(image: Sekt. 4: Gdańsk, Polen, 1892 - Deutsche Fotothek, Germany - CC BY-SA. Europeana)
The University of Gdańsk
currently has a PhD vacancy for a legal history research project.
The position does not require relocation to Gdańsk.
1 - Position description
The Faculty of Law, University of Gdańsk, is
looking for a PhD-student.
This vacancy fits within the framework of
the Polish National Science Center (NCN) research project “A Tsunami
or a Gentle Tide? European Legal Thought Confronted with the French Commercial
Code of 1807”, directed by assistant professor Anna
Klimaszewska.
The overall scientific objective of the envisaged
research is to examine the framing that legislators impose through codes of law
by reconstructing how the French Commercial Code (FCC) of 1807 actually
resonated in European legal thought and how it affected European legal
discourse in the 19th- century in a thoroughly source-based manner through the
use of digital tools, free of Western European centralism and national
subjectivism.
How people interpret and process information is very
much influenced by the way the piece of information is communicated - what
narrative has been adopted. This is used, for example, by politicians and the
mass media, providing through their narratives a specific “frame” for the
social perception of various phenomena. Researchers have been studying these
issues for decades. However, no one has so far verified the impact of the
framework imposed by the legislator on various spheres of our lives, who, when
making the law, introduces a more pervasive and complex frame than, for
example, those freely created by the participants in political debates.
The activity of the legislator manifests itself in
various forms. However, there is no doubt that codes of law play a special role
in it. This is not only because they are systematic and comprehensive
collections of rules. Above all, they constitute (at least in concept) the main
point of reference in a given domain and carry a strong ideological charge
behind them, thus establishing a frame for a given field of social activity.
The goal of the project is to analyse, for the first
time, the effect of a frame imposed by the legislator through a code of law in
varying social and economic conditions. Through a comparative analysis of case
studies from different legal cultures, it will be reconstructed how the world's
first modern commercial code - the French Code of 1807 issued by order of
Napoleon Bonaparte - resonated in European legal thought and how it influenced
European legal discourse in the 19th century. With no competition for many
decades, it significantly influenced legal systems around the world. Its
“framing effect” in different countries will therefore be compared.
Through the use of interdisciplinary methodology
(discourse network analysis, frame analysis) and digital tools, this research
creates an entirely new approach to law, thus paving the way for similar
research to be carried out on other areas of the law of any country and era.
The backbone of the research, for reasons of
feasibility, consists of three in-depth case studies: Belgium (subproject 1),
Poland (subproject 2), and Germany (subproject 3). These countries serve as a
theoretically informed sample that will allow some general conclusions to be
drawn regarding the evolution of legal thought under the influence of the FCC
whilst likewise stressing that each case study is complex and unique in its own
right. All of them have experienced the implementation of the FCC. Each of them
represents, however, a different strategy towards its adoption in different
regional circumstances. They show thus varying trajectories of reaction to the
code as a frame, as framing effects may occur in different populations at
different rates.
This particular vacancy covers
subproject 3 and is co-supervised by profs. Anna
Klimaszewska (University of Gdańsk) and Mathias Schmoeckel
(University of Bonn).
Although Germany, as Europe's largest codification
laboratory, was creatively pursuing a direction in the field of commercial law
that, almost a century after the promulgation of the FCC (with the 1897
Commercial Code), was considered to be in competition with the French model,
the Germans were not operating in a legislative vacuum. The FCC was not only
officially introduced in the Rhineland, thus marking the area with the
experience of direct application, but also over the decades of work on a
uniform German commercial code, which was carried out long before the
unification of Germany, the FCC was repeatedly taken into account, even if not
as a role model, certainly as a point of reference. Moreover, the 1897 Code’s
predecessor, the 1861 General German Commercial Code, followed France to many
more points than is commonly believed.
The PhD project will investigate the following sources: 1. Any form of
publication by authors commenting on or referring to substantive or formal
issues regarding the FCC in the form of, inter alia, monographs, textbooks,
articles, collections of court judgments, essays, treatises, comments, diaries,
press materials, notes of lectures by university professors, etc. 2.
Codification projects and reports of parliamentary debates on codification; 3.
Materials of governmental bodies concerning partial reforms of the commercial
law, e.g., justifications for projects and reports of the parliamentary
reporters (stenographic): the originals have not always been preserved.
About the position:
-
The doctoral position is funded by a
4-year NCN research project and is offered as a bursary position. The
project additionally covers expenses related to research queries,
participation in conferences, publications, etc., as well as running
costs.
-
You will benefit from the interaction with
the entire team, an Advisory Committee of professors from France,
Belgium and Germany and the visibility of research results produced by the
whole team.
2 - What do we expect from you?
- Master
degree in Law;
- proficiency in
English;
- proficiency
in German;
- expertise
in historical research and affinity for legal and/or institutional history is
a plus;
- good
editing skills, to be demonstrated by a sample of writing: a copy of the master
thesis and/or a research paper;
- good team
working and social skills;
- interest in
participating in international congresses;
- passion for
research in the above-mentioned domain, including archival research.
3 - Offer
You’ll be offered a full-time doctoral
position for 48 months and the remuneration of PLN
60,000 per year (including employer's costs),
At the University of Gdańsk, you’re guaranteed an
open, involved, and diverse workplace where you are offered opportunities
to (further) build on your career.
4 - Interested?
Send us ONLINE and at
the latest on 19/04/2024:
-
Motivation letter (in English, max. 500 words), mentioning also the
contents of the application file;
-
Curriculum vitae with a list of
publications if available;
-
Copy of the diploma (if graduated) and grade record of master studies;
-
A sample of writing: your master thesis (if finished) and/or your best
research paper (individual work);
-
Annexes, if relevant (awards, certificates, etc.)
-
Consent for the University of Gdańsk to
process personal data necessary for recruitment.
Interviews are planned for April 2024.
Do you have questions
about the job content?
Contact Anna
Klimaszewska at anna.klimaszewska@prawo.ug.edu.pl or at
+48-502-290-098.
Further information and the GDPR
consent statement is available at:
https://prawo.ug.edu.pl/dzialalnosc-naukowa/oferty-dla-wykonawcow-projektow-naukowych
