The ESCLH aims to promote comparative legal history and seeks affiliation with individuals and organisations with complementary aims.
Description:
Informal Queries For informal queries about the role, please contact Professor Tim Lockley at T.J.Lockley@warwick.ac.uk The Department of History seeks to appoint an Assistant Professor in Early Modern British History on a full-time and indefinite basis from 1 September 2026. You will be part of one of the largest History departments in the UK with a thriving community of teachers and researchers covering a range of disciplines and geographical areas.
Read more here.
Introduction
Legal traditions, community, harmonization and integration have been the hallmarks of the Association's Annual Forums for 29 years. Values in law, which is the main topic of the 30th anniversary edition of the Meeting of Young Legal Historians, is an excellent opportunity to look at the issues discussed at previous forums from a wider perspective. The legal maxim Ubi societas ibi ius, which dates back to ancient times, is a simple affirmation of common sense: wherever there are people, wherever there is a community, wherever relationships and bonds are formed, there must be a certain order, which is referred to as ius — law. The conference “Values in law through the ages”, organized by the Faculty of Law and Administration and the Faculty of History of the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, will be a space for discussion on the transdisciplinary issues of axiological matters present in various cultures and legal systems.
Conference theme
We are planning to include various contexts for the use of the main topic at the conference. We invite you to submit proposals for papers from various fields of law and other fields related to law, clearly linked to historical and legal analysis and the topic of the conference. The proposed topics, which are not exhaustive, include in particular issues such as principles of law, rule of law, legal unlawfulness, revolutions in law, crises of values in law, inter-systemic and intra-systemic contrasts of values, history of human rights, theoretical concepts of values in law or constitutional protection of values.
Requirements for submitting abstracts
We invite submissions on essentially any aspect of the values in the legal history. Authors may approach the topic dogmatically, historically or comparatively, they may focus on a specific period and place or present general reflections on the axiology of law in a historical context. Authors are encouraged to use innovative approaches and transdisciplinary research.
If you would like to present a paper during the conference, please send an application including an abstract of not more than 300 words and your CV to aylhforum2026@amu.edu.pl before 30 April 2026. Acceptance letters will be sent out by the end of May. Please send documents in PDF format.
In justified individual cases, the forum's scientific committee may consider abstracts earlier. To do so, please contact the organizing committee, indicating “EARLY APPLICATION” in the subject line of your message.
Presentations have to be in English and should not exceed 15 minutes each. Since one of the primary goals of the conference is to allow young researchers to get to know each other personally, we only accept presentations in person.
Publication
We intend to publish the presented papers. The organizing committee intends to resume publication with Peter Lang Publishing, which was associated with the first editions of our forums. Depending on the number of interested parties and financial possibilities, we plan to publish another volume of the Yearbook of Young Legal History, or a monograph, or a special issue in a Polish academic journal. The related details will be sent in advance to the accepted participants.
Conference fee
Two types of conference fees are anticipated for this year's forum:
1. The conference fee without post-conference publication costs is 200 € and does not include travel or accommodation costs.
2. The conference fee including post-conference publication costs is 300 € and also does not include travel or accommodation costs.
After the announcement of the abstract selection results on May 31, 2026, the Organizing Committee will contact the selected participants with further information on registration by paying the conference fee.
Other information
The Forum will be in English, and each paper presentation should not exceed 15 minutes, so there is time for discussions in the last part of each panel.
The submission deadline is 30th April 2026. Abstracts received after the submission deadline will be declined. Please indicate in your application the type of participation (without publication or with publication).
Keep in mind that registration is limited to a number of people. Therefore, early registration is strongly recommended!
Event organization
The forum will last four days: the first day will be a welcome day with the participation of keynote speakers and a special guest, the next two days will feature many parallel sessions, and on the last day we are planning a jubilee meeting on organizational matters of the Association for Young Legal Historians.
Our meeting will take place in Poznań, the capital of Greater Poland. The city can be reached by plane or other means of transport (train, bus). We recommend planning your travel and accommodation in advance. The organizing committee will provide recommendations in this regard at a later date.
We look forward to receiving your abstracts and we will uncompromisingly endeavor to provide a conference that is both academically and socially fulfilling. We wish you all the best for this time!
Organizing Committee:
Dawid Szulc, MA, Department of Government Systems Studies and Political and Legal Thought – Committee Chair
Patryk Maćkowiak, MA, Department of Source Analysis and Auxiliary Historical Sciences – Vice Committee Chair
Fatma Mejri, MA, Department of Government Systems Studies and Political and Legal Thought
Maria Kola, MA, Department of Roman Law, Legal Traditions and Cultural Heritage Law
Szymon Siuda, MA, Department of Public Economic Law
Kamil Gaweł, MA, Department of Medical and Pharmaceutical Law at the Poznań University of Medical Sciences
Description:
This Call for ideas (in the form of detailed abstracts) invites scholars working in International Law, Constitutional Law, and Legal Philosophy, whether individually or through interdisciplinary approaches. The contours of the forum are outlined below in two overlapping and porous themes.
Aims. We intend to stimulate discourse on international legal history and theory employing regional and archival lens. We expect a rough sketch of your clearly formulated idea to make such stimulations. We aim to discuss the vitality of your research ideas for them to be transformed into future research (beyond this forum).
Thematic Background: Legal History. The word 'civilization' has re-entered academic discourse, only this time it is the East which is assertive of it. India is asserting its civilizational heritage by calling itself the 'mother of democracy'. However, the evidence of it (for example, Sangha) points more towards democratic values, like public participation, than a political system of democracy. Alongside this civilizational assertion is a renewed emphasis on "decolonizing" India, including in the field of law, though both the efficacy of these efforts and the normative framework of "decolonization" itself remain contested. While these debates have gained traction in International Relations (see the March 2023 issue of International Affairs on "India as a 'civilizational state'"), their implications for international law, legal history, and legal philosophy remain underexplored.
This Call invites scholars of international law, legal history, and legal philosophy to intervene in this debate through a focused regional and archival lens. While earlier works, such as C. H. Alexandrowicz's discussion of the Mandala system situating Kautilya within the Law of Nations (1965), have addressed cognate themes, this project concentrates specifically on Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, including their pre-modern formations. Thus, Pataliputra, Azimabad, and Patna, while essentially the same site, retain their individuality and continuity across time and space. Contributions on neglected princely states and provinces such as Arah, Awadh, Benaras, Baksar, Betiyah, Champaran, Darbhanga, Sasaram, Sagauli, among others, are especially welcome.
Many of these entities were classified as "Zemindari estates" rather than "Princely states." Colonial Bihar thus reveals how international law sustained empire not by outright denial of sovereignty, but by withholding international legal personality from polities that governed in every meaningful sense. The contemporary relevance of these discriminatory practices persists, as illustrated by the 1st and the 26th Amendment to the Indian Constitution, land reform Act of Bihar and U.P. 1950, State of Bihar v Radha Krishna Singh & Ors (1983) and The Vesting of Bettiah Raj Properties Act, 2024.
The Call also encourages works on figures such as Veer Kunwar Singh and Begum Hazrat Mahal, particularly research drawing on archives from the National Archives of India, Uttar Pradesh State Archives, and the Khuda Baksh Oriental Library (Patna). Finally, it seeks renewed readings of colonial constitutional instruments, such as the Pitt's India Act (1784) and the Government of India Act (1833), and the constitution-like document drafted during the early days of the 1857 revolt.
The Call, therefore, asks: How does colonial legal invisibility structure postcolonial international law? What legal techniques differentiated Zemindari estates and Princely states? How do colonial legal categories shape postcolonial constitutional disputes? What do colonial legislations tell us about the constitutional origins of international law? How did British colonial rule transform indigenous sovereignty into quasi-sovereign authority without formal annexation (of places like Betiyah-Raj and Darbhanga-Raj)?
Thematic Background: Indian Legal Philosophy. A related interest of this call is Indian (legal) philosophy. While no Indian philosophical school explicitly identifies itself as "legal", the Nyaya tradition, through its sustained engagement with Pramana, Prameya, Tarka, Nirnaya, Sabda, Artha etc., offers a systematic framework grounded in logic and epistemology.
This project is interested in works exploring the connections between the Nyaya school and decolonization and retains the regional focus. Gotama (or Aksapada Gautama) who composed Nyaya Sutras, Panini (composer of Astadhyayi), Gangesa (pioneer of Navya-Nyaya branch), Udayanacarya (defended Nyaya school against Buddhist critiques), Vachaspati Misra (Critique of Nyaya school), Kautilya (whose thoughts on Anviksiki was used by Gotama for Nyaya school) were all either based in the Bihar region or wrote their works here.
We, therefore, encourage scholars to explore the fields of Nyaya, Vaisesika, Navya- Nyaya (through works of Gangesa), and of Panini's Astadhyay1. While Panini tells us how reasoning works Nyaya explains why reasoning works. Scholars working exclusively in the field of philosophy, and those working on legal philosophy are welcome to respond to this call.
Participation details. If your research aligns with either of these themes or questions, we invite you to participate in this Forum, as:
1. Presenters. If you would like to present your research, you are requested to submit a 500-word abstract, clearly setting out
- the central theme(s) of your research,
- your core research question(s),
- three to five literatures you are engaging with,
- your name, position and affiliation.
We will select abstracts based upon the novelty, strength and coherence. The selected participants will then be required to submit a preliminary draft of not more than 1500 words one week before the Forum, i.e. on 8th April 2026 for thorough academic engagement with your research. Participants will have ten minutes to present their work at the forum.
There will be no sections or panels at the forum. Each participant will be expected to attend all the presentations. This is aimed at breaking departmental barriers and fostering interdisciplinary engagements from which both lawyers, historians and philosophers can gain.
2. Engaged Listeners. Scholars from the field of law, history and philosophy (including teachers, PhD Scholars) and students (including graduate and post graduate students) who are interested in understanding and potentially developing future work on these themes with us are invited to join the forum as Engaged Listeners. Engaged listeners will have access to all presentations at the forum and will have chance to interact with the presenters within and outside the forum, providing an opportunity to refine their research interests and to contribute to the project in the future.
For participating as engaged listeners, individuals are requested to submit a 200-word statement outlining their reasons and motivations for participating, and their primary areas of interest (identifying two to three such areas), and their name, position and affiliation.
Presenters and Engaged Listeners should send their abstracts to ilhilpf@gmail.com.
Date and Venue. 10 AM to 5 PM, 15 April 2026 at Chanakya National Law University, Patna, Bihar, India.
Key dates:
15 March 2026. Submission of abstracts (by presenters) & interests (by engaged listeners)
25 March 2026 Communication of selection (for presenters & listeners)
5 April 2026 Registration
8 April 2026 Research outline submission (by presenters)
Registration details:
For presenters:
- For undergraduate, postgraduate students and PhD scholars: Rs. 500/-
- For teachers and practitioners: Rs. 1000/-
There is no participation fee for the engaged listeners.
The Project is being led by Aman Kumar, PhD Candidate at the Australian National University, Canberra. The Forum is convened by Dr Swati Singh Parmar (DNLU, Jabalpur) and Dr Aditya Roy (CNLU, Patna).
(source: Legal History Blog)
J. Jarpa Dawuni is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Howard University and the Executive Director of the Institute for African Women in Law. She is the Founding Director of the Howard University Center for Women, Gender, and Global Leadership and Program Director for the Minor in Women, Gender, and Sexualities Studies. Professor Dawuni has held several prestigious fellowships, including two Fulbright Specialist Scholarships, the Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship, and a Salzburg Global Fellowship. Nienke Grossman, a Professor of Law at the University of Baltimore School of Law, co-directs its Center for International and Comparative Law and serves on the OAS Inter-American Juridical Committee. She has held leadership roles at the American Society of International Law, served on an independent panel evaluating candidates for the Inter-American Human Rights System, and advised the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the DPRK and states litigating before the ICJ. Grossman has published widely on feminist approaches to international law. Jaya Ramji-Nogales is Associate Dean for Research and the I. Herman Stern Research Professor at Temple Law School. Professor Ramji-Nogales is a Counsellor of the American Society of International Law and a member of the Board of Editors of the American Journal of International Law. She has published extensively on global migration law. Hélène Ruiz Fabri is a Professor at the Sorbonne Law School, returning after a nine-year secondment as Director of the Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for Procedural Law. She is a Member of the Institute of International Law, former General Editor of the Max Planck Encyclopedia of International Procedural Law (OUP), and a former President of the European Society of International Law. Professor Ruiz Fabri holds the CNRS Silver Medal for excellence in scientific research. She also has experience in legal practice.
Diane Marie Amann Ruth Aura-Odhiambo Amrita Bahri Lina M. Céspedes-Báez Hilary Charlesworth Christine Chinkin J. Jarpa Dawuni Margaret M. deGuzman Alicia Ely Yamin Mtendere Mute Gondwe Nienke Grossman 'Ofakilevuka ('Ofa) Guttenbeil-Likiliki Andrea Harrington Dr. Stacey Henderson Stéphanie Hennette-Vauchez Dr. IvanaIsailović Patricia Kameri-Mbote Machiko Kanetake Viviana Krsticevic Judge Liesbeth Lijnzaad Rachel E. López Frédéric Mégret Dr. Eva Nanopoulos Ambassador Dr. Namira Negm Vasuki Nesiah Fionnuala Ní Aoláin Dr. Eki Yemisi Omorogbe Valerie Oosterveld Dr. Nilüfer Oral Tamsin Phillipa Paige Irini Papanicolopulu Mónica Pinto Mark A. Pollack Enrique Prieto-Ríos Jaya Ramji-Nogales Camille Robcis Hélène Ruiz Fabri Susana SáCouto Judge Julia Sebutinde Joanne Stagg Edoardo Stoppioni Yusra Suedi Immi Tallgren Leila Ullrich Yvonne Underhill-Sem René Urueña Dr. Patricia Viseur Sellers Adrien Katherine Wing Natasha Yacoub
1) Why Women and International Law? - J. Jarpa Dawuni, Nienke Grossman, Jaya Ramji Nogales, Hélène Ruiz Fabri
2) The Woman in International Law: Centering Global Critical Race Feminism - Adrien Katherine Wing
3) A Century and More of Feminist Architects - Christine Chinkin and Patricia Viseur Sellers
4) A Look Back at the Women's Hague Peace Conference: What Contribution to International Law Today? - Frédéric Mégret
5) Absented at the Creation: Nuremberg Women and International Criminal Justice - Diane Marie Amann
6) Gender-Sensitive Adjudication in International Courts - Julia Sebutinde and Yusra Suedi
7) The 'Invisible Court': A First Look at Gender and Nationality in Registries and Secretariats - Nienke Grossman
8) Women as Highly Qualified or 'Renowned' Publicists in International Law - Nilufer Oral
9) The Legal Adviser: Gatekeeper and Torchbearer?- Liesbeth Lijnzaad
10) Women in International Organizations: Particular Focus on the United Nations and African Union - Namira Negm and Mtendere Mute Gondwe
11) Lightning in the Night/Un Relámpago en la Noche: On Women's Contributions to the Jurisprudence and Institutions of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights - Viviana Krsticevic
12) Lessons in Visibility: Victim Participation in Guatemalan Prosecutions of Conflict-Based Sexual and Gender Violence - Susan SáCouto
13) Human Rights and Women's Rights - Mónica Pinto
14) Constructing Maternal Mortality as A Human Rights Issue: Lessons for Using International Law to Advance Women's Health and Rights - Alicia Ely Yamin
15) Populism and Gender Ideology - Stéphanie Hennette Vauchez and Camille Robcis
16) Gender and Conflict of Laws: Enabling Violence - Ivana Isailovic
17) Is International Criminal Law Feminist? - Margaret M. deGuzman and Rachel López
18) The African Union and the Rights of Women in Non-international Armed Conflicts in Africa - Eki Yemisi Omorogbe
19) Women, Peace, and Security: Getting Women in the Room Is a Start Not an End Goal - Tamsin Phillipa Paige, Stacey Henderson, and Joanne Stagg
20) Where are the Women? The Law and Practice of Global Counter-terrorism - Fionnuala Ní Aoláin
21) Artificial Intelligence-Enabled Autonomous Weapon Systems: Feminist Perspectives on Meaningful Human Control - Machiko Kanetake
22) Feminist Approaches to Space Law and Governance - Andrea Harrington and Valerie Oosterveld
23) Women and Law of the Sea - Irini Papanicolopulu
24) Feminist Approaches to Recenter Humanity in International Migration Law - Natasha Yacoub
25) Women's Agency in Addressing the Crisis of Climate Change: The Missing Link - Patricia Kameri-Mbote and Ruth Aura
26) Challenging Colonialism and Patriarchy: Oceanic Pacific Feminists on Development, Women, and International Law - Yvonne Underhill-Sem and 'Ofa-Ki-Levuka Guttenbeil-Likiliki
27) Women's Empowerment and International Trade: The Same Side of the Same Coin? - Amrita Bahri
28) Women and International Investment Law - Lina M. Céspedes-Báez, Enrique Prieto-Ríos, and René Urueña
29) Feminist Approaches to International Law and International Law Approaches to Feminism: An Overview - Hilary Charlesworth and Christine Chinkin
30) Feminism and the Mainstream in International Law and International Relations - Mark Pollack
31) 'Re-enchanting the World': Feminist Critiques of Liberal Theories of International Law - Vasuki Nesiah
32) Feminizing Third World Approaches to International Law: A New Agenda for TWAIL - J. Jarpa Dawuni
33) Toward a Marxist Feminist Approach to International Law - Eva Nanopoulos and Leila Ullrich
34) Queer Approaches - Edoardo Stoppioni
35) Women and the (Hi)story of International Law: What Does Everyone Need to Know? - Immi Tallgren
Read more here.
(Source: ES)
Abstract:
Il presente volume, rientrante nella Collana del Dipartimento di Giurisprudenza dell’Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II e pubblicato in occasione degli 800 anni dalla fondazione dell’Ateneo napoletano, si divide in due parti. La prima, denominata Cittadino di tutti i luoghi, raccoglie dei saggi che esaminano la rilevanza che il pensiero filangieriano ha assunto, già alla fine del Settecento, in una pluralità di ambiti geografici: da Napoli a Milano, dalla Francia alla Prussia, dalla Gran Bretagna agli Stati Uniti d’America. La seconda parte, intitolata Contemporaneo di tutte l’età, comprende dei contributi che si soffermano sulla valenza delle riflessioni di Filangieri in diverse epoche storiche, dall’Ottocento ai giorni nostri. L’opera intende evidenziare l’universalità del pensiero di Filangieri, nella convinzione che le sue idee possano ancora offrire utili spunti per «conciliare in un codice la libertà, la pace, e la ragione» e per «compire l’opera» della «felicità de’ popoli».
About the author:
Amedeo Arena è professore ordinario di Diritto dell’Unione Europea presso il Dipartimento di Giurisprudenza dell’Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II e Senior Fellow presso l’Institute of European Studies della University of California, Berkeley. È referente scientifico dell’Accademia Filangieri di Partenope, nell’ambito della quale ha promosso l’istituzione del Premio Filangieri per giovani giuristi. Ha tenuto diverse lezioni e relazioni a convegni, presso università italiane e statunitensi, sulla corrispondenza tra Gaetano Filangieri e Benjamin Franklin ed è stato curatore della mostra pannellare che ha riunito per la prima volta le lettere dei due illuministi, esposta presso il Consolato generale d’Italia a Filadelfia e presso l’Istituto italiano di cultura a San Francisco. Le sue ricerche d’archivio hanno condotto al riconoscimento di Domenico Cirillo come primo socio italiano della American Philosophical Society di Filadelfia, attraverso la correzione di un errore avvenuto nel 1768. È stato, inoltre, nominato membro del comitato istituito dalla American Philosophical Society per le celebrazioni del 250º anniversario della Dichiarazione di indipendenza.
More information with the publisher.
(Source: Liber extra, edition of Paris 1499, Basel University Library, Nn III 10)
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 CET. 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).
Abstract:
Centre majeur de l’enseignement du droit au Moyen Âge, la ville de Bologne se caractérise par la production de manuscrits juridiques. La BnF en possède une collection de premier plan, ce qui a été bien souligné par des travaux récents. Un exemplaire du Digeste Infortiatum glosé par Accurse, auteur de la Magna glossa, constitue un fleuron de ce corpus. Cette intervention soulignera la transposition du langage juridique en langage figuratif dans les manuscrits de droit romain enluminés du XIIIe au XVe siècle dans la cité universitaire.
On the seminar cycle:
La Bibliothèque nationale de France, l’Institut national d’histoire de l’art et l’École nationale des chartes - PSL organisent la 14e édition du cycle « Trésors de Richelieu », où conservateurs, chargés de collections, historiens de l’art, du spectacle, de la musique, de la littérature et spécialistes des textes partagent leurs savoirs avec un plus large public. À chaque conférence, des œuvres d’art, des manuscrits, des costumes ou des partitions musicales sortent exceptionnellement des magasins de la BnF, de l’INHA et de l’ENC, pour être présentés en direct à l’aide d’une caméra, qui en reproduit les plus infimes détails sur le grand écran de l’auditorium Jacqueline Lichtenstein.
On the speaker:
Archiviste paléographe (prom. 1987), il a été adjoint au directeur des Archives départementales de la Côte-d’Or, puis chargé de recherche au CNRS auprès du Centre Georges-Chevrier de l’Université de Bourgogne. Il est titulaire d’un doctorat en droit et d’une habilitation à diriger des recherches en droit. Il a été élu en 2007 professeur à l'École nationale des chartes. Sa thèse d’École nationale des chartes a porté sur les écrits politiques de l’archevêque de Toulouse Bernard de Rosier (1400-1475), sa thèse de doctorat sur l’œuvre politique du canoniste toulousain Guillaume Benoît (1455-1516) – publiée sous le titre Les idées politiques à Toulouse à la veille de la Réforme en 2003 – et son habilitation sur l’historiographie, les idées politiques et l’enseignement du droit en France aux xive-xvie siècle. Il est rattaché à l’École doctorale conjointe de l’École nationale des chartes - PSL et de l’Université Paris Sorbonne. Il a été directeur du Centre Jean-Mabillon. À partir des Archives personnelles de Gabriel Le Bras (données à l’EHESS et déposées aux Archives Nationales) et des Archives du CNRS, une petite équipe associant l’ENS, l’ENC (Katia Weidenfeld et Patrick Arabeyre) et l’EHESS, se propose d’analyser les documents de ces fonds et d’organiser en 2018 une journée d’études, avec le concours de la Société d'histoire religieuse de la France. Lancement en 2018 du Séminaire "Humanisme juridique" avec l'IHD de Paris II.
On the speaker:
Archiviste paléographe (prom. 2010) et docteur en histoire de l’art, Sabine Maffre est l’auteure d’une thèse portant sur l’iconographie de Caïn et Abel en France au Moyen Âge soutenue à l’Université de Poitiers en 2023 sous la direction de Cécile Voyer. Conservatrice des bibliothèques, elle a été responsable pendant cinq ans de la bibliothèque Carnegie, bibliothèque patrimoniale à Reims. Depuis 2018, elle est chargée de collections pour la période xiiie siècle-xive siècle au service médiéval du département des Manuscrits de la Bibliothèque nationale de France. Sa thèse d’École (2010) porte sur L’iconographie de Caïn et Abel en France du xie siècle au début du xvie siècle.
On the speaker:
Viviana Persi Chartiste. Thèse La réglementation du marché et le contrôle du commerce à Paris et à Rome, fin XVIIe-début XVIIIe siècle
Practical information:
Galerie Colbert, 2, rue Vivienne, Paris 2e (auditorium Jacqueline Lichtenstein); 18:15-19:30
(source: PSL-ENC)
Alberico Gentili’s ‘Silete theologi in munere alieno’: The Full Quote (Alain Wijffels)
DOI 10.1163/15718050-bja10130
Abstract:
Alberico Gentili wrote addenda and corrigenda to his De iure belli libri tres (ed. pr. 1598), which were not included in the later, posthumous, editions of that work. The additions the author directed to be inserted after his exhortation ‘Remain silent, theologians, on an issue which is not your responsibility’ (Book 1, Ch. 12) suggest that he intended to emphasise the illegitimacy of wars on religious grounds, especially in international relations with the Ottomans, who in any event provided sufficient other grounds for waging war against them. Gentili’s remark did not preclude the use of theological literature in jurisprudence, although he considered that jurists had a specific competence for scholarship on the governance of human relations.
Peace Treaties in the Confines of the Spanish Empire The Spanish-Mapuche Parliaments during the 17th Century (Fernando Pérez Godoy)
DOI 10.1163/15718050-bja10142
Abstract:
This article aims to analyze the practice of early modern law of nations – rather than its well-known doctrinal debate – in the Spanish empire. To do so, I focus on Hispano-Mapuche parliaments held in the south of colonial Chile during 1605, in which certain native customs, such as Mapuche polygamy, were temporarily recognized after concluding a series of peace agreements. Thus, this article claims that Hispano-Mapuche peace depended on validating some indigenous legal customs, which opposed even the ius commune foundation of the Castilian law. As the main analysis factors, I consider the need for a new basis of legitimacy to establish interethnic relationships and the weakness of the Spanish imperial expansion during the 17th century.
Resisting the Ordinance of God. The Augustinian Just War Tradition in the Work of Balthazar de Ayala (1548–1584) (Martijn Vermeersch)
DOI 10.1163/15718050-bja10137
Abstract:
In his De Jure et Officiis Bellicis et Disciplina Militari libri tres, the Dutch-Spanish jurist Balthazar de Ayala (1548–1584) took it upon himself to develop a just war theory carefully tailored to the exigent circumstances of the Dutch Revolt. Given how the conflict was undoubtedly fueled by fervent disagreements on matters of faith, it is remarkable how Ayala’s dissertation seems to have provided the blueprint of a practicable just war doctrine unshackled from its moral tethers. Rather than solely focusing on what was just, Ayala instructed Farnese on the finer points of what rendered a war legal, simultaneously trying to keep the restoration of the one true faith clearly in view. Through a careful analysis of his source material, this article will attempt to demonstrate that – despite the obfuscation caused by his Augustinian frame of reference – Ayala’s treatise contains an innovate attempt at secularisation of just war theory.
Book reviews
Throughout her research career, Elisabetta Fiocchi Malaspina has demonstrated her ability to transition from the Italian to the European sphere and even to a global perspective. Her research on Émer de Vattel, the Swiss international lawyer and author of Droit des gens (1758) and the dissemination of his thought – whether in the original or translated into various languages across Europe and the Western world – has clearly revealed the extent to which Vattel's ideas were utilised and circulated between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
In the volume under review, a comparative approach is the focus of the author's attention, which is why she has given her work the subtitle Intrecci transnazionali nei sistemi di pubblicità immobiliare tra Otto e Novecento (Transnational Intertwining in Immovable Publicity Systems between the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries). The scope broadens to encompass the African continent and the outcomes of European colonialism: from the Colony of Eritrea to the Independent State of Congo and the Belgian Congo, and from the German Protectorate of Togo to the international mandate of the League of Nations awarded to France and England. These three case studies serve as exemplary instances in the specific field of investigation, capable of revealing the influences that inevitably arise from one legal system to another and highlighting the weight of traditions developed in land publicity between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries during the transition from one territorial reality to another, which, while more distant, was, in a more or less forced manner, closer to the colonising state.
DOI: 10.1080/2049677X.2025.2580109
(Source: Prize Papers Project)
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ships-seafaring-15001800-tickets-1931080938069
Das Hauptwerk des Luigi Taparelli d’Azeglio SJ (1793–1862), ›Saggio teoretico di diritto naturale appoggiato sul fatto‹, ist die Blaupause für die moderne, von Papst Leo XIII. initiierte katholische Soziallehre. Die in diesem 1855 in vierter – der letzten von Taparelli ergänzten und überarbeiteten – Auflage erschienenen Werk ausgeführten prinzipiellen Erwägungen und Grundzüge sind auch für gegenwärtige theologisch-ethische Positionierungen in der katholischen Kirche relevant. Im deutschsprachigen Raum gibt es jedoch nur eine Übersetzung von seiner ersten, in den Jahren 1840–1843 sukzessive veröffentlichten Auflage; sie stammt bereits aus dem Jahr 1845. Dem Desiderat einer modernen Übersetzung der vierten Auflage wird nun durch eine zweisprachige Ausgabe entsprochen und eine jede der sieben Abhandlungen des ›Saggio teoretico‹ in einem separaten Band herausgegeben.
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A workshop in
English Legal History will take place in Christ Church, Oxford on 10 and 11
September 2026. The organisers, Ciara Kennefick and Ian Williams, invite
proposals for papers which address in whole or in part the theme of Crossing
Intellectual Boundaries in English Legal History. The organisers aim to advance
the interdisciplinary study of English legal history by exploring this theme in
detail with colleagues in law and those from other disciplines who study the
impact of other learning on English law.
English law has
been marked by the reception or rejection of different bodies of learning in
different periods, as lawyers and judges moved beyond their core legal learning
or resisted the influence of ideas and techniques from other fields. These
intellectual boundaries could be legal, such as between the common law, the
civil law and equity. But English law has also engaged with learning beyond law;
medicine, theology, economics and mathematics are just four examples. What were
the reasons for these engagements with other learning? What were the
consequences? Was English law more open to other learning in certain periods
and if so, why was that the case?
Proposals for
papers should be no more than 400 words and should be sent to ciara.kennefick@law.ox.ac.uk
and ian.williams@law.ox.ac.uk by 5pm on 23 March 2026. The aim is to
assign a commentator to each paper. Full papers will therefore be due by 5pm on
28 August 2026. Colleagues who are interested in attending the workshop in the
capacity of commentator only are invited to write to this effect to Ciara
Kennefick and Ian Williams by 5pm on 23 March 2026. The authors of the papers
which are selected will be offered accommodation in Oxford on 10 and 11
September. Funding to support the travel of graduate students within the UK is
available.
Depending on the extent to which the papers selected cohere with each other, it may be possible to produce an edited volume or a special edition of a journal. Participants are welcome to submit proposals for papers which they intend to publish elsewhere.
Si chacun est sujet d’un Prince ou citoyen d’un État, nombreux sont aussi les fidèles, adeptes d’une religion. Comment autorité publique et responsables religieux coexistent-ils sur un même territoire, en s’adressant aux mêmes individus, mais en diffusant des messages distincts, par leur nature et leur contenu ? Le défi de l’organisation des relations entre un État et les religions traverse toutes les époques et toutes les civilisations. Fusion des deux pouvoirs ? Persécutions ? Reconnaissance ou Séparation ? tous les schémas existent, seule l’ignorance est impossible. Dans l’Occident chrétien, une tradition s’est instaurée, distinguant deux puissances, entretenant des liens plus ou moins étroits. Cette ligne générale persiste depuis vingt siècles, mêlant éléments de continuités et nombreuses mutations. Le royaume de France connut – et connaît peut-être encore – le gallicanisme dans lequel les pouvoirs publics exercent une certaine autorité sur la religion, pour les questions temporelles. Quelle autorité ? sur quelles religions ? et que sont ces questions temporelles? Les réponses sont multiples. Notre laïcité actuelle s’est lentement construite à partir du gallicanisme qui prit forme lors du conflit opposant le roi Philippe le Bel au pape Boniface VIII, qui marqua le Concordat du Bologne de 1516, la Déclaration des quatre articles de 1682, la Révolution, le régime des cultes reconnus, celui de la Séparation, puis la loi de 2021 confortant les principes de la République. Gallicanisme ou laïcité ? Deux termes a priori peu compatibles et pourtant l’histoire du régime juridique des cultes en France connut certaines continuités que cet ouvrage explicite, sans méconnaître les évolutions et adaptations, dues aux hommes et aux faits, parfois plus qu’aux lois.
Abstract
Aujourd’hui revendiquée comme un fait irrésistible ou, au contraire, rejeté comme un fait dépassé, la souveraineté, dont le concept est pourtant normatif, n’aura curieusement que rarement été justifiée ou critiquée dans ses justifications. Le cours de cette année propose une réinterprétation des souverainetés au pluriel par référence, d’une part, à l’égalité des peuples dont l’autodétermination est garantie par le droit international et, d’autre part, à la pluralité des formes institutionnelles que l’exercice de leur autodétermination peut et doit prendre en droit international à l’avenir.
Announcement
Le cours de la Professeure Samantha Besson, titulaire de la Chaire Droit international des institutions au Collège de France clôt un cycle de six ans d’enseignement en revisitant le principe du droit international qui en aura été le fil rouge : la souveraineté.
Aujourd’hui revendiquée comme un fait irrésistible ou, au contraire, rejeté comme un fait dépassé, la souveraineté, dont le concept est pourtant normatif, n’aura curieusement que rarement été justifiée ou critiquée dans ses justifications – du moins, jusqu’il y a peu. Et ce, y compris à l’aune des multiples théories de la légitimité politique du droit international et de ses institutions. Le cours de cette année propose une réinterprétation des souverainetés au pluriel par référence, d’une part, à l’égalité des peuples dont l’autodétermination est garantie par le droit international et, d’autre part, à la pluralité des formes institutionnelles que l’exercice de leur autodétermination peut et doit prendre en droit international à l’avenir.
Les cours seront dispensés tous les jeudis du 26 février au jeudi 10 avril 2026, de 10h à 11h30
Les cours sont accessibles à toutes et tous, sans inscription préalable et dans la limite des places disponibles. Toutes les informations sont disponibles vers : https://www.college-de-france.fr/fr/agenda/cours/souverainetes
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