CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: “Great Little Ideas” – Corpus Christi Graduate Legal Research Course (Oxford, September 2026)

(image source: Corpus Christi College)

Applications are now open for the Great Little Ideas: Corpus Christi Graduate Legal Research Course, which will take place at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, from 1 to 27 September 2026.

The research-led course is designed for graduate law students working on a PhD or equivalent legal research project and aims to support participants in developing a “Great Little Idea” — whether a chapter of a thesis, a broader doctoral theme, or another focused legal research question worth pursuing.

The course is a non-degree academic opportunity resulting in a certificate of completion and seeks to foster independent legal research through seminars, discussion, and engagement with Oxford’s intellectual environment.

Participants will benefit from:

• seminars on research methods and the craft of legal scholarship delivered by College Law Fellows;

• extensive access to Oxford library resources;

• access to Corpus Christi College facilities; and

• opportunities to engage with the broader academic atmosphere of Oxford.

The course further aims to strengthen participants’ abilities in:

• analysing and refining abstract legal questions;
• constructing and critically assessing complex arguments;
• advancing significant research and writing projects; and
• developing academic communication and presentation skills.

The participation fee is £375, while accommodation at a College property is available separately for £50.25 per night (inclusive of VAT).

Applications are open to graduate research students working on a PhD or equivalent legal topic. The organisers particularly encourage applications from candidates from underrepresented or disadvantaged backgrounds.

Applicants should submit:

• a short CV (maximum 4 pages), and
• a statement of up to 500 words describing their “Great Little Idea” and explaining why the Oxford course would be an appropriate setting for its development.

The deadline for applications is Monday, 8 June 2026. Applications and informal inquiries should be directed to Professor Matt Dyson (matthew.dyson@law.ox.ac.uk).

More information is available via the official announcement by Corpus Christi College, Oxford.

CALL FOR PAPERS AND POSTERS: 9th Biennial Conference of the European Society for Comparative Legal History: Transition and Transfers (Lund: Lund University, 21-23 JUN 2027) [DEADLINE 31 OCT 2026]

 

The organisers and the Executive Council of the European Society for Comparative Legal History are pleased to call for papers and posters for the upcoming European Society for Comparative Legal History 9th Biennial Conference to be held from 21 to 23 June 2027 at Lund University, Sweden.

The conference series started in Valencia (2010), followed by Amsterdam (2012), Macerata (2014), Gdansk (2016), Paris (2018), Lisbon (2022), Augsburg (2023), andSzeged (2025). The 2027 conference is hosted by the Olin Foundation for Legal History and supported by the Faculty of Law at Lund University.

The theme of the conference is ”Transitions and Transfers.” We are living in a time of unpredictability and changes, and this gives reason to pay attention to periods of transition in history. How and why did changes occur, who were the proponents and opponents? Changes in legal history have often had elements of transfer. Sometimes, legal needs have been met through drawing inspiration from other legal systems. On other occasions, legal rules have been imposed on other systems.

The papers, panels, and posters offered should deal with either transitions or transfers, or both. They should engage in dialogue with aspects of law across time and/or space that are of interest for comparative legal historians.

To offer a paper, please submit an abstract of up to 400 words. The abstract should include the title of your proposed paper and your personal data (full name, email address, work affiliation). Please also send a short CV (no more than 400 words). Anyone at any stage in their research career can offer a paper.

Abstracts will be assessed against: (1) the aim to have a diverse conference; (2) the novelty of the work; and (3) a professionally grounded proposal including a description ofthe methodology and most important sources, and a concise description of the expected research results.

It is also possible to submit a proposal for a complete panel. Panels normally consist of three papers. A panel proposal should – in addition to the abstracts and CVs of those who wish to present a paper in that panel – include an abstract for the entire panel, as well as a CV of the panel organizer.

Further, it is possible to submit a proposal for a poster. To offer a proposal for a poster, please submit an abstract of up to 400 words. The abstract should include the title of your project and your personal data (full name, email address, work affiliation). Please also send a short CV (no more than 400 words). 

Anyone at any stage in their research career can propose a poster. Accepted participants will be asked to submit to the organisers a PDF file in size A0 with the poster design, and the posters will be printed in Lund.

One author may only propose to give one paper or present one poster at the conference in order to allow as many people as possible to present their work.

All submissions – for papers, panels, and posters – should be in English and be sent to ESCLH2027@jur.lu.se, no later than 31 October 2026.

The list of accepted papers, panels, and posters will be announced by December 2026.

A conference website will be launched with further details of the conference in the autumn of 2026. The conference website will also contain information on the attendance fee for those not members of the ESCLH, and transport to and from Lund. The conference website will allow registration for the conference, starting early in 2027. Finally, the conference will be preceded by a PhD-workshop on 21 June 2027. Further information about the workshop will also be published in the autumn of 2026.

BOOK: John MARRIOTT, Land, Law and Empire. The Origins of British Territorial Power in India (Cambrige: CUP, 2025), ISBN 9781009602099, € 32,68

 

(image source: CUP)

Abstract:

In this innovative exploration of British rule in India, John Marriott tackles one of the most significant and unanswered questions surrounding the East India Company's success. How and when was an English joint stock company with trading interests in the East Indies transformed into a fully-fledged colonial power with control over large swathes of the Indian subcontinent? The answer, Marriott argues, is to be found much earlier than traditionally acknowledged, in the territorial acquisitions of the seventeenth century secured by small coteries of English factors. Bringing together aspects of cultural, legal and economic theory, he demonstrates the role played by land in the assembly of sovereign power, and how English discourses of land and judicial authority confronted the traditions of indigenous peoples and rival colonial authorities. By 1700, the Company had established the sites of Madras, Bombay and Calcutta, providing the practical foothold for further expansion.

Read the book here: DOI 10.1017/9781009602099 

PRIZE: Jean Stengers Prize 2023-2025 to Dave DE RUYSSCHER (Brussels: Académie Royale, 22 MAY 2026)

(image source: Académie royale de Belgique)

Prof. Dr. Dave De ruysscher has been awarded the Jean Stengers Prize of the Académie Royale de Belgique for the triennial period 2023–2025. 

He received this distinction in recognition of his study A Political Economy Imparted: Trade, Law, and Institutions in Antwerp c. 1400–1680, a work that sheds new light on the interplay between legal frameworks and economic development in the early modern Low Countries. 

More information at VUB CORE.   

YOUTUBE: Guillaume QUERNET, "1919 : l’invention des dommages de guerre ?" [Les Lois de l'Histoire, Paul CHAUVIN] (Paris: Université Sorbonne Paris Nord, 20 MAR 2026)

Abstract:

Imaginons que la France entre demain en guerre… Et que votre maison secondaire du Cap Ferret soit détruite par un missile… Que faire ?! Il est peu probable que l’ennemi paye les dégâts ; et presque impossible que votre assurance vous couvre… Que faire alors ?! Vous tournez vers l’État… oui mais rien ne l’y oblige ! Encore faut-il qu’une loi soit votée ! Telle est la solution adoptée depuis la Première Guerre mondiale. Pourquoi les choses ont-elles seulement évolué à ce moment tardif de l’histoire de France ? Que se passait-il auparavant ? Quels dommages furent ensuite indemnisés : seulement les destructions ou d’autres sortes de pertes ? Y avait-il des conditions à remplir pour l’être ? Fallait-il, par exemple, prouver une faute militaire ? Voilà quelques-unes des questions posées à l’historien du droit Guillaume Quernet que j’ai eu le plaisir de recevoir le lundi 9 mars 2026 dans les studios des Lois de l’Histoire.

 Watch the episode above or on Youtube.

CONFERENCE: L’antiesclavagisme : un idéal cosmopolite ? (1730-1830) (Paris: Collège de France, 18-19 JUN 2026)

 

(image source: Georges Morland, Slave Trade (Execrable Human Traffick, or The Affectionate Slaves) c. 1788. Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Domaine public/Initiative Europe/Sorbonne)

Abstract:

liée à la mondialisation des échanges commerciaux et à l’expansion des empires coloniaux, la diffusion de l’esclavage colonial a contribué à remettre en question la pertinence du cadre national dans les débats politiques. Qu’il s’agisse de la révolution haïtienne ou de l’appel au boycott des produits coloniaux, la plupart des événements et des décisions politiques étaient pensés en fonction de leurs répercussions à l’échelle mondiale. Longtemps centrée sur le cas britannique, l’historiographie s’est progressivement ouverte à la dimension transnationale de la lutte contre l’esclavage colonial. Aujourd’hui, l’antiesclavagisme apparaît comme un mouvement d’ampleur mondiale, qui s’est diffusé non seulement en Europe et aux États-Unis, mais aussi dans les Caraïbes, en Amérique latine et en Afrique. La conscience et la dimension mondiale du combat contre l’esclavage sont-elles liées à la défense d’un idéal cosmopolite ? La question se pose d’autant plus que l’esclavage colonial et la traite, qui atteignent un point culminant à la fin du XVIIIe siècle, incarnent plus que tout autre phénomène les contradictions de l’expansion de l’horizon du monde. En effet, la domination et l’exploitation d’une partie de l’humanité par une autre semblent rendre impossible l’émergence d’une communauté mondiale, morale et politique, enracinée dans l’idée d’une commune humanité, qui est au coeur de l’idéal cosmopolite. Le colloque international, qui se tiendra les jeudi 18 et vendredi 19 juin 2026 (respectivement à la Bibliothèque nationale de France, site Richelieu, et au Collège de France), poursuit trois objectifs principaux. Il s’agira, premièrement, d’évaluer la place et les enjeux de la mobilisation de l’idéal cosmopolite dans les débats sur l’esclavage colonial. Deuxièmement, il conviendra d’analyser les contradictions internes de l’antiesclavagisme, entre la revendication de l’égale dignité de tous les êtres humains et une approche différenciée des processus d’émancipation, fondée sur une vision hiérarchisée du monde. Enfin, nous montrerons comment l’étude de la diversité des mouvements antiesclavagistes à travers le monde permet de défendre une approche plurielle du cosmopolitisme, qui rompt avec son identification exclusive à la tradition philosophique occidentale.

Speakers:

ACKERMANN-KOENIGS Mathilde, Bielefeld University | EHESS | IHA Paris BESSONE Magali, Université Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne CABOT Andy, Université Polytechnique Hauts de France – Valenciennes DARRIULAT Gabriel, Collège de France | Bibliothèque nationale de France FERRADOU Matthieu, Université Paris Nanterre HOQUET Thierry, Université Paris Nanterre PITTS Jennifer, Université de Chicago RENARD Nils, Université Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne ROSSI Benedetta, University College de Londres SPIELER Miranda, The American University of Paris TUCCILLO Alessandro, Université de Turin VIDAL Cécile, EHESS 

See here for further details. 

SEMINAR: “Le rite réalise le droit“? – Rituals and the Law in the Ancient World (Marburg: Universität Marburg, 12–13 JUN 2026)

(image source: Universität Marburg)

“Le rite réalise le droit“? – Rituals and the Law in the Ancient World

Marburg University&Marburg Center for the Ancient World (MCAW)

In person participation: Marburg University, Room 00A26, Deutschhausstraße 12, 35032 Marburg

12–13 June 2026 (Friday–Saturday)

Program:

Friday, 12 June 2026

14:00. Introduction: Nils Heeßel (Marburg) and Constantin Willems (Marburg)

14:30. The Legal Value of Contractual Rites in Mesopotamia: Sophie Démare Lafont (Paris)

16:00. The Performative Nature of Sealing Clay Tablets: Steffen Jauß (Frankfurt)

17:00. In Search of the Lost Ritual. Ritual(s) and the implementation of Assyrian adê: Lionel Marti (Paris)

Saturday, 13 June 2026

09:00. The Role of Ritual in the Roman Legal Process: Grzegorz Blicharz (Cracow)

10:30. Formal Contracts in Roman Law and in the New Belgian Civil Code: Jean-François Gerkens (Liège)

11:30. Final Discussion, Conclusions: Nils Heeßel (Marburg) and Constantin Willems (Marburg)

The full Program is available in PDF format here: ProgramMCAW.

ADVANCE ARTICLE: Roxana BANU, "Constructing Imperial Authority: The Intersection of British Imperial Constitutional Law and Private International Law" (Oxford Journal of Legal Studies) [OPEN ACCESS]

 

(image source: OUP)

Abstract:

Historians and constitutional law scholars are starting to uncover the imperial dimensions of the British constitution. But our accounts of the nature of authority in the British imperial context remain incomplete without an engagement with private international law, which played a significant role in conceptualising imperial authority. This article focuses on the forgotten interplay between imperial constitutional law and private international law. It shows how key doctrinal principles of private international law were referenced either as alternatives to or counterparts of key imperial constitutional law principles. Imperial actors would appeal to one or another image of imperial authority constructed by either imperial constitutional law or private international law to gain more autonomy or to tighten control. Far from being a relic of the past, the significance of this history can be traced in contemporary cases and debates about the nature of authority in the UK and its overseas territories.

Read the article here: DOI 10.1093/ojls/gqag012.