The ESCLH aims to promote comparative legal history and seeks affiliation with individuals and organisations with complementary aims.
Abstract:
This Research Handbook examines sovereignty as a contested and evolving concept shaped by law, politics, history and culture. Bringing together global experts, it traces the development of sovereignty across plural traditions of authority and legitimacy and analyses its contemporary transformations, from constitutional authority and global governance to political theology, biopower and decolonial critiques.
Read more here: DOI 10.4337/9781803926353.
This volume collects essays presented at a conference organised by the editor in 2017 to mark the five-hundredth anniversary of the Reformation. Comprising thirteen chapters, the book is divided into four parts: (I Church Law and the Reformation; (LI) Catholic and Protestant Approaches to Law in the Life of the Church; (III) Catholic and Protestant Approaches to Church and State Law; and (IV) Catholic and Protestant Approaches to Particular Areas of Law.
The book situates itself in the wake of influential scholarship on law and the Reformation, including works by John Witte Jr (Law and Protestantism, 2002). Harold J Berman (Law and Revolution II, 2003), Mathias Schmoeckel (Das Recht der Reformation, 2014; Das Recht der Reformation in Frankreich, 2024), Martin Heckel (Martin Luthers Reformation und das Recht, 2016), and Robert von Friedeburg (Luther's Legacy, 2016), to mention only a few. As the editor notes in the preface, the core message of the book is that '500 years after it occurred the sundering of Christendom at the Reformation still resonates in the law, but equally the Reformation was not an isolated event. It was the product of forces in society that were present before Martin Luther nailed his theses to the church door at Wittenberg and to this extent the Reformation did not create change in all cases but instead recognised new forces at work in society and at times accelerated changes which, had the Reformation not occurred, might well have come about anyway' (xiii).
The volume is not fully homogeneous. Its contributions vary significantly in chronological scope, methodological approach, and confessional focus. Some chapters concentrate primarily on the early modern period, while others extend their analysis into the contemporary era. Some focus exclusively on Catholic ot Protestant contexts, while the majority attempt a comparative perspective. Inevi- tably, chapters that seek to offer broad overviews from the Reformation, or even from the late medieval period, can only provide succinct accounts, often relying more heavily on secondary literature than on primary sources. Nevertheless, the effort to connect early modern legal developments with contemporary legal frameworks is one of the book's notable strengths. As David Mclroy observes. 'the debates within and between the different strands of Christianity which emerged from the Reformation were a key factor in the development of legislation in respect of freedom of religion, civil rights and human rights'.
To read the full review, please click here. Online access is free for members of the European Society for Comparative Legal History.
DOI: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/2049677X.2026.2671630
(Image credits: Jan Lievens, Bücherstillleben, c. 1628, Alte Pinakothek,
Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Munich (CC BY-SA 4.0))
The seminar "Legal Commentaries: Between History and Theory" will take place at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań on 7–8 September 2026. Bringing together legal historians, canon law scholars, and legal theorists, the seminar will examine legal commentary as a historical form, an interpretative practice, and a contemporary legal genre. The contributions will range from early modern manuscript and print traditions to modern code commentaries, case-law commentaries, and analytical legal philosophy. The seminar is organised within the NCN-funded SONATA 18 project “EXTRA: The Decretals, Early Modern Science of Canon Law and Legal Commentaries Today”.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts zählte das Haus Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha zu den einflussreichsten Dynastien Europas, wenngleich die Verflechtungen mit den Monarchien Südosteuropas lange unzureichend berücksichtigt wurden. Der Sammelband widmet sich umfassend diesen dynastischen Netzwerken in Bulgarien, Rumänien und der Balkanregion vom 19. bis ins 20. Jahrhundert.
Im Zentrum stehen die Etablierung der bulgarischen Monarchie durch die Coburg-Koháry, Ferdinand I. als Gestalter des modernen Bulgarien sowie Königin Marie von Rumänien als transnationale Akteurin dynastischer Machtpolitik. Darüber hinaus werden die politischen Transformationen der Region und deren erinnerungskulturelle Verarbeitung analysiert.
Die Beiträge renommierter Wissenschaftler aus Bulgarien, Österreich, der Slowakei und Deutschland zeigen, wie die Coburger durch strategische Heiratsallianzen, politische Einflussnahme und kulturelle Transferprozesse die Modernisierung Südosteuropas maßgeblich mitgestalteten.
TABLE OF CONTENT:
I. Einführende Bemerkungen / Introductory Remarks
Franziska Bartl und Frank-Lothar Kroll
Coburgs dynastische Netzwerke im Südosten Europas
II. Dynastische Netzwerke
Ivan Parvev
Alexander Battenberg und das Gleichgewicht der Mächte in Europa 1879-1886
Günter Fuhrmann
Karriere einer Seitenlinie. Die Coburg-Kohárys in den Ländern der Stephanskrone
Gregor Gatscher-Riedl
Südosteuropas Großmutter? Königin Marie von Rumänien als dynastische Netzwerkerin
Edda Binder-Iijima
Die Konsolidierung der rumänischen Dynastie als nationales und internationales Problem am Ende des 19. Jahrhundert
III. Der Begründer des modernen Bulgarien – Leben und Nachwirken des Zaren Ferdinand I.
Lothar Höbelt
Ferdinand von Bulgarien, Österreich-Ungarn und die vier Balkankriege
Franziska Bartl
Ein Zar im Exil – Die Coburger Jahre Ferdinands I. (1918–1948)
Zornitsa Velinova
»Ferdinand der Schuldige?« oder »Ferdinand der Moderne?« Die Rezeption Ferdinands I. in der Lehrbuchliteratur Bulgariens
IV. Das 20. Jahrhundert
Vladimir Zlatarsky
Waffen, Generäle, König: Der Wiederaufbau der deutsch-bulgarischen militärpolitischen Beziehungen unter Zar Boris III.
Veronika Aschenbrierova und Jarmila Oceľová
Die Transformation des Industrieerbes in der Slowakei
V. Anhang
Find more here.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Der Bundesrechnungshof feiert im Jahr 2025 sein 75-jähriges Bestehen. Das Jubiläum fällt in eine Zeit dramatischer Umbrüche und multipler Krisen, die sich in einer finanzpolitischen Ausnahmesituation mit Rekordverschuldung widerspiegeln. Vor diesem Hintergrund nehmen die Beiträge der Festschrift, herausgegeben vom Präsidenten des Bundesrechnungshofes Kay Scheller, eine disziplinenübergreifende Standortbestimmung der externen Finanzkontrolle vor.
Die Autorinnen und Autoren beleuchten, wie sich der Bundesrechnungshof als Teil eines historisch gewachsenen Institutionengefüges von einer klassischen Rechnungsprüfungsbehörde zu einem wirkungsvollen Berater von Parlament und Regierung entwickelt hat. Aus diesem Rollenverständnis heraus werden aktuelle Herausforderungen wie die Schwächung der Schuldenregel, der Umgang mit Desinformation und die überfällige Staatsmodernisierung analysiert. Der Band setzt damit wichtige Impulse zur Diskussion um solide Staatsfinanzen und staatliche Kernaufgaben.
TABLE OF CONTENT:
A. Einleitung
B. Zustimmungsvorbehalte des Aufsichtsrats
Inhalt und Umfang der Zustimmungsvorbehalte — Kritische Betrachtung — Rechtslage GmbH und Zustimmungsvorbehalte
C. Zustimmungsvorbehalte der Unternehmenstransaktion
Vorüberlegungen
– Identifizierung zustimmungsrelevanter Vorgänge —
Verkaufs-/Kaufversuch bzw. Transaktionskosten — Abschluss eines Letters
of Intent im Zwei-Verhandlungspartner-Verfahren — Entscheidung zur
Zulassung einer Due Diligence (Verkäufer) — Kaufvertrag: Erwerb des
Zielunternehmens — Kaufvertrag: Veräußerung des Zielunternehmens —
Akquisitionsfinanzierung des Käufers — Abschluss einer
W&I-Versicherung — Besonderheiten beim GmbH-Aufsichtsrat
D. Rechtsvergleich mit dem Recht von England und Wales
Das
Board of Directors der Company — Beteiligung des Boards of Directors in
Unternehmenstransaktionen — Besonderheiten bei den Private Companies —
Vergleich und Erkenntnisse
E. Schluss
Zustimmungsvorbehalte
des Aufsichtsrats gem. § 111 Abs. 4 Satz 2 AktG — Zustimmungsvorbehalte
der Unternehmenstransaktion — Rechtsvergleich mit dem Recht von England
und Wales
Find more here.
(image source: KU)
Abstract:
Needs for privacy emerge when boundaries are negotiated between individuals, communities, and societies. In such encounters, the large-scale structures of public space are challenged by the small-scale needs, desires, and wishes of individuals and smaller social groups.
- How do such social dynamics play out across different contexts across the globe, both in the past and present?
- How do changes in institutional structures influence privacy, and the other way around?
- What forms of privacy were safeguarded or suppressed?
- Who has been entitled to privacy, and under what circumstances?
- How does privacy relate to other concepts such as intimacy, secrecy, confidentiality, and anonymity?
- And how should we as historians and contemporary privacy scholars navigate the boundaries between them?
This conference aims to address these and similar questions through thematic panels, inviting speakers and audience for interdisciplinary explorations. Building upon the insights produced at the Centre for Privacy Studies (2017-2027), it is our goal that these discussions will spark a flourishing stream of new scholarship in the field of privacy studies.
Program:
Day 1 (3 September 2026)
09:00: Registration and Welcome Coffee
09:15-09:35: Introduction
Paolo Astorri (Centre for Privacy Studies/Lund University)
09:35-11:45: Panel 1 - Urban Space: Privacy inside and outside the city: spaces, social patterns, and institutional settings
09:35-09:55: Urban Space – a paradoxical cradle of privacy
Johannes Ljungberg (Linköping University/Centre for Privacy Studies)
09:55-10:15: Affordances, transgressions, risks: privacy and gender in 18th-century urban green spaces
Antonia Weiß (Amsterdam University)
10:15-10:35: Marriage, sex and family life in the 18th century Dutch oversea empire
Sophie Rose (Universität Tübingen)
10:35-10:50: Break
10:50-11:45: Round table and shared discussion moderated by Viktor Wretström (Centre for Privacy Studies)
11:45-13:00: Break
13:00-15:10: Panel 2 - Home: Privacy in the Early Modern Home: Cases from Europe, Greenland and Formosa (present-day Taiwan)
13:00-13:10: Introduction
Natalie Patricia Körner (Centre for Privacy Studies/Royal Danish Academy— Architecture, Design, Conservation)
13:10-13:30: The Making of Privacy at Home in Europe, 1500-2000
Raffaella Sarti (University of Urbino)
13:30-13:50: Drawing the Curtain: Negotiating Privacy in the Kalaallit Communal House.
Asta Mønsted (University of Copenhagen)
13:50-14:10: Approaching Privacy through Darkness in Sirayan Houses during Dutch Colonisation.
Hui-Yi Yang (Centre for Privacy Studies/Royal Danish Academy— Architecture, Design, Conservation)
14:10-14:20: Break
14:20-15:10: Round table and shared discussion moderated by Natalie Patricia Körner (Centre for Privacy Studies/Royal Danish Academy— Architecture, Design, Conservation)
15:10-15:40: Coffee & Cake
15:40-17:50: Panel 3 - Belief: Cosmologies of Privacy and the Privacy of Cosmologies
15:40-15:50: Introduction
Bastian Felter Vaucanson (Centre for Privacy Studies)
15:50-16:10: Responsible Freedom: Privacy in Native American Twinship Culture [online presentation]
Barbara Alice Mann (University of Toledo)
16:10-16:30: When the World is your Village. Reconceptualising Indigeneity and Privacy through a Global Biography
Martha Fredriks (Protestantse Theologische Universiteit, Utrecht)
16:30-16:50: Privacy as Perseverance. Sámi Ritual Traditions in Early Modern Central Sweden in a Time of Forced Homogenization.
Jonas Monié (Lund University)
16:50-17:00: Break
17:00-17:50: Round table and shared discussion moderated by Karen Lauterbach (Centre for African Studies, University of Copenhagen)
Day 2 (4 September 2026)
09:15: Registration and Welcome Coffee
09:30-11:45: Panel 4 - Health: Privacy and Health: Sharing and Protecting Knowledge in Systems of Care
9.30-9.40: Introduction
Natacha Klein Käfer (Centre for Privacy Studies/Lund University)
9:40-10:00: Datasociality in Precision Medicine
Mette Svendsen (University of Copenhagen)
10:00-10:20: Privacy and Hospital in the Medieval and Early Modern Periods
Gisela Drossbach (Universität Augsburg)
10:20-10:40: Privacy and Health: Past-Present Perspectives
Natacha Klein Käfer (Centre for Privacy Studies/Lund University)
10:40-10:50: Break
10:50-11:45: Round table and shared discussion moderated by Angana Moitra (Centre for Privacy Studies/Lund University)
11:45-12:30: Break
12:30-15:00: Panel 5 - Law: Anonymity Before Encryption: Concealing Identities in Early Modern Transactions
12:30-12:40: Introduction
Paolo Astorri (Centre for Privacy Studies/Lund University)
12:40-13:00: Private, but Not Personal: Rethinking Privacy in Medieval Law
Guido Rossi (University of Palermo)
13:00-13:20: Anonymity and Silent Financiers in Sixteenth-Century Commercial Partnership
Luisa Brunori (CNRS Paris)
13:20-13:40: The Merchant’s Silence: Secrecy and Norms of Conduct in Early Modern Mercantile Literature
Stefania Gialdroni (University of Padua)
13:40-14:00: An Identity to Hide? Noble Merchants in the Early Modern Era: A Legal Survey
Giovanni Chiodi (University of Milano Bicocca)
14:00-14:10: Break
14:10-15:00: Round table and shared discussion moderated by José María Martín Humanes (Centre for Privacy Studies)
15:00-16:00: Closing session
15:00-15:30: Concluding Remarks by Mette Birkedal Bruun (Director, Centre for Privacy Studies)
15:30-16:00: Plenary Discussion
16:15-17:30: Reception (Centre for Privacy Studies)
Read more here.
Programme may be subject to smaller changes
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Rolf Schroers (1919–1981) war nach 1945 ein Literat (Mitglied der »Gruppe 47«), Publizist, später Direktor der Heuss-Akademie in Gummersbach. Von Ernst Jünger und Paul Celan lief er gleichsam zu Carl Schmitt über, dem er 1955 erstmals begegnete und mit dem sich sogleich intensive Korrespondenz und lebenslanger freundschaftlicher Umgang ergab. Die vorliegende, in 214 Briefen und Gegenbriefen ziemlich vollständig erhaltene Korrespondenz ist ein Schlüssel zu Schmitts ›Theorie des Partisanen‹ (1963), die direkt auf Schroers' Buch ›Der Partisan‹ (1961) antwortet. Sie erinnert mit zahlreichen unbekannten Texten und Materialien auch an einen markanten Repräsentanten der existentialistischen Kriegsgeneration und »Kahlschlagliteratur«, der als Publizist und Akademiedirektor die politischen Diskurse der alten Bundesrepublik mit gestaltete und von Schmitt sehr geschätzt wurde.
ABOUT THE EDITOR:
Prof. Dr. Reinhard Mehring, Jg. 1959, Diss. 1988 (Freiburg) Politikwissenschaft, Habilitation 2000 Philosophie (HU-Berlin); 2007–2025 Prof. für Politikwissenschaft an der PH-Heidelberg, zahlreiche Bücher u.a. zu Carl Schmitt, Martin Heidegger und Thomas Mann; Editionen u.a. zu Ludwig Feuchtwanger (zusammen mit Rolf Rieß) und Emil Utitz. Als Schmitt-Editor u.a.: Briefwechsel mit Rudolf Smend (Duncker & Humblot, 2. Aufl. 2012) und Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde (2022).
Find more here.
Proposals for papers (max. 20 minutes) are invited on the subject of ‘Legal Use of Print in Early Modern Europe: Function, Materiality and Circulation’ to be presented at the combined 19th USTC/St Andrews Book History & 3rd COMLAWEU conference in St Andrews. The conference will feature hybrid sessions on Tuesday 15 June 2027 and in-person sessions on Thursday 17-Saturday 19 June 2027.
Abstract:
Contemporary debates frequently describe international law as being in crisis, particularly in light of escalating global conflicts and challenges to normative authority. This year’s pre-conference workshop consisted of two panels convened to examine the resilience of international law amid shifting political conditions during periods of historical upheaval. The first panel explores how territorial conflicts, imperial collapse, and the emergence of nation-states shaped the development of international law in the “semi-periphery” in the aftermath of the Treaty of Versailles. Together, they highlight how post-imperial uncertainty, territorial contestation, and geopolitical realignment not only challenged classical international law in Central and Eastern Europe but also led to the emergence of country-specific or regional approaches toward international law. The second panel examines the relationship between warfare and the evolution of international law from the early modern period to the twentieth century. Through studies of maritime neutrality during the recurrent European wars of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries and the shifting legal treatment of pillage in the aftermath of the Boxer Intervention of 1900, the papers demonstrate how “conflict” often served as a catalyst for adaptation and reinterpretation of classical international legal doctrines.
Program:
09:00 – 09:15
Introduction and words of welcome (Dr Florenz Volkaert)
09:15 – 10:10
Panel 1: Laws of War or Law on War? History of International Law in Asymmetric Conflicts
Dr Stefano Cattelan (Vrije Universiteit Brussel/Brussels School of Governance): Neutrality as Crisis Management: Small Powers and the Law of the Sea in Recurrent European Wars (c. 1688–1714)
Professor Danny Orbach (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem) & Dr Ziv Bohrer (Bar-Ilan University): A Pendulum of Legal Bandwagoning: The International Law of War on Pillage During and Following the Boxer War
Moderator: Dr Sze Hong Lam, National University of Singapore
10:10-10:30
Break
10:30-11:50
Panel 2: The Paris Peace Conference as a Moment of Crisis? Debates on International Law from a Regional Perspective
Dr Artur Simonyan (University of Regensburg): Between Empires and After Empire: Armenia in the History of International Law
Ágoston Frank (University of Vienna): Conflict and Crisis as the Origin and Driving Force of Hungarian International Law Between the Two World Wars
Peter Odrich (Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory, Frankfurt/College of Europe): A Conflictual Affair: Internationalising Upper Silesia
Moderator: Dr Anastasia Hammerschmied, Käte Hamburger Kolleg, Münster
11:50:12:00
Concluding Remarks (Dr Florenz Volkaert)
The Research Centre of the Château de Versailles published an online inventory of sources on the law of the Ancien Régime, compiled by Sandrine Jauneau.
Read more here.
Ce livre propose un panorama de l’histoire du droit normand, depuis ses origines au Xe siècle jusqu’aux bouleversements de la période révolutionnaire et au-delà. Terre qualifiée de « Pays de sapience », la Normandie s’est affirmée par l’élaboration d’un droit coutumier original, qui a profondément contribué à forger son identité provinciale.
En matière de justice, de droit des biens, de famille ou de successions, la coutume normande s’est distinguée des autres systèmes juridiques en vigueur dans la France d’Ancien Régime. Issue de la pratique des tribunaux et de la réflexion des juristes, elle a su développer des solutions cohérentes et adaptées aux réalités locales, au point de devenir l’un des droits coutumiers les plus structurés du royaume.
Défendu avec ténacité par des institutions attachées à sa préservation, le droit normand a traversé les siècles, résisté aux entreprises d’unification monarchique, survécu à la Révolution et laissé son empreinte jusque dans l’élaboration du Code civil.
À travers cette synthèse accessible et rigoureuse, l’ouvrage met en lumière la vitalité d’une tradition juridique durablement inscrite dans l’histoire et la société normandes.
Autour de l'auteur
Gilduin Davy est professeur agrégé des facultés de droit. Auteur d'une thèse primée par l'Institut de France sur le pouvoir des premiers ducs de Normandie, il a consacré de nombreuses études à l'histoire des institutions et de la pensée juridique au Moyen Age et à l'époque moderne.
Sommaire
Première partie. Le droit normand, des origines à la fin du Moyen Âge
Chapitre 1 / Les éléments constitutifs du droit normand
Section I. La fabrique du droit normand
Section II. La Normandie ducale
Section III. La Normandie capétienne
Section IV. La Normandie lancastrienne
Chapitre 2 / Les thèmes du droit normand
Section I. La famille
Section II. La propriété
Section III. Les contrats
Section IV. La procédure
Seconde partie. Le droit normand, de la fin du Moyen Âge à la révolution… et au-delà
Chapitre 1 / les évolutions externes du droit normand
Section I. L’âge d’or du droit normand
Section II. Les institutions normandes sous la Monarchie administrative
Chapitre 2 / la société normande à l’époque moderne
Section I. Dogme, croyances et cultures
Section II. L’évolution de la famille normande
Section III. L’évolution des propriétés normandes
Chapitre 3 / Heurs et malheurs d’une province française
Section I. La fureur des Normands
Section II. Le crépuscule du droit normand ?
Organised by: Klaas Van Gelder (Brussels) & Hannes Ziegler (Dresden)
Practical:
Date: 20.-21.5.2027
Place: Dresden University of Technology
Abstract:
Late medieval and early modern societies are often considered to be relatively static: They were estate-based with limited demographic and economic expansion and relatively stable forms of rule, even though dynasties came and went, and multiple regions were part of different composite polities over the centuries. One of the most important challenges in explaining this period remains, however, that these were also, and at the same time, societies in transition. A highly promising model of not only describing but also explaining change with a view to these societies was and still remains the theory of state-building that seeks to explain the transition from medieval forms of statehood to the “modern” state. It
underlines the increasing involvement of the state in everyday matters, the growth of its bureaucratic apparatus, its territorial expansion, and its growing authority. Nevertheless, the causes, catalysts, chronology and consequences of these processes of state-building remain hotly debated until the present day.
This conference seeks to resume a discussion on state-building that has been somewhat neglected in recent years. Nearly twenty years after the publication of the seminal 2009 volume on “Empowering Interactions” by Wim Blockmans, André Holenstein, and John Mathieu, a wide array of works on the various issues connected to state-building (i.e. taxation, litigation, fiscal-military expansion, etc.), has been published, but what is lacking is a forum to bring this research together and discuss the state of the art of the field in a more condensed manner. “Empowering Interactions” was, after all, the temporary endpoint of a long debate around the question whether state-building was best described as happening “from above” or “from below”. In the shadow of this larger debate, however, other topics have emerged and other problems are being discussed that only marginally touch on this debate.
The role of gender (and more particularly: women) in processes of state-building is a case in point, but so is the question on how rural landscapes can be integrated in processes hitherto largely conceived by “centrist” perspectives dominated by courts, capitals and cities. Cases such as these are not adequately addressed in what is currently often considered to be the state of the field, and there are likely still more. Furthermore, new and promising analytical concepts have been developed that urged historians to pay greater attention to specific aspects of the aforementioned processes, such as ‘accountability’ and ‘popular control’.
This conference aims to take stock of the current state of the research connected to, resulting from and inspired by the Empowering Interactions approach. It is an open invitation to researchers working in the field of late-medieval and/or early modern state-building to showcase their research and explore the conceptual and methodological lacunae in current research. What is – above and beyond the “Empowering Interactions” – the state of the field? What are the most pressing blank spaces? What are the most promising new avenues of research? Topics of interest include (but are not limited to):
- Litigation
- Rural communities
- Petitions
- Representative institutions
- Dynasties
- Women
- Public administrations
- Cities and towns
- Republicanism
- Media and printWe are currently looking for papers (ca. 25min) addressing one or more of the above aspects. If you are interested in participating, please send an abstract by 31 October 2026 of no more than 500 words and a short CV (1-2 pages) to klaas.van.gelder@vub.be and hannes.ziegler@tu-dresden.de. The organizers are hoping to reimburse participants for travel and accommodation costs.
More information here.
As trust is essential for maintaining successful commercial relations, groups of traders relied on methods of exclusion to ensure that everyone carried out their agreed tasks. The Dutch West India Company (WIC), being a heterogeneous commercial organisation, therefore, could not function properly without employing formal methods of exclusion, both internally and in the territories it governed, of which taking recourse to courts was the most important. However, historians have failed to include the WIC in current debates on the principal-agent problem in early modern trade. As such, we know very little about the actual functioning of the judicial system in its overseas territories in general, and in its most important colony, Dutch Brazil, in particular. This article tries to address this problem by using a case study focused on a lawsuit against several Company officials to investigate the workings of the legal system of Dutch Brazil.
De civiele rechtspraak van de schepenbank van Thorn. De zaak Christina Halermans versus Dirk Brouns (1685-1688) (Bram Van Hofstraeten)
DOI 10.5117/PM2026.1.003.HOFS
Abstract:
This study examines the civil jurisdiction of the bench of aldermen of Thorn in the early modern period, focusing on its procedural practices, social accessibility, and the influence of learned legal traditions. Contrary to the notion of a general ‘Great Litigation Decline’ in eighteenth-century Europe, Thorn experienced a relatively low but steady rate of civil litigation, with a notable peak in the late seventeenth century. During the eighteenth century the court increasingly relied upon external impartial legal scholars in order to formulate a verdict which may have contributed to a reduced confidence in the local justice system. A detailed case study of Christina Halermans vs. Dirk Brouns (1685–1688) illustrates the court’s procedural complexity, the tactical – and not always equally careful – use of legal citations, and the increasing influence of legal arguments rooted in Roman law and the ius commune. This shift reflects a growing disjunction between local customary law and the academic legal discourse dominating civil litigation, which may have discouraged litigants from turning to the local court. The study suggests that the court’s procedural stagnation during the eighteenth century was less due to internal disorganization and more to the inability of local magistrates to navigate increasingly sophisticated legal reasoning. In addition, the study demonstrates that lawyers (instead of judges) played a crucial role in the reception of Roman law in early modern Europe.
Les immunités des ecclésiastiques ont leurs bornes Een moordende theologant en de vorstelijke rechtsbedeling in de Oostenrijkse Nederlanden (1749-1750) (Dirk Leyder)
DOI 10.5117/PM2026.1.004.LEYD
Abstract:
In december 1749, Martin van Meir, a 23-year-old theologian, commits two gruesome murders in the archiepiscopal seminary of Mechelen. The president of that institution decides to immediately cover up the case. The Privy Council, however, quickly uncovers the murders and obliges the Fiscal Office of the Great Council of the Netherlands in Mechelen to pursue both the murderer and his superior. The legal experts of the central government consider that the clerical immunities used as a defense by some, do not apply to either culprit. Written interventions by the archbishop of Mechelen, Thomas Philippe d’Alsace, in aid of his president (and to a lesser extent, of his homicidal student), put the regalists in Brussels on their heels, but do seem to affect the governor and the empress. Maria-Theresia eventually lets the case rest. But henceforth discussions about the immunity of clergymen will rather be settled in favor of the State.
Hunebedden en het Romeinse recht Over de privaatrechtelijke status van hunebedden en het Romeinse recht in Drenthe (Jelle Jansen)
DOI 10.5117/PM2026.1.005.JANS
Abstract:
The article begins with a sometimes fiery debate on the status of dolmens (Dutch: hunebedden), found mainly in the Dutch province of Drenthe. Lucas Oldenhuis Gratama, a.o. a lawyer, a legal historian and a member of House of parliament, stated that these dolmens were state property. With the introduction of civil codes in the Netherlands goods without an owner became stat-property and dolmens did not have an owner in the pre-codified era since they were nullius according to Roman law and not privately owned under Germanic law. Oldenhuis’ thesis was met with heavy criticism, it was generally assumed that the dolmens were part of private ownership of the land. The debate is nonetheless interesting since it raises questions on the role of Roman law in Drenthe. Scholars inspired by the anti Roman-law Groningen professor of Natural Law Van der Marck around 1800 again and again stated that Roman law played no role in rural Drenthe. This idea was already met with heavy criticism in Van der Marcks days. An examination of Drenthe’s laws as written down during the 17th and 18th century shows that Roman law played a substantial role in Drenthe’s private law, as it did in the surrounding provinces.
Action de la loi. Juridische draagpenningen in de kledijvoorschriften van de Franse Revolutie (Alexis Vejdani)
DOI 10.5117/PM2026.1.006.VEJD
Abstract:
A lasting legacy of the French Revolution and its legal reforms in France (and by extension in the various territories it occupied during this period) is the clothing prescribed for the magistrates and lawyers to be worn in court. Under the old regime the sovereign was the source of the law, therefore his magistrates wore regal robes when in session. The revolutionaries, having firmly denied this principle, designated the general will of the people as the sole source of law and therefore found inspiration with the representatives of third estate to clothe the members of the new judiciary. Along with their sombre black robes came revolutionary insignia like the cockades, ribbons in the three colours of the nation and above all medals in various forms, bearing legends such as La Loi and Action de la loi to signify the triumph of law over the tyranny of men.
Buiten de koninklijke hand? De taaldimensie van de Belgisch-Nederlandse codificatie-opdracht (1816-1830) (Robin Navez)
DOI 10.5117/PM2026.1.007.NAVE
Abstract:
The Belgian-Dutch civil code was the principle legislative project that occupied parliamentarians during the common years of Belgium and Netherlands. Since the union of these territories in 1815, the codification project had to deal with the coexistence of two main languages and the consequences of this new bilingual dimension for the drafting of the civil code to come. After a first unsuccessful attempt, a code was finally prepared by the Parliament between 1821 and 1826 under a commission led by the Belgian judge Nicolaï. A bilingual civil code was eventually promulgated in July 1830, but due to the Belgian secession, the code was considered too ‘Belgian’ and criticized for its similarity to the French one. Focussing on the issue of the drafting in two main languages, this contribution investigates the methodology used by the commission and its consequences on the project, including regarding the political issues.
Book reviews
The book I review here is one that cannot fail to impress any reader interested in the historical evolution of property rights. This will be the case whether you are interested in the legal discourse around the concept of property, or in the real and material interests that may lie behind the discourse. In this review, I will emphasise the aspects of the book I find most interesting, while pointing out some questions that came to mind during my reading. I will highlight not only the most obvious findings, but also the possibilities the book offers for starting a dialogue with historians who, like me, are working on similar topics, albeit from different angles and perspectives.
This dialogue is facilitated by the author's ability to link the multiple references and quotations he provides from classic works, with which we are all familiar, with research from a wide variety of specialised fields. This is evident from the outset. Hence, Blackstone's statement that starts the introduction: ‘[t]here is nothing which so generally strikes the imagination, and engages the affections of mankind as the right of property, which allows the author to present his book as being about 'legal imagination’; an imagination, he immediately clarifies, that is expressed through the 'idioms of power' (10), a concept taken from Orlando Patterson's book Slavery and Social Death.' James Whitman shares one of the central theses of this book, which is the idea that the modern conception of property has its origins in a slave society. This is an idea that in itself already establishes a dialogue with the modern period, especially in a country such as the United States, which had to wait until the second half of the nineteenth century for the definitive triumph of the 'free-soil doctrines' and the 'disappearance of lawful slavery'. This reference locates us in the contemporary Common Law legal tradition where we are reminded that the success of the 'castle doctrine' and the homestead exemption proves the strong identification of property with land, an idea that is widespread throughout the Western world. To this effect, dialogue between scholars of different legal traditions is guaranteed from the outset because 'the West, as I [the book's author] will speak of it in this book, is the West of the Roman legal tradition' (14). In the last part of this review, I will emphasise the need for this dialogue […]
To read the full review, please click here. Online access is free for members of the European Society for Comparative Legal History.
DOI: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/2049677X.2026.2671610
