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

 

(image source: SHD Torino)

The program for this year's Journées internationales of the Société d'Histoire du Droit, dedicated to the theme "Droit de l'art, du patrimoine et des biens culturels: histoires, normes circulations", has been published (cf. call earlier on this blog). 

More information here.

CONFERENCE: Program and Registration for the 45th Rechtshistorikertag: "Interkulturalität im Recht" (Wien: Universität Wien, 14-18 SEP 2026)

 

The program for the 45th. Rechtshistorikertag in Vienna is available now (here). Registration is possible here.

JOURNAL: La justice et le secret (Droit et Cultures LXXXIII (2022/1)) [OPEN ACCESS]

 

(image source: Openedition)

Secret et (in)justice (éditorial) (DOI 10.4000/droitcultures.8009)

La justice et le secret, une longue histoire commune (Christophe Archan) (DOI 10.4000/droitcultures.7770)

Dans le secret de la juridiction domestique. Le châtiment des femmes dans la Rome antique (Julie Meyer)
(DOI 10.4000/droitcultures.7775)
Abstract:

This study examines the fate of female criminals in ancient Rome. Most of the time, even when a criminal woman had been openly condemned, punishment was often administrated by the private sphere, for utmost discretion. Secrecy therefore was a prime goal when it came to crimes such as adultery or consumption of wine: the problem was resolved within the household, by the husband or possibly by members of the family. Understanding the reasons for such secrecy surrounding the punishment of criminal women will help to see if sometimes, in certain cases, this discretion was discarded in favor of a public sentence and if therefore the secrecy surrounding the fate of the criminal woman could sometimes be broken.

La part de l’ombre… Les juges et médiateurs devant l’aménagement du secret aux Xe et XIe siècles (Laura Viaut)
(DOI 10.4000/droitcultures.7851)
Abstract:

The assemblies of justice of the year 1000, held in the public square, are well known. One might think that its public aspects do not allow secrets. But legal sources show us a very distinct reality: a system with restorative logics, an optional truth, a collective conscience above the conscience of the judge.

Un verdict du jury impénétrable ? Le secret de la procédure criminelle anglaise (XIIe-XIIIe s.) (Kim-Thao Le)
(DOI 10.4000/droitcultures.7911)
Abstract:

At the turn of the XIIth and XIIIth centuries, the English criminal jury evolved: it is not only in charge of presenting and gathering information anymore, it now has the function to deliver the verdict at the trial. Because it relies on the vere dictum according to the jurors’ conscience, the verdict appears inscrutable. To what extent is this true? And how to explain the secret surrounding the verdict of a jury conceived as omniscient in England while mostly in the rest of the West Europe, procedure was based on a system of rational evidence?

Un tribunal ou une tribune ? Comment faire taire les anarchistes ? (Gilles Ferragu)
(DOI 10.4000/droitcultures.7960)
Abstract:

This paper focuses on anarchist trials in late nineteenth century France and the question of the secret as a weapon to fight against the propaganda strategies of terrorists claiming to be anarchists. Through various examples of trials and proposed regulations for debates, we will attempt to understand how anarchists, magistrates and deputies confronted each other in an arena other than the street...

L’éternelle tentation inquisitoire (Vincent Sizaire)
(DOI 10.4000/droitcultures.8000)

La poursuite du meurtre secret dans l’Angleterre des XIIIe et XIVe siècles : entre responsabilité sociale et besoins du fisc (Christophe Archan)
(DOI 10.4000/droitcultures.8045)
Abstract:

At the beginning of the Anglo-Norman period, King William the Conqueror organized a system of collective responsibility to protect the members of his aristocracy. Therefore, in the event of the murder of a ‘Frenchman’ and when the perpetrator has not been identified, the local lord is considered responsible for the offense and must pay a very heavy fine. But if he cannot, the entire population of the district (hundred) where the crime took place is called upon to redeem the “secret murder” (murdrum). Over time, this fine became a significant windfall for the Treasury, which was difficult to waive despite the disappearance of the threat to the French and their gradual assimilation into the population of England. The royal judges then seek to take advantage of the ancient rule as much as possible. But on the other hand, local authorities are doing everything to escape what increasingly appears to them as a disguised tax levy.

Un crime secret : la difficulté de la preuve de l’empoisonnement à travers la jurisprudence du parlement de Paris (1682-1789) (Gwenaëlle Callemein)
(DOI 10.4000/droitcultures.8105)
Abstract:

L’empoisonnement est le crime secret par excellence. Crime de l’intérieur, le plus souvent réalisé au sein de la famille, il est particulièrement difficile d’en apporter la preuve. Le juge doit nécessairement ordonner des expertises pour affirmer ou infirmer la présence de poison. Si l’évolution des connaissances médicales commence à faciliter sa reconnaissance, la justice n’en reste pas moins confrontée aux problèmes de preuve durant toute l’instruction. Les témoins sont rares, ou seulement indirects, et l’aveu est bien souvent le seul moyen d’établir de façon certaine la culpabilité de l’accusé, mais il reste difficile à obtenir. L’étude des procès pour empoisonnement permet ainsi de révéler les rouages de la justice criminelle lorsqu’elle se trouve confrontée au secret.

Le secret par l’épée. Duel, vie privée et liberté de la presse (1819-1940) (Mathieu Soula)

Le juge judiciaire et le secret des affaires (Aurélie Ballot-Léna)
(DOI 10.4000/droitcultures.8110)
Abstract:

In view of an interdisciplinary research on “justice and secrecy”, the purpose of the study is the judicial treatment of the trade secrets, born from practice and often invoked in courtrooms. Recognized by EU Directive 2016/943 of June 8, 2016 of the European Parliament and of the Council, transposed into the commercial Code by Law No. 2018-670 of July 30, 2018, henceforth, trade secrets benefit from their own legal protection regime. The analysis shows that the judge occupies a central place. In charge of control the balance of the interests involved, he may be a keeper of the secret as well as an agent of its disclosure.

Studies

The Organizing Principles of Aboriginal Justice(Christophe Darmangeat) (DOI 10.4000/droitcultures.8280)
Abstract:

The various procedures that constitute the repertoire of traditional Australian Aboriginal justice can be organized, on the formal level, around three characters, that is: symmetry, mode of designation and moderation. All three criteria correspond to social dimensions. Asymmetry expresses guilt, while symmetry expresses a situation where it has not been acknowledged. The mode of designation reflects both the individual or collective nature of the accused party and the willingness, if necessary, to circumscribe the effects of the legal proceedings. Moderation, finally, highlights a general principle of Australian law, that of modulation: according to it, the theoretically strict compensation for damages (“an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”) is either lightened – in particular, towards a moderate procedure – or, on the contrary, aggravated, depending on the social relations prevailing between both parties. This approach also makes it possible to understand how war, which in Australia is mainly, if not exclusively, of a judicial nature, derives from the feud, of which it is an unbridled modality.

L’école primaire entre l’Église et l’État : le compromis de la loi Guizot (28 juin 1833) (Catherine Audéoud)
Abstract: 

The Law Guizot represents the birth of the public primary school. For Guizot, the «government of the minds» is important: In the country of France that has been traumatized by the Revolution and the agitations of the years 1830, he wants to moralize and to educate the people. This becomes the responsibility of the State, but it is necessary that moral education, which has priority, be also religious, which accounts for the strongly encouraged collaboration between the teacher and the priest. The supervision committees established by the Law reflect this apparent symbiosis between Church and State as well as the proclamation of the freedom of education. However, the parliamentary archives show a legislative path much less smooth. The context is characterized by suspicion concerning the priest-party, so active under the Restauration and suspected to channel ideas that are hostile to the new regime. Shouldn’t the first objective of the law be to channel the power of the clergy rather than giving it a primary role?

Read all contributions for free here. 

 

 

CALL FOR PAPERS: Law, Culture and Modern Vehicles, 1820-1960, 26-28 February 2019, University of Turku (DEADLINE: 19 December 2018)

(Source: University of Turku)

We learned of a conference on vehicles, law and culture in the modernizing world. Here the call: 

CFP: Conference

“Law, Culture and Modern Vehicles, 1820-1960”

26-28 February 2019,

Faculty of Law, University of Turku, Finland

The technological revolution of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries gave impetus to the development of vehicles based on engines and steam. Steamboats and trains altered permanently global transport systems that until then had mostly relied on wind and animal power. Even if the velocipede required human pedalling power, it was also considered one of the technological wonders of modernity, the era of machines. As such, it heralded the coming of the automobile some decades later, while the following step was to conquer the heavens.

The technological advances in transport titillated the imagination of progressives and stimulated artists, but also inspired awe. The speed and noise of the new vehicles and the risks caused by the novel technology challenged the traditional legal systems. These could require introducing innovations into traditional fields of law. On the other hand, law could be linked to conservative ideologies and act as a factor of stability.

This conference explores many facets of vehicles, law and culture in the modernizing world. We invite twenty-minute papers on various aspects of these phenomena, e.g.:

• how modern vehicles were perceived as threats/inspiration by groups or individuals in society
• how modern vehicles influenced (legal) culture or (legal) culture vehicles 
• how risks caused by machine-driven vehicles could be minimized
• who were the influential individuals behind the vehicles/norms
• how vehicles were represented in popular culture
• how vehicle-related risks and accidents were presented in popular culture or the media
• law as tool for progressive/conservative ideologies vis-à-vis the new transport technology.

Confirmed keynote lectures will be given by Doctor Tiina Männistö-Funk (Chalmers University of Technology) and Professor Miloš Vec (University of Vienna).

Proposal Submissions and Further Information: 

For more information about the conference or to submit a proposal (about 200 words), please contact Professor Mia Korpiola (mia.korpiola[at]utu.fi, Faculty of Law, University of Turku). Participants are expected to cover their own travel expenses and lodging. The deadline for submitting paper proposals is 19 December 2018. Please feel free to share and circulate this CFP.

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS: Law and Culture Conference (St Mary's University, Twickenham, 5-6 Sep 2016); DEADLINE 30 APR 2016

Centre for Law and Culture
St Mary’s University, Twickenham
 
5th-6th September 2016
 
Law and Culture Conference 2016
‘(In)visibility’

Call for papers:

What does it mean to be seen? What does it mean to see? What can and cannot, should and should not, be visible? What are the limits of legal sight, and what lies beyond? What can academic and critical study make visible to law? Can (in)visibility produce (in)justice? The Law and Culture Conference 2016 aims stimulate a wide ranging and in-depth discussion on the tensions, significance, implications and critical dimensions of the open theme of ‘(In)visibility’.

Indicative concerns include:

•         political and legal visibility/invisibility, including critical gender and race studies, the legal and cultural responses to current migration crises, the protection and rights of minorities
•         the visible/unseen dimensions of law and its institution, including legal aesthetics, law and visuality
•         law’s regulation of visibility, including law and art, the regulation of culture, illegitimate images
•         law’s (in)visibility within culture, including popular culture, film, comics, literature and television
•         legal history, including seen/unseen histories,
•         ‘hidden victims’ in criminal and other contexts
•         visible and hidden voices in the legal academy

Please submit abstracts (250 words), plus 3 keywords and a short biography (50 words), via email by 30 April 2016. Papers will be 20 minutes in length, with additional time for questions.

Confirmed Plenary Speakers:

Sionaidh Douglas-Scott (Anniversary Chair in Law, Queen Mary University of London), Amanda Perry-Kessaris (Professor of Law, Kent Law School), Stuart Toddington (Professor of Jurisprudence, University of Huddersfield)

About the Centre for Law and Culture

Launched by Lady Hale in 2014, the Centre for Law and Culture (CLC) is an interdisciplinary hub for research at the intersections of law, justice, and the humanities. It is a home for the cultural study of law, and as a rallying point for such culturally enriched legal research, the Centre engages legal study that spans topics and themes from across critical and cultural legal studies. It thereby aims to incubate and promote critical research that crosses and challenges traditional legal boundaries in a cultural context. For more information, visit www.stmarys.ac.uk/law-and-culture.

Location:

St Mary’s University, Twickenham, London TW1 4SX (www.stmarys.ac.uk/contact/location-maps.htm).
 

For information and submissions, please contact: Thomas Giddens thomas.giddens@stmarys.ac.uk

Registration:

There is an anticipated £60 registration fee (plus booking), which will cover attendance, refreshments and lunch for both days and the conference dinner. Reduced cost packages will be available for single-day attendance.

CALL FOR PAPERS: "Legal Circulation and Artistic, Intellectual and Cultural Practices in Medieval Europe (13th-16th Centuries)" (Lissabon, 25-27 Feb 2016) (DEADLINE 30 Oct 2015)

(image source: Medieval Europe in Motion)

Nomôdos signals the following call for papers:

Summary and thematic axes:

Le colloque international Medieval Europe in Motion 3 poursuit la série de rencontres scientifiques inaugurée en 2013 par l’Institut d’Études Médiévales (IEM) de l’Université Nouvelle de Lisbonne sur la thématique des mobilités artistiques et culturelles en Europe au Moyen Âge (https://sites.google.com/site/medievaleuropeinmotion2013/home). 

L’objectif principal de ce nouveau colloque, en continuité thématique avec les deux éditions précédentes, est d’analyser les phénomènes de circulation et de mobilité des élites lettrées (clercs, universitaires, praticiens), des enlumineurs, des manuscrits, des textes, des modèles artistiques et des idées liés à la pratique du droit dans le territoire européen avec une attention particulière pour les contrées méridionales (péninsule Ibérique, France du Midi et Italie). 

Seront également analysées la manière dont ces phénomènes de mobilité ont interagi avec les processus de systématisation de l’enseignement et la pratique du droit, ainsi que la représentation visuelle de l’exercice du droit dans les enluminures des manuscrits. 

Il ne s’agit pas d’un sujet complètement inédit dans le contexte des études d’histoire de la culture, de l’art et de l’économie, car plusieurs rencontres concernant des problématiques proches ont été organisées depuis quelques années. Il demeure que toutes ces thématiques n’ont pas souvent été mises en relation. Le colloque se propose de mener une analyse globale des aspects liés aux mobilités culturelles et juridiques pour donner un état de la question, susciter de nouvelles perspectives de recherche, et avancer ainsi dans l’étude et la connaissance de ces problématiques. 

Pour cela, on abordera en premier lieu l’analyse du phénomène de la mobilité universitaire liée à l’enseignement du droit dans les différentes régions de l’Europe : comment cela se passait-il ? Qui voyageait ? Où les voyageurs se déplaçaient-ils et quelles étaient les villes les plus touchées par ce phénomène ? 

En second lieu, le colloque vise à montrer comment ce phénomène de mobilité a également eu une incidence sur la confection des manuscrits juridiques enluminés et comment leur circulation et celle des enlumineurs ont influencé, stimulé, ainsi que modifié les processus de production et de création iconographique et stylistique dans les régions géographiques concernées. 

Pour ce qui est du rôle des commanditaires, particuliers ou institutionnels (les commandes institutionnelles passaient souvent par le truchement d'individus, les cardinaux pour la Curie pontificale, les docteurs pour les universités, les podestats ou les juristes à leur service pour les villes et les communes), on se posera les questions suivantes : qui sont les commanditaires des manuscrits juridiques enluminés et pourquoi les possèdent-ils ? Quelles motivations sociales, politiques et économiques peuvent justifier leur commande ? 

Dans le domaine de l’illustration des manuscrits juridiques, on se demandera quels sont les modèles iconographiques utilisés pour représenter visuellement l’exercice de la justice ou la manière d’enseigner dans les manuscrits de droit enluminés. Quels sont les contextes culturels dans lesquels ces manuscrits sont produits ? De quelle manière la production de manuscrits juridiques, en particulier dans l’aire géographique considérée (France méridionale, péninsule Ibérique, Italie), a-t-elle été influencée par la présence d’enlumineurs étrangers ? 

Dans le domaine de la codicologie, on analysera les aspects matériels de ces manuscrits juridiques pour voir comment ils influencent aussi la technique de production, ainsi que les caractères physiques de l’objet-livre. 

Enfin, on cherchera à étudier ces phénomènes de mobilité et de circulation, non pas de façon isolée, mais en les intégrant dans leurs contextes sociaux, politiques, culturels et économiques. 

Dans cette perspective, les propositions de communication (20 minutes) pourront s’organiser en plusieurs axes : 

• La peregrinatio academica dans le contexte de la culture juridique 
• Les modalités de l’enseignement et de la pratique du droit en Europe (XIIIe-XVe siècle) 
• Les contextes sociaux, économiques, culturels et artistiques liés à la pratique du droit. 
• La production de livres manuscrits juridiques (enluminés ou non) : les contextes économiques et culturels de production ; le livre juridique en relation avec d’autres types de manuscrits enluminés ; la place du livre juridique dans le contexte de la production artistique médiévale ; l’institution des studia et les manuscrits juridiques enluminés ; les peciae et les manuscrits enluminés ; les manuscrits juridiques enluminés sur le Continent et en Angleterre ; la transition du manuscrit juridique enluminé au livre imprimé. 
• Le support concret que peuvent représenter les manuscrits juridiques dans la construction d'un ordre juridique et l’affermissement de la pratique judiciaire, une dimension performative et effective du livre juridique qui peut conditionner, tout à la fois, sa production, sa circulation, sa possession et ses usages. 
• Les personnes, les idées ainsi que les objets liés à la pratique du droit et à sa circulation dans l’Europe médiévale (XIIIe – XVe siècle).

Practical modalities:

Les propositions de communications (en français, anglais, espagnol, portugais ou italien), accompagnées d’un bref CV (1 page maximum), sont à envoyer au contact ci-dessous avant le 30 octobre 2015 : memconference2016@gmail.com. Le Comité scientifique prendra en considération l’importance des propositions en relation avec le thème du colloque et adressera sa réponse à partir du 15 novembre 2015. 

Inscription avec communication:

• 50 euros 

 Organising committee:

Coordinateur:

• Maria Alessandra Bilotta (IEM-FCSH-UNL – TEMPLA – LAMOP) 
• Francisco José Díaz Marcilla (IEM-FCSH-UNL) 
• Mário Sergio Farelo (IEM-FCSH-UNL) 

Secrétariat d’organisation : 

• Anabel Moreno (Universidad de Girona – TEMPLA) 

Comité scientifique : 

• Etienne Anheim (Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines) 
• Mario Ascheri (Università « Roma Tre »)
• François Avril (Bibliothèque nationale de France)
• Patrick Arabeyre (Ecole nationale des chartes)
• Maria Alessandra Bilotta (IEM – FCSH – UNL – TEMPLA - LAMOP)
• Martin Bertram (Deutsches Historisches Institut in Rom – Roma) 
• Gerardo Boto Varela (Universitat de Girona – TEMPLA)
• Paolo Cherubini (Archivio Segreto Vaticano)
• Gaspar Coll Rosell (Universitat de Barcelona)
• Maria Helena da Cruz Coelho (Universidade de Coimbra) 
• Fabrice Delivré (Université Paris 1 – Panthéon Sorbonne/LAMOP)
• José Domingues (Universidade Lusíada) 
• François Foronda (Université Paris 1 – Panthéon Sorbonne/LAMOP)
• Robert Gibbs (University of Glasgow)
• Stéphane Gioanni (Ecole Française de Rome)
• Christian Heck (Université Charles De Gaulle – Lille 3)
• Susan L’Engle (Saint Louis University - Vatican Film Library)
• Peter Linehan (Cambridge University)
• Guy Lobrichon (Université d'Avignon et des Pays de Vaucluse)
• José Meirinhos (IF – Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto)
• Maria Adelaide Miranda (IEM – FCSH – UNL) 
• Aires Augusto Nascimento (Universidade de Lisboa)
• Ezio Ornato (CNRS - LAMOP)
• Kenneth Pennington (The Catholic University of America)
• Jacques Verger (Université Paris–Sorbonne)

NOTICE: Law and Culture Conference 2015: CHANGE (London, September 10-11 2015)