CALL FOR ABSTRACTS: 4rd Central and Eastern European Legal History Conference, University of Belgrade - Faculty of Law, 19-21 May 2027, Deadline for Applications: 15 December 2026

By ZoranCvetkovic - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=35741729

The Central and Eastern European Legal History Conference (CEELHC), first

organized in 2019 in Wien, second in 2023 in Budapest and again 2025 in Cracow,

will take place next year in Belgrade. It will be hostedat the Faculty of Law Belgrade

University.

 

We want to invite all interested scholars to take part in our conference. Registrations

is open to all reserchers who deal with Central and Eastern European legal history and

political doctrines. We ask you to submit only contributions that are thematically

relatred to the broadly conceived legal history of Central and Eastern Europe.

 

The conference language will be English and the conference fee is 200 EUR.

 

In addition, there will be an opportunitty to submit contributions to the journals:

“Annals of the Faculty of Law in Belgrade”, “Beiträge zur Rechtsgeschichte

Österreichs”, “Pázmány Law Review” and "Krakowskie Studia z Historii Państwa i Prawa".

Contributions will only be accepted in English.

 

We ask that you submit your proposal (abstract up to 300 words) by December 15 2026.

Information regarding the acceptance of proposal will be sent by the end of January

2027, at the latest.

Contact information: ceelhc2027@ius.bg.ac.rs

BOOK: Paolo CALCAGNO, La Repubblica di Genova (1528-1797) [Gli antichi stati italiani] (Bologna: il Mulinoa/Upm, 2026), ISBN 9788815419484, € 9,99

 

(image source: IBS)

Abstract:

Dal 1528 alla caduta nel 1797 in seguito all’ascesa napoleonica, questo libro ricostruisce la storia della Repubblica di Genova seguendo la trasformazione di una città marinara in una solida potenza aristocratica. Liberatasi dalle dominazioni straniere, Genova consolidò un sistema politico fondato sull’oligarchia e sul legame con il Banco di San Giorgio, cuore finanziario della Repubblica. Alleata della Spagna asburgica, seppe ritagliarsi un ruolo centrale nello scacchiere italiano ed europeo, tra crisi interne, guerre con Savoia e Francia, e rinnovate ambizioni marittime. Lungi dall’essere un secolo di decadenza, il Settecento genovese vide una sorprendente vitalità economica e portuale, preludio alla fine di uno Stato antico nelle forme ma ancora vitale nello spirito.

REMINDER – VACANCY: Three PhD Positions in Legal History and Early Modern International Law (Brussels: Vrije Universiteit Brussel - VUB, DEADLINE: 8 JULY 2026)

 

(image source: VUB)

The European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant project TREATYLAB – “The Labyrinth of Treaties: International Law Behind the Scenes of Early Enlightenment Diplomacy, 1712–1763” at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) is currently recruiting three fully funded full-time PhD researchers in the fields of legal history, diplomatic history, and early modern international law.

Hosted at the Faculty of Law and Criminology (Department Metajuridica), the project investigates the intellectual and practical foundations of eighteenth-century diplomacy through a substantial corpus of handwritten memoranda preserved at the Archives diplomatiques of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs in La Courneuve (France).

Each doctoral position combines:
• archival and doctrinal research
• participation in a large-scale digitisation project
• preparation of a doctoral dissertation (monograph)
• publication in peer-reviewed journals
• active collaboration within an international ERC research team

The research team consists of the Principal Investigator, a postdoctoral researcher, and three PhD researchers.

Available PhD projects:

(1) PhD1 – “They Called it Peace? The Use of Force and the Cycle of Truces, 1712–1763”
Focus: ius ad bellum, use of force, diplomatic legal argumentation.
PhD1 vacancy announcement 

(2) PhD2 – “The Latin and Atlantic Bond? Bourbon Law of Nations in Europe and America, 1712–1763”
Focus: Franco-Spanish relations, Bourbon diplomacy, law of nations, empire and trade.
PhD2 vacancy announcement 

(3) PhD3 – “Doctrine and Practice: Early Enlightenment Doctrine and Practical Legal Writing, 1712–1763”
Focus: the role of legal doctrine (Roman law, law of nations, public law, private law, etc.) in diplomatic practice.
PhD3 vacancy announcement

Eligibility:
Applicants should hold a Master’s degree in Law or History.

Conditions and benefits include:
• full-time doctoral scholarship (initial 12 months, extendable up to 48 months upon positive evaluation)
• expected starting date: 1 October 2026
• extensive home-working possibilities
• generous leave arrangements
• reimbursement of public transport commuting costs
• research training opportunities and an international academic environment

Application deadline: 8 July 2026

Applications should be submitted via the VUB academic vacancies website and must include:
• CV
• motivation letter
• diploma (not applicable for VUB alumni)

The selection procedure consists of: (1) an initial selection based on the application file; and (2) job interview

Further information on the project is available at: TREATYLAB project website & VUB academic vacancies website

BOOK: Martin LÖHNIG, Konstantina PAPATHANASIOU (eds.), Georg Ludwig v. Maurer (1790–1872) – Gesetzgeber Griechenlands [Schriften zur Rechtsgeschichte; 232] (Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 2025), 178 p., ISBN 978-3-428-19521-3

 

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Der bayerische Jurist Georg Ludwig von Maurer war in seiner Eigenschaft als Mitglied der Regentschaft des bayerischen Prinzen Otto, der im Alter von 17 Jahren griechischer König geworden war, der erste Gesetzgeber des Königreichs Griechenland. Innerhalb von weniger als zwei Jahren schuf er verfassungs- und kirchenverfassungsrechtliche Grundlagen, eine Gerichts- und Notariatsverfassung, das Straf- und Strafprozessrecht sowie das Zivilverfahrensrecht des neuen griechischen Staates. Maurer reiht sich damit unter die großen europäischen Kodifikatoren ein, zumal seinen Gesetzbüchern in Griechenland eine lange Geltungsdauer beschieden war. In Bayern wäre sein Name in einem Atemzug mit Kreittmayr, Feuerbach und Gönner zu nennen. Trotzdem fehlt es bislang weitgehend an Forschungsarbeiten zu Maurers Person und Gesetzgebungswerk. Vorliegender Band, eine griechisch-deutsche Kooperation, nimmt erstmals Leben und Werk Maurers in den Blick.

TABLE OF CONTENT:

Georg Suppé
Georg Ludwig von Maurer als Professor in München 1826 bis 1832

Martin Otto
Das Land der Bayern mit der Seele suchend? Maurers Staatskirchenrecht für Griechenland

Stavros Kitsakis
Kein Zivilgesetzbuch für Griechenland. Facetten des komplexen Selbstverständnisses von Maurer als Gesetzgeber Griechenlands

Martin Löhnig
Maurers Zivilprozessordnung für das Königreich Griechenland

Michael Tsapogas
Georg Ludwig von Maurer, Karl von Abel und das griechische Gemeindegesetz von 1833

Wassiliki Neumann-Roustopanis
Todesstrafe und Bürgerlicher Tod in Maurers Strafgesetzbuch und zeitgenössische Kritik

Martin Heger, Philippos Kotsalis und Anna Sakellaraki
Politisch motivierte Kriminalität in Maurers Gesetzgebung

Konstantina Papathanasiou
Maurers Gesetzgebung zum Kulturgüterschutz. Griechenland als Vorreiter im internationalen Kontext

Find more here. 

BOOK: Isabelle SCHAAL, Jugendstrafrecht und Systemkriminalität. Zur Bedeutung des Jugendstrafrechts bei der Aufarbeitung von NS- und DDR-Unrecht [Schriften zum Strafrecht; 455] (Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 2025), 839 p., ISBN 978-3-428-19619-7

 

ABOUT THE BOOK:

In den letzten Jahren standen immer wieder hochbetagte Angeklagte vor deutschen Gerichten, die sich für ihre Tätigkeit in Konzentrationslagern verantworten mussten. Nicht zuletzt in diesen Verfahren wurde deutlich, dass das Jugendstrafrecht in der Auseinandersetzung mit Systemkriminalität besondere Fragen aufwirft: Wie lässt sich der erzieherische Leitgedanke des JGG mit der Schwere der begangenen Verbrechen vereinbaren?

Die vorliegende Studie beleuchtet in einer dogmatischen Analyse für den Zeitraum nach 1945 in (West-)Deutschland die Rechtsetzung mit Blick auf jugendspezifische Regelungen und analysiert anhand ausgewählter Urteile die Rechtsprechung zu jugendlichen und heranwachsenden NS- und DDR-Täter:innen. Im Zentrum steht die Frage, ob das Jugendstrafrecht bei der strafrechtlichen Aufarbeitung der Systemtaten eine besondere Funktion eingenommen hat und ob es den Gerichten gelungen ist, eine Balance herzustellen zwischen Resozialisierung, Sühne sowie dem Einfluss gesellschaftlicher und politischer Erwartungen auf die strafrechtliche Praxis.

TABLE OF CONTENT:

1. Einleitung
Anlass der Untersuchung - Ziele der Untersuchung – Stand der Forschung – Gang der Untersuchung – Methodik der Untersuchung

2. Begriffliche Grundlagen und Eingrenzungen
Jugendstrafrecht – Systemkriminalität – Aufarbeitung

3. Bisheriger Diskussionsstand zur strafrechtlichen Aufarbeitung von Systemunrecht in (West-)Deutschland nach Erwachsenenstrafrecht
Die Aufarbeitung von NS-Unrecht – Die Aufarbeitung von DDR-Unrecht – Vergleichende Betrachtung der Aufarbeitung von NS- und DDR-Unrecht – Zusammenfassung der Ergebnisse und Folgerungen für die Analyse des Jugendstrafrechts

4. Analyse der Bedeutung des Jugendstrafrechts bei der Aufarbeitung von Systemunrecht
Die Aufarbeitung von NS-Unrecht – Aufarbeitung von DDR-Unrecht – Vergleichende Betrachtung der Aufarbeitung von NS- und DDR-Unrecht – Fazit: Die Bedeutung des Jugendstrafrechts bei der Aufarbeitung von Systemunrecht

5. Zusammenfassung und Ausblick

Anhang: Verfahrensübersicht DDR-Unrecht

Find more here.  

 

CLH ARTICLE: Thảo Anh HOANG, Early conflict-of-laws rules: Vietnam’s Lê Code (1483) in East Asian and global contexts (Comparative Legal History, XIV (2026), nr. 1, pp. 29-54)

(Image source: Taylor&Francis)

Abstract:

This article examines one of the earliest codified conflict-of-laws rules in East Asia and its overlooked reception in Vietnam. While systematic codifications of conflict rules in Europe developed much later, the Tang Code of China (652 CE) had already incorporated a provision regulating disputes involving foreigners within its territory. This rule was subsequently received in the legal systems of several Sino-sphere countries, including Vietnam. Vietnam’s Lê Code, in force from the fifteenth to the eighteenth century, preserved this conflict rule even after its removal from later Chinese codes beginning in the thirteenth century. This renders the Lê Code the only known continuation of the Tang conflict-of-laws provision.

Long mistranslated as a criminal clause concerning ‘minority ethnic groups’, the relevant provision in the Lê Code is re-evaluated here as a conflict-of-laws rule applicable to both civil and criminal matters. This reinterpretation is situated within the context of East Asian legal culture with a functional equivalence approach. The study shows that Vietnamese law should not be viewed only as a marginal recipient of Chinese legal influence, but rather as a key site where an early conflict-of-laws rule was preserved, adapted, and given historical significance within the development of conflict-of-laws regulations across different jurisdictions. The paper also offers a comparative analysis with other legal traditions of the same period as Tang law, including those of early medieval Europe and the Islamic world.

To read the article, please click here. Online access is free for members of the European Society for Comparative Legal History.

DOI: 10.1080/2049677X.2026.2671593

BOOK: Marietta AUER, Recht harmonisch. Musikalisches Ordnungsdenken in Recht und Staat seit der Antike [Lectiones Inaugurales; 21] (Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 2025), 219 p., ISBN 978-3-428-19076-8

 

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Die Beziehungen zwischen Recht und Musik sind fast unüberschaubar zahlreich. Sie finden sich in den Lebensspuren von Musikerjuristen und Juristenmusikern ebenso wie in juristischen Sujets in Musikwerken von Mozart über Wagner bis Schönberg bis hin zu rechtsmusikalischen Vergleichen wie demjenigen zwischen Richter und Pianist, der in deutschen Juristenkreisen vor einiger Zeit für einen kleinen Skandal sorgte. Marietta Auer zeigt, dass die vielfältigen Beziehungen zwischen Recht und Musik, die von Fragen der Sprache, Schrift, Interpretation und Ästhetik bis hin zu mathematischen Gesetzen harmonischer Proportion reichen, fundamental für das Sinnverständnis rechtlicher und staatlicher Ordnungen sind. Ideengeschichtlicher Ausgangspunkt ist die pythagoreische Musikwissenschaft der Antike und des Mittelalters, deren Erkenntnisse durch christliche und jüdische Renaissanceautoren in die Staatstheorie der frühen Neuzeit gelangten und von dort aus bis in das Rechtsdenken der Gegenwart wirken. 

TABLE OF CONTENT:

Ouvertüre
Scipios Traum – Discors concordia: Das harmonische Weltgesetz – Wovon dieses Buch handelt und wovon nicht

Erster Teil: Rechtliche Ordnungen im Spiegel der Musik
Regel und Freiheit – Form und Substanz – System und Nomos

Zweiter Teil: Vergleichsebenen
Sprache, Notation, Semantik – Interpretation, Freiheit, Ästhetik – Harmonie, Proportion, Mathematik

Dritter Teil: Das harmonische Weltgesetz im Staat
Bodins Theorie der harmonischen Gerechtigkeit – Der Blick zurück: Neuplatonismus und Renaissancekabbala – Der Blick voraus: Am Scheideweg von Szientismus und Hermeneutik

Coda. Der Mythos der Harmonie in der Moderne
Das Verschwinden der Harmonie aus der modernen Staatstheorie – Harmonische Gerechtigkeit in der Moderne: Eine Spurensuche – Die Fortwirkung des harmonischen Mythos oder das Chaos in der Ordnung

Find more here. 

BOOK: Jan Dirk HARKE, Gesetzesrecht in Rom. Ein Diskussionsbeitrag [Schriften zur Rechtsgeschichte; 234] (Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 2026), 167 p., ISBN 978-3-428-19659-3

 

ABOUT THE BOOK:

 

Die seit Langem gängige Ansicht, das römische Privatrecht sei nicht durch Gesetze geprägt gewesen, ist ins Wanken geraten. Bislang konzentriert sich die Diskussion auf die Frage, ob es außer den heute noch bekannten Gesetzen weitere gab, die in der Überlieferung verlorengegangen sind. Die vorliegende Studie hat ein anderes Thema. Sie will überprüfen, inwieweit die römischen Volksgesetze und Senatsbeschlüsse, von denen wir Kenntnis haben, privatrechtsgestaltende Funktion hatten und erfüllten. Auch insoweit ist die römische Legislatur in Verruf geraten und dem Vorurteil ausgesetzt, der Gesetzgeber habe sich vor allem randständigen Problemen gewidmet und dabei von privatrechtsfremden Motiven leiten lassen. Ob dies wirklich zutrifft, kann nur die überblicksartige inhaltliche Analyse aller überlieferten Gesetze ergeben, die für die einzelnen Rechtsgebiete jeweils die Regelungsdichte, den Regelungsbedarf und die Regelungsziele ermittelt. Das Resultat variiert in Abhängigkeit vom untersuchten Rechtsbereich. Durchgängig ist aber der Befund, dass der römische Gesetzgeber jenseits der für sein schlechtes Image verantwortlichen Ehereform des Augustus zumeist durchaus einen gerechten Interessenausgleich anstrebt und so der ureigensten Aufgabe des Privatrechts nachkommen will.

 

TABLE OF CONTENT:

 

1. Einführung
Die Fragestellung – Die Gesetzestreue der Jurisprudenz

2. Prozessrecht
Die Zwangsvollstreckung – Das Erkenntnisverfahren

3. Deliktsrecht

4. Vertragsrecht
Darlehen – Bürgschaft und Interzession – Schenkung und Wette – Austauschverträge

5. Sachenrecht

6. Erbrecht
Das Verhältnis von Erben und anderen Begünstigten – Die Person des Erblassers und der Begünstigten – Das Objekt der Verfügung – Testamentseröffnung und -errichtung – Intestaterbfolge – Die Erbschaftsklage

7. Ehe und Familie
Eheschließung und Kindespflicht – Eheliche Abstammung – Weitere Ehewirkungen

8. Vormundschaft

9. Freilassung und Patronat
Freilassung und Erwerb des Bürgerrechts – Durchsetzung einer fideikommissarisch angeordneten Freilassung – Der Freiheitsprozess – Das Patronat

Fazit
Verzeichnis der juristischen Quellen – Verzeichnis namentlich bezeichneter Volksgesetze, Senatsbeschlüsse und kaiserlicher Senatsreden

 

Find more here. 

VACANCY: Assistant or Assistant Professor [Department of History of State and Law] (Brno: Masaryk University, DEADLINE 1 JUL 2026)

(image source: THE)

Masaryk University (Brno/Brünn, Czech Republic) is hiring a fulltime assistant or assistant professor (3 years) from 1 September 2026 on. The job description contains inter alia "teaching on courses primarily focused on legal history within accredited degree programmes and lifelong learning programmes, including the development of study programmes".

More information here.

SEMINAR: “Old Enough to Marry? Age, Memory, and Delay in York Cause Paper E 23, 1332–33” (online, 24 JUN 2026)

 

(Image source: University of York Digital Collections, York Cause Papers, CP E 23/1)

On Wednesday, 24 June 2026, Matthew Cleary will present a paper entitled “Old Enough to Marry? Age, Memory, and Delay in York Cause Paper E 23, 1332–33” as part of the Centre for Ius Commune seminar series at Adam Mickiewicz University. The seminar will be held online on Wednesday, 24.06.2026 at 11 am CEST.

The paper examines Crane c. Draycote (York Cause Paper E 23, 1332–33), a matrimonial dispute that turned on questions of age, consent, memory, and delay. At the heart of the case was the validity of vows exchanged eight years earlier, when Alice Draycote and William Crane were in their early teens. Witnesses for Alice maintained that both parties had been fourteen when they exchanged verba de presenti, while William claimed that he had been only thirteen and had been coerced into the agreement.

When Alice sought a judgment years later, the court was required to determine whether a valid marriage had been formed and how the passage of time affected the parties’ claims. The case reveals how canon law demanded precise temporal reckoning while generating uncertainty when remembered and lived experiences of age, consent, and delay did not fit neatly within legal categories.

The seminar offers tan opportunity to discuss the paper before its presentation at the 2026 International Medieval Congress in Leeds. At the IMC, the paper will form part of Session 1133, “Medieval Canon Law, II: Marriage and Timing”, scheduled for Wednesday, 8 July 2026, from 11:15 AM to 12:45 PM. The session is sponsored by the Iuris Canonici Medii Aevi Consociatio / International Society of Medieval Canon Law (ICMAC).

Those interested in attending are invited to email Matthew Cleary at matthew.cleary@amu.edu.pl to receive the meeting link.

SSRN PAPER: Michael BIRNHACK, "Colonial Patents: Industrial Property Law and Nationality in Mandate Palestine" (The Journal of Legal History) [OPEN ACCESS]

(image source: SSRN)

Abstract:

This Article offers the first historical analysis of patent law in British Mandate Palestine (1917-1948), examining 4,395 patent applications through a reconstructed registry and archival sources. It develops Colonial Patents as a framework for analysing legal transplantation in colonial contexts. The analysis reveals Britain's hybrid imperial patent policy: rejecting empire-wide unification while creating preferential procedures for British patents. Palestine's 1924 Patent Ordinance emerged from London-Jerusalem negotiations, including London's rejected proposal to abolish local patents. The registry shows profound participation asymmetries: while foreign and local inventors each filed approximately half of applications, Jewish inventors comprised nearly all local applicants, with scant Arab Palestinians filings. Archival sources confirm British engagement with Jewish patent agents but no Arab involvement. This disparity reflects patent law's ideological foundations in Enlightenment progress and industrial capitalism, which resonated with European-educated Jewish immigrants but remained peripheral to Arab Palestinian society, demonstrating how nominally neutral colonial institutions operated differentially.

Read the article here: DOI 10.2139/ssrn.6383879.

(source: Legal History Blog)

JOURNAL: European Journal of International Law XXXVI (2025), nr. 4 (Nov)

 

(image source: OUP)

Koskenniemi’s Lauterpacht: A ‘Gentle Civilizer’? (Robert Schütze)
DOI 10.1093/ejil/chaf069
Abstract:

Hersch Lauterpacht’s normative project has been subject to a number of excellent studies in the past – most notably by Martti Koskenniemi. The central image of the latter’s ‘Lauterpacht’ is, famously, that of a backward-looking thinker: Lauterpacht is portrayed as a ‘natural lawyer’ who nostalgically looks back into the 19th century as the last representative of a ‘Victorian tradition’ in international law. This article wishes to critique and challenge this influential intellectual portrait. In order to do this, it revisits Lauterpacht’s rich academic oeuvre in three sections. Section 2 begins with a reconstruction of Lauterpacht’s understanding of the judicial function – a function on which much of Koskenniemi’s Lauterpacht hinges. Section 3 explores the legislative function within Lauterpacht’s international legal order, while section 4, subsequently, investigates the ‘function’ given to natural law in Lauterpacht’s normative project. Section 5, finally, offers a critical challenge to Koskenniemi’s ‘Lauterpacht’ and re-evaluates the place that he should be given within the history of 20th-century international law. A conclusion contends that Lauterpacht is best characterized as a utopian international federalist, whose supranational legacy has largely remained unredeemed.

A History of the Hague Academy’s First Century: Computational Insights from the Recueil des cours (Damien Charlotin & Michael Waibel) [OPEN ACCESS]
DOI 10.1093/ejil/chaf058 
Abstract:

The Hague Academy’s flagship publication, the Collected Courses / Recueil des cours, sheds light on the evolution of international law over the last century. Our computational analysis reveals a dynamic field that expanded into new domains even as other fields receded into the background. Headquartered in the Netherlands and established with US funding, the Hague Academy was, from the outset, a Western institution. Its Collected Courses and their authors underscore this legacy. We tested two hypotheses through computational analysis: first, that the Academy has thus far under-delivered on its aspiration of being representative of all regions and legal traditions and, second, that the characteristics of the Collected Courses, such as length, language and topics, have changed over the Academy’s first century in light of political developments and shifting policy priorities. Our findings confirm both hypotheses. Empirically mapping the characteristics of the courses and the lecturers over the past 100 years affords a ‘bird’s eye’ view of the Hague Academy that allows for a better understanding of its evolution. The findings of our data analysis provide the groundwork for deeper scholarly inquiry into how they might interconnect and relate to the construction of international expertise and authority.

International Environmental Law after Half a Century (Jorge E. Viñuales)
DOI 10.1093/ejil/chaf065
Abstract:

This symposium assesses the evolution – or, more neutrally, the trajectory – of international law as it relates to the environment in the last half-century. In the decades since the 1972 Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment and until 2025, a watershed for climate litigation (but for little else), the development-environment equation that haunts every environmental negotiation, every instrument and much of the case-law became only more polarized. In this introductory article, I discuss three main aspects of this assessment, as they arise from the contributions to this symposium: (i) the case for reconsidering the overall retrospective narrative of international environmental law; (ii) the possible reasons explaining its inability to address humanity’s geological impact; and (iii) the role of international law in relation to the balancing of the terms of the development-environment equation. The purpose is not descriptive; it is analytical, and sometimes critical. It is an effort to provide the context that is most relevant for an understanding of these contributions.

Reflections on the Structure of International Environmental Law after Half a Century (Edith Brown Weiss & Lydia Slobodian)
DOI 10.1093/ejil/chaf056
Abstract:

We inhabit a new geological epoch – the Anthropocene – in which humans are the major force affecting the Earth System, with potentially catastrophic results. We also live in a kaleidoscopic world with many actors, in addition to states, many different legal instruments and abrupt, rapid changes in issues and coalitions. Increasingly, we face problems of commons and public goods at multiple geographical levels. This is the reality that international environmental law now must govern. While this body of law has had certain successes in the last half-century, progress in many areas has been incremental. As this article argues, international environmental law must undergo transformational change that takes account of these critical changes in the global context, reconsiders the adequacy of legacy legal structures and treats the Earth as a holistic system with humanity as an integral part. Specifically, it needs to overcome five disconnects: (i) between the narrow anthropocentric scope of legal frameworks and the integrated character of the Earth System; (ii) between the siloed and ad hoc approach to individual environmental problems and their integrated connection in the Earth System; (iii) between the legal need for certainty and the inherent uncertainties and changes in the relevant science; (iv) between the legal prioritization of the present generation and the needs of future generations; and (v) between the theoretical recognition of the rights of marginalized and vulnerable communities and indigenous peoples in sustainable development and their practical exclusion from participation and justice.

The Rise of International Environmental Law, 1946–1993: Narrow Limits and Extensive Tasks (Outi Penttilä & Martti Koskenniemi) [OPEN ACCESS]
DOI 10.1093/ejil/chaf060
Abstract:

Environmental lawyers have devoted little attention to their discipline’s past, and when they have done so, they have often narrated the past as showing that the field is becoming progressively more self-aware and sophisticated so as to reach its present stage of maturity. In this article, we trace a somewhat different course. We follow the emergence of the field from the 1950s to its eventual collapse into ‘sustainable development’. To do this, we examine the processes that created and shaped its boundaries in such a way that it gradually came to see itself as a specific type of professional project with a blueprint for international legal reform. We examine the way in which topics became included in and excluded from the field. And we focus especially on the diplomatic, professional and academic tensions that shaped the field and eventually led it from its early environmentalist orientation to its present-day efforts to engage with wider issues of social development and international justice.

International Environmental Law: A Law of Side Effects ? (Jorge E Viñuales)
DOI 10.1093/ejil/chaf057
Abstract:

A reader examining a contemporary account of international environmental law 20, 30 or 50 years from now may be interested not only in its accuracy but also in what the account conveys of our own generational perception of our past. By then, several features will have become evident to that reader, which our generation missed or under-estimated. One above all is likely to connect our and their perception of what international environmental law had to face: humanity, through its production and consumption processes, is changing not only human history but also the dynamics of the entire Earth System in what some see as a new geological epoch defined by humans, the ‘Anthropocene’. This major fact is and will remain with us, and the extent to which it can be addressed depends on whether we see it and integrate it in our policies. This article argues that such is not the case of the social practice we call international environmental law, and this is, above all, for a very specific reason: international environmental law is built around an asymmetry between the legal organization of production and consumption processes – the ‘transaction’ – and the regulation of their side effects or ‘negative externalities’. At the core of international environmental law lies a deliberate effort to preserve legal space for the transaction – the very processes that led us into the Anthropocene – while aiming to minimize its negative side effects for the global environment. It is an odd mismatch, akin to a legal requirement to keep the dam gates open while also requiring that the flooded areas be kept as dry as possible. International environmental law is faced with impacts affecting the geological timescale, but it is structured to preserve the cause of the problem and focus on side effects unfolding in a human timescale.

Book reviews

•  Natasha Wheatley, The Life and Death of States: Central Europe and the Transformation of Modern Sovereignty (Ville Kari)
• An International Anomaly. Colonial Accession to the League of Nations, by Thomas Gidney (Felix Lange)
• Paulo Borba Casella. International Law, History and Culture (Michel Erpelding)

Read the journal here. 

 

BOOK: Bill DAVIES & Morten RASMUSSEN (eds.), The History of European Union Law. Constitutional Practice, 1950 to 1993 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2026), ISBN 9781009673891, € 122,55

 

(image source: CUP)

Abstract:

This formative period of EU law witnessed an intense struggle over the emergence of a constitutional practice. While the supranational institutions, including the European Commission, the European Court of Justice and the European Parliament, as well as EU law academics helped to develop and promote the constitutional practice, member state governments and judiciaries were generally reluctant to embrace it. The struggle resulted in an uneasy stalemate in which the constitutional practice was allowed to influence the doctrines, shape and functioning of the European legal order that now underpins the EU, but a majority of member state governments rejected European constitutionalism as the legitimating principle of the new EU formed on basis of the Treaty of Maastricht (1992). The struggle and eventual stalemate over the constitutional practice traced in this book accounts for the fragile and partial system of rule of law that exists in the EU today.

Read more here: DOI 10.1017/9781009673891. 

CLH ARTICLE: Ralf MICHAELS, Comparative law today – tomes, themes, trends (Comparative Legal History, XIV (2026), nr. 1: June) [OPEN ACCESS]

(Image source: Taylor&Francis)

Abstract: 

This essay surveys recent themes and trends in comparative law scholarship, with a particular eye towards the connections between comparative law and legal history. The author observes a significant movement towards encyclopaedisation, marked by a proliferation of handbooks and encyclopaedias that attempt to systematise knowledge, though these works often struggle with comprehensiveness and persistent Eurocentrism. While traditional treatises continue to show fealty to established functionalist models, there is an observable shift away from the historical dominance of private law towards holistic, post-doctrinal, and interdisciplinary approaches. A primary concern raised is the ‘turn to method’, where the discipline has become increasingly self-absorbed with methodological pluralism and theory, sometimes resulting in ‘method without comparison’. Furthermore, the survey highlights the vital emergence of decolonial and postcolonial scholarship originating from the Global South, facilitating South-South comparison and challenging the field's colonial and Eurocentric foundations. Finally, the author examines the uneasy relationship between comparative law and legal history, questioning whether the discipline can move beyond viewing legal systems as separate entities towards a more integrated world law approach.

Of particular interest to readers of this blog is the essay's final section, "The Place of History", in which Michaels critically examines the uneasy relationship between comparative law and legal history – and the extent to which the latter remains underutilized in the former. Central to this discussion is Heikki Pihlajamäki's proposal to merge the two disciplines, which Michaels engages with directly and which will be further explored at the journal's online Dialogues event this October.

The piece has already sparked an online debate, with Jaakko Husa commenting on his social media (@husajaakko.bsky.social) that «Ralf Michaels has written an interesting, highly learned, and slightly provocative overall take on comparative law. He offers lots of food for thought even if one would disagree. Personally I admit enjoying greatly to be characterised as "the ironic pragmatist"».

To read the article in open access, please click here.

DOI: 10.1080/2049677X.2026.2671591

BOOK: Giuseppe MECCA and Salvatore MURA (eds.), Stato e benessere in Italia dall’Ottocento a oggi (Roma: Carocci Editore, 2026). ISBN: 9788829036493, pp. 320, € 35,00

(Source: Carocci editore)

Abstract:

Il volume raccoglie i risultati di una ricerca multidisciplinare sul ruolo dello Stato nella promozione del benessere (human wellbeing) durante l’età contemporanea. Attraverso il contributo di storici, economisti e giuristi, si ricostruisce la tensione fra crescita economica e qualità della vita, fra politiche pubbliche e diritti sociali, fra riequilibrio territoriale e persistenti divari regionali. Un’attenzione particolare è riservata al Mezzogiorno, laboratorio dove si riflettono sia le ambizioni di riduzione delle disuguaglianze sia i limiti dell’azione statale. I diversi approcci – il metodo comparativo e le analisi quantitative – consentono di cogliere in modo articolato le trasformazioni delle condizioni di vita. Il libro offre così strumenti interpretativi e riflessioni critiche per meglio comprendere le scelte del passato e ripensare il rapporto tra Stato, sviluppo e benessere delle persone.

About the editors:

Giuseppe Mecca

Insegna Storia delle istituzioni politiche all’Università di Macerata. Nell’ambito del progetto Human wellbeing ha curato il volume Lodovico Montini, l’assistenza e la promozione del benessere in Italia negli anni della ricostruzione (Viella, 2026).

Salvatore Mura

Insegna Storia contemporanea e Storia d’Europa e dell’integrazione europea all’Università di Sassari.

Table of contents:

Introduzione. Stato e benessere nell’Italia contemporanea: percorsi di ricerca e prospettive interpretative di Giuseppe Mecca e Salvatore Mura

1. Premessa

2. Tra Stato ed economia

3. Il benessere umano, una categoria ambivalente tra passato e presente

4. Idee, strumenti e finalità

5. Riconsiderare i territori

6. Indicatori del benessere e sviluppo umano

7. Forme e limiti dell’intervento pubblico

Parte prima

Tra Stato e mercato: istituzioni, idee, strumenti

1. Rappresentare l’intervento pubblico nell’economia: il bilancio dello Stato italiano in una prospettiva di lungo periodo di Claudio Columbano

Introduzione/L’evoluzione della forma del bilancio dello Stato/Le ragioni dell’evoluzione nella forma del bilancio dello Stato/Conclusioni

2. Intorno ad alcuni profili giuridico-economici in tema di intese per limitare la concorrenza nel pensiero di Francesco Vito di Alessandro Lalli

Prime riflessioni su consorzi, intervento dello Stato e ordinamento corporativo/La partecipazione al dibattito sulla compatibilità tra Consorzio e Corporazione/La soluzione vitiana del controllo corporativo sui Consorzi e la contrarietà all’estensione dei contratti collettivi ai rapporti economici/Uno sguardo alle riflessioni del secondo dopoguerra: disciplina delle intese e senso etico dell’economia

3. Stato sociale e Stato costituzionale: il piano Beveridge in Italia (1942-46) di Lorenzo Pacinotti

Alcune considerazioni sulle svolte degli anni Quaranta: gli intrecci tra Stato sociale e Stato costituzionale/La reazione fascista al Report beveridgiano/Il piano Beveridge alla base del nuovo progetto istituzionale?

4. Tra spiritualità e contabilità. Sergio Paronetto e i protagonisti dell’IRI (1933-56) di Francesco Carlesi

Paronetto (e Vito) dal New Deal al sistema misto/L’ora della responsabilità. Il dibattito politico-sociale dei cattolici e il codice di Camaldoli/Paronetto, la socializzazione economica e il rapporto Kamarck/Conclusioni. Il rapporto tra tecnica e politica e l’iri oggi

Parte seconda

Il Mezzogiorno come laboratorio

5. Le leggi speciali per il Mezzogiorno. L’intervento dello Stato tra Otto e Novecento di Giuseppe Astuto

Premessa/Il divario Nord-Sud al momento dell’unificazione/La costruzione dello Stato unitario/La crisi economica e le leggi speciali/Dagli inizi del Novecento alla caduta del fascismo/Il periodo repubblicano e la Cassa per il Mezzogiorno

6. Lo Stato e le bonifiche. La Piana di Catania di Elena Gaetana Faraci

Introduzione/ La legislazione sulla bonifica dall’Unità al fascismo/La Piana di Catania e i primi progetti di bonifica/Le leggi speciali e la Cassa per il Mezzogiorno/La bonifica della Piana di Catania nel secondo dopoguerra

7. L’intervento pubblico per il Mezzogiorno nel secondo Novecento: tra vincoli storici e innovazione di Marco Santillo e Gerardo Cringoli

La prima fase dell’intervento straordinario: la contrazione del divario Nord/Sud/La crisi di missione della casmez e l’epilogo dell’intervento straordinario: la riapertura del divario

8. L’ambiente nell’intervento di Stato e municipalità. Quale interazione nel periodo tra l’Unità e il secondo dopoguerra? di Alessandra Bulgarelli Lukacs e Giacomo Zanibelli

Introduzione/L’Ottocento postunitario: territorio, modernizzazione/industrializzazione, assenza di tutela/Il fascismo e l’ambientalismo strumentale: bonifiche e monumentalizzazione del paesaggio/Il secondo dopoguerra e il boom economico: industrializzazione e degrado ambientale/Capovolgere l’angolo di osservazione: dallo Stato alle municipalità/Il caso di studio. Presentazione dei dati e strategia di analisi/Ricostruire gli elementi a sostegno della tutela delle risorse collettive attraverso l’analisi swot/Discussione e conclusioni sul caso di studio

Parte terza

Benessere e sviluppo umano

9. Gli elettrodomestici come indicatori del benessere materiale? Analogie e differenze tra Nord e Sud della penisola di Ivan Paris

Gli elettrodomestici nelle case italiane alle soglie della Seconda guerra mondiale/Gli elettrodomestici come indicatori del benessere materiale?/Benessere reale, immaginato o solo desiderato? Tempi, modalità e motivazioni della diffusione degli elettrodomestici/Brevi considerazioni conclusive

10. Misurare il “sottosviluppo”. unece, Sud Europa e Italia negli anni Cinquanta di Mattia Granata

Premessa/La Commissione di Myrdal/Le origini del Sud Europa/Dai divari nazionali ai divari regionali/Conclusioni. L’Italia come laboratorio di sviluppo/Appendice A/Appendice B

11. Valutare l’impatto delle istituzioni sul benessere umano: il caso dell’eipli in Basilicata (1947-92) di Rocco Giurato

Introduzione/La società e l’economia della Basilicata nel secondo dopoguerra: un quadro sintetico/L’eipli: istituzione, obiettivi, strumenti/Le trasformazioni materiali: agricoltura e infrastrutture/Il benessere umano in Basilicata dal dopoguerra agli anni Novanta: alcuni indicatori quantitativi/L’impatto dell’ente sul benessere umano in Basilicata: criticità e limiti

12. Intervento straordinario e sviluppo umano. Due casi a confronto (1950-92) di Jacopo Sciglio

Premessa/Dall’avvio dell’intervento straordinario agli anni Sessanta/La “seconda fase” dell’ida e la crisi della Cassa

13. Oltre l’industrializzazione. La Cassa per il Mezzogiorno e il fattore umano per lo sviluppo delle comunità meridionali di Giuseppe Iglieri

Un paradigma inusuale/La “frattura” da colmare/La ricerca di un processo di lievitazione sociale/Conclusioni. Lo sviluppo delle comunità per la crescita del Sud

Parte quarta

Pianificazione, politiche pubbliche e crescita economica

14. Pianificazione e diritto privato nell’Italia del secondo dopoguerra. Alcuni itinerari di Gianmatteo Sabatino

Introduzione. La pianificazione e il diritto in Italia/Le premesse storiche. Breve genealogia del diritto della pianificazione/Il diritto privato italiano alla prova della pianificazione. Fra autonomia e coercizione/Il diritto europeo e i mutamenti negli orientamenti valoriali/Conclusioni. L’attualità del tema

15. L’Italia e le politiche pubbliche in tema di ricerca e innovazione: il modello Fraunhofer di Giulio Di Donato ed Enrico Cerrini

Introduzione/Un sistema industriale poco innovativo/L’esperienza tedesca: la fhg/La vicenda

16. Considerazioni su interventi economici dello Stato, crescita e welfare di Claudio Sardoni

Introduzione/Alcuni dati essenziali/La necessità di politiche a favore di crescita e produttività/L’attuazione efficiente delle politiche/Stato, mercato e benessere generale/Considerazioni conclusive: “aprire la scatola nera statale”

Indice dei nomi

More information with the publisher.

BOOK: Daniel ALLEMANN, Empires of Slavery: Rights and Power in the Early Modern Iberian World [Max Planck Studies in Global Legal History of the Iberian Worlds, ed. Thomas DUVE; 7] (Leiden/Boston: Martinus Nijhoff/Brill, 2026), [OPEN ACCESS]

 

(image source: Brill)

Abstract:

Enslavement was central to the early modern Iberian empires. No one at the time seriously questioned its legality, yet widespread reports of violent practices of captivity and human trafficking contrasted sharply with the Christian ideal of charity. This volume explores how Spanish and Portuguese theologians, jurists, and missionaries grappled with this moral dilemma. These thinkers developed ideological tools to protect the souls of those who appeared to be in a state of mortal damnation. Slavery prompted Iberian intellectuals to rethink the boundaries between property and person, law and religion, and household and commonwealth. By reconstructing these debates, this volume offers a new narrative about the relationship between individual rights and political power in the early modern Iberian world.

On the author:

Daniel Allemann, Ph.D. (2020), University of Cambridge, is Scientific Collaborator at the University of Geneva. A historian of the late medieval and early modern periods, he studies how intellectual traditions shaped ideas of empire, rights, and religion. He co-edited Conceptions of Space in Intellectual History (2018). 

Read more here: DOI  10.1163/9789004760592.

SYMPOSIUM: Ancient Criminal Law: A Global Perspective (Youtube, crimlrev.net, 24 JUN 2026)

(iamge source: MCRL)

Join us for an international workshop featuring contributors to our forthcoming Modern Criminal Law Review Special Issue on “Ancient Criminal Law: A Global Perspective,” guest edited by Clifford Ando (University of Chicago).

Participants include:

• Clifford Ando, University of Chicago (moderator)
• Beth Berkowitz, Columbia University
• Ari Bryen, Vanderbilt University
• Ernest Caldwell, St. Mary’s, London
• Benjamin Gallant, Harvard University
• Adriaan Lanni, Harvard University
• Mark Letteney, University of Washington
• Seth Richardson, University of Chicago
• Andrew Wolpert, University of Florida

June 24, 2026 @ 12pm (ET)

► To join us for this free online event, please register here. Registration is encouraged, but not required; if you prefer to join the event directly, head over to the MCLR+ YouTube channel at the time of the event (please note the time zone). All attendees will have the opportunity to post questions and comments via YouTube live chat.

► To stay informed about upcoming MCLR+ events, publications, and projects, please sign up for the MCLR+ mailing list and check the MCLR+ website; to receive notifications about upcoming livestreams, subscribe to our YouTube channel.

(source: Legal History Blog)

BOOK: Horatia MUIR WATT & Geoffrey SAMUEL, Producing Legal Knowledge. Comparative Methods, Models and Schemes (Cheltenham: E. Elgar, 2026), 266 p. ISBN 9781035318469, 105 GBP

 

(image source: Elgar)

Abstract:

This thought-provoking book opens up a distinctive and original framework of analysis of the relationship between legal methodologies and the social and human sciences. Rich in implications both for comparative legal theory and for the understanding of legal reasoning in practice, it adopts a critical epistemological perspective by enlarging the focus of comparative legal studies and allowing for a much-needed decentering of conventional approaches to law across cultures and disciplines. Using a novel lens, leading scholars Horatia Muir Watt and Geoffrey Samuel explore modes of knowledge, reasoning and veridiction that are usually taken for granted within the law. They investigate interdisciplinary insights from areas as diverse as algorithmic governance, symmetrical anthropology or cinema studies to suggest alternative knowledge frameworks better attuned to our culturally diverse world. Building on well known examples from Roman law, private international law and contemporary orientations in legal comparison, they highlight both the resistance of traditional legal epistemology to transformative moves in other fields as well as how other areas of knowledge incorporate in turn contributions from legal doctrines and juridical argument. Producing Legal Knowledge is a beneficial read for scholars and students of comparative legal studies and legal epistemology, particularly those interested in legal research methods.

Table of contents:

Contents
Preface
1 Introduction: comparative legal methodology in context
PART I OVERVIEW
Introduction to Part I: Overview
2 Threshold epistemological conundra
3 Comparative law’s conceptual language
4 Models of legal knowledge (1): the canon
5 Models of legal knowledge (2): further variations
PART II SCHEMES OF INTELLIGIBILITY
Introduction to Part II: schemes of intelligility
6 Causal scheme: an uncommon notion
7 Functional scheme: theory, heuristic, or just part of the
problem?
8 Structuralist scheme: preparing for the era of the ‘post-
structuralist’?
9 Hermeneutical scheme: what (if anything) is beyond the ‘text’?
10 Dialectical scheme: comparison, opposition and critique
11 Actionalist (and interactionalist) scheme: individuals, society,
actor-networks
12 Ontologies and open conclusions
Bibliography

 Read more here.