PRIZE: Max Planck-ASLH Dissertation Prize for European Legal History in Global Perspective 2025 to Vladislav LILIC and Daniel R. QUIROGA VILLAMARÍN

 

(image source: MPILHLT)

Description:

This year's Max Planck-ASLH Dissertation Prize for European Legal History in Global Perspective recognizes two remarkable works. Vladislav Lilić and Daniel R. Quiroga Villamarín offer research that enriches the study of state formation, international order, and the built environments that shaped global governance.

Vladislav Lilić’s dissertation, ‚Empire of States: Law and International Order in Ottoman Europe, c. 1830–1912,‘ completed at Vanderbilt University, presents a fresh account of Balkan state formation. He traces how Montenegro and Serbia took shape through legal conflicts inside imperial institutions. By following figures ranging from Ottoman officials to pastoralists, he shows how disputes over land, authority, and public order gradually redefined political belonging and enabled provincial states to form within the empire before entering the international arena. The work rests on multilingual research, a precise structure, and a clear analytical contribution to debates on sovereignty and legal pluralism.

Daniel R. Quiroga Villamarín’s dissertation, “‘Architects of the Better World’: Democracy, Law, and the Construction of International Order (1919–1998),‘ completed at the Graduate Institute in Geneva, examines the emergence of an international parliamentary complex across the twentieth century. He follows the creation of international assemblies from interwar Geneva to the end of the Cold War and analyzes how architectural designs circulated across regions. By linking these physical spaces to global political aspirations, he offers a spatial history of international law grounded in extensive archival research in Europe, Africa, and the Americas. The study introduces a distinctive conceptual frame conveyed through clear and persuasive prose. The Max Planck-ASLH Dissertation Prize honors outstanding dissertations in European legal history with a global orientation, submitted for PhD or JSD degrees awarded in the previous calendar year. It supports work on European legal interactions beyond Europe, transregional legal processes, and theoretical developments connected to imperial or global currents.

Jury:

Lauren Benton (chair) Yale University Thomas Duve Max Planck Institute for Legal History Fahad Bishara University of Virginia Matthew Mirow Florida International University

Source: MPILHLT.