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Rapport d’activités 2022 Werkzaamhedenverslag 2022 (5-8)
Rapport d’activités 2023 Werkzaamhedenverslag 2023 (9-15)
Two legal opinions by Gabriel van der Muyden and Elbert de Leeuw (1553) (Alain Wijffels) (17-113)
First paragraphs:
The privileges of the German Hanse in England were resumed by a decree of the English Privy Council on 24 February 1552. The Council’s decision was triggered by complaints from the London Merchant Adventurers, who claimed that the privileges were detrimental to both the Crown and the English merchants. Moreover, they submitted, recent cases had shown that the Hansards were prone to misuse their privileges, which caused an even greater prejudice to the Treasury and the English merchant community. The merchants’ complaints also gave them an opportunity to rake up old grievances which for generations had marred Anglo-Hanseatic relations, such as the limited access for English merchants in Prussia, in spite of formal agreements of reciprocity allowing Hansards to trade in England, and Englishmen in Prussia.
During the Fall of 1552 and the Spring of 1553, Hanseatic diets deliberated on counter-measures, but also decided to accept the English authorities’ invitation to send an embassy to London in order to negotiate the Hanse’s position in England. The Hanseatic position, however, was that there were no reasons justifying the resumption of their privileges. Their embassy’s mission was therefore to obtain the restoration of these privileges in full.
In June 1553, the embassy’s members were gathering in Bruges and Antwerp, both in order to obtain more detailed information about the Hanseatic trade between England and the Low Countries, and because of the reports of the English King’s ill-health4. They were still in the Southern Netherlands when the news of Edward VI’s death (on 6 July) reached them, followed by reports on the uncertain political situation and succession during the following days. Eventually, when Mary Tudor’s accession was confirmed, they crossed the Channel later in July and settled in London, where they could benefit from the facilities of the Steelyard, the main Hanseatic office in England.
While still in Flanders and Brabant, three members of the Hanseatic embassy, all three doctors of law, made around the 12th of July the journey to Leuven in order to meet and consult “Dr. Gabriel” (i.e. van der Muyden, Mudaeus), about legal issues in connection with their mission in England. The full scope of this consultation is not documented, but two unpublished consilia attributed to van der Muyden (1500-1560) and his junior colleague Elbert de Leeuw (Leoninus, c. 1519-20-1598) deal specifically with the issue of the restrictions imposed by the Gdańsk authorities to foreign, including English, merchants trading in the Polish city. The issue reflected a long-standing controversy in Anglo-Hanseatic relations, which had been raised at several earlier conferences, without ever reaching any substantial agreement. The two consilia (published hereafter) were most probably written during the summer of 1553 as a result of the Hanseatic visit to van der Muyden, whether immediately or within weeks after the meeting with the Leuven professor. Both consilia were obviously written on behalf of the Hanseatic delegates and countenance the position held by the Hanse and Gdańsk in particular.
Read more here. Open access version here.
The Central and Eastern European Legal History Conference was first organised in 2019 by the Faculty of Law of the University of Vienna and it was meant to foster an exchange of ideas, particularly concerning the shared legal history of the region, as well as to provide a synthesis of historical legal research conducted in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. The second edition took place at the Pázmány Péter Catholic University in Budapest. This year, the 3rd edition will be held in Kraków, at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the Jagiellonian University, thanks to the joint effort of the "historical" departments:
We want to invite all interested to take part in our conference. Registration is open to all researchers who deal with Central and Eastern European legal history. We ask you to submit only contributions that are thematically related to the legal history of Central and Eastern Europe.
The conference's language is English. In addition to the sections, the period will also be reserved for the 3MT (Three Minute Thesis) competition. Young researchers, especially doctoral students, are invited to participate in the 3MT competition.
We sincerely invite you to submit your proposals (abstract up to 300 words) and participate in the event.
Please register up till 31.01.2025.
The Organising Committee reserves the right to verify participation by reading the abstracts submitted in terms of their consistency with the conference theme.
A confirmation e-mail will be sent by 28.02.2025.
Important dates:
The conference fee of:
should be paid to the bank account: /number shall be provided shortly/with the annotation: CEELHC by 01.05.2025
The conference fee includes refreshments during the sessions (coffee breaks, lunches), official dinners, conference materials and participation in a tour of the Jagiellonian University Museum.
Conference website: https://ceelhc.confer.uj.edu.pl/
Link to the registration form: https://ceelhc.confer.uj.edu.pl/registration
Abstract:
Contrairement aux idées reçues, droit et anarchie ne s’opposent pas forcément. Nombreuses sont en effet les institutions, comme les jurys populaires, et les doctrines, comme la doctrine de l’abus de droit, qui peuvent inspirer les anarchistes.
Read more here: DOI 10.48611/isbn.978-2-406-17236-9.
Contemporary research on the genealogy of human rights and the foundations of international law has brought renewed interest to the study of natural law in the early-modern period. German-born Samuel Pufendorf (1632-1694) is one of the eminent thinkers of this tradition, shaping the period's natural jurisprudence. This unique collection of essays edited by historian of political thought Peter Schröder fills in a gap in Pufendorf scholarship, exploring the significance of his contributions to political and legal thought on a broad scale. While many books studying Pufendorf's work are confined to one specific academic area, Pufendorf's International Political and Legal Thought is truly interdisciplinary, and the first book to substantially address the international aspect of Pufendorf's work. Ambitious and accessible, this collection is indispensable for scholars and students of intellectual history, political thought, international legal history, the Enlightenment, and political economy. With its focus on international law, Pufendorf's International Political and Legal Thought is a critical addition to the existing body of work on this renowned philosopher and jurist.
Table of contents:
Contexts and Concepts of Pufendorf's Political and Legal International Thought - An Introduction, Peter Schröder
I
1:Pufendorf on Confessional Strife and Interstate Relations, Nathaniel Boyd
2:De Systematibus Civitatum: Pufendorf on Confederations and Composite Kingdoms, Ben Holland
3:Rhetorical Strategy and Legal Force in Pufendorf's State of Nature, Mark Somos, Ioannis Evrigenis
4:Pufendorf's Contract Theory of the State and the Distinction Between Citizens and Foreigners, Laetitia Ramelet
5:Pufendorf on European Conquest and Non-European Peoples, Theo Christov
6:"Infinite Right": Proportionality and Liability in Early Modern Ethics of War and Self-Defence, Johan Olsthoorn
II
7:Pufendorf's Idea of Natural Equality, Thomas Behme
8:Sovereignty and Interstate Relations, Peter Schröder
9:Sex and Gender in Pufendorf's International Political Thought: Protecting the Body Politic with Body Politics and with a (Gendered) Politics of Self-Esteem, Eva Odzuck
10:Pufendorf on Slavery, Kari Saastamoinen
11:Pufendorf's Revaluation of Hobbes's Friend-Enemy Distinction and Law of War, Heikki Haara
12:The Reception of Pufendorf's "International Thought" in Eighteenth-Century Germany, Ere Nokkala13:Pufendorf's Enduring Legacy for International Law, Camilla Boisen
On the editor:
Peter Schröder is Professor of the History of Political Thought at University College London. He was awarded an M.A. (1995) and PhD (1999) from Philipps University Marburg, Germany before he joined UCL in 2001. He was visiting professor at universities in Seoul, Rome, and Paris and held numerous senior research fellowships, among others at the Max Weber Centre for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies at University of Erfurt, the Institute for Advanced Studies at Central European University Budapest and the Centre for Advanced Studies of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts. He has published widely on the history of political thought.
Read more here.
Abstract:
The contributions of socialist thinkers and states to the development of international law often go unrecognized. Socialism and International Law: The Cold War and Its Legacies explores how socialist individuals and governments from Eastern Europe, Africa, and Asia made vital contributions to international law as it is practiced today, and also brought ideas and initiatives that constituted important disruptive moments in its history. The socialist world of the 20th century was an ambiguous and fragile construct: there were clear divisions between the Soviet-led Eastern Bloc, which kept one foot in Western Eurocentric traditions, and the positions of the radical Third World, primarily post-colonial Afro-Asian states, which mounted a more fundamental challenge to the international order. Far from a monolith, the socialist world was an intricate and dynamic space, which still had many shared common understandings of global affairs and the meaning of the law within them. By examining how different state socialist ideologies, legal principles, and realpolitik affected contemporary international law frameworks, this book contests existing linear and Western-dominated histories. It considers these state socialist engagements in conversation with liberal and Western approaches and underlines the divisions that existed between versions of socialism from different regions and across the North-South divide. The legacies of socialist international law are still with us today, as are the consequences of its failure. With a focus on the Cold War and its aftermath, Socialist International Law features astute commentary on the history and present-day effects of socialist principles applied to international law, provided by an esteemed and diverse group of contributors from around the world.
Table of contents:
1:Socialism and International Law: Legacies of Innovation, Contradiction, and Failure, Raluca Grosescu and Ned Richardson-Little
2:A Socialist Legal Universalism? Cold War Struggles Over International Law, Sebastian Gehrig
3:Socialism and Self-Determination: Lenin, International Law, and National Liberation, Brad Simpson
4:Soviet Lawyers and Concepts of Aggression in International Law, Michelle Penn
5:Decentring Marxism: The Poznań School and Socialist International Law in Eastern Europe after 1945, Jakub Szumski
6:How China Came to Embrace International Institutions, Ryan Martínez Mitchell
7:Health as a Human Right and Eastern European Anticolonialism, Bogdan C. Iacob
8:Protecting Culture Through International Law in the Postwar World, Nelly Bekus
9:Socialist Internationalism and Decolonizing Moralities in the UN Anti-Trafficking Regime, 1947-54, Sonja Dolinsek and Philippa Hetherington
10:State Socialist Contributions to the Criminalization of Apartheid, Raluca Grosescu
11:Terrorists, Revolutionaries, and Migrants: Cold War Conflicts and Convergences over International Air Hijacking Law, Ned Richardson-Little
12:Socialisms and International Law: Epilogue, Paul Betts
Read more here.
(image source: Leuven University Press)
Abstract:
At the end of the 17th century, Spanish America was not yet in the throes of the crisis that would lead to the decadence of its Empire. This book unravels the causes and consequences of the political changes carried out by Carlos II in one of the most powerful kingdoms of his patrimony: Peru. This book shows, from a hitherto unexamined perspective, how Hispanic America was a forerunner in the reforms of the viceregal courts, which in turn reshaped the paradigm of government and interaction of the distant kingdoms. From then on, the Hispanic Monarchy shifted its interests towards America, in a reorganisation of its territories that led it not only to fight for its resilience, but also to strengthen its leading role in the international politics it had inherited from the Bourbon dynasty.
Juan Jiménez Castillo is a postdoctoral researcher FWO at KU Leuven and a member of the Instituto Universitario “La Corte en Europa”. He holds a PhD in History from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, specialising in the study of the American viceregal courts during the reign of Carlos II.
Consult the book in open access here.
What are the legal principles of British utilitarianism in the long nineteenth century; and what conception(s) of international law do they offer? The celebrated founder of the utilitarian school is Jeremy Bentham, who categorically rejects all metaphysical natural law thinking by insisting that all positive law ought to be adopted by a legislature. But in the absence of a world legislature, what did this mean for the positivity and normativity of international law? Surprisingly, Bentham and a second generation of utilitarian thinkers can affirm the legally binding nature of international law; yet with John Austin, a radical ‘sovereigntist’ critique subsequently casts doubt over the nature of international law as law ‘properly so called’. This infamous scepticism would have a profound impact on British international thought in the twentieth century; yet in the nineteenth century, the ideas of a third-generation utilitarian became more prominent: the liberal philosophy of John Stuart Mill. Mill’s ‘relativist’ and ‘civilisational’ conception of international law thereby gave the utilitarian project a specifically imperialist dimension that will be analysed, both in its utilitarian-philosophical and practical-legal dimensions. The article however also explores two other legacies of British utilitarianism, namely: the rise of international codification and the emergence of a specifically British conception of private international law during the nineteenth century.
Unequal Treaty in Practice: A Story about Article 23 of the Treaty of Tientsin (Shiu Chung Chan)
DOI 10.1163/15718050-12340231
Abstract:
Despite the wealth of research on cross-border activities between China proper and Hong Kong, little has been discussed about the ‘civil fugitives’ who fled from one side to the other during Hong Kong’s early colonial period. Chinese debtors who absconded to China created jurisdictional problems for Hong Kong. The addition of Article 23 in the Treaty of Tientsin was an attempt to solve this issue, and this article explores what the discussions on Article 23, particularly those from 1905 to 1907 among British colonial officials and diplomatic agents, reveal about the characteristics of colonial jurisdiction under international law. In this case, colonial jurisdiction was limited solely to the territory of Hong Kong. Proposals to amend Article 23 attempted to remove the territorial barrier and establish personal jurisdiction for the colonial government in Hong Kong, similar to extraterritorial rights in Qing China.
Gender, Human Rights Networks, and the State of Emergency During the Arab Revolt (1936–1939) (Paola Zichi)
DOI 10.1163/15718050-bja10105
Abstract:
Contrary to the current literature on the British state of emergency during the 1936–1939 Arab revolt, that sees women as victims of counterinsurgency policies or the differential objects within national-military cultures, this article argues that Palestinian women played an active role in fostering the rise of early human rights networks, and highlights how the politics of race and gender-based violence marked an embedded dimension of the imperial and colonial political authority and practice. By focusing on the emotional and divisive question of Palestine during the Arab Revolt, and using gender as a polyhedric tool of analysis, the article aims to show the centrality of gender and women’s activism in forging and grasping technologies of colonial emergency governance as tools of resistance to colonial violence. It enriches current histories of international law and adopts a critical feminist intersectional approach.
Book reviews
State Responsibility and Rebels: The History and Legacy of Protecting Investment against Revolution, written by Kathryn Greenman (Filip Batselé)
Read more here.
The European Society for Comparative Legal History (ESCLH) President and Executive Council are pleased to present the ESCLH Van Caenegem Prize competition. The prize will be awarded to a young legal historian deemed to have written the best article published in Comparative Legal History, the ESCLH journal, in 2022, 2023 and 2024 or on comparative legal history in another journal in the same two calendar years. Articles published or accepted for publication in 2022, 2023 or 2024 are eligible to compete. In the case of acceptance, a letter from the journal is required.
Abstract:
The Cambridge Handbook of Comparative Law, edited by Matthias Siems and Po Jen Yap, continues recent calls to expand the field of comparative law. By including authors drawn from all parts of the world, it presents ‘new perspectives’ on the field. This wide geographic remit proves successful as a way of moving beyond traditional ‘families’ and doctrinal topics. The contributors raise new themes for comparison, many related to public law and processes of change. But this, in turn, raises questions about the purposes of expanding the field. The volume largely concerns the laws and legal issues of modern states, and the authors do not venture far into history. Nor do they consider the alternatives offered by religious and traditional legal systems or forms of non-state ordering. I suggest that these subjects could productively expand the field even further, raising more theoretical questions about what law is and does.
Read more here.
Abstract:
Centré sur la question de l'exemplarité du procès, cet ouvrage invite à réfléchir sur le dialogue qui se noue, du Moyen Âge à la période baroque, entre juristes et écrivains. Il s’interroge aussi sur ce qui permet à la littérature de déplacer et de dépasser les questions posées par le droit positif.
More information here: DOI 10.15122/isbn.978-2-37312-171-1.
(image source: Wikimedia Commons)
Central European University (CEU) in Vienna offers an array of graduate
programs dedicated to the multidisciplinary study of the past. Our research and
teaching are recognized for their innovative approach to graduate
education. As an international faculty and student body we strive to think
about the past across geographical regions, academic disciplines, and
historical periods, from late antiquity to the present. In order to foster a
spirit of critical inquiry, students also receive solid training in historical
methods and theory. Students can take a one-year or a two-year MA that focuses
on individual research projects or pursue a master’s degree that provides
public-facing historical education across different professional fields,
including public history and museum studies.
CEU is an English-language, student-focused research university located in
Vienna and accredited in both Austria and the United States. CEU attracts
talented students and scholars from around the world. Our student/faculty ratio
(7:1) allows for small research-driven and discussion-based seminars and close
guidance from faculty members.
Scholarships and
Application Deadline
Students can apply for CEU merit-based financial aid regardless of nationality. We also offer a fully-funded merit scholarship in our one-year MA in Historical Studies: the Gerd Bucerius History Scholarship, and the Bak Award for students working on medieval Central Europe. Doctoral students receive tuition and a living stipend for four years, with opportunities to apply for additional research funds. The deadline to apply for admission and financial aid for the 2025-26 academic year is February 4, 2025 (23:59 CET). For further information on how to apply, please consult the program pages below.
(source: HNet)
Abstract:
In its last years, the German Federation (Deutscher Bund) laid the foundations for national legal unity. There were ambitious plans to establish a »uniform law« by codifying commercial law, the law of obligations, the law of civil procedure, bankruptcy law, copyright law and patent law, safeguarded by the promise of mutual legal assistance.
Table of contents:
Martin Löhnig: Einführung - Jürgen Müller: Deutscher Bund und nationale Rechtsvereinheitlichung - Stephan Wagner: Allgemeines Deutsches Handelsgesetzbuch von 1861 - Nürnberger Entwurf - Stefan Vogenauer/Christoph Schmetterer: Entwurf eines allgemeinen deutschen Gesetzes über Schuldverhältnisse von 1866 - Dresdner Entwurf - Christian Hattenhauer: Privatrechtsvereinheitlichung »von unten« - Die Gesetzgebung des Bürgerlichen Gesetzbuchs für das Königreich Sachsen von 1863/65 - Martin Löhnig: Entwurf einer allgemeinen Civilprozeßordnung für die deutschen Bundesstaaten von 1866 - Hannoverscher Entwurf - Christoph Becker: Bestrebungen zur Vereinheitlichung des Konkursrechts im Deutschen Bund - Rainer Nomine: Entwurf eines Gesetzes zum Schutze der Urheberrechte an literarischen Erzeugnissen und Werken der Kunst von 1864 - Frankfurter Entwurf - Louis Pahlow: Wettbewerb um Innovationen statt Harmonisierung des Rechts - Zum Patentrecht im Deutschen Bund - Ignacio Czeguhn: Entwurf eines Gesetzes über die gegenseitige Rechtshilfe von 1861 - Nikolaus Linder: Die Rolle des Deutschen Juristentags bei der Herstellung nationaler Rechtseinheit auf dem Gebiet des Privatrechts
On the editors:
Martin Löhnig ist Inhaber des Lehrstuhls für Bürgerliches Recht, Deutsche und Europäische Rechtsgeschichte sowie Kirchenrecht an der Universität Regensburg. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4616-1905 - Stephan Wagner ist Inhaber des Lehrstuhls für Bürgerliches Recht, Europäische, Deutsche und Sächsische Rechtsgeschichte an der Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2476-9557
Read more here (DOI 10.1628/978-3-16-164099-5).
For more than a century, the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 has remained an object of historical scrutiny. As an attempt to consolidate peace in the wake of World War I and to prevent future conflict, it was instrumental in shaping political and social dynamics both nationally and internationally. Yet, in spite of its implications for global conflict, little consideration has been given to the way the Paris Peace Conference constructed a new global order. In this illuminating and geographically wide-ranging reassessment, The Paris Peace Conference of 1919 reconsiders how this watershed event, its diplomatic negotiations and the peace treaties themselves gave rise to new dynamics of global power and politics. In doing so it highlights the way in which the forces of nationality and imperiality interacted with, and were reshaped by, the peace.
Laurence Badel is Professor of Contemporary History and International Relations at Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University. A specialist of European diplomatic practices, her research focus is two-pronged: the history of women in diplomacy and international relations and the history of diplomatic capitals. Her most recent publications are Écrire l'histoire des relations internationales. Genèses, concepts, perspectives XVIIIe-XXIesiècle (Armand Colin, 2024) and Diplomaties européennes: XIXe-XXIe siècle (Presses de Sciences Po, 2021), which won the Institut de France’s 2022 Prix Edouard Bonnefous. Eckart Conze is Professor of Modern and Contemporary History and Co-Director of the International Research and Documentation Centre for War Crimes Trials (ICWC) at the University of Marburg (Germany). He has held visiting professorships at the Universities of Toronto, Cambridge, Bologna, Utrecht and Jerusalem. Among his book publications is Die große Illusion. Versailles 1919 und die Neuordnung der Welt (Siedler, 2018). Axel Dröber is lecturer at Sorbonne Université. He studies nineteenth and twentieth-century Western European history, with a focus on the history of public security and the state monopoly on violence in post-revolutionary Europe. He published a book-length study on the National Guard during the Restoration and the July Monarchy in France (Nation, Militär und Gesellschaft, HeiUP,2022) and is currently working on the topic of migration and citizenship after the First World War.
Read more here.
Journal on European History of Law 2/2024
ARTICLES
Tony Murphy: Social Ordering
and Welfare Conditionality, or Benevolence and Opportunity? Experiences of Poor
Relief in England in the Nineteenth Century
Konrad Graczyk: Die dritte
Verordnung über Aufenthaltsbeschränkungen im Generalgouvernement vom 15.
Oktober 1941. Entscheidungen der Staatsanwaltschaft und der Sondergerichte zum
unbefugten Verlassen eines jüdischen Wohnbezirks
Charalampos Stamelos: The
Greek Orthodox Patriarchate and the Religious Minorities in Jerusalem in
Different Historic Periods since AD 33
Nere Jone Intxaustegi Jauregi:
Public Notaries in Early Modern Basque Country
Andrés Botero-Bernal:
Historical Notes on the Constitution and Judges in Colombia in the 19th Century
Robert von Lucius:
Staatskirchen und Volkskirchen. Umbrüche im Verhältnis von Staat und Kirche in
Nordeuropa
Martin Löhnig: Die
Masseverwaltung nach der bayerischen Prozeßordnung in bürgerlichen
Rechtsstreitigkeiten vom 29. April 1869 mit Blick auf die preußische
Konkursordnung von 1855 und die Reichskonkursordnung von 1877
Tomasz Dolata: A Few Comments
on Problems Related to the Codification of Civil Law in Post-War Poland (1945 –
1964)
Mateusz Ułanowicz: The
Guardianship of the Minor Karol Brzostowski and his Emancipation
Tereza Kolumber: Immediate
Legal Changes in Czechoslovak Education after WWII
Tibor Ruff: Biblical
Foundations of Jewish Jurisprudence in the Time of Jesus
Kinga Beliznai: Houndsmen and
Falconers. Hunters in the Hungarian Royal Court
Csaba Cservák: The
Constitutional History of the Democratic Transition
Mariann Minkó-Miskovics: Armed
Crimes in the 19th-Century Criminal Codifications of Hungary
Norbert Varga: Administrative
Reforms in the Hungarian Municipalities after the Austro-Hungarian Compromise:
The Introduction of the Office of Lord Lieutenant and the Applicable Rules in
Hungary
Eszter Cs. Herger: Breakpoints
in the Development of Modern Hungarian Matrimonial Property Law in European
Context
Orsolya Falus: “Palinka” in
Hungarian Legal History – From the First Detailed Law to the Prohibition (1836
– 1919)
Roman Savuliak: Marriage Law
according to the Josephine Code of 1787 and the Reception of Roman Law in its
Provisions
Thomas Gergen: Gleichheit und
Privateigentum als Stichworte im chinesisch-europäischen Dialog anhand des
„Transcultural Dictionary of Misunderstandings“
Annex: XVIII. Jahrestreffen der Jungen
Romanisten
Michael Binder: Defective
Cover and Underlying Debt Relationship in the Context of delegatio obligandi: A
Comparison of D. 44.4.7.1 and § 1402 ABGB (Austrian Civil Code)
Stefan Schmatzberger: Nomen
(non) est omen? Zur arbiträren Natur der sog. actio arbitraria
Norbert Pozsonyi: Prozessuale
Situationen in der ”Schwätzersatire” von Horaz
BOOK REVIEWS
Mathias Schmoeckel:
Kanonisches Recht: Geschichte und Inhalt des Corpus iuris canonici. Ein
Studienbuch
Robert von Lucius: Hellmuth
Freiherr Lucius von Stoedten. Diplomat zwischen Kaiserreich und Weimar
Frank Jacob: The Jesuits and
Religious Intercultural Management in Early Modern Times Human Capital, a
Global Mindset, and Missionary Work in Japan and Peru during the Sixteenth and
Seventeenth Centuries
Mark A. Sammut Sassi: Essays
in Maltese Legal History, Vol. 2
REPORTS FROM HISTORY OF LAW
Petra Zapletalová: Report from
the Conference “2nd International Legal History Meeting of PhD Students”
Boris Šabík: Ius commune
MootCourt
More information here.
Abstract:
It must be rare that discoveries which transform mathematics also undermine legal rules. Yet this is precisely what happened when probability was first developed in the second half of the 17th century and the first decades of the following one. The focus of this article is a doctoral thesis in law written in 1709 by Nicolaus Bernoulli, an important mathematician of the age. He highlighted the dramatic implications of the new mathematics of probability for a rule which was fundamental to contemporary contract law in continental Europe. This article reconstructs a remarkable story about the place of mathematics in the history of contractual justice and the place of contractual justice in the history of mathematics.
Read more here.
Abstract:
The boundaries between the history of law and the history of everything else are quite blurry nowadays. Whether one is asking questions about the origins of the carceral state, the relationship between slavery and capitalism, the history of migration flows and empires, the longer story of human rights, the building of the straight state, the role of religion in public life, or many other topics, there is a shared belief that law and its history matters. In fact, legal historians have begun to focus on the blurring of boundaries such as those between markets and politics, between identity and state power, as well as between national borders and the flows of people, capital, and ideas around the world. Legal history, broadly conceived, seems to mark much of the most exciting work that is redrawing the boundaries of historical scholarship in many areas of study. In Between and Across: Legal History without Boundaries gathers some of the newest and freshest work by both younger and established scholars who are carrying forward that project and extending it into new areas of historical inquiry. It captures the best of the new and innovative tools and questions that have made law a central plane of inquiry, charts novel directions for the field, and poses broader questions concerning the past, present, and future. Crossing a wide variety of geographic areas (from British-ruled Australia, to colonial India, to the United States), the authors sketch new boundaries for the field to cross—boundaries of time, geography, and method—and claim that legal history provides the language to talk across national borders.
Abstract:
Over the last two centuries, Europe has developed various forms of political representation from which democratic parliamentary systems gradually emerged. This book unravels the conditions, scale and impact under which political participation of common burghers and peasants emerged. Political participation in Europe before the Revolutions moved away from the traditional focus on ‘Three Estates’ which has often blurred the interpretation of popular participation’s role in societies. This book instead examines Europe’s key political variants such as high levels of commercialization and urbanization, combined with a balance of powers between competing categories of actors in society controlling relatively independent resources which lead to political participation forming across the continent. Instead of starting from any ideal type of political participation, this book focuses on the variation through time and space, its composition and activity, helps to explain the functions particular institutional settings fulfilled. The time frame 1100–1800 sheds light on the long-term evolutions such as institutional inertia and processes of oligarchizing. To reveal a correlation of economic and demographical growth with the claim of rising social classes to voice their interests. It also points to the opposite tendency: the formation of fiscalmilitary monarchical states. This book is essential reading for those interested in the formation of Europe’s political structures and students of premodern political history.
More information here: DOI 10.4324/9781003202066.
En Finlande, les Lumières ont été accueillies comme une mode culturelle et l’université du pays s’est adaptée à sa manière à l’esprit utilitaire et mercantile de l’époque. Cet ouvrage retrace les destinées de dix-sept personnalités importantes de la vie intellectuelle de Finlande au xviiie siècle.
Read more here: DOI 10.48611/isbn.978-2-406-17127-0.
The Centre de Théorie et d'Analyse du Droit (Paris-Nanterre/CNRS) has a vacancy for a fulltime PhD student on the history of environmental law.
Succinct data:
Les candidatures doivent être envoyées à anne-charlotte.martineau@cnrs.fr avant le 15 janvier 2025. Le dossier doit inclure un curriculum vitae (avec deux contacts de référents), une copie des diplômes et une lettre de motivation. Thèmes de recherche : droit international ; histoire ; Brésil ; climat ; institution internationale Recherche intitulée : « Mégaconférences et gouvernance climatique : une histoire socio-juridique du Sommet de la Terre de 1992 » Direction : Anne-Charlotte Martineau, chargée de recherche HDR au CNRS Laboratoire de recherche : rattachement au CTAD UMR 7074 (Centre de théorie et analyse du droit) en France ; un statut de chercheur participant à l’IRL Mondes en transition est possible à l’université de São Paulo. Durée : 3 ans Début : 1er février 2025
More information here.
First paragraph:
Nowadays, the legacy of the Hague Academy is mostly defined through the Recueil des Cours, whose more than 400 volumes provide a key source for both intellectual historians of international law and those engaging with its present-day theory. Yet, at the very outset of the Academy in 1923, the Recueil emerged as merely an offspring of its teaching activities. In the first years of its existence, the Academy first and foremost focused on the over 300 attendees gathered at the Peace Palace’s premises every year. It was by bringing together upcoming and established international law professionals in lecture halls and during dinners, teas and excursions that it wanted to internationalize the still very nationally orientated field of international law.
Read the full article here: DOI 10.1093/ejil/chae049.
Abstract:
This book provides a history of Prussian state patriotism from the Seven Years’ War (1756–1763) until the Battle of Jena (1806). It argues that Prussian patriotism was not merely a prelude to German nationalism or a personality cult of Frederick the Great; rather, it was an inclusive and non-ethnic movement promoting ideals of citizenship, merit, and empowerment. Appealing to patriotism became a central method of promoting reform in a state governed by an absolute monarchy. Covering a turning point in early modern European intellectual history, this book provides a historical perspective for modern discussions on the relationship between patriotism and nationalism.
On the author:
Jaakko Sivonen, Ph.D. (2020), University of Helsinki, is a historian whose research focuses on patriotism and national identity in early modern Europe
Table of contents:
Introduction
Part 1
Seven Years’ War (1756–1763)
Introduction to Part 1: General Themes, 1756–1763
1 Justifying the War
2 Heroism
3 Protestant Patriotism
4 Frederick’s Kingship
5 Subjects and Citizens
Part 2
Between the Storms (1763–1786)
Introduction to Part 2: General Themes, 1763–1786
6 Looking Back at the War
7 War of the Bavarian Succession and the League of Princes
8 Preaching Patriotism to the People
9 Monarchy and the State
10 Citizen and Merit
11 Cosmopolitanism and Luxury
12 Patriotic Education
13 Patriotic Toleration
Part 3
From Frederick’s Death to Jena (1786–1806)
Introduction to Part 3: General Themes, 1786–1806
14 Frederick’s Death and His Successors
15 Defining the Prussian Spirit
16 New Debates on Cosmopolitanism
17 Comparisons of Prussianness
18 Prussia’s Uniqueness
19 Early Reactions to the French Revolution
20 Enlightenment and Revolution
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
Read more here: DOI 10.1163/9789004710818.
