems. With this notion, I refer to how courts use existing public materials —as if they were historians encountering a body of scholarly work— and make ‘historiographical’ decisions about the way these documents shed light on the facts or the applicable law in the dispute at hand. In particular, I focus on how the Strasbourg and San José tribunals engage with arguments related to factual context, legal change, and (dis)continuity in relation to their understanding of the history of the respective regions in which they operate —with important consequences for legal reasoning and judicial interpretation. By bringing these two regional systems in conversation, I highlight how a sense of a shared temporal experience is central to their claims to speak on behalf of Europe or the Americas.

 

BLOG: Thomas ANDREU, "La théorie du "lit de justice" est-elle désuète ?" (Jus Politicum Blog, 8 MAY 2025)

 

(image source: JP Blog)

Abstract:

Doyen Vedel succeeded in striking the right balance to ease the tension between constitutional justice and democracy through the theory of the ‘ »lit de justice ». However, it has recently been pointed out that this solution « no longer seems sufficient » for some constitutionalists, who are campaigning for other, more radical methods that would ensure that the people or their representatives have the « dernier mot ». Yet it seems that such proposals are primarily the result of the fact that the theory of the « lit de justice » now seems obsolete.

On the author:

Par Thomas Andreu, Doctorant contractuel en droit public, Chaire internationale sur l’Europe Souveraine (CILES), Centre de Documentation et de Recherches Européennes (CDRE), Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour / Université de Luxembourg 

Read the full blog contribution here. 

BOOK PRESENTATION: Le prigioni del papa. Cultura, legislazione e pratiche penitenziarie nello Stato pontificio (1831-1870) (Roma: University of Roma Tre, 29 MAY 2025)

 

(Source: Historia et ius)

CONFERENCE: Droit social et années 1930 (Bordeaux: Université de Bordeaux, 14-15 MAY 2025)

 

(image source: dtsocial2025)

Abstract:

La thèse d’un « retour des années 30 (ou aux années 30) » fait partie des idées qui sont aujourd’hui dans l’air du temps. Elle mérite cependant d’être interrogée depuis le point de vue du droit social. La décennie 1930 constitue en effet une période particulièrement riche pour le droit du travail et le droit de la protection sociale. Le colloque se propose d’étudier ces derniers dans leur contexte historique mais aussi dans leur rapport aux évolutions actuelles du droit.

Program: download here.

More information here.

PRIZE: Prix de thèse d'Aguesseau 2025 [DEADLINE 1 JUN 2025]

 

(image source: AFHD)

Depuis plus de vingt ans, l’Association « Les Entretiens d’Aguesseau » sollicite l’expérience de magistrats, d’universitaires et d’avocats afin de faire évoluer le débat sur des questions fondamentales intéressant la Justice et de mettre en évidence certaines problématiques contemporaines. Placés sous le haut patronage du plus illustre juriste limousin, le Chancelier d’Aguesseau, ces « Entretiens » ont pour principal objet de poser les grandes lignes d’une réflexion sur les évolutions de la justice du 21e siècle.

Afin d’encourager et de promouvoir la recherche dans ces domaines d’expertise, les Entretiens d’Aguesseau attribuent, tous les deux ans, un prix de thèse récompensant des thèses de doctorat soutenues dans l’espace francophone. Ces travaux doivent se rapporter à la thématique « Justices en mutation », envisagée sous ses différentes dimensions (procédure, administration de la justice, philosophie et théorie du droit), en insistant sur les approches historiques et comparatistes.

Comme l’indique le règlement, le prix consiste soit en une aide à la publication du travail retenu, publication qui mentionnera l’attribution du prix, soit en la remise de la somme de 1.500 euros. Un deuxième et troisième prix pourront être remis en fonction de la qualité des thèses appréciée par le jury. Le deuxième prix consiste en une aide à la publication d’un montant de 1 000 euros ; un troisième prix d’honneur pourra être remis par l’un des partenaires.

Le dossier de candidature, est à remettre en un exemplaire papier et un exemplaire numérique au format PDF ; chaque exemplaire du dossier comprend :
– une lettre de candidature signée, avec les coordonnées du candidat (adresse postale, adresse mail, téléphone),
– un curriculum vitae,
– une lettre du directeur de recherche présentant le candidat et toutes informations utiles concernant la qualité des travaux,
– une copie du diplôme ou de l’attestation,
– un exemplaire de la thèse,
– un exemplaire du rapport de soutenance.

Les documents papier sont à envoyer à : Pascal Plas, Faculté de Droit et des Sciences économiques, 5 rue Félix Eboué, 87031 Limoges. Les documents numériques sont à envoyer à : pascal.plas@unilim.fr

Sont concernées les thèses soutenues entre avril 2023 et le 15 janvier 2025.

Les inscriptions au Prix d’Aguesseau 2025, sont ouvertes jusqu’au 1er juin 2025.

(source: AFHD)

CONFERENCE: Defending the rule of law in times of crisis: Past, present and future perspectives [Olof Palme Guest Professor 2025, Dag MICHALSEN] (Uppsala: Upssala University, 12-13 JUN 2025)

 

 

Defending the rule of law in times of crisis: Past, present and future perspectives

 

Conference in Uppsala 12-13 June 2025

 

We live in times of multiple threats and challenges. War, climate change, pandemics, polarization and more, put society and everyday life into perspective. Each of these threats also seriously challenges democracy and the rule of law, implicitly as well as directly, blatantly so during this spring. This workshop brings together Nordic and Baltic legal researchers to examine weaknesses, resilience and restoration of the rule of law - nationally and regionally – contextualizing, analyzing and imagining past, present and future situations. The researchers participating all have unique insights on how constitutional fundaments such as the rule of law have been tested and questioned in concrete cases. What did we learn from examples from the 20^th Century? How can historical and current examples have an impact on future choices and how we relate to state, administration and civil society?

 

Dag Michalsen, Olof Palme guest professor 2025,

 appointed by The Swedish Research Council

 

The theme for the Olof Palme guest professor 2025 is Experiences of crisis. Nordic constitutional history, in particular the interwar time.

 

The workshop is hosted by

The Olin Foundation for Legal History 

 

 

 

Time: 12-13 June 2025

Venue: Faculty Room (fakultetsrummet), Faculty of Law, Uppsala university, Trädgårdsgatan 1.

 

 

Thursday 12 June

 

9.30      Coffee/tea

 

10.00 – 10.15 Welcome

Anna Singer, Dean, Faculty of Law

 

10.15 – 12.00 Session 1: Past and Present

Erik Wennerström: Echoes of the 20th Century: The Rule of Law, the ECtHR, and Democratic Resilience in Europe.

Anna Jonsson Cornell: The Rule of Law & National Security - a Swedish Perspective

Comments: Elin Boyer & Inger Österdahl

 

12.00 – 13.30 Lunch

 

13.30 – 15.00 Session 2: Restoring the Rule of Law

Karin Sein & Merike Ristikivi: Restoring the Rule of Law in Estonia

Comments: Sara Holmström & Caroline Taube

 

15.00 – 15.30 Coffee/tea

 

15.30 – 17.00 Session 3: A Defending the Rule of Law

Anna-Sara Lind: The Constitutional Human Rights Protection

Olof Wilske: Constitutional sustainability

Comments: Rawaz Shanagar & Dag Michalsen

 

 

Friday 13 June

9.30-10.00       Coffee/tea

10.00 – 11.00 Session 4: Dismantling the Rule of Law

Hans-Petter Graver: How Autocrats Dismantle the Rule of Law.

Comments: Shirin Ahlbäck Öberg & Linnéa Gullholmer

 

11.00 – 12.00 Panel Discussion. Shirin Ahlbäck Öberg, Görel Granström, Linnéa Gullholmer, Sara Holmström, Dag Michalsen, Erik Wennerström. Moderator: Anna-Sara Lind.

 

12.00 – 13.30 Lunch. End of conference.

 

Registration at Medfarm. Last day for registration Friday 30 May.

For further information, please contact Marianne Dahlén, marianne.dahlen@jur.uu.se

 

 

Olof Palme guest professor 2025, Dag Michalsen:

https://www.uu.se/institution/juridiska/forskning/olof-palmes-gastprofessur-2025

 

Olin Foundation: https://olinfoundation.com/

 

BOOK: Edward JONES CORREDERA (ed.), Supplicant Empires. Searching for the Iberian World in Global History [Habsburg Worlds] (Turnhout: Brepols, 2025), 250 p. ISBN 9782503611211

 

(image source: Brepols)

On the editor:

Is a Senior Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law (Heidelberg) and a Lecturer at the UNED (Madrid).

Table of contents:

Edward Jones Corredera (Max Planck Institute, Heidelberg, and UNED, Madrid)
Introduction: Who Prayed for the Iberian World? Incomparable Empires & Global History

Tamar Herzog (Harvard University)
Is Spain Exceptional? Reflections on Thirty Years of Research and Writing

Pedro Cardim (Universidade Nova de Lisboa)
Corporations, normative pluralism, and jurisdictions in early modern Iberia: The potential and the limitations of an interpretive framework

Marcos Reguera (Universidad del País Vasco)
From Manifest Destiny to “destino manifiesto”: the Hispanic Reception and Formulations of Manifest Destiny

Bethany Aram (Universidad Pablo de Olavide)
Comparative approaches to gender, ethnicity and empires: Britain & Spain

Marta Manzanares (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid)
Rethinking the Place of Sugar in Eighteenth-Century Spain

Fabien Montcher (University of St. Louis)
Imperial Blind Spots: Indeterminacy and Thickness across the Iberian Monarchies

David Martín Marcos (UNED)
Rustics and Barbarians: Otherness and Counter-hegemony in the Early Modern Iberian World

Interviews:

Bartolomé Yun-Casalilla (Universidad Pablo de Olavide), Amanda Scott (Pennsilvania State University), Juan Pimentel (CSIC), José Maria Portillo (Universidad del País Vasco), Maria Gago (European University Institute), Javier Rodríguez (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid), and Thiago Krause (Wayne State University)

 Read more here.

LECTURE: Christoph KÖNIG, "F.A. Mann (1907-1991): Two Double Lives in the Law" (Innsbruck: Universität Innsbruck, 14 MAY 2025)

(image source: Universität Innsbruck)

 Invitation letter excerpt:

It is an honor for me to announce that Dipl.-Jur. Christoph König, BSP Business & Law School Berlin, will join our “Evening Lecture“ event series to present "F.A. Mann (1907-1991): Two Double Lives in the Law". The lecture will take place in the UNO Saal, Innrain 52, at the University of Innsbruck and virtually via Zoom and be moderated by myself as well as Prof. Dr. Walter Doralt, Vice Dean and Dean for Research at Faculty of Law of the University of Graz and co-chairman of the Austrian Hub of the European Law Institute.

 

Practical details: 

Please note: Participation in the event is free of charge, but please register online at: https://shorturl.at/MVHnF

More information here. 

LECTURE: Boudewijn SIRKS, The Palingenetic Method in the Study of Roman Law Sources (Salerno: University of Salerno, 22 MAY 2025) [ONLINE/TEAMS]

 

(image source: Facebook)

On the event:

On 22 May 2025 at 16:00,

𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗿 𝗕𝗼𝘂𝗱𝗲𝘄𝗶𝗷𝗻 𝗦𝗶𝗿𝗸𝘀

(Emeritus, Regius Professor of Civil Law, Oxford University)

will deliver a Lectio Magistralis on:

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗱𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗟𝗮𝘄 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀

The event will be introduced by Professor Lucia di Cintio (University of Salerno), with planned contributions from Eugenio Ciliberti (Salerno) and José Luis Álvarez de Mora (Salerno / UNED, Madrid). The lecture will be followed by an open dialogue with scholars in attendance.

The event will take place online via Microsoft Teams.

Teams link here.

Further information here.

SCHOLARSHIP: PhD scholarship in the ERC Consolidator Project INNER_LEAGUE (Copenhagen: University of Copenhagen, DEADLINE 15 MAY 2025)

 

(image source: University of Copenhagen)

The Saxo Institute, Faculty of Humanities, University of Copenhagen (UCPH), invites applications for a PhD scholarship in the ERC Consolidator Project INNER_LEAGUE, from 1 January 2026.

The scholarship is for 3 years starting on 1 January 2026 or as soon as possible thereafter.

Introduction
INNER_LEAGUE is a 5-year ERC Consolidator Project (2025-2030), headed by Haakon A. Ikonomou (PI). INNER_LEAGUE provides a comprehensive social-bureaucratic history of the League of Nations Secretariat. The project will investigate the inner life of the secretariat to (a) understand how it shaped the professional lives of the ca. 4000 people that worked there. And (b) how this global workplace shaped the lasting bureaucratic infrastructures of multilateralism it serviced.

To deliver on its undertaking, the project implements an approach combining social, institutional, and digital history across three work packages: (i) Communities, (ii) Hierarchies, and (iii) Infrastructures.

To operationalize its approach, INNER_LEAGUE has several concrete objectives:
(1) To systematically uncover and analyze the emergence, endurance, change and impact of professional, educational, epistemic, social, and emotional communities within the League Secretariat.
(2) To examine the often-contested formation of hierarchies within the League Secretariat via state-of-the-art digital approaches.
(3) To investigate how processes of community building and hierarchization impacted upon the professional lives of the staff of the League Secretariat.
(4) To study and explain how, and under what material circumstances, these hierarchized communities of officials and staff built, maintained, operated, and passed on new infrastructures of multilateralism.

The project is hosted at the Saxo Institute, University of Copenhagen. The Saxo Institute at the Faculty of Humanities is dedicated to the study of human societies past and present, with degree programs ranging from History to Archeology, Ethnology, Classical Languages and Migration Studies.

PhD studies consist of research programmes at the highest international level that qualify students for independent research, knowledge dissemination and teaching. The main emphasis is on PhD students organising and conducting their own research project (under supervision). The programme culminates in the submission of a PhD thesis, which the student must defend in public. The programme is prescribed to 180 ECTS credits, corresponding to three years of full-time study.
A PhD degree opens a range of career opportunities in academia and elsewhere. As well as writing a thesis, PhD students work in active research environments in Denmark and abroad. They contribute to the academic environment, take research training courses, and convey the results of their research in teaching, at academic conferences and to the public.

Duties and Responsibilities
We are looking for a historian with experience and interest in the history of international organizations, international public administrations and/or multilateral diplomacy in the 20th (and 21st) century. Experience in working with IO-archives and proficiency in reading and writing in English and French is a distinct positive.

The PhD will focus on:

• The employees who worked to prepare, maintain, and expand the League of Nations as a multifarious, multilateral diplomatic site. Inspired by New Diplomatic History, we want to unearth the diplomatic agency of the staff working in seemingly minor roles, and to understand them as engaged in the crucial, collective diplomatic task of ‘preparing sites’ for mutual understanding.
• The evolution of the procedural, technical and communicative work of the secretariat that went into the League Assembly and the League Council as diplomatic sites.

The PhD is expected to complete a monograph (not article-based) thesis within the period of scholarship, to contribute to the project’s substantial collective prosopographical work (among other things with the aim of creating a new version of VisuaLeague), and to learn and grow as a scholar together with other INNER_LEAGUE project members.

Qualification requirements
Applicants must have a two-year master’s degree (120 ECTS) or equivalent (for instance 4+1 degrees as is customary in some countries) and, as minimum, have submitted a master’s thesis for which they have received pre-approval at the time of application.

The qualifications of applicants with non-Danish Master’s degrees will be assessed to ascertain whether they correspond or can be judged to be equivalent to the Danish level. For further information, please refer to the website of the Ministry of Education and Research: https://ufm.dk/en/education/admission-and-guidance.

Applicants must possess skills in written and spoken academic English at a high level. If deemed necessary, the department may request that applicants document their language skills.

For further information about the guidelines for PhD studies at UCPH, please refer to: https://phd.ku.dk/english/.

For further information about the structure of the PhD programme, please refer to:  https://phd.humanities.ku.dk/phd-programme/structure/.

Application 
All applications must be submitted online via the link “Apply now” at the bottom of this page. The application must be written in English, and include the following enclosures in Adobe PDF or Word format:

1. Cover letter (max. 2 pages detailing your motivation and background for applying with the specific PhD project).
2. CV   
3. Project suggestion/reflection (max. 3 pages, Times New Roman, size 12, line spacing 1,15).
4. Diploma and transcripts of records (bachelor’s and master’s degree)   
5. Other information for consideration, e.g. list of publications, documentation of English language qualifications.

On the website of the PhD School you can find information about the enclosures to include with your electronic application: https://phd.humanities.ku.dk/how-to-obtain-a-phd-scholarship/admission-requirements/.

Applicants with a degree from a university where documents are not issued in English, or a Scandinavian language must provide a translation of their diploma and transcript of records verified by the issuing university. The documents must be translated into English, Danish, Norwegian or Swedish. In addition, you must enclose an official description of the grading scale in question (for instance diploma supplement).

Assessment criteria
The following criteria are applied when assessing PhD applications:

• Research qualifications as reflected in the project description. 
• Quality and feasibility of the project.  
• Qualifications and knowledge in relevant disciplines. 
• Performance (grades obtained) in graduate and post-graduate studies. 

The recruitment process
After the deadline for applications, the Head of Department considers advice from the appointment committee and then selects applicants for assessment. All applicants will be notified whether they have been shortlisted. After this, the Head of Department sets up an expert assessment committee to assess the shortlisted applications. The selected applicants will be informed who is serving on the committee. Each shortlisted applicant will be offered the opportunity to comment on the committee’s assessment of their application before the appointment is announced.

For further information about the recruitment process, please refer to the University of Copenhagen website: https://employment.ku.dk/faculty/recruitment-process/.

Enrolment
It is a prerequisite for employment that successful applicants enrol at the PhD School of the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Copenhagen.
For further information about the structure of the PhD programme, please refer to: https://phd.humanities.ku.dk/phd-programme/structure/.
For further information about the guidelines for PhD studies at UCPH, please refer to: https://phd.ku.dk/english/.

Salary and terms of employment
Terms of appointment and salary will be in accordance with an agreement between the Ministry of Finance and The Danish Confederation of Professional Associations (AC). The salary range starts at DKK 30,800,00 (EUR 4125) + a 17.1 % contribution to the pension scheme.

According to the agreement, the PhD Fellow is required to carry out tasks at the relevant department to an extent corresponding to 840 working hours (6 months) without additional pay. The work obligation can include teaching, for instance.

An equal opportunity workplace
University of Copenhagen wishes to reflect the diversity of society, and welcomes applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of their personal backgrounds. For more information on the diverse working place environment at the university and the university’s participation in the HRS4R, please see: https://employment.ku.dk/working-at-ucph/eu-charter-for-researchers/.

International applicant?
The University of Copenhagen offers a broad variety of services for international researchers and accompanying families, including support before and during your relocation and career counselling to expat partners. Please find more information about these services as well as information on entering and working in Denmark here: https://ism.ku.dk/.

Contact information
For further information about the structure and rules of the PhD programme, please contact the PhD Administration email: phd@hrsc.ku.dk

Information about the recruitment process is available from HR South, email: hr-soendre@adm.ku.dk 
Please refer to case number: 211-2141/25-2H

If you have any questions about the academic content, please contact Haakon A. Ikonomou, email ikonomou@hum.ku.dk

The deadline for applications is 15 August 2025 at 23:59 [CEST]

Any applications or additional material submitted after the deadline will not be considered. However, changes may be made to the submitted application right up until the deadline.

Part of the International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU), and among Europe’s top-ranking universities, the University of Copenhagen promotes research and teaching of the highest international standard. Rich in tradition and modern in outlook, the University gives students and staff the opportunity to cultivate their talent in an ambitious and informal environment. An effective organisation – with good working conditions and a collaborative work culture – creates the ideal framework for a successful academic career.

BOOK: Diego PANIZZA, Diritto, politica, religione nel pensiero di Alberico Gentili. Saggi e interventi 1969-2014 (a cura di Luca SCUCCIMARRA) [Centro internazionale di studi gentiliani San Ginesio (MC), eds. Luca SCUCCIMARRA, Paolo PALCHETTI & Vincenzo LAVENIA] (Macerata: EUM, 2025), ISBN 9788860568151, 667 p. [OPEN ACCESS]

 

(image source: EUM)

Foreword by Luca Scuccimarra:

Nell’orizzonte degli studi storici contemporanei è difficile trovare percorsi di ricerca e elaborazione riflessiva comparabili a quello che per più di trent’anni ha legato Diego Panizza alla «vicenda umana e intellettuale» di Alberico Gentili1. Dal momento del suo primo incontro con il grande giurista ginesino, alla fine degli anni Sessanta del secolo scorso, Panizza ha dedicato infatti gran parte delle sue energie intellettuali ad un lavoro sempre più approfondito di scavo testuale e messa a punto interpretativa delle opere gentiliane che ha contribuito non poco alla progressiva riscoperta del ruolo spettante a questo autore nella complessa genealogia della modernità politica e giuridica. Si tratta, come è noto, di un percorso che ha trovato la sua principale collocazione istituzionale nel Centro Internazionale di Studi Gentiliani di San Ginesio, della cui attività Diego Panizza è stato a lungo il principale punto di riferimento scientifico e un’instancabile animatore. Anche grazie alla sapiente programmazione delle Giornate Gentiliane, organizzate dal Centro con cadenza biennale a partire dal 1983 e giunte quest’anno alla XXI edizione, tale percorso è venuto assumendo però nel corso del tempo un sempre più spiccato profilo internazionale, intersecandosi variamente con le esperienze di ricerca di alcuni dei principali studiosi che nel corso degli ultimi decenni, al di qua e al di là dell’Oceano Atlantico, hanno contribuito attivamente alla rinascita degli studi sul pensiero di Alberico Gentili, sino a fare di quest’ultimo un vero e proprio autore di rilevanza globale: da Peter Haggenmacher a Alain Wijffels, da Benedict Kingsbury a Benjamin Straumann, per citarne soltanto alcuni. Nato dalla affettuosa sollecitudine di Pepe Ragoni, che del Centro Internazionale di Studi Gentiliani è stata per molti anni l’inesauribile motore organizzativo, questo volume si propone di rendere omaggio all’intenso itinerario di ricerca di Diego Panizza, mettendo a disposizione dei lettori italiani un’ampia silloge degli scritti e degli interventi da lui dedicati all’opera di Alberico Gentili in un arco temporale che dal 1969 giunge sino al 2014, anno della sua scomparsa. Operare una selezione non è stato agevole: come sa chiunque abbia una conoscenza minimamente approfondita di questa direttrice della sua produzione scientifica, il corpo a corpo storiografico di Panizza con il giurista ginesino è stato una sorta di perpetuum mobile, dei cui risultati egli ha dato conto momento dopo momento attraverso una molteplicità di contributi pubblicistici legati tra loro da un’indistricabile rete di riferimenti incrociati e sviluppi interni. Dovendo scegliere, si è deciso ovviamente di privilegiare i testi dai quali emerge con maggiore evidenza il contributo offerto da Panizza al rinnovamento degli studi in questo ambito, a cominciare dalla monografia Alberico Gentili, Giurista ideologo nell’Inghilterra elisabettiana, pubblicata da un piccolo editore padovano nel lontano 1981 e oggi considerata come un passaggio cruciale di quella Gentili Renaissance che si sarebbe sviluppata con una certa continuità nel corso dei successivi decenni. Come emerge dai contributi raccolti nella prima sezione di questo volume, il testo del 1981 ha rappresentato peraltro nell’itinerario scientifico di Diego Panizza il momentaneo (e del tutto provvisorio) punto di arrivo di un processo di progressivo avvicinamento al nucleo portante della produzione gentiliana iniziato almeno una decina di anni prima e portato avanti eminentemente con gli strumenti di lavoro all’epoca disponibili nella cassetta degli attrezzi dello storico del pensiero politico. Non è un caso, da questo punto di vista, che il punto di attacco da lui prescelto per le sue prime esplorazioni dell’universo dottrinario di Gentili coincida proprio con la discussione della possibile influenza esercitata sul metodo giuridico gentiliano dalla teorizzazione di Machiavelli, in quel momento più che mai al centro degli interessi degli storici del pensiero politico, in Italia e non solo. L’idea stessa di poter applicare ad uno dei padri del moderno diritto delle genti categorie e metodi di analisi tradizionalmente propri della storia delle dottrine politiche testimonia, peraltro, della visione dinamica e libera da obsoleti steccati disciplinari che Panizza ha sempre avuto del suo mestiere di storico. Non è un caso, da questo punto di vista, che nella monografia del 1981 egli abbia scelto di porre al centro dell’indagine la figura a tutto tondo del Gentili «ideologo» dell’Inghilterra elisabettiana, proponendosi dichiaratamente di approfondire l’opera di questo pensatore nella sua «totalità», indagandone la genesi e i vari livelli di significato secondo una prospettiva «più pienamente storica»: «con preciso riferimento cioè al contesto politico, religioso e culturale in cui l’autore si trovò a operare»2. Non si tratta, in verità, dell’unico elemento metodologicamente innovativo presente nell’approccio storiografico di Diego Panizza fin dalla primissima fase del suo itinerario di ricerca. Al contrario, come lui stesso ha avuto modo di sottolineare nel saggio che fa da introduzione a questo volume3, il suo rapporto con le fonti gentiliane è stato mediato fin dall’inizio da un’attenta (e personale) rimeditazione di alcune delle più interessanti linee di «rivolgimento» metodologico impostesi nel campo degli studi storici a partire dagli anni Sessanta del Novecento, con particolare riferimento a quella influente forma di «contestualismo linguistico» resa celebre dagli scritti dei principali esponenti della cosiddetta Cambridge School of Intellectual History: Quentin Skinner, John G.A. Pocock e John Dunn4. Al di là di ogni altra considerazione, è a questo gruppo di autori che secondo Panizza va riconosciuto infatti il merito di aver contribuito «a rendere centrale l’imperativo della “comprensione” storica dei testi», nel rispetto dell’«alterità» dell’interprete e della incolmabile distanza che separa presente e passato. Un assunto, questo, senza il quale «si cade necessariamente nel proiezionismo e quindi in ogni sorta di assurdità storiografiche»5. È appunto l’intento di restituire al «discorso» gentiliano la sua originaria specificità storica, ripulendolo dalle molte incrostazioni prodotte nel corso dei secoli dal conflitto delle interpretazioni, che ha guidato Panizza nel suo confronto a tutto campo con i testi, editi e inediti, del grande giurista cinquecentesco. E al centro della sua indagine si è posta fin dall’inizio l’esigenza di comprendere il concreto ruolo rifondativo giocato dal nascente linguaggio – solo in apparenza settoriale – del moderno Ius naturae et gentium nel polarizzato spazio di esperienza prodotto in Europa dalla fine dell’unità religiosa e dall’avvento di quella concezione secolare della politica che proprio nella urticante riflessione di Machiavelli aveva trovato la sua prima compiuta messa a punto teorica. Un problema, questo, che nella monografia del 1981 – e nei numerosi saggi che ad essa fanno corona – troviamo affrontato nella specifica variante “di contesto” da esso assunta nell’Inghilterra di Gentili, quella cioè originata dal rapporto apertamente competitivo instauratosi tra «giurisprudenza» e «teologia» come cornici regolative della società inglese dell’epoca e dalla «rivendicazione alla prima del primato nella funzione di legittimazione dell’ordine politico», ma che nello sviluppo del percorso storiografico di Panizza sarebbe stato ben presto indagato nei suoi più generali tratti epocali, a partire dal confronto con le due contrapposte «visioni d’ordine» prodotte in Europa dal confronto con i tumultuosi processi di trasformazione politica e sociale in atto a partire dall’inizio del Cinquecento: da un lato il paradigma «teologico neo-scolastico» messo a punto da Francisco de Vitoria e dagli esponenti della Scuola di Salamanca in risposta ai dilemmi della Conquista e dall’altro quello «giuristico-umanistico», nato nel grande laboratorio dell’umanesimo civile europeo e destinato a trovare proprio nella teorizzazione di Gentili una seminale messa a punto categoriale e dottrinaria6. Come emerge con una certa evidenza nei saggi raccolti nella seconda sezione di questo volume, a spingere Panizza verso un sempre più deciso allargamento di prospettiva è stata però anche l’esigenza di confrontarsi con le nuove e più complesse linee di ricerca sulla storia del moderno pensiero internazionalistico emerse a cavallo dei due secoli per effetto dell’alluvionale dibattito sul nuovo ordine politico e giuridico dell’«epoca globale». È anche in forza dell’intenso (e in alcuni casi anche ruvido) confronto intellettuale con le innovative interpretazioni della vicenda storica del moderno ius gentium proposte da autori del calibro di Richard Tuck, Anthony Pagden o Martti Koskenniemi che il Gentili di Panizza ha potuto trasformarsi, infatti, dal «giurista ideologo» dell’Inghilterra elisabettiana in uno dei grandi apripista del pensiero della «modernità-mondo», contribuendo ad alimentare quel processo globale di riscoperta dei testi gentiliani sviluppatosi nel corso degli ultimi anni con modalità davvero sorprendenti, come dimostra l’edizione critica del De armis romanis pubblicata in inglese da Benedict Kingsbury e Benjamin Straumann7. L’ultima sezione di questo volume è stata pensata, appunto, per dare piena evidenza ai risultati originali e oltremodo stimolanti raggiunti dalla ricerca di Diego Panizza nel periodo di più intensa riflessione sulle grandi questioni fondative portate al centro del dibattito dal cosiddetto spatial turn delle scienze umane contemporanee. E le parole-chiave sotto le quali si è ritenuto opportuno collocare gli studi gentiliani di questo periodo sono, non a caso, cosmopolitismo ed impero: perché, a ben vedere, è proprio in una originalissima commistione di universalismo morale e realismo politico che nella sua piena maturità di interprete egli ha ritenuto di poter individuare il contributo più rilevante offerto da Gentili al grande laboratorio della modernità politica, la autentica, unitaria cifra costruttiva di una riflessione apparentemente scissa tra aspetti diversi e contrastanti del sapere della sua epoca. Di questo aporetico sforzo rifondativo ci parla, a ben vedere, anche la concezione gentiliana del diritto di guerra, nella sua insuperabile tensione tra la dimensione dell’utile e quella dell’honestum. Ed è proprio in forza della sua irriducibile complessità che a distanza di molti secoli il pensiero giuridico di Gentili continua a sfidare la comprensione degli interpreti, proponendosi, proprio nella sua insuperabile distanza storica, come un prezioso punto di rifrazione degli irrisolti dilemmi del nostro tempo, come dimostra la lettura davvero a tutto campo offertane da Diego Panizza nei contributi raccolti in questo volume.

Download the book for free here.