SEMINAR: PetrIUS and Printed Canon Law Paratexts up to ca. 1600 (Poznań: Centre for Ius Commune, Adam Mickiewicz University, 24 FEB 2026, online)

(Source: Early edition of the Corpus Iuris Canonici)

The Centre for Ius Commune has been established at Adam Mickiewicz University to implement the ERC Starting Grant PetrIUS: Petrification of ius commune through printed paratexts led by Piotr Alexandrowicz. The project aims to trace the origins, evolution, and consolidation of marginalia (paratexts) added to printed editions of the Roman and canon law sources. By examining their variations and significance, the project will demonstrate how paratexts shaped the interpretation of Roman and canon law in the early modern period and determine whether the printed marginalia influenced the legal education and practice. More information on the project can be found here: link.

The Centre will also host events related to ongoing research and to broader topics concerning late medieval and early modern ius commune. In the first meeting Piotr Alexandrowicz will talk in general about the project and the first observations on the development of canon law printed paratexts. The meeting will be held on Tuesday, 24.02.2026 at 11 am CEST. It will be organised in a hybrid format; to join online use the link to the MS Teams: link.

The Centre welcomes collaboration with scholars working on late medieval and early modern ius commune. If you want to learn more about the Centre or contact the Centre do not hesitate to email the team members Piotr Alexandrowicz (piotr.alexandrowicz@amu.edu.pl) or Matthew Cleary (matthew.cleary@amu.edu.pl).

LECTURE SERIES: Focus (Jewish) law, (Jewish) history & theory (Wien: Universität Wien, JAN-DEC 2026)

(image source: Uni Wien)

University of Vienna

Faculty of Law

Department for Legal & Constitutional History

 

Team Wendehorst

 

Focus (Jewish) law, (Jewish) history & theory

 

10 February 2026

 

 

Programme 2026

-        […] not yet decided

 

13/14 February 2026, Vienna, Juridicum

Empire, Law & Debts. Lessons from the Holy Roman Empire VIII

Workshop

contact: Eric Lanzrath, eric.lanzrath@univie.ac.at; Prof. Dr. Rainer Klump, klump@hof.uni-frankfurt.de

For more see https://rechtsgeschichte.univie.ac.at/news-events/?no_cache=1

 

 

21/22 February 2026, Baden bei Wien/Vienna

Engagement at the Margins with Other Legal Systems: Jewish Law Locally and Globally,

CFP/Workshop

Together with the Jewish Law Association (JLA), European Chapter

Contact: Dr George Wilkes george.wilkes@kcl.ac.uk, Dr Stephan Wendehorst, stephan.wendehorst@univie.ac.at

For more see https://rechtsgeschichte.univie.ac.at/news-events/detailansicht/news/call-for-papers-engagement-at-the-margins-with-other-legal-systems-jewish-law-locally-and-globall/?no_cache=1&cHash=462ae2633857659437427640c174fc46

 

 

22-28 February 2026, Baden bei Wien, Reichenau & Payerbach an der Rax

Winterschool „Palaeography skills in Jewish, general and legal history 

Contact: Mohamed Attia, mohamed.attia@univie.ac.at

For more see https://jhrr.univie.ac.at/en/teaching/winter-school-palaeography-skills-in-jewish-general-and-legal-history/

 

 

22-27 February 2026, Baden bei Wien, Reichenau & Payerbach an der Rax

10th Jewish Law Moot Court, Leg 1 (together with the law faculties of the universities of Belgrade, Rijeka, Tel Aviv and Vilnius, the Masaryk University Brno, the Hebrew University Jerusalem and Cardozo Law School New York)

Contact: david.fuchs@univie.ac.at

For more see https://jhrr.univie.ac.at/en/teaching/historical-jewish-law-moot-court/

 

 

26 February 2026, University of Vienna Campus, Spitalgasse 2-4, Courtyard 1, Seminar Rooms 1 & 2

Book Presentation

Daniela F. Eisenstein and Carsten L. Wilke, eds., Mayer Bretzfeld (1747–1823) – der letzte bayerische Landesrabbiner. Briefe aus dem privaten Nachlass mit geschichtlichen Studien, Baden-Baden: Ergon-Verlag, 2025.

In cooperation with the library of the department of Judaic Studies of the University of Vienna

Contact: Paula Somogyi, MA, paula.somogyi@univie.ac.at

 

 

6 – 12 April 2026, Jerusalem, Austrian Hospice, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel Institute for Advanced Studies, Jerusalem  

Legal History & Palaeography Clinic

Contact: Vincent Adali vincent.adali@univie.ac.at

For more see https://jhrr.univie.ac.at/en/teaching/paleography-legal-history-clinics/

 

 

14 April 2026, Juridicum Vienna

Lecture and Round-Table Discussion

Human Rights to Health and Dignity in Gaza, Physicians for Human Rights and Clean

Shelter

In Cooperation with the New Israel Fund

Contact: Dr Eleonore Lappin-Eppel, eleonore.lappin@chello.at, Dr. Stephan Wendehorst, stephan.wendehorst@univie.ac.at

For more see https://rechtsgeschichte.univie.ac.at/news-events/?no_cache=1

 

 

20 Mai 2026, Mühlhausen 

Die Reichsstadt Mühlhausen am Reichshofrat: Regesten, Bde 1-2, hg. von. Stephan Wendehorst, bearb. von Ulrich Hausmann (with numerous Jewish cases before the Imperial Aulc Council)

Contact: Birte Frerichs, birte.frerichs@lesser-stiftung.de, Ulrich Hausmann, MA, ulrich.hausmann@univie.ac.at

For more see https://rechtsgeschichte.univie.ac.at/news-events/?no_cache=1

 

 

11 June 2026, Fulda Kanzlerpalais-Volkshochschule

Paula Somogyi, Fuldaer jüdische Familiennamen der frühen Neuzeit (Veröffentlichung des Fuldaer Geschichtsvereins)    

Book Presentation

Contact: Paula Somogyi, MA, paula.somogyi@univie.ac.at, Dr. Thomas Heiler, Fuldaer Geschichtsverein, Thomas.Heiler@fulda.de

For more see https://rechtsgeschichte.univie.ac.at/news-events/?no_cache=1

 

 

23-31 July 2026, Kopenhagen, Hamburg-Altona

17th summer academy „History of the Jews in the Holy Roman Empire and its successor states

Contact: Georg Donabauer, B.A., georg.donabauer@univie.ac.at

For more see https://jhrr.univie.ac.at/en/teaching/univiesummerschool/

 

 

16.- 24. August 2026, Fulda

10th Jewish Law Moot Court, 2nd Coaching-Week (together with the law faculties of the universities of Vilnius, the Masaryk University Brno, the Hebrew University Jerusalem, Tel Aviv University, Cardozo Law School New York and the University of Rijeka)

Contact: david.fuchs@univie.ac.at

For more see https://jhrr.univie.ac.at/en/teaching/historical-jewish-law-moot-court/

 

 

[17.-26. August 2026, Fulda] 

Legal History & Palaeography Clinic

For more see https://jhrr.univie.ac.at/en/teaching/paleography-legal-history-clinics/

 

 

25 August 2026, Fulda, City Palace, State Hall 

10th Jewish Law Moot Court, Finals (together with the law faculties of the universities of Vilnius, the Masaryk University Brno, the Hebrew University Jerusalem, Tel Aviv University, Haifa University and Cardozo Law School New York)

Contact: david.fuchs@univie.ac.at

For more see https://jhrr.univie.ac.at/en/teaching/historical-jewish-law-moot-court/

 

 

[31 August – 5 September 2026 Mantua]

Legal History & Palaeography Clinic

For more see https://jhrr.univie.ac.at/en/teaching/paleography-legal-history-clinics/

 

 

17-22 September 2026, Jerusalem, Austrian Hospice, Hebrew University, Israel Institute for Advanced Studies, Jerusalem  

Legal History & Paleography Clinic

Contact: Vincent Adali vincent.adali@univie.ac.at

For more see https://jhrr.univie.ac.at/en/teaching/paleography-legal-history-clinics/

 

 

[November/Dezember 2026, 18.30 Uhr, University of Vienna, Juridicum

8th Salo-Wittmayer-Baron Lecture

 

In connection with the book presentations of the previous Salo-Wittmayer-Baron lectures

Contact: Dr Stephan Wendehorst, stephan.wendehorst@univie.ac.at

For more see https://jhrr.univie.ac.at/en/salo-wittmayer-baron-society/

 

 

17-22 December 2026, Jerusalem, Austrian Hospice, Israel Institute for Advanced Studies, Jerusalem  

Legal History & Palaeography Clinic

For more see https://jhrr.univie.ac.at/en/teaching/paleography-legal-history-clinics/

 

More information : Vincent dot adali at univie dot ac.

vincent.adali@univie.ac.at

BOOK: Kelly MADDOX, Tino SCHOLZ & Urs Matthias ZACHMANN (eds.), Military Justice in Modern History. The Adjudication of War and Violence in a Globalising World [War and Violence in the Japanese Empire, ed. Kelly MADDOX, Tino SCHÖLZ, Nicolas STASSAR & Urs Matthias ZACHMANN; vol 1] (Berlin: DeGruyterBill, 2025), OPEN ACCESS

 

(image source: DeGruyterBrill)

Abstract:

Military justice has long played a central role in the adjudication of war and violence throughout the world. It is one of the principal mechanisms used to maintain soldierly discipline as well as to protect civilian populations. At the same time, military justice also has served as an instrument of power in occupied territories by adjudicating the crimes of local inhabitants and has been vital to upholding order among prisoners of war. This volume explores the adjudication of wartime violence through diverse case studies of military justice within modern history (c. 1850–1945). This was a formative period in which our contemporary international legal framework emerged against the backdrop of the internationalisation and standardisation of national, customary practices and the increasing totalisation and globalisation of modern warfare. By examining the evolving and dialectic functions of military justice within this dynamic context, the volume develops important historical perspectives on the enforcement of discipline in armed forces, the punishment of enemy combatants and the administration of law and justice over civilians in occupied areas. "Military Justice in Modern History" reflects on issues in the adjudication of war and violence that are still prevalent in the conflict zones of our world today.

Read the whole book for free here: DOI 10.1515/9783110989588.

JHIL ANNUAL LECTURE: Michel ERPELDING, "Reflections on a non-lieu de mémoire of international law: the rise and fall of mixed courts for the adjudication of private rights" (Cologne: Akademie für europäischen Menschenrechtsschutz, 16 MAR 2026)

(click on image to enlarge poster)

dr. Michel Erpelding (Research Group Leader, MPILHLT) will deliver this year's JHIL Lecture at the Akademie für europäischen Menschenrechtsschutz in Cologne, organised by the Journal of the History of International Law/Revue d'histoire du droit international.

On the speaker:

Michel Erpelding is Research Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. His current research focusses on the history of international and European integration law, with a special interest in their interaction with colonial law and practices. He is an associate member of the Institut de recherche en droit international et européen de la Sorbonne (IREDIES) and teaches at the University of Luxembourg and the Sorbonne Law School.

Abstract:

Present-day commentators often present the rise of the individual as a subject of international law – and notably as a fully-fledged claimant before international courts – as a phenomenon that only emerged after 1945. However, between the end of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, several treaty regimes had already established internationally composed judicial institutions endowed with jurisdiction over treaty-based claims by private persons both against other private persons and sovereign states. Despite their pioneering role and their rich practice, these early international courts have today largely disappeared from the collective memories of international lawyers and the broader public, resulting in the creation of what the French historian Gérard Noiriel has described as ‘spaces of collective amnesia’ (non-lieux de mémoire). This presentation will retrace the creation, expansion, and eventual disappearance of this phenomenon while questioning why it fell into oblivion.

The event will take place on Monday 16 March 2026 at 18:00 Cologne time.

Address below:

RSVP with submissions dot jhil at mpil dot de.

JOURNAL: Special Issue Actes du colloque Les écritures judiciaires. Formes et légitimités des décisions de justice depuis le Moyen Âge (dir. Martine CHARAGEAT & Mathieu SOULA) (Criminocorpus 29 (2025)) [OPEN ACCESS]

 

(image source: criminocorpus)

Powers and functions of judicial documents (Martine Charageat & Mathieu Soula) [English translation]
DOI 10.4000/15dmp
First paragraph:

In the renewal of analyses concerning the history of justice, judicial practice and the application of penalties from the Middle Ages to the present day are often the focus of attention1 . The focus on the desired effects of this justice (pacification, the imposition of a state legal order) leads to an emphasis on judicial ritual, criminal ritual, amicable or negotiated modes of conflict resolution, as well as avoidance and resistance to justice2 . In a way, it is as if the actual work of justice were limited to procedure, punishment and the strategies of those subject to justice, the latter field having benefited from gender analysis, particularly in terms of agency3 . However, the work of shaping court decisions remains in the shadows, i.e. the means deployed by the institution to make its verdicts visible and assertive, to express them and make them acceptable; in short, to legitimise the brute force of its decisions through a process of formalisation4 . Putting them in writing was part of the documentary revolution that began in the 12th century and was in line with a shift towards a different relationship with the written word, the spoken word and the written word5 . However, it cannot be reduced to a simple operation of storage and memory construction, even though this dual dimension remains intrinsic to the production of these acts, beyond their vocality6 .

 I. Mettre en formes : enjeux de rédaction et stratégies discursives

L’élaboration de la décision judiciaire d’après les Year Books des xiiie-xve siècles (Christophe Archan)
DOI 10.4000/15dmq
Abstract:

The Year Books of the 13th-15th centuries contain recordings of the hearings of the English high royal courts, in the form of dialogues in French (law French). Written primarily for educational purposes, they inform the reader of the exchanges that took place between the different actors in the trial. They are therefore very valuable to us in understanding how a legal decision was taken. We indeed see judges who seek to ensure a certain legal continuity and who also demonstrate pedagogy to justify their judgment.

L’imagerie du Vieux coustumier de Poictou, témoin de la validation des formes de justice à la fin du Moyen Âge (Pierre Prétou)
DOI 10.4000/15dn9
Abstract:

The Vieux Coustumier de Poictou, a painted book from the second half of the 15th century [Médiathèque Niort, Res MSF] features an exceptional iconography that illustrates the validation of legal and judicial forms. In addition to the procedural texts previously studied by René Filhol, consigned to an era of consecutive writing of the ordinances of Charles VII, the painters emphasize the scriptural forms in the context of their production. As a result, this archive enhances our anthropological understanding about the materials shapes drawn up, sealed, exhibited, produced, or delivered by the judges and their court officers. Despite the modern context and the rise of writings, the place of real traditions, of witnesses receiving and validating, or sergeants delivering the charter, remind us of the strength and resilience of orality and living testimony in the process of validating the acts of justice.

Les registres des officialités champenoises : dire et écrire le droit (Véronique Beaulande-Barraud)
DOI 10.4000/15dmr
Abstract:

In 1350, the cathedral chapter of Cambrai excommunicate Jean de Bourlon and pronounce an « aggravation » of the sentence. The document presented here is a translation of the chapter's mandement asking all priests in the diocese to enforce the sentence. If Jean’s crime remains unknown, the document is an efficient source for understanding the content of the excommunication, the forms of its aggravation and the means of its application. Excommunication is a canonical censure wich deprives from all sacraments and social relationships, as recalled by the litany of forbidden actions contained in the document, but also as expressed in the ritual of the anathema. Whoever disobeys excommunication is ipso facto also excommunicated. This mandate to publicize Jean de Bourlon’s excommunication reveals the form and use of the most serious sanction that the Church in the Middle Ages.

Justice et argent public. La mise en forme des condamnations du juge ad sindacatum de la commune de Bologne en 1315 (Marco Conti)
DOI 10.4000/15dms
Abstract:

Medieval judicial sources from Italian municipalities are among the most important documentary collections in terms of quantity and variety, and enable us to study institutions. In Bologna, as in most Italian communes at the end of the 13th century, the administration of justice was entrusted to two foreign officers: the podestà and the captain of the Popolo. These two officers arrived in the city with their collaborators. Among these people, a judge was responsible for investigating the work of all the city officers who managed public funds. In this article, we will examine the work of this officer and his tools at the beginning of the 14th century. After a brief overview of the administration of justice and the work of the officers responsible for controlling municipal finances, we will study the codicological aspects of a register of convictions and acquittals from 1315. This will enable us to understand how this document was used within the municipal administration.

La mise en forme des sentences judiciaires à Dijon. Entre gestion administrative et judiciaire et défense des droits de juridiction de la mairie (Rudi Beaulant)
DOI 10.4000/15dmt
Abstract:

The formatting of judicial sentences is of particular importance in a town such as Dijon, where the town hall had the right of high justice. Firstly, it is important to show the diversity of sources in which high justice sentences were recorded by municipal officers, in order to highlight the issues and purposes of these documents. The second part of the study focuses on the Papier Rouge register, which, although it is intended to contain high justice sentences, is not exhaustive and is linked to other judicial records that still record some of these sentences. Finally, an overview of the urban sources shows the importance of the formatting of judicial sentences, which were particularly useful in the event of a jurisdictional conflict between the commune and the officers of the Duke of Burgundy in the 15th century, and then of the King of France in the early 16th century.

Juger et sanctionner les délits relatifs aux eaux et forêts (domaine du roi, apanages d’Orléans et de Provence, xve- xviiie siècles) (Isabelle Bretthauer & Maïa Pirat)
DOI 10.4000/15dmu
Abstract:

Starting in the late Middle Ages, the French monarchy established a specific administration for managing forests and waterways, which evolved through the early modern period. Although often studied from an environmental perspective, this administration also had a genuine judicial role, with complex procedures and specialized jurisdictions. A series of royal ordinances—notably those from 1346, 1389, 1402, and especially the major 1669 ordinance under Colbert—gradually structured this system. The Eaux et Forêts courts, operating both in the royal domain and in princely apanages like Orléans and Provence, handled forest-related offenses, carried out large-scale inspections (réformations), and produced extensive judicial documentation. Despite being scattered, the surviving archives allow historians to study these practices and reveal a long-term effort toward administrative centralization and standardization.

Des arrêts en millefeuille. Strates de rédaction d’arrêts criminels et gestion de l’information au parlement de Paris (xvie-xviiie siècle) (Aurélien Peter)
DOI 10.4000/15dmv
Abstract:

The criminal arrests of the Parliament of Paris in the 16th to 18th centuries constitute judicial decisions. Far from being simple judgements, they are the result of a long process of writing and formatting involving multiple layers of documentation. Clerks and secretaries played a central role in this process. Writing practices evolved over time, moving from lively, annotated writing to mechanical, standardised copying in the 18th century. Royal reforms, notably the ordinances of 1667 and 1670, streamlined these practices. The production of judgments thus appeared to be a collective and hierarchical process, revealing a strong administrative power. Internal rivalries existed between registry officials, each seeking to control the drafting and dissemination of these acts. The judgment thus became an instrument of justice, a tool of memory and a symbol of royal authority.

La rédaction, la présentation et la publication des jugements du Tribunal de cassation, (1799-1799) (Jordan Hain)
DOI 10.4000/15dmw
Abstract:

During the French Revolution, the law of August 16–24, 1790 reformed the judiciary and required a uniform structure for judgments to limit judicial power. The Court of Cassation, governed by the law of December 1790, followed specific rules without providing reasoning for its decisions. Rejection judgments are rare and poorly preserved, while cassation judgments, better documented, evolved over time: initially very formal, they became increasingly reasoned after 1793, marking the beginnings of judicial decision-making justification.

II. Fonctions et usages de l'écrit

En quête de fama. L’écrit, le droit et la procédure dans les registres d’un évêque italien (v. 1290-1300) (Arnaud Fossier)
DOI 10.4000/15dmx
Abstract:

Four registers containing the records of approximately ninety trials have come down to us from the court of the bishop of Pistoia, Tommaso Andrei (1285-1303). In theory, each of these four volumes should have included the indictments or denunciations, the plaintiffs’ libels, the defendant’s litis contestatio, the oaths of both parties, the witness’ statements, and even the interlocutory or final sentences, at least when the trial went all the way to sentencing. In practice, however, this is not the case, as it is mainly witness’ statements that have been written down and preserved. The aim of this article is to understand why. Was it to keep and preserve in writing what was volatile (that is the “public voice”)? Whereas the orality of the sentence might be enough for it to be effective, the written word enabled rumor - a labile and elusive object - to be transformed into a fama that could thereafter serve for the judge as evidence and support for a verdict.

Les faillites à Florence : quelques éléments sur l’écriture et l’organisation des sentences devant le tribunal de la Mercanzia (années 1330) (Cédric Quertier) 
DOI 10.4000/15dn3
Abstract:

The famous serial bankruptcies of Florentine companies during the 1340s had a major impact on Europe's leading economic metropolis, yet their judicial settlement remains little-known. We have undertaken a long-term investigation to put these bankruptcies into series and perspective. The aim is to examine some twenty bankruptcy sentences pronounced by the Florentine Mercanzia court in 1329 and 1330, to determine how the court's bankruptcy sentences were archived and how they were drafted in order to achieve maximum legal efficiency in a court that judged in equity and relied above all on written evidence. Next, we'll look at the internal structure of sentences. Finally, although jurists advise against justifying them, they do not forbid it; this is why the opening (petition) and conclusion (sentence) of bankruptcy proceedings regularly insist on compliance with the Mercanzia statute.

De la plume du greffier à l’imprimé. La fabrique et le devenir de la sentence pénale des tribunaux supérieurs castillans au XVIIe siècle (Olivier Caporossi)
DOI 10.4000/15dmy
Abstract:

The writing of criminal sentences by the Castilian higher courts (Chancelleries of Valladolid and Granada, Alcades de Cour, audiences, Council of Castile) by the clerks of the court underwent a formalization and specialization (1560-1700). For this reason, it is necessary to retrace the course of the judicial writing of criminal sentences, from the clerk's pen to the public cry of its execution and to the printed word in order to grasp the stakes of this evolution inside the judicial machine as well as outside with the public opinion of the elites.

Entre oralité et écriture, entre acquiescements, silences, grondements ou éruptions. L'écriture des sentences criminelles de la cour des capitouls au xviiie siècle et leur réception par les accusés et condamnés toulousains (Géraud de Lavedan)
DOI 10.4000/15dmz
Abstract:

The case of Jean Auriol, sentenced in 1756 to ten years in the galleys and protesting his verdict, serves as a lens to explore the judicial workings of Toulouse’s capitouls in the 18th century. Archival records reveal the tension between official written form and courtroom orality, where clerks, judges, and defendants show individual traits. Each trial follows a set ritual: the prosecutor’s conclusions, a largely formal last interrogation, deliberation, and the drafting of the sentence. Verdicts stem from debated opinions before being written by the clerk, who is far from neutral, reformulating and translating the accused’s words. Finally, the sentence is read publicly, reflecting a justice both codified and deeply human in its imperfections.

La justice militaire après l’armistice de 1940, un enjeu de légitimité. Regards croisés entre Vichy, Londres et les colonies françaises (Robin Leconte) 
DOI 10.4000/15dn0
Abstract:

Valuable insights into the establishment of the political legitimacy of Vichy and Free France are provided by the 1940-1945 military justice archives. By means of an analysis of the materiality of the acts in question, historians can measure the crucial issues at stake in the judicial writings after the brutal defeat of May-June 1940. This article examines the contrast between the Free French military justice quest for legitimacy and the Vichy regime's efforts to demonstrate the severity of its justice, despite its geographical and political impotence, in a context dominated by the colonial dimension of the French army. We then examine how court records transcribe the words of colonial soldiers. Then we look at Vichy's attempt to rewrite the code of military justice to deal with the issue of prisoners of war. Or how severity gives way to pragmatism.

Juger et dire l’histoire : vrai judiciaire et vrai historique dans les arrêts de la Haute cours de justice contre Philippe Pétain et Pierre Laval (Mathieu Soula)
DOI 10.4000/15dn1
Abstract:

"A trial for history." The expression has now become a commonplace in analyses of "major trials," those that are thought to reorder, reestablish, or repair a collective trauma. Making history or remembering is a function in its own right of the justice system that came with the belated trials for crimes against humanity. The months following the end of the fighting are filled with historical trials or trials for history, because the point is, then, to repair history, to reestablish the chain of time by imposing a common retrospective representation of a recent past that has disrupted established orders and certainties. Imposing a common vision of this past to inscribe the present within a framework of historical legitimacy. In this contribution, we would like to analyze the historical function of the Pétain and Laval trials by questioning the role of justice in the writing or rewriting of history.

Une brève histoire des écritures des parties depuis le Moyen Âge (Cédric Meurant)
DOI 10.4000/15dn2
Abstract:

In the French procedural tradition, the contentious writings by the parties constitute the heart of the trial. Indeed, the essence of the judge's mission consists of resolving the dispute by responding to the parties’ submissions. But this procedural tradition which gives an important place to the parties is in reality very old: it has been in development since at least the High Middle Ages. If the various trials were then mainly oral and accusatory, the gradual rise of the written word reinforced the essential role of the parties who were responsible for writing judicial briefs. Their analysis reveals that these contentious writings have undergone two major developments: first, the picky formalism which initially surrounded the validity of these writings has gradually and fortunately faded away. Then, if many of the writings written by the parties were public in society before 1789, post-revolutionary society, although deemed more transparent, concealed them under thick secrecy. This reminds us that historical developments are sometimes surprising.

Read all articles here in open acces. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JOURNAL: Pro Memorie. Bijdragen tot de Rechtsgeschiedenis der Nederlanden XXVII (2025), nr. 2 (Dec)

(Image source: Amsterdam University Press)

Redactioneel (Kaat Cappelle & Joke Verfaillie)

Heerlijkheden van graafschap naar gewest. Ontwikkelingen in de spreiding van heerlijkheden en heerlijke rechten in Holland 1433-1795 (Maarten J. Prins)

DOI: 10.5117/PM2025.2.002.PRIN

Abstract: 

Early modern Holland consisted of hundreds of lordships, most of them owned by nobles. This article argues that the most extensive developments regarding the formation and distribution of lordship occurred before the acquisition of the county by the Duke of Burgundy (1433). By the mid-fifteenth century, an administrative and legal landscape had emerged that would change little in the centuries that followed. As a successor to the counts, the States of Holland did not implement any major reorganization of the feudal system and refrained from altering the framework of local government controlled by lords. The provincial authorities did not actively strengthen the position of the lords but certainly did not undermine their authority. As some benchmark court rulings indicate, bodies such as the Hoge Raad (Supreme Court), Hof van Holland (Court of Appeal), and the States of Holland upheld and confirmed the rights of lords vis-à-vis regional bailiffs and towns.

Data collected about 2,000 rights found throughout the county between the years 1300 and 1795 shows that significant differences existed between the various regions. Holland’s lordships can be characterized by the clustering of rights around the appointment of a shout (sheriff); rights with a dominial origin were rarely found. Holland’s lords typically appointed a schout, secretary and beadle, held tithes, and levied taxes (cijns and thijns).

The rights of lords differed considerably between the Northern and the Southern parts, particularly pertaining to land ownership, ferry rights, wind rights, and rights to nominate priests or pastors, as well as the appointment of lower officials and officials of waterboards. Lords in the Southern parts more often held these rights, though the difference is less pronounced than suggested by earlier research.

Heerlijke reacties in het graafschap Vlaanderen na de hoge middeleeuwen (circa 1350 – circa 1795) (Tom De Waele)

DOI: 10.5117/PM2025.2.003.WAEL

Abstract:

‘The seigneurial reaction’ is a concept originally conceived as one of the major causes for the French Revolution: lords who fiercely reimposed long forgotten dues from the 1750s onward. Historians of old regime lordships throughout Western Europe however discern similar ‘seigneurial reactions’ as early as the fourteenth century. The county of Flanders saw such reactions by lords from 1350 onward. The incentive for such measures was however oftenmost not financial gain, but the protection or reinstatement of social status and symbolic capital.

Heren zonder grenzen. De heerlijkheid Edingen tussen Brabant en Henegouwen (twaalfde–zestiende eeuw) (Margreet Brandsma & Sieben Feys)

DOI: 10.5117/PM2025.2.004.BRAN

Abstract:

In this article we explore the complex feudal status and territorial scope of the prominent lordship of Enghien (Dutch: Edingen) in the border region between the Duchy of Brabant and the County of Hainaut. From the High Middle Ages onwards, Enghien’s lords and ladies cultivated their dual status by actively maintaining feudal and political ties with both Count and Duke. By combining source material from both principalities and creating GIS-maps we were able to visualise the impressive scope of the territory that the successive lords were able to acquire on both sides of the border. Taken together, Enghien had the size of a small principality. Due to strategic importance of the border region and its relative distance from princely administrative centres, both princes mostly supported the creation and perpetuation of this enormous power base, thus effectively recognizing the essential role of the lords of Enghien in maintaining the territorial status quo in the Hainaut-Brabant border region.

Heerlijke karweien in het graafschap Vlaanderen tijdens de zeventiende en achttiende eeuw (Thijs Lambrecht & Joke Verfaillie)

DOI: 10.5117/PM2025.2.005.LAMB

Abstract:

This article examines practical aspects associated with the enforcement and execution of servile works in the County of Flanders during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, a feudal right that required peasants to perform labour for their lord. Although this ‘corvée’ labour largely fell into disuse from the late Middle Ages onwards, archival sources from Poeke and Boelare show that the system was still actively applied locally. Analysis of corvée records reveals remarkable flexibility in implementation, differentiation according to socio-economic status and a gradual transition to optional redemption systems – all of which mainly benefited the peasantries. The administration of servile works was therefore complex and reflected demographic changes within the seigneuries. The downside was a particularly high administrative burden for the lord, raising the question of whether this indirect cost was not one of the causes of the system’s decline. Finally, this study nuances the image of early modern corvée labour as inherently conflictual as most subjects of the lords executed their labour duties without clear signs of protest or contention.

De voorgeboden en keuren van Sint-Annaland uit 1569: een inkijk in het zestiende-eeuwse dorpsleven in het graafschap Zeeland (Kaat Cappelle)

DOI: 10.5117/PM2025.2.006.CAPP

Abstract:

From the late Middle Ages onwards, many seigneuries in the Low Countries began compiling local law. One notable example is the compilation (Dutch: voorgeboden en keuren) of Sint-Annaland from 1569, a small village in the county of Zeeland. This contribution provides an edition and an analysis of these rules, preserved in three manuscripts. These rules offer valuable insights into the socio-economic daily life of this village in Zeeland. When integrated into a broader corpus from several seigneuries, such texts can illustrate aspects of late medieval and early modern village life in the Low Countries, an area of research that remains relatively underexplored by both legal scholars and historians.

Herzele (1444-1502): de heerlijkheid als ruimte van onderhandeling (Erwin Van der Hoeven)

DOI: 10.5117/PM2025.2.007.HOEV

Abstract:

This paper contributes to the ongoing debate on the role of seigneuries by examining the nature of social relations within the lay seigneurie of Herzele between 1444 and 1502. Drawing on a quantitative and qualitative analysis of domain and bailiff accounts, the research is structured around four case studies: the ‘beste kateil’, the ‘wandelkoop’, a financial assessment, and criminal justice. Across all these domains, a consistent pattern emerges: while the rules were applied uniformly, they were interpreted with a sensitivity to context. A structural space for negotiation was typically embedded in the system, allowing compromises to be reached between those who were entitled to receive—the lord and his officials—and those who were expected to give—the local inhabitants. When punishments were imposed, it was ensured they were enforceable. After all, all parties had a shared interest in the smooth functioning of the seigneurie.

Heerlijke rechtspraak en de plattelandsbevolking in Oost-Nederland (circa 1480-1570) (Reinder Klinkhamer)

DOI: 10.5117/PM2025.2.008.KLIN

Abstract:

This article studies the impact of seigneurial lordship on rural communities through an analysis of the litigants active in a seigneurial court of the lords of Bergh (van Bergh) in the eastern Netherlands. The results show that the rural population barely made use of the court but was often charged before it. Meanwhile, inhabitants of the small town of ‘s-Heerenberg figure prominently among the plaintiffs. This finding fits within the development of the court, being both permanently located within the town and dominated by its inhabitants. Given the wide variety of options for conflict resolution mechanisms open to the rural inhabitants of premodern Europe, these results suggest that the seigneurial court in this case did not serve the interests of the rural population, but rather those of the citizens of ‘s-Heerenberg. This conclusion is surprising in light of recent research and testifies to the widely different effects seigneurial lordship could have on rural societies within the Netherlands.

Slotbeschouwing (Frederik Buylaert)

DOI: 10.5117/PM2025.2.009.BUYL

Book reviews

• Heerlijkheden in Vlaanderen (Wim Blockmans)
• Heerlijkheid Ruinen (Paul Brood)

More information can be found here.

LECTURE SERIES: Figures/Visages de l'administration dans l'Europe des crises politiques (XVIe-XXIe siècles) (Brussels: UCLouvain, St-Louis Bruxelles, 17 FEB 2026)

 

(click on image to enlarge)

Abstract:

Ce séminaire, intitulé Figures/Visages de l'administration dans l'Europe des crises politiques (XVIe-XXIe siècles), est conçu sur le mode de l'atelier de discussion méthodologique et épistémologique. Après une introduction conduite par Nicolas Simon (ARB), Quentin Verreycken (FNRS/UCLouvain) et Jérémie Ferrer-Bartomeu, nous donnerons la parole à nos trois orateurs : Catherine Thomas (Musée du Verre de Charleroi), Christian Ingrao (CNRS, ancien directeur de l'Institut du Temps Présent) et Xavier Rousseaux (FNRS/UCLouvain). La discussion sera animée par John Pitseys (député au parlement bruxellois, docteur de l'UCLouvain).

Registration (mandatory for logistical purposes) with jeremie dot ferrer at uclouvain dot be. 

BOOK: Diederik BURGERSDIJK, Henk J.M. NELLEN & Marc DE WILDE (eds.), Hugo Grotius’s On Public Partnership with Unbelievers (De societate publica cum infidelibus). Introduction, Transcription and English Translation [Mini-monographs in Medieval and Early Modern Studies; 5] (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2025), viii + 146 p. ISBN 9789004744592, € 102,85

 

(image source: Brill)

Abstract:

In this hitherto unpublished treatise, Hugo Grotius examines what kinds of partnerships between Christians and non-Christians are legally permissible. These include public partnerships, such as treaties and alliances, but also private associations, such as commercial contracts, marriages, and relations of servitude. Grotius’s treatise is indispensable for understanding his ideas about legal relations between Christians and non-Christians, both in international and domestic contexts. This is the first edition of the annotated Latin text with an English translation and introduction.

 On the editors:

Diederik Burgersdijk, Ph.D. (2010), University of Amsterdam, is a lecturer in classics and ancient history at Utrecht University. His research focuses on the rhetoric and historiography of the later Roman empire, with a special interest in the reception of antiquity in later eras. His most recent co-edited volume is Constantinople Through the Ages: The Visible City from its Foundation to Contemporary Istanbul (Brill, 2025). Henk Nellen, Ph.D. (1980), Catholic University of Nijmegen, is a guest researcher at the Huygens Institute in Amsterdam. He co-edited the final five of the seventeen volumes in the series of Hugo Grotius’s correspondence. In 2007, he completed a biography of Grotius (English translation published by Brill, 2014). In 2021, he published a second biographical study: Geen vredestichter is zonder tegensprekers. Hugo de Groot, geleerde, staatsman, verguisd verzoener (Athenaeum, 2021). Marc de Wilde, Ph.D. (2008), University of Amsterdam, is a professor of jurisprudence at the University of Amsterdam with a focus on the history of legal thought. He has published several articles on Grotius, including on his letters to East-Indian rulers and his draft regulations for Jews.

Read more here: DOI  10.1163/9789004744592.

BOOK PRESENTATION: Jean-Paul JEAN, "Judges before history/Les juges devant l’histoire’" (Oxford: Maison française d'Oxford, 18 FEB 2026) [HYBRID]

 

(image source: MFO)

Presentation:

Jean-Paul Jean will present his book, which examines the role of judges under Vichy and during the Purge, drawing on previously unpublished archives to reassess their responsibilities, choices, and the enduring challenges facing justice and the rule of law. With Lise Jaulin (Liaison Judge, French Embassy in London) I Chair: Anne Simonin (EHESS-CESPRA). How could judges who had sworn an oath of loyalty to Marshal Pétain and served the Vichy regime later go on to preside over the courts of the Purge? What was the justice system’s actual role in enforcing the laws during the Occupation, in the persecution of Jews, and in the repression of members of the Resistance? By presenting the careers of prosecutors and judges throughout the dark years—ranging from wait-and-see attitudes to collaboration, resistance, or the ambiguous position of “Vichy-resisters”—this work places in context the concrete situations magistrates faced and the choices they made in conscience. Why was Paul Didier the only one to refuse to swear an oath to Pétain? What did resistance-minded magistrates actually do? How did the judiciary contribute to the exclusion of Jews? What is the reality behind the controversial career of André Mornet, the “Vichy-resister” and prosecutor general who called for the death penalty against Pétain? How were the judges of the special sections tried after the war? Why were the trials of the Purge able to rely only on very partial evidence? Drawing on numerous previously unpublished documents from public and private archives, the book sheds new light on this period. By placing this dark chapter of history in perspective—also illuminated by post-war reforms, including women’s access to the judiciary and the early foundations of international criminal justice—it opens a broader debate on the contemporary challenges facing justice, a cornerstone of the rule of law now widely threatened by populist and authoritarian drift.

Venue: 

More information here. 

LECTURE: Naoki KANAYAMA, "Portalis plagiat ? Entre Rousseau et Montesquieu" (Toulouse: Université Toulouse 1 Capitole/CTHDIP, 12 FEB 2026)

 

On the speaker:

Naoki Kanayama est professeur émérite de droit civil à l’École de droit de l’Université Keio (Tokyo) et directeur de la Maison du Japon à la Cité internationale (Paris).

Convened by prof. Florian Reverchon (Toulouse).

Click here for more information. 

BOOK: Peter COLLIN & Leonard WOLCKENHAAR (eds.), Plurale Rechtsverständnisse ? Begriff und Grundlagen des Rechts in den juristischen Teildisziplinen im späten 19. und frühen 20. Jahrhundert [Moderne Regulierungsregime; 6] (Frankfurt am Main: Vittorio Klostermann, 2025), VI + 456 p. € 89

 

(image source: Klostermann)

Abstract:

From the end of the 19th century onwards, German jurisprudence became increasingly differentiated, as evidenced by the establishment of new institutes and new chair titles, textbooks and journals. A number of legal sub-disciplines developed and became independent, while established disciplines also re-examined their self-image. At the same time, there was lively activity in the fundamental subjects. Not only did legal philosophy, legal theory and, later, legal sociology stated to diverge from one another, but an impressive plurality of opinions can generally be observed here. This raises the question of whether and in what way specific understandings of law also developed within disciplines, e.g. with regard to the nature of legal norms, their scope of application, norm-setters and norm structure. The authors of this volume shed light on fundamental debates in the respective sub-disciplines, thereby revealing the conditions under which a differentiated jurisprudence emerged.

 Read more here.

SOURCE: Official version of the Travaux Préparatoires of the European Convention on Human Rights (Strasburg: Council of Europe, 2026)

 

(image: Strasburg city centre; source: Wikimedia Commons)

The European Court of Human Rights has released the 8 volumes of the official Travaux Préparatoires of the European Convention on Human Rights on the internet, with the kind cooperation of Brill/Martinus Nijhoff. This work originally appeared between 1975 and 1985.

Read the eight volumes here.

BOOK REVIEW: Emily KADENS on La dynamique juridique des réseaux marchands: Hanses, nations, agences, filiales et comptoirs, edited by Luisa Brunori (Comparative Legal History, XIII (2025), nr. 2 (December), pp. 318-323)

(Image source: Taylor&Francis)

This collection of essays, as Luisa Brunori’s introduction explains, explores the legal landscape of merchant institutions from the medieval to the modern periods. The book, which is the third component of the PHEDRA project (‘Pour une Histoire Européenne du DRoit des Affaires’), originates from a colloquium held in Lille (France) in November 2021. A central thesis of the project is that commercial law is inherently supra-national and supra-legal. Commercial law, the volume argues, cannot be understood through analysing national systems alone, nor by merely comparing those systems. Instead, one must look to transnational merchant networks, such as Hanses, nations, trading posts, and factors, to study how business norms influenced and were influenced by formal commercial law.

To read the full review, please click here. Online access is free for members of the European Society for Comparative Legal History. For further information about the volume on our blog, please visit here

DOI: 10.1080/2049677X.2025.2580114

CALL FOR PAPERS: Dirigeants et dirigés [Journées de la Société d’histoire du droit et institutions des pays flamands, picards et wallons] (Versailles, 15-16 MAY 2026) [DEADLINE 15 APR 2026]

 

Les journées de la Société d’histoire du droit et des institutions des pays flamands, picards et wallons se tiendront cette année à Versailles les 15 et 16 mai 2026, à l’invitation de Madame Catherine Lecomte, professeur émérite à l’université de Versailles-Saint Quentin et présidente honoraire de la société, sur le thème « Dirigeants et dirigés ».

Si la notion de gouvernance a été, ces dernières années, souvent questionnée dans ses structures, ses moyens et ses fins, celle de gouvernant et plus largement de dirigeant mérite à nouveau une particulière attention. L’actualité contemporaine montre en effet qu’en matière de gouvernance publique, les structures institutionnelles ne suffisent pas à déterminer à elles seules les politiques qui demeurent influencées par la personnalité des dirigeants. Renouant avec une problématique classique de l’Histoire des idées politiques, un tel sujet propose une réflexion sur les gouvernements à travers la personne de ses dirigeants, ses qualités attendues, ses modes de désignation, ses réseaux, ses limites personnelles et les garde-fous institutionnels. 

Le thème des « Journées » de la Société n’est pas en outre limité à une réflexion sur les seuls dirigeants politiques mais s’étend à l’étude des dirigeants d’autres organisations juridiquement constituées et productrices elles-mêmes d’une réglementation, comme les dirigeants militaires, municipaux, provinciaux, mais aussi les dirigeants spirituels (la direction de l’Eglise) ou économiques (les directions de sociétés). Enfin, le thème de la rencontre comprend aussi l’étude des dirigés, de leur adhésion à leurs dirigeants ou à l’inverse la manière dont ils s’expriment et s’organisent pour limiter leurs dérives. S’il n’est pas fixé de limite temporelle au thème proposé, les communications se concentreront sur le plan géographique sur les régions linguistiques des Pays, flamands, picards et wallons.

Les propositions de communications sont à envoyer à Monsieur Tanguy Le Marc’hadour tanguylemar@yahoo.fr, président de la Société et à Madame Catherine Lecomte catherine.lecomte@uvsq.fr, présidente honoraire, avant le 15 avril 2026. Celles-ci seront accompagnées d’une brève présentation en français. 

Les communications pourront être présentées dans une des langues de la Société, le français, le néerlandais ou l’anglais, avec, compte tenu du lieu des « « Journées », une préférence pour le français.

 Pour le bureau,

Tanguy Le Marc’hadour, président de la Société.

SEMINAR: 'In dialogo sulla storia costituzionale italiana: Augusto Antonio Barbera, testimone e protagonista' (Rome: Lumsa Università, 20 FEB 2026)

 

(Source: Lumsa Università)

Il Convegno “In dialogo sulla storia costituzionale italiana - Augusto Antonio Barbera, testimone e protagonista” – in programma nella sala Pia dell’Università LUMSA (via di Porta Castello 44, Roma) il 20 febbraio 2026, dalle ore 11.00 – è organizzato dall’Università LUMSA e dal Centro di Ricerca "Leopoldo Elia" (CREL).

 

Il Convegno costituisce la tappa di avvio dell’attività dell’Associazione per la storia costituzionale, una società scientifica che coinvolge studiosi di varie materie storiche e giuridiche, fondata il 7 ottobre 2025 a Roma e che ha tra i suoi soci fondatori alcuni professori dell’Università LUMSA (Francesco Bonini, Angelo Rinella, Marco Olivetti, Gian Marco Sperelli, Filippo Benedetti).

 

Il Convegno intende affrontare il senso degli studi di storia costituzionale in Italia attraverso il contributo di uno dei principali costituzionalisti italiani, il prof. Augusto Antonio Barbera, a lungo ordinario di diritto costituzionale nell’Università di Bologna e testimone-protagonista della storia istituzionale repubblicana nell’ultimo mezzo secolo (come parlamentare, ministro, giudice costituzionale, membro di commissioni sulle riforme costituzionali).

 

Le attività inizieranno con i saluti ai presenti e con una presentazione a cura del prof. Francesco Bonini (rettore dell’Università LUMSA) e del prof. Luigi Lacché (presidente dell’Associazione per la storia costituzionale).

 

Il contributo del prof. Barbera assumerà la forma di una intervista, condotta dai membri del direttivo dell’Associazione per la storia costituzionale. Seguirà un dibattito.

 

L’evento sarà trasmesso da Radio radicale