CALL FOR PAPERS: Ius Commune Workshop on Comparative Legal History - Ius Commune in the Making: Failure and the Law (Leuven: KULeuven, 24 NOV 2026) [DEADLINE 15 AUG 2026]

 The 30th Ius Commune Conference will take place in Leuven (24-25 November 2026), and a Workshop will be devoted to “Failure and the Law.”

(image:  Carte particuliere de Brusselles, Louvain et de Vilvorden [Material cartográfico] door Lat, Jan de, fl. 1734-1750 - 1747 - Digital Library Real Academia de la Historia, Spain - Public Domain)

The workshops on “Comparative Legal History – Ius Commune in the Making” aim to reveal and understand the nature and effects of various legal formants in the development of law. Indeed, forces of legal formants are too often lost or hidden beneath a superficies of commonalities. History is a living laboratory. In the past, we explored the role of legal actors (2014), legal sources (2016), force of local laws (2017), methods and dynamics of law (2018), networks (2019), paradigmatic shifts (2020), great debates in the history of law (2021), the concept of innovation in law (2023), manifestations of nature in law (2024), and meaning in law (2025).

This Workshop is dedicated to the place of failure in the life of the law. Not every effort triggers a successful outcome, it should be noted. Efforts in the realm of the law are no exception, and endeavours may fail because of different reasons and at different stages. Failure should be considered a learning experience both for those who attempted to succeed and for those who might attempt in the future. Efforts should not always be considered success stories, yet they should always be considered tools for change and for the advancement of legal science. Thus all legal acting has the inherent capacity to profit from learned experiences, and one should even hold such is the duty of legal scholarship. Failure as a working definition means that a wilful act has not been received effectively, yet the qualification of an act as a failure in itself is profoundly normative as this takes its place in the fabric of legal debate.

The story of failure and success is therefore multi-layered. Failed attempts are omnipresent throughout history and can take different forms. Researchers are invited to explore in this Workshop examples of failed attempts to change or preserve the law as it is, be these, amongst others, legislative, judicial, doctrinal, educational. It may be a failure concerning the fabric of the law itself, as well as in the law’s interaction with the real world. Limitations can relate to several aspects, including the practical such as availability of time, access to (re)sources, flaws in argumentative lines, skills of the human resources involved. For example, Diocletian’s Edictum de Pretiis Rerum Venalium failed in 301 to stop inflation. The medieval feudal system, that failed to maintain personal ties of fealty but turned into a system hereditary rights of succession, eventually creating its own demise. Closer in time, private law codification efforts, such as early-nineteenth century attempts in the Low Countries, provided timely awareness on the merits and weaknesses of those corpora of the law in Europe and beyond. The invention, import or abolition of concepts, rules or methodologies which are considered (not) to fit well may be an illustrative area of research.

Comparative legal historians can benefit from an inventory of what went “wrong” in the selected failure in making or changing the law. This Workshop aims to take stock, inviting for papers that could serve as “logbooks” in that learning process, helping to document failure as it emerged. Awareness of working points can assist in attaining a quick catch-up, something that is recurrent in other sciences, where researchers need to avoid replicating failed exercises that may have taken place in other laboratories. Even when not all experiences may be considered successful, comparative legal history can evolve when failed experiences are assessed and reconsidered.

Senior researchers and PhD candidates are invited to submit an abstract of a paper related to the above-mentioned theme. Abstracts (max. 400 words) should be sent to Agustín Parise (agustin.parise@maastrichtuniversity.nl) no later than 15 August 2026. Shortly after that, the authors will be informed whether their papers are selected for a presentation during the Workshop. All contributions should be in English. Co-authored papers will be also considered. The organizing committee will give preference to early-career researchers when facing submissions of similar quality.

Researchers from within and outside the Ius Commune Research School will be eligible to present abstracts. Please also forward this call to colleagues who might be interested.

Should you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact a member of the organizing committee,

 

Harry Dondorp (j.h.dondorp@vu.nl)

Wouter Druwé (wouter.druwe@kuleuven.be)

Michael Milo (j.m.milo@uu.nl)

Pim Oosterhuis (janwillem.oosterhuis@maastrichtuniversity.nl)

Agustín Parise (agustin.parise@maastrichtuniversity.nl)

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.

REMINDER CALL FOR PAPERS: International Conference: Contested Seas. War, Commerce, and the Making of the Law of the Sea (c. 1400–1800) (Ostend: VUB/VLIZ, 19-20 NOV 2026) [DEADLINE 15 MAY 2026]

(Image source: VUB-CORE blog)

International Conference:

Contested Seas: War, Commerce, and the Making of the Law of the Sea (c. 1400–1800)

19-20 November 2026, Ostend, Belgium

Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Campus Ostend / Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ)

Conveners:

Stefano Cattelan & Frederik Dhondt
(Vrije Universiteit Brussel – Faculty of Law and Criminology, Research Group CORE)

Keynote speakers: 

Surabhi Ranganathan (Lauterpacht Centre, University of Cambridge)
Indravati Félicité (Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg)

Concept and Rationale: The early modern law of the sea did not emerge as a coherent or pacified body of rules. Rather, it took shape as a fragmented and deeply contested legal regime. It was forged through recurrent warfare, commercial rivalry, and persistent struggles over jurisdiction and enforcement at sea. The pelagic arena was characterised by overlapping jurisdictions, uneven enforcement, and profound asymmetries of power (Benton, 2010). The freedom of the seas (‘Mare Liberum’) did not operate as a stable peacetime principle. It was repeatedly restricted, negotiated, and redefined in moments of conflict, particularly through disputes concerning maritime jurisdiction, economic warfare, neutral navigation, and prize-taking.

Hence, several methodological questions arise. Can we chart the deeper structures and long-term evolutions of the law of the sea and, at the same time, remain historically grounded and relevant to contemporary debates?

Recent scholarship has challenged the idea that the law of the sea gradually restrained violence at sea. Instead, norms were forged, tested, and transformed through concrete conflicts over sovereignty, jurisdiction, and neutral navigation (e.g. Steinberg, 2001; Benton, 2010; Schnakenbourg, 2015; Calafat, 2019; Cattelan, 2025). This perspective invites a rethinking of the law of the sea not as a dependent variable of early modern conflict, but as one of its crucial products. The present conference builds on this emerging insight and seeks to explore its broader implications across different regions, actors, and legal contexts.

This conference invites contributions that approach the law of the sea as a historically produced normative regime, examined as (1) a body of legal argument, a set of institutional (2) practices, and a (3) field of political struggle. It seeks to foster dialogue across legal history, international law and the histories of ideas, diplomacy, warfare, and empire, bringing together scholars attentive to different sources, actors and objects (doctrine, archives, institutions, legal reasoning, institutional practice, and material interests). The conference situates the law of the sea within broader processes of state formation, imperial competition, and global connectivity, including its interaction with commercial and maritime legal practices (Félicité, 2024).

This conference takes a broad analytical perspective, to seal a series of three encounters organised under the aegis of FWO Junior Fundamental Research Project G016122N. While earlier meetings in this series focused primarily on neutrality as a legal status, diplomatic strategy, and social practice —particularly from the perspective of small and medium powers— the present symposium shifts the analytical focus: recurrent conflicts over neutrality, belligerent rights, maritime jurisdiction, and enforcement mechanisms did not merely test existing norms. These instances were crucial to the historical formation of the law of the sea as a contested legal regime. In this sense, neutrality is approached as a formative force in the making of the law of the sea across judicial, diplomatic, and commercial arenas.

The conference aims to offer a synthetic reinterpretation of the relationship between mare liberum and mare clausum, peace and war, neutrality and coercion, situating the early modern law of the sea within the longer history of international law without assuming linear trajectories or teleological outcomes. It also invites reflection on the enduring legacies of early modern maritime practices for later codification efforts and contemporary debates on ocean governance in an increasingly polycentric world (Mawani, 2023; Ranganathan, 2016, 2020).

Finally, the conference welcomes contributions addressing different maritime regions and circuits, including —but not limited to— the Mediterranean, Atlantic, and Indian Ocean worlds, as well as interactions between different legal orders and actors (Anand, 1983; Khalilieh, 2019; Subrahmanyam, 2024; Po, 2018). We particularly welcome contributions on cross-cultural legal encounters and concrete sites of norm production, such as courts, diplomatic practices, commercial litigation, port regulations, and contractual arrangements.

 

Key Questions

The conference invites contributions addressing one or more of the following questions:

• What kind of legal regime was the early modern law of the sea?
  How can it be understood as a historically contingent and contested normative order rather than a coherent or stabilised body of rules?
• How did warfare shape the law of the sea?
  In what ways did recurring conflicts over maritime jurisdiction, belligerent rights, neutrality, blockade, contraband, and prize-taking contribute to the production and transformation of legal norms at sea?
• How was the law of the sea articulated, applied, and contested in daily practice?
  What roles did courts, diplomatic channels, port authorities, consular institutions, and commercial actors play in the everyday functioning of this legal regime?
• How did neutrality operate as a formative force within the law of the sea?
  How were legal boundaries between peace and war at sea shaped by disputes and agreements involving neutral navigation?
• How did individuals and non-state actors exercise legal agency at sea?
  The mobilisation of multiple normative orders —public, commercial, and customary by merchants, shipmasters, insurers, chartered companies, or private entrepreneurs — to pursue commercial, political, or strategic objectives is central here.
• How did different connected spaces and regions shape a distinct legal practice?
  How did practices take shape across and between different maritime regions and circuits, including interactions between European and extra-European legal orders?
• What are the longer-term implications of early modern practices of the law of the sea?
  How did early modern solutions and conflicts inform later codification efforts and continue to resonate in contemporary debates on ocean governance?

 

Thematic Areas (Indicative)

The following thematic areas, which constitute the thematic translation of the questions highlighted above, articulate different dimensions of the early modern law of the sea as a contested legal regime produced through conflict, commerce, and legal practice. They are intended to be read as analytically connected rather than as parallel or autonomous agendas. They are indicative rather than exhaustive.

 

1. The sea as a legal and spatial order

Maritime jurisdiction; territorial waters; ports, straits, and littoral zones; sovereignty and access; legal pluralism at sea; competing claims to control, passage, and enforcement.

2. War, commerce, and neutrality in the law of the sea

Naval warfare and economic conflict; blockade, contraband, and continuous voyage; prize-taking and adjudication; neutrality as legal status, diplomatic strategy, and practical resource; coercion, enforcement, and asymmetries between belligerents and neutrals.

3. Institutions and practices producing the law of the sea

Courts (including admiralty and prize courts); diplomatic correspondence; consular jurisdictions; port authorities and regulatory regimes; chartered companies; litigation, arbitration, and everyday legal practice. Contributions grounded in specific sources or sites of norm production are particularly welcome.

4. Agency and normative pluralism within the law of the sea

The role of individuals and non-state actors —such as merchants, shipmasters, insurers, private entrepreneurs, and colonial intermediaries— in mobilising a plurality of normative orders, including the law of nations, domestic legislation, commercial and maritime law, urban statutes, customary norms, and private contracts.

5. The law of the sea across regions, empires, and legal encounters

Comparative and transregional perspectives; interactions between European and extra-European legal orders; cross-cultural legal encounters; circulation, translation, and contestation of norms governing maritime space in different oceanic worlds.

6. From early modern practice to modern/contemporary ocean governance

Long-term continuities and ruptures in the law of the sea; armed neutrality and collective enforcement; early modern legacies in later codification efforts and contemporary debates on ocean governance.

 

Disciplinary Scope: The conference welcomes contributions from legal history, the history of international law, maritime and naval history, diplomatic and political history, economic history, and international law scholarship with a historical or theoretical orientation. Interdisciplinary, critical, and transregional approaches are particularly encouraged. Early-career researchers are warmly invited to submit proposals.

Format: The conference is conceived as a focused, discussion-oriented event. Draft papers will be circulated in advance to facilitate in-depth exchange. Presentations will be kept at 20 minutes for each speaker in order to prioritise collective discussion and comparative discussion.

Submission Guidelines: please submit an abstract of no more than 350 words and a short biographical note of up to 150 words to: stefano.cattelan@vub.be.
Submission deadline: 15 May 2026
Notification of acceptance: 1 June 2026
Draft papers (for pre-circulation among participants): 20 October 2026

Publication: Following the conference, selected contributions will be submitted to a special issue in an international peer-reviewed journal (preferably open access).

Practical Information: The organisers aim to secure funding to cover organisational costs and, where possible, to offer limited support for travel and accommodation, particularly for early-career researchers and scholars without access to dedicated research funds. Further practical information will be communicated to accepted participants.

 

Indicative references:

Alimento, Antonella (ed.), War, Trade and Neutrality: Europe and the Mediterranean in the Seventeenth and Eighteen Centuries (Milano, 2011).

Id., and Stapelbroek, Koen (eds.), The Politics of Commercial Treaties in the Eighteenth Century (Cham, 2017).

Anand, Ram P., Origin and Development of the Law of the Sea. History of International Law Revisited (The Hague/Boston/London, 1983).

Benton, Lauren and Perl-Rosenthal, Nathan (eds.), A World at Sea: Maritime Practices and Global History (Philadelphia, 2020).

Benton, Lauren, A Search for Sovereignty. Law and Geography in European Empires, 1400-1900 (Cambridge, 2010).

Calafat, Guillaume, Une mer jalousée: contribution à l’histoire de la souveraineté (Méditerranée, XVIIe siècle) (Paris, 2019).

Cattelan, Stefano and Frederik Dhondt (eds.), Small Power Neutrality and the Law of the Sea in the Long Eighteenth Century (1650–1800). Law as Argument in the Pelagic Arena (Leiden/Boston, 2025).

Cattelan, Stefano and Louis Sicking. ‘The Coastal Seas in International Law: Contextualising Grotius’s De iure belli ac pacis’, Grotiana, 46(1) (2025), 43-65.

Cattelan, Stefano, Mare Clausum: The Formation of the Law of the Sea in Pre-modern State Practice and Legal Doctrine (c. 1350–1650) (Leiden/Boston, 2025).

Dhondt, Frederik, ‘“Arrestez et pillez contre toute sorte de droit”: Trade and the War of the Quadruple Alliance (1718-1720)’, Legatio: The Journal for Renaissance and Early Modern Diplomatic Studies, 1 (2017), 98-130.

Id., ‘Delenda est haec Carthago. The Ostend Company as a Problem of European Great Power Politics (1722-1727)’, Belgisch Tijdschrift voor Filologie en Geschiedenis/Revue Belge de Philologie et d’Histoire, 93 (2015), 397-437.

Félicité, Indravati, Le Saint-Empire face au monde. Contestations et redéfinitions de l’impérialité (XVe-XIXe siècle) (Paris, 2024).

Ford, John D., The Emergence of Privateering (Leiden/Boston, 2023).

Harding, Richard, Seapower and Naval Warfare, 1650–1830 (London, 2002).

Khalilieh, Hassan S., Islamic Law of the Sea: Freedom of Navigation and Passage Rights in Islamic Thought (Cambridge, 2019).

Mancke, Elizabeth, ‘Early Modern Expansion and the Politicization of Oceanic Space’, Geographical Review, 89(2), 225-36.

Mawani, Renisa, ‘The law of the sea’, in Peter D. Burdon and James Martel (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Law and the Anthropocene (London, 2023), 115-29.

Müller, Leos, Neutrality in World History (New York, 2019).

Neff, Stephen C., The Rights and Duties of Neutrals: A General History (Manchester, 2000).

Po, Ronald C, The Blue Frontier: Maritime Vision and Power in the Qing Empire (Cambridge, 2018).

Ranganathan, Surabhi, ‘Decolonization and International Law: Putting the Ocean on the Map’, Journal of the History of International Law, 23(1) (2020), 161-83.

Id., ‘Global Commons’, European Journal of International Law, 27(3) (2016), 693-717.

Schnakenbourg, Éric, Entre la guerre et la paix: Neutralité et relations internationales, XVIIe–XVIIIe Siècles (Rennes, 2013).

Sicking, Louis, ‘The Pirate and the Admiral: Europeanisation and Globalisation of Maritime Conflict Management’, Journal of the History of International Law, 20(4) (2018), 429-70.

Stapelbroek, Koen (ed.), Trade and War: The Neutrality of Commerce in the Inter-State System (Helsinki, 2011).

Steinberg, Philip E., The Social Construction of the Ocean (Cambridge, 2001).

Strootman, Rolf, van den Eijnde, Floris, and van Wijk, Roy (eds.), Empires of the Sea. Maritime Power Networks in World History (Leiden, 2019).

Subrahmanyam, Sanjay, Across the Green Sea: Histories from the Western Indian Ocean, 1440–1640 (Austin, 2024).

Wani, Kentaro, Neutrality in International Law. From the Sixteenth Century to 1945 (London/New York, 2017).

DEADLINE EXTENDED: Iustoria 2026: In the Shadow of Empires (Belgrade: University of Belgrade, 11-13 MAY 2026) [DEADLINE 30 APR 2026]

  

Iustoria 2026: In the Shadow of Empires

The University of Belgrade Faculty of Law is now receiving paper proposals for the Sixth student conference on legal history – the Iustoria 2026, to be held on May 11^th-13^th, 2026, its topic being “In the Shadow of Empires”.

In 2026, we mark the 1,550th anniversary of the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 – an event that reshaped the map and destiny of Europe at the time. Nevertheless, this political collapse could not erase a thousand years of the development of Roman law, which later returned to Western Europe through the rediscovery of the Digest and the work of numerous schools that studied and applied Roman law, from the glossators to the pandectists. By contrast, in the Eastern Roman – Rhomaian – Byzantine Empire, Roman law, increasingly enriched with Greek and Christian components, continued to develop for another thousand years, exerting a significant influence on many neighbouring lands, above all the Slavic countries. In order to commemorate this important anniversary, we seek to invite discussion on the emergence, development, dissemination, and influence of the legal systems of empires and imperial polities – from the Roman Empire and other great empires of antiquity, through their successors in the medieval and modern periods, up to today’s informal empires that extend their influence through an order that formally proclaims the equality of peoples and democracy.

Research may focus on the legal organization of empires themselves from various perspectives – or on their relations with other states (including numerous issues of international law and the use of force), as well as on transplants from their laws into other legal systems, whether imposed or voluntarily adopted. It is also legitimate to pose the question – either at a theoretical level or through concrete case studies – which characteristics distinguish the law of an empire from the law of a small nation-state. Across different empires throughout history, we can find examples of both cosmopolitanism and discrimination, making it particularly interesting to consider whether an empire tends to view its inhabitants primarily as citizens endowed with rights or as subjects who chiefly owe it obligations, what is required to acquire citizenship, and how its legal system treats those who do not possess it. Whatever constitutes the principal basis of power of a given empire – whether military conquest, slavery, or “soft power” – will inevitably be reflected in its legal system, allowing us to trace the emergence and development of many specific legal institutions.

All students of undergraduate and post-graduate studies pertaining to law or other humanities are eligible to apply for the conference. The applications should contain basic personal information (name and surname, faculty, department, level and year of study), along with an extended abstract containing between 500 and 1000 words. Applications are accepted in either Serbian or English.

The applications should be e-mailed to iustoria@ius.bg.ac.rs before April 15^th, 2026. The students will be informed by April 20^th whether or not their application has been accepted. For any additional information you may enquire at the same e-mail address, and important news will also be published at the official Facebook page of the conference – https://www.facebook.com/iustoria

Just like on our previous conferences, apart from the presentations given by their colleagues, the students at the conference will have an opportunity to attend several lectures given by renowned experts – more details on this will be available in the final version of the programme.

The conference will be held in a hybrid format: both in-person and online participation will be possible. We'll do our best to secure accommodations either in student dormitories or with student host families for participants who don’t reside in Belgrade and who wish to participate in person. These arrangements will depend on the number of available spots. 

The final versions of the papers presented at the conference, with final changes and corrections submitted within a reasonable time after the conference, will be submitted for publication in the journal „Vesnik pravne istorije / Herald of Legal History“ (http://epub.ius.bg.ac.rs/index.php/Vesnik/index). The deadline for the submission of papers is July 15th 2026.

CALL FOR PAPERS: Iustoria 2026: In the Shadow of Empires (Belgrade: University of Belgrade, 11-13 MAY 2026) [DEADLINE 15 APR 2026]

 

Iustoria 2026: In the Shadow of Empires

The University of Belgrade Faculty of Law is now receiving paper proposals for the Sixth student conference on legal history – the Iustoria 2026, to be held on May 11^th-13^th, 2026, its topic being “In the Shadow of Empires”.

In 2026, we mark the 1,550th anniversary of the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 – an event that reshaped the map and destiny of Europe at the time. Nevertheless, this political collapse could not erase a thousand years of the development of Roman law, which later returned to Western Europe through the rediscovery of the Digest and the work of numerous schools that studied and applied Roman law, from the glossators to the pandectists. By contrast, in the Eastern Roman – Rhomaian – Byzantine Empire, Roman law, increasingly enriched with Greek and Christian components, continued to develop for another thousand years, exerting a significant influence on many neighbouring lands, above all the Slavic countries. In order to commemorate this important anniversary, we seek to invite discussion on the emergence, development, dissemination, and influence of the legal systems of empires and imperial polities – from the Roman Empire and other great empires of antiquity, through their successors in the medieval and modern periods, up to today’s informal empires that extend their influence through an order that formally proclaims the equality of peoples and democracy.

Research may focus on the legal organization of empires themselves from various perspectives – or on their relations with other states (including numerous issues of international law and the use of force), as well as on transplants from their laws into other legal systems, whether imposed or voluntarily adopted. It is also legitimate to pose the question – either at a theoretical level or through concrete case studies – which characteristics distinguish the law of an empire from the law of a small nation-state. Across different empires throughout history, we can find examples of both cosmopolitanism and discrimination, making it particularly interesting to consider whether an empire tends to view its inhabitants primarily as citizens endowed with rights or as subjects who chiefly owe it obligations, what is required to acquire citizenship, and how its legal system treats those who do not possess it. Whatever constitutes the principal basis of power of a given empire – whether military conquest, slavery, or “soft power” – will inevitably be reflected in its legal system, allowing us to trace the emergence and development of many specific legal institutions.

All students of undergraduate and post-graduate studies pertaining to law or other humanities are eligible to apply for the conference. The applications should contain basic personal information (name and surname, faculty, department, level and year of study), along with an extended abstract containing between 500 and 1000 words. Applications are accepted in either Serbian or English.

The applications should be e-mailed to iustoria@ius.bg.ac.rs before April 15^th, 2026. The students will be informed by April 20^th whether or not their application has been accepted. For any additional information you may enquire at the same e-mail address, and important news will also be published at the official Facebook page of the conference – https://www.facebook.com/iustoria

Just like on our previous conferences, apart from the presentations given by their colleagues, the students at the conference will have an opportunity to attend several lectures given by renowned experts – more details on this will be available in the final version of the programme.

The conference will be held in a hybrid format: both in-person and online participation will be possible. We'll do our best to secure accommodations either in student dormitories or with student host families for participants who don’t reside in Belgrade and who wish to participate in person. These arrangements will depend on the number of available spots. 

The final versions of the papers presented at the conference, with final changes and corrections submitted within a reasonable time after the conference, will be submitted for publication in the journal „Vesnik pravne istorije / Herald of Legal History“ (http://epub.ius.bg.ac.rs/index.php/Vesnik/index). The deadline for the submission of papers is July 15th 2026.

CONFERENCE WEBSITE: Droit de l'art, du patrimoine et des biens culturels: histoires, normes, circulations [Journées internationales de la Société d'Histoire du Droit] (Torino: Università di Torino, 4-7 JUN 2026) [DEADLINE 10 APR 2026]

 

The organisation of the conference Droit de l'art, du patrimoine et des biens culturels: histoires, normes, circulations [Journées internationales of the French Société d'HIstoire du Droit] at the University of Turin have opened a conference website.

The conference will take place in Turin from 4 to 7 June. Registration is possible until 10 April, as indicated earlier on this blog.

Read more here.

CALL FOR PAPERS: Age of Empires II. Europe and the Empires of the West in a Changing World Order (1900–1937) (Győr: University of Győr, 27-29 OCT 2026) [DEADLINE 30 APR 2026]

(image source: Wikimedia Commons)

The Exposition Universelle, the world exhibition held in Paris in 1900 under the theme ‘19th century: an overview’, opened as a confident display of European and Western dominance. The optimism that shaped contemporary beliefs in a bright future and in scientific progress was reinforced by the many technical solutions and inventions on display—several of which have since become part of everyday life. Yet behind the glittering façade of an event proclaiming the uninterrupted advance of civilisation, intensifying competition among the world’s leading powers was increasingly evident, alongside mounting tensions over access to resources and markets. Europe’s leading states made considerable efforts to expand, develop, and administer their empires, while the limits of cooperation were exposed by a series of open crises in the years following the turn of the century. Moreover, the outcomes of nineteenth-century globalisation—expanding international institutions, accelerating information flows, and deepening transnational economic relations—proved insufficient to prevent the collapse of the nineteenth-century world order in the First World War.

Although the conflict, which profoundly affected territories beyond Europe as well, ultimately enabled the victors to establish a new international order, it did not bring the anticipated easing of tensions or the arrival of a stable and peaceful era. The redrawing of Europe’s political map created space for nationalist and nation-state aspirations; however, strategic considerations remained paramount, and the settlement failed to achieve broad legitimacy. Continental tensions persisted, while the traditional strategic aims of European actors continued, largely unchanged, from the pre-war period. Empire-building, together with a renewed multiplicity of expansionist aspirations, thus became a defining feature of the era. At the same time, newly created institutions sought to shape the international arena alongside both established and emerging state regimes.

In 1937 Paris hosted a world exhibition once again, organised under the theme ‘Arts and technology in modern life’ - the last European world exhibition before the outbreak of war. It entered history not only as the final such event created in the shadow of the post-war peace treaties, but also as an exhibition marked by political rivalry and by visible signs of impending collapse. Although vast territories remained under European control—either directly or through League of Nations mandates—expectations concerning the effective functioning of international organisations, the consolidation of international legal institutions, and the reorganisation of economic and cultural relations increasingly proved illusory. The history of Europe and the empires of the Western world order had reached a new frontier.

 

The organisers of The Age of Empires II – Europe and the Empires of the West in a Changing World Order (1900–1937) consider it essential to strengthen academic dialogue and to bring together speakers from diverse disciplines and regions. We warmly encourage proposals from researchers in legal history, international law, history, international relations, economics, and related fields, including interdisciplinary approaches.

 

Key topics (non-exhaustive)

1.Global system or European system? Political and legal instruments of empire-building; stages in the evolution of the international system

2.Economic dimensions of empire-building: transformations in world trade and financial mechanisms; economic and legal perspectives

3.The realm of information: communication networks, international communication organisations, and technological control as a tool of imperial power

4.State territory, citizenship, and mobility within imperial spaces

5.Representation and symbolism: forms and layers of imperial representation

6.Collapses and transitions: the legacies of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, Germany, Russia, and the Ottoman Empire

7.The crisis of parliamentarianism and its alternatives: imperial and popular models of representation in a changing world

8.Nation-building and identity: empire-building and the ‘melting pot’ of national unification in new imperial formations

9.Press communication and models of news regulation: state control and instruments of mass communication

10. Variations in social thought: state intervention and instruments of social welfare

The Department of Legal History at the Faculty of Law and Political Sciences, University of Győr, is organising an international symposium from 27 to 29 October 2026. We invite researchers working within the thematic and chronological scope of the conference to present their findings in a 20-minute paper, followed by discussion. Accepted contributions will be published in the form of a study (30,000–40,000 characters). Application Applications must be submitted by 30 April 2026 to aoe2026@sze.hu  and should include: an abstract (including the proposed topic) of no more than 500 words; and a short biography of no more than 100 words. Applicants will be notified of the outcome by 31 May 2026. Presentations may be delivered in English, German, or French.

 

Attila Barna - Balázs Pálvölgyi

Organizers

CALL FOR PAPERS: Grotius and Toleration (Zürich: Universität Zürich, 17-18 JUN 2027) [DEADLINE 1 JUN 2026]

 

(image source: Brill)

Abstract:

The Dutch jurist Hugo Grotius (1583-1645) is widely regarded as a pioneer of religious toleration. Many readers have recognized in his writings a principled defense of the freedom of conscience and the rights of religious minorities. Moreover, as a policy-maker, he personally contributed to shaping the relatively tolerant policies of the Dutch Republic with regard to Christian and non-Christian minorities such as Jews. In Grotius’s view, all human beings were endowed with certain natural rights, which had to be respected, regardless of religious differences. As the Dutch jurist explained, forcing non-Christians to accept the Christian religion was ‘judged as improper and unlawful by all people with common sense, as religion should not be enforced.’[1] However, even for Grotius, there were certain limitations to religious toleration. For instance, Christians were not allowed to subject themselves to the authority of non-Christians, as it could lead to apostasy. Moreover, to protect the unity of the Christian state and religion, members of different Christian denominations (e.g., Calvinists and Arminians) could be forced to go to the same churches and accept a number of principal points as necessary for salvation. As Grotius emphasized, religious toleration had to be legally regulated: if necessary, it could even be enforced by the state. The proposed conference will explore Grotius’s ideas about religious toleration and its limitations. Is the general image of Grotius as a pioneer of religious toleration justified? What does toleration mean in Grotius’s work and how did his ideas change over time? How can the ‘toleration’ that Grotius speaks of be described? How does it relate to the idea of otherness? Does he have more than ‘Duldungstoleranz’ in mind? Does he advocate a conception of toleration aimed at mere coexistence, or at genuine respect for different religious beliefs? And what limitations to religious toleration does Grotius propose to protect the unity of the Christian state and religion? Grotius was not the first who proposed the distinction between fundamentalia and adiaphora, often identified as his concept of toleration. In the pamflettenstrijd (‘war of pamhlets’, 1609-1621) ‘peace’ appeared often in the headlines and the idea that there were common concepts that were sufficient for salvation was repeatedly rejected. What exactly was Grotius's contribution to these debates? To what extent were his views on religious toleration informed by a conversionalist logic, aimed at the voluntary conversion of non-Christians, other-Christians or other-reformed Christians to the ‘true faith’? Were his views on toleration indeed ‘principled,’ or were they primarily political, and, for instance, informed by debates on Reason of State? And what impact did his views have on religious practices and policies in the Dutch Republic? Is there a connection between the Republic’s relatively tolerant policies and Dutch imperial expansion in Asia and the East Indies? For instance, how do Grotius’s proposals with regard to the natural rights of religious minorities in the Dutch Republic (e.g., Jews) relate to his ideas about the rights of non-Christian populations in colonial contexts (e.g., Muslims and ‘pagans’)? Apart from the questions mentioned above, we would also welcome proposals on relevant still unexplored materials from the remonstrant/contra-remonstrant controversy. We also invite papers on the context which produced Grotius’s ideas on religious toleration, the reception of his ideas by other writers (e.g., in later Arminian writings and by theorists such as Barlaeus, Jean Le Clerc, Locke or Bayle), the relation between the church and the state in Grotius’s work, as well as the connection between his theoretical ideas on religious toleration and existing practices, both in the Dutch Republic itself and in colonial contexts.

Details:

Those interested to present a paper are kindly invited to send in an abstract of 250-400 words and a short cv of max. 100 words to the conveners, Silke-Petra Bergjan (bergjan@theol.uzh.ch) and Marc de Wilde (m.dewilde@uva.nl), by 1 June 2026. Please also indicate your affiliation. Proposals will be selected on the basis of the quality of abstracts and the fit with the program. The conference will take place in person without online presentations. Participants are thus expected to present their papers on location. The organization will pay for local costs (contingent on funding) and travel expenses (contingent on funding).

More information here.

(source: ESILHIL Blog)

CALL FOR PAPERS: International Conference: Contested Seas. War, Commerce, and the Making of the Law of the Sea (c. 1400–1800) (Ostend: VUB/VLIZ, 19-20 NOV 2026) [DEADLINE 15 MAY 2026]

(Image source: VUB-CORE blog)

International Conference:

Contested Seas: War, Commerce, and the Making of the Law of the Sea (c. 1400–1800)

19-20 November 2026, Ostend, Belgium

Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Campus Ostend / Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ)

Conveners:

Stefano Cattelan & Frederik Dhondt
(Vrije Universiteit Brussel – Faculty of Law and Criminology, Research Group CORE)

Keynote speakers: 

Surabhi Ranganathan (Lauterpacht Centre, University of Cambridge)
Indravati Félicité (Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg)

Concept and Rationale: The early modern law of the sea did not emerge as a coherent or pacified body of rules. Rather, it took shape as a fragmented and deeply contested legal regime. It was forged through recurrent warfare, commercial rivalry, and persistent struggles over jurisdiction and enforcement at sea. The pelagic arena was characterised by overlapping jurisdictions, uneven enforcement, and profound asymmetries of power (Benton, 2010). The freedom of the seas (‘Mare Liberum’) did not operate as a stable peacetime principle. It was repeatedly restricted, negotiated, and redefined in moments of conflict, particularly through disputes concerning maritime jurisdiction, economic warfare, neutral navigation, and prize-taking.

Hence, several methodological questions arise. Can we chart the deeper structures and long-term evolutions of the law of the sea and, at the same time, remain historically grounded and relevant to contemporary debates?

Recent scholarship has challenged the idea that the law of the sea gradually restrained violence at sea. Instead, norms were forged, tested, and transformed through concrete conflicts over sovereignty, jurisdiction, and neutral navigation (e.g. Steinberg, 2001; Benton, 2010; Schnakenbourg, 2015; Calafat, 2019; Cattelan, 2025). This perspective invites a rethinking of the law of the sea not as a dependent variable of early modern conflict, but as one of its crucial products. The present conference builds on this emerging insight and seeks to explore its broader implications across different regions, actors, and legal contexts.

This conference invites contributions that approach the law of the sea as a historically produced normative regime, examined as (1) a body of legal argument, a set of institutional (2) practices, and a (3) field of political struggle. It seeks to foster dialogue across legal history, international law and the histories of ideas, diplomacy, warfare, and empire, bringing together scholars attentive to different sources, actors and objects (doctrine, archives, institutions, legal reasoning, institutional practice, and material interests). The conference situates the law of the sea within broader processes of state formation, imperial competition, and global connectivity, including its interaction with commercial and maritime legal practices (Félicité, 2024).

This conference takes a broad analytical perspective, to seal a series of three encounters organised under the aegis of FWO Junior Fundamental Research Project G016122N. While earlier meetings in this series focused primarily on neutrality as a legal status, diplomatic strategy, and social practice —particularly from the perspective of small and medium powers— the present symposium shifts the analytical focus: recurrent conflicts over neutrality, belligerent rights, maritime jurisdiction, and enforcement mechanisms did not merely test existing norms. These instances were crucial to the historical formation of the law of the sea as a contested legal regime. In this sense, neutrality is approached as a formative force in the making of the law of the sea across judicial, diplomatic, and commercial arenas.

The conference aims to offer a synthetic reinterpretation of the relationship between mare liberum and mare clausum, peace and war, neutrality and coercion, situating the early modern law of the sea within the longer history of international law without assuming linear trajectories or teleological outcomes. It also invites reflection on the enduring legacies of early modern maritime practices for later codification efforts and contemporary debates on ocean governance in an increasingly polycentric world (Mawani, 2023; Ranganathan, 2016, 2020).

Finally, the conference welcomes contributions addressing different maritime regions and circuits, including —but not limited to— the Mediterranean, Atlantic, and Indian Ocean worlds, as well as interactions between different legal orders and actors (Anand, 1983; Khalilieh, 2019; Subrahmanyam, 2024; Po, 2018). We particularly welcome contributions on cross-cultural legal encounters and concrete sites of norm production, such as courts, diplomatic practices, commercial litigation, port regulations, and contractual arrangements.

 

Key Questions

The conference invites contributions addressing one or more of the following questions:

• What kind of legal regime was the early modern law of the sea?
  How can it be understood as a historically contingent and contested normative order rather than a coherent or stabilised body of rules?
• How did warfare shape the law of the sea?
  In what ways did recurring conflicts over maritime jurisdiction, belligerent rights, neutrality, blockade, contraband, and prize-taking contribute to the production and transformation of legal norms at sea?
• How was the law of the sea articulated, applied, and contested in daily practice?
  What roles did courts, diplomatic channels, port authorities, consular institutions, and commercial actors play in the everyday functioning of this legal regime?
• How did neutrality operate as a formative force within the law of the sea?
  How were legal boundaries between peace and war at sea shaped by disputes and agreements involving neutral navigation?
• How did individuals and non-state actors exercise legal agency at sea?
  The mobilisation of multiple normative orders —public, commercial, and customary by merchants, shipmasters, insurers, chartered companies, or private entrepreneurs — to pursue commercial, political, or strategic objectives is central here.
• How did different connected spaces and regions shape a distinct legal practice?
  How did practices take shape across and between different maritime regions and circuits, including interactions between European and extra-European legal orders?
• What are the longer-term implications of early modern practices of the law of the sea?
  How did early modern solutions and conflicts inform later codification efforts and continue to resonate in contemporary debates on ocean governance?

 

Thematic Areas (Indicative)

The following thematic areas, which constitute the thematic translation of the questions highlighted above, articulate different dimensions of the early modern law of the sea as a contested legal regime produced through conflict, commerce, and legal practice. They are intended to be read as analytically connected rather than as parallel or autonomous agendas. They are indicative rather than exhaustive.

 

1. The sea as a legal and spatial order

Maritime jurisdiction; territorial waters; ports, straits, and littoral zones; sovereignty and access; legal pluralism at sea; competing claims to control, passage, and enforcement.

2. War, commerce, and neutrality in the law of the sea

Naval warfare and economic conflict; blockade, contraband, and continuous voyage; prize-taking and adjudication; neutrality as legal status, diplomatic strategy, and practical resource; coercion, enforcement, and asymmetries between belligerents and neutrals.

3. Institutions and practices producing the law of the sea

Courts (including admiralty and prize courts); diplomatic correspondence; consular jurisdictions; port authorities and regulatory regimes; chartered companies; litigation, arbitration, and everyday legal practice. Contributions grounded in specific sources or sites of norm production are particularly welcome.

4. Agency and normative pluralism within the law of the sea

The role of individuals and non-state actors —such as merchants, shipmasters, insurers, private entrepreneurs, and colonial intermediaries— in mobilising a plurality of normative orders, including the law of nations, domestic legislation, commercial and maritime law, urban statutes, customary norms, and private contracts.

5. The law of the sea across regions, empires, and legal encounters

Comparative and transregional perspectives; interactions between European and extra-European legal orders; cross-cultural legal encounters; circulation, translation, and contestation of norms governing maritime space in different oceanic worlds.

6. From early modern practice to modern/contemporary ocean governance

Long-term continuities and ruptures in the law of the sea; armed neutrality and collective enforcement; early modern legacies in later codification efforts and contemporary debates on ocean governance.

 

Disciplinary Scope: The conference welcomes contributions from legal history, the history of international law, maritime and naval history, diplomatic and political history, economic history, and international law scholarship with a historical or theoretical orientation. Interdisciplinary, critical, and transregional approaches are particularly encouraged. Early-career researchers are warmly invited to submit proposals.

Format: The conference is conceived as a focused, discussion-oriented event. Draft papers will be circulated in advance to facilitate in-depth exchange. Presentations will be kept at 20 minutes for each speaker in order to prioritise collective discussion and comparative discussion.

Submission Guidelines: please submit an abstract of no more than 350 words and a short biographical note of up to 150 words to: stefano.cattelan@vub.be.
Submission deadline: 15 May 2026
Notification of acceptance: 1 June 2026
Draft papers (for pre-circulation among participants): 20 October 2026

Publication: Following the conference, selected contributions will be submitted to a special issue in an international peer-reviewed journal (preferably open access).

Practical Information: The organisers aim to secure funding to cover organisational costs and, where possible, to offer limited support for travel and accommodation, particularly for early-career researchers and scholars without access to dedicated research funds. Further practical information will be communicated to accepted participants.

 

Indicative references:

Alimento, Antonella (ed.), War, Trade and Neutrality: Europe and the Mediterranean in the Seventeenth and Eighteen Centuries (Milano, 2011).

Id., and Stapelbroek, Koen (eds.), The Politics of Commercial Treaties in the Eighteenth Century (Cham, 2017).

Anand, Ram P., Origin and Development of the Law of the Sea. History of International Law Revisited (The Hague/Boston/London, 1983).

Benton, Lauren and Perl-Rosenthal, Nathan (eds.), A World at Sea: Maritime Practices and Global History (Philadelphia, 2020).

Benton, Lauren, A Search for Sovereignty. Law and Geography in European Empires, 1400-1900 (Cambridge, 2010).

Calafat, Guillaume, Une mer jalousée: contribution à l’histoire de la souveraineté (Méditerranée, XVIIe siècle) (Paris, 2019).

Cattelan, Stefano and Frederik Dhondt (eds.), Small Power Neutrality and the Law of the Sea in the Long Eighteenth Century (1650–1800). Law as Argument in the Pelagic Arena (Leiden/Boston, 2025).

Cattelan, Stefano and Louis Sicking. ‘The Coastal Seas in International Law: Contextualising Grotius’s De iure belli ac pacis’, Grotiana, 46(1) (2025), 43-65.

Cattelan, Stefano, Mare Clausum: The Formation of the Law of the Sea in Pre-modern State Practice and Legal Doctrine (c. 1350–1650) (Leiden/Boston, 2025).

Dhondt, Frederik, ‘“Arrestez et pillez contre toute sorte de droit”: Trade and the War of the Quadruple Alliance (1718-1720)’, Legatio: The Journal for Renaissance and Early Modern Diplomatic Studies, 1 (2017), 98-130.

Id., ‘Delenda est haec Carthago. The Ostend Company as a Problem of European Great Power Politics (1722-1727)’, Belgisch Tijdschrift voor Filologie en Geschiedenis/Revue Belge de Philologie et d’Histoire, 93 (2015), 397-437.

Félicité, Indravati, Le Saint-Empire face au monde. Contestations et redéfinitions de l’impérialité (XVe-XIXe siècle) (Paris, 2024).

Ford, John D., The Emergence of Privateering (Leiden/Boston, 2023).

Harding, Richard, Seapower and Naval Warfare, 1650–1830 (London, 2002).

Khalilieh, Hassan S., Islamic Law of the Sea: Freedom of Navigation and Passage Rights in Islamic Thought (Cambridge, 2019).

Mancke, Elizabeth, ‘Early Modern Expansion and the Politicization of Oceanic Space’, Geographical Review, 89(2), 225-36.

Mawani, Renisa, ‘The law of the sea’, in Peter D. Burdon and James Martel (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Law and the Anthropocene (London, 2023), 115-29.

Müller, Leos, Neutrality in World History (New York, 2019).

Neff, Stephen C., The Rights and Duties of Neutrals: A General History (Manchester, 2000).

Po, Ronald C, The Blue Frontier: Maritime Vision and Power in the Qing Empire (Cambridge, 2018).

Ranganathan, Surabhi, ‘Decolonization and International Law: Putting the Ocean on the Map’, Journal of the History of International Law, 23(1) (2020), 161-83.

Id., ‘Global Commons’, European Journal of International Law, 27(3) (2016), 693-717.

Schnakenbourg, Éric, Entre la guerre et la paix: Neutralité et relations internationales, XVIIe–XVIIIe Siècles (Rennes, 2013).

Sicking, Louis, ‘The Pirate and the Admiral: Europeanisation and Globalisation of Maritime Conflict Management’, Journal of the History of International Law, 20(4) (2018), 429-70.

Stapelbroek, Koen (ed.), Trade and War: The Neutrality of Commerce in the Inter-State System (Helsinki, 2011).

Steinberg, Philip E., The Social Construction of the Ocean (Cambridge, 2001).

Strootman, Rolf, van den Eijnde, Floris, and van Wijk, Roy (eds.), Empires of the Sea. Maritime Power Networks in World History (Leiden, 2019).

Subrahmanyam, Sanjay, Across the Green Sea: Histories from the Western Indian Ocean, 1440–1640 (Austin, 2024).

Wani, Kentaro, Neutrality in International Law. From the Sixteenth Century to 1945 (London/New York, 2017).