EUTOPIA CONNECTED LEARNING COMMUNITY LEGAL HISTORY 25-26 OPENING LECTURE: Prof. dr. Miloš VEC (Universität Wien), "After 1919 and after 1945: How two World Wars shaped German Thinking on International Law" (ONLINE, 14 NOV 2025, 15:00 Brussels Time)

 

(image source: University of Vienna)

The EUTopia Connected Learning Community Legal History is delighted to welcome Prof. dr. Miloš Vec (Universität Wien) for its annual opening lecture on Friday 14 November 2025.

Within the framework of this year's theme The End of War, Prof. Vec will address the following topic:

After 1919 and after 1945: How two World Wars shaped German Thinking on International Law

On the Speaker

Prof. Vec is currently at the Universität zu Köln as the Second Hans Kelsen Visiting Professor. Prior to being appointed at the Universität Wien in 2012, he taught and carried out research in Frankfurt, Hamburg, Bonn, Konstanz, Tübingen, Lyon II, Vilnius and at the Humboldt University in Berlin. He is a renowned legal historian. 

His publications include the monographs Zeremonialwissenschaft im Fürstenstaat. Studien zur juristischen und politischen Theorie absolutistischer Herrschaftsrepräsentation (Klostermann, 1998), Recht und Normierung in der Industriellen Revolution. Neue Strukturen der Normsetzung im Völkerrecht, staatlicher Gesetzgebung und gesellfschaftlicher Selbstnormierung (Klostermann, 2006) and -recently- Wolfgang Preiser (1903-1997) und sein "Institut für Geschichte des Völkerrechts" an der Universität Frankfurt Denkräume und Sozialwelten eines Völkerrechtshistorikers im 20. Jahrhundert (Nomos, 2025). He obtained the prestigious Otto Hahn Medal of the Max Planck Society in 1997, the Academy Prize of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences in 2008 and has been a senior Global Hauser Fellow at New York University in 2017. Between 2016 and 2020, he wass a permanent fellow at the Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen in Vienna. 

Prof. Vec is co-editor of Constructing International Law – The Birth of a Discipline (with Luigi Nuzzo, Klostermann, 2012), Paradoxes of Peace in Nineteenth Century Europe (with Thomas Hippler, Oxford, 2015), The Transformation of Foreign Policy (with Andreas Fahrmeir and Gunther Hellmann, Oxford, 2015), Western International Law, 1776-1870 (vol. VII of The Cambridge History of International Law, ed. Randall Lesaffer; with Paulina Starski, Cambridge, forthcoming) and The Congress of Vienna and the Transformation of International Law (with Matthias Schmoeckel, Brill, forthcoming). Prof. Vec equally is a member of the editorial board of the book series Studien zur Geschichte des Völkerrechts (Nomos) as well as of the Journal of the History of International Law/Revue d'histoire du droit international (Brill).

Prof. Vec contributes regularily to the leading German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, since 1989.

Practicalities

This lecture (with Q&A) takes place on Friday 14 November 2025 at 15:00 (Brussels/Paris Time), on Microsoft Teams. 

Target audience are lecturers/professors, researchers and students of the associated institutions (Vrije Universiteit Brussel - Prof. Frederik Dhondt; CY Cergy Paris Université - Prof. Caroula Argyriadis-Kervégan; University of Warwick, dr. Rosie Doyle; Univerza v Ljubljani, prof. dr. Katja Škrubej; Universitat Pompeu Fabra Barcelona, Prof. dr. Alfons Aragoneses). Yet, the meeting is also open to external particpants.

Interested listeners or auditors can contact Frederik dot Dhondt at vub dot be for registration.

More information is available on the website of the EUTopia learning community.

CONFERENCE: Occupation ou autorité légitime ? Le comportement des gens de guerre en procès, XIVe-XVIe siècles (Bruxelles: UCLouvain Saint-Louis, 21 MAR 2025)

(Image source: Université Saint-Louis)

This research workshop, organised as part of the F.R.S.-FNRS Welchange Project À l’origine du crime de guerre/The Cradle of War Crimes, seeks to address a crucial question regarding the conduct of war: how could military personnel, active in territorial control missions or armed occupations, be legally sanctioned? Late medieval and early modern occupations provide particularly fertile ground for studying the various processes of regulation between soldiers and local populations. These processes involve not only local authorities, military justice systems, or sovereign jurisdictions, but also more informal methods of conflict resolution. While regions such as Normandy and English-occupied Calais have been extensively studied, recent research has also highlighted other areas, such as the Boulonnais region invaded by Henry VIII, as well as the military conquests of colonial empires. Examining the regulation of military violence within contexts of occupation requires particular focus on the distinctions between ordinary wartime violence and war crimes. This workshop aims, in particular, to explore how the often-blurred line between the two is influenced by both the necessity of maintaining order and the occupying power’s need to present itself as a legitimate authority. As such, the aim of this workshop is to facilitate a collective discussion on justice practices and the regulation of military violence in contexts of occupation. We seek to consider the long-term impact of these judicial practices on perceptions of armed violence, the customs of war, and ultimately, the development of international law.

Program

10:00: Welcoming coffee
10:30: Eric Bousmar (UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles) – Introduction
10:40: Christophe Masson (ULiège) & Quentin Verreycken (UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles) – Doing Historical Research with a Social Impact: The ‘Cradle of War Crimes’ Project
10:55: Michael Depreter (UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles) – The Political Trial of History's First War Criminal? Peter von Hagenbach Facing Historical and Historiographical Judgment
11:10: Perrine Stennier (ULiège) – A Journey Through the Archives of Communal Trials of the Papal Soldiers in Central Italy during the 15th Century
11:25: Discussions on the project
11:35: Coffee break
11:45: Anne Curry (University of Southampton) – English Military Disciplinary Ordinances, Late 14th-Early 16th Centuries
12:35: Lunch break
14:00: Rémy Ambühl (University of Southampton) – Recriminations Against English Captains After the Fall of Lancastrian Normandy (Around the Early 1450s)
14:50: Neil Murphy (Northumbria University) – Soldiers, Civilians and Henry VIII's Wars of Occupation
15:40: Coffee break
16:00-17:00: Final discussions

Practical information

• When: Friday, 21 March 2025
• Where: UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles (43 boulevard du Jardin botanique – 1000 Bruxelles) /Room P61 (Préfecture, 6th floor)
• Who: Eric Bousmar, Michael Depreter, Perrine Stennier, Christophe Masson) et Quentin Verreycken (Comité organisateur
• Contact: quentin.verreycken[at]uclouvain.be

More information can be found here

REMINDER SYMPOSIUM/CFP: 'The Worlds of Pre-Modern Neutrality (ca. 1400-1800): Norms, Institutions and Practices' [Special Issue/Numéro spécial Clio@Thémis] (Antwerp: Conscience Heritage Library, 8-9 MAY 2025)

Symposium: The Worlds of Pre-Modern Neutrality (ca. 1400-1800):
Norms, Institutions and Practices 

Conveners: dr. Stefano Cattelan & Prof. dr. Frederik Dhondt -
Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Research Group CORE 

Supported by FWO Junior Fundamental Research Project G016122N (2024-2026)

Venue: Nottebohm Room, Hendrik Conscience Heritage Library - Hendrik Conscienceplein 4, 2000 Antwerp (Belgium)

Date: 8-9 May 2025

   

Concept: To ensure their security in a world dominated by competing Great Powers, states have the choice between an alliance or a neutral position. If we consider the world as governed by brute force, neutrality (the choice not to participate in a conflict between two or more other polities) would merely be a factual condition, dependent on the big players’ goodwill. Even today the ongoing war in Ukraine and the geopolitical tensions between China and the US pose existential challenges to third countries and their positioning, demonstrating the persistent vitality of the concept of neutrality in the 21st century. This equally reverberates on third states’ nationals and other non-state actors. The articulation of the set of rights and duties associated with neutrality has a long pedigree in legal history. The rhetorical use of legal arguments is intertwined with the protection of one’s territory and population but also with the interdependence that fosters trade, especially at sea, connecting markets, spaces and peoples. Law and power are never disconnected in matters related to neutrality, a mutual and reciprocal influence of both tenets is usually present.

This symposium aims to contribute new insights to the long-term history of neutrality, focusing on its ‘pre modern’ dimension broadly understood (ca. 1400-1800). Indeed, the law of neutrality started to emerge in the Early Modern Age through the practices and beliefs of the European state system, but also from its interactions with non-European normative and cultural systems. Different but complementary angles of approach can be used to understand this phenomenon: e.g. diplomatic history, IR history, political history, economic history and legal history. Throughout history, polities as well as private actors have interpreted neutrality in flexible and divergent ways, e.g. proposing a proactive-assertive approach or a more passive and inward looking one.

Benefiting from multiple disciplinary perspectives, the symposium takes into consideration both the theory and the practice of neutrality, advancing our knowledge of the often-contested conceptualisation of legal regimes at sea as well as on land. Such a conceptualisation depended on the interaction between situations of peace and diverged across different temporal and spatial coordinates. The symposium participants will also unravel the recurrent misalignment between legal-dogmatic approaches and practical uses of knowledge, as well as its intellectual and bureaucratic production. As such, the symposium participates in a broader turn to bottom-up approaches in the history of international law, a booming field of interdisciplinary research. 

Keynote speakers: Prof. Silvia Marzagalli, Université Côte d’Azur & Prof. Éric Schnakenbourg, Nantes Université.

Venue: The symposium will be held at the Hendrik Conscience Heritage Library (Antwerp) on 8th-9th May 2025. It will be a relatively small event in order to enable in depth discussions. Applications for participation, including a 250-word abstract and a 100-word brief biography should be sent to stefano.cattelan@vub.be by 1st October 2024. The conference organization is willing to consider funding demands for travel and accommodation from scholars without an own bench fee or project means, or from the Global South, depending on the means available. The conference will be held at the historical building of the Hendrik Conscience Heritage Library in the city centre of Antwerp, which is close to the city’s Central Station and easily reachable from Brussels-Zaventem Airport by train. 

(Nottebohm Room at the Hendrik Conscience Heritage Library. Source: Erfgoed Bibliotheek)

Themes: The conference explores many facets of pre-modern neutrality. We invite twenty-minute papers on various aspects of this phenomena. Suggested paper topics include, but are not limited to: 

• Aspects related to maritime neutrality (axis 1), e.g. privateering, contraband, blockade and strategies developed by private actors (e.g. merchants, but also bankers) or urban authorities to align their interests with the most favourable interpretation of state policy.

• Aspects related to neutrality on land (axis 2), e.g. innocent passage, neutralisation and strategies developed by private actors, urban authorities or seignorial power brokers to obtain the most favourable outcome of their interactions with both belligerents and the neutral polities norms and actions.

• The conceptualisation of neutrality in legal doctrine, political and economic thought.

• The practice of neutrality: military and diplomatic aspects, but also case law, prize papers and private business archives.

• Small power neutrality, as a balancing element in the European or extra-European state system.

Deadlines: paper proposal should be sent by 1st October 2024. Draft versions of the papers should be sent to the conveners by 15th March 2025 to allow their circulation among participants. 

Publication: The contributions to the conference (in English or French) will be submitted to the journal Clio@Themis for publication. They will undergo a double-blind review as part of the dossier for issue 31|2026, according to the following schedule:

• Submission of articles by December 1, 2025.

• First evaluation of articles during the January 2026 committee meeting.

• Submission of revised articles by May 1, 2026.

• Second evaluation of articles during the June 2026 committee meeting.

• Final submission of articles by September 15, 2026.

• Publication in November 2026.

Contact Information: dr. Stefano Cattelan (Vrije Universiteit Brussel), email: stefano.cattelan@vub.be.

Selected bibliography: 

Akashi, Kinji, Cornelius Van Bynkershoek: His Role in the History of International Law (Boston: Kluwer Law International, 1998).

Alatri, Paolo, Le relazioni internazionali in Europa nella prima metà del XVIII secolo (Napoli: IISF, 1990).

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

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

Baugh, Daniel A., The Global Seven Years War, 1754–1763: Britain and France in a Great Power Contest (Harlow and New York: Longman, 2011).

Bazzoli, Maurizio, Il piccolo Stato nell’età moderna. Studi su un concetto della politica internazionale tra XVI e XVIII secolo (Milano: Jaca Book, 1990).

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

Blyte Raviola, Alice, L’Europa dei piccoli stati. Dalla prima età moderna al declino dell’antico regime (Roma: Carocci, 2008).

Bromley, John S, Corsairs and Navies: 1660–1760 (London: Hambledon Press, 1987).

Cahen, Raphael, Dhondt, Frederik and Fiocchi Malaspina, Elisabetta, ‘L’essor récent de l’histoire du droit international’, Clio@Thémis, 18 (2020) 1-7.

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

Cattelan, Stefano, ‘Maritime warfare in Old Regime Europe, 1660-1776’ in The Cambridge History of International Law, vol. VI/2: International Law in Ancien Regime Europe (ed. Lesaffer, Randall) (Cambridge: University Press, forthcoming).

Id. and Kubben, Raymond, ‘Warfare on land in Old Regime Europe, 1660-1776’, in The Cambridge History of International Law, vol. VI/2: International Law in Ancien Regime Europe (ed. Lesaffer, Randall) (Cambridge: University Press, forthcoming).

Id., ‘In the Shadow of the Great Powers: Freedom of the Sea and Neutrality in the Long Eighteenth Century’, research note in Grotiana, 44(1) (2023) 145-53.

Id., ‘Challenging Empires: Pirates, Privateers and the Europeanisation of Ocean Spaces (c. 1500–1650)’, in Giuseppina de Giudici, Dante Fedele and Elisabetta Fiocchi Malaspina (eds.), Soggettività contestate e diritto internazionale in età moderna (Rome: Historia et ius, 2023), 125-51.

Chanet, Jean-François and Windler, Christian (dir.), Les ressources des faibles. Neutralités, sauvegardes, accommodements en temps de guerre (XVIIe-XVIIIe siècles) (Rennes: Presses universitaires de Rennes, 2010).

Clark, George N., The Dutch Alliance and the War against French Trade, 1688–1697 (Manchester: University Press, 1923).

Crouzet, François, La guerre économique franco-anglaise au XVIIIe siècle (Paris: Fayard, 2008).

Dadson, Trevor J. and Elliott, John H., Britain, Spain and the Treaty of Utrecht, 1713-2013 (London: MHRA-Maney, 2014).

Davies, J. D., James, Alan and Rommelse, Gijs (eds.), Ideologies of Western Naval Power, c. 1500–1815 (New York: Routledge, 2020).

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)’, Revue Belge de Philologie et d’Histoire, 93 (2015), 397-437.

Id., ‘Looking Beyond the Tip of the Iceberg: Diplomatic Praxis and Legal Culture in the History of Public International Law’, Rechtskultur 2 (2013), 31-42.

Id., ‘The Historiography of International Law on the European Continent’, in: Lesaffer and Peters (eds.), The Historiography of International Law, 244-272.

Dollot, René, Les origines de la neutralité de la Belgique et le système de la Barrière (1609-1830) (Paris: Félix Alcan, 1902).

Félicité, Indravati, Négocier pour exister: les villes et duchés du nord de l'Empire face à la France 1650-1730 (Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter, 2016).

Fulton, Thomas W., The Sovereignty of the Sea (London-Edinburgh: William Blackwood & Sons, 1911).

Gotthard, Axel. Der liebe und werthe Fried: Kriegskonzepte und Neutralitätsvorstellungen in der Frühen Neuzeit (Köln: Böhlau, 2014). 

Grewe, Wilhelm G., The Epochs of International Law (Berlin/New York: De Gruyter, 2000)

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

Jessup, Philip C. and Deák, Francis, Neutrality: its History, Economics and Law: The Origins Vol. 1 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1935).

Kleen, Richard, Lois et usages de la neutralité d’après le droit international conventionnel et coutumier des états civilisés (Paris: Chevalier-Maresq, 1898). 

Kulsrud, Carl J., Maritime Neutrality to 1780: A History of the Main Principles Governing Neutrality and Belligerency to 1780 (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co., 1936).

Lesaffer, Randall and Peters, Anne (eds.), The Historiography of International Law, vol. I of The Cambridge History of International Law (Cambridge: University Press, 2024).

Marzagalli, Silvia, Les consuls en Méditerranée, agents d’information, XVIe-XXe siècle (Paris: Classiques Garnier, 2015).

Mattéi, Jean-Mathieu, Histoire du droit de la guerre (1700–1819) (Aix-en-Provence: Presses universitaires d’Aix-Marseille 2006).

Morozzi, Ubaldo, Endangered Neutrality. Tuscany, England and the Plowman Case (1696–1704) (London: Springer, 2024).

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

Id., ‘Sweden’s Early-Modern Neutrality: Neutral Vessels, Prize Cases and Diplomatic Actors in London in the Late Eighteenth Century’, Journal of Early Modern History, 23(5) (2019), 475–90.

Naguib Leerberg, Nora, The Legal Politics of Neutrality in the Age of Privateering. Martin Hübner’s Law of Neutrality and Prize (Oslo: Dreyersforlag, 2015).

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

Id., War and the Law of Nations. A General History (Cambridge: University Press 2005).

Id., Justice among Nations. A History of International Law (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2014).

Nimwegen, Olaf Van, De republiek der Verenigde Nederlanden als grote mogendheid: buitenlandse politiek en oorlogvoering in de eerste helft van de achttiende eeuw en in het bijzonder tijdens de Oostenrijkse Successieoorlog (1740-1748) (Amsterdam: Bataafsche Leeuw, 2002).

Ormrod, David, and Gijs Rommelse (eds.), War, Trade and the State: Anglo-Dutch Conflict 1652–89 (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press 2020).

Pares, Richard, Colonial Blockade and Neutral Rights, 1739–1763 (Oxford: Clarendon Press 1938).

Rodger, Nicholas A. M., The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain, 1649–1815 (London: Allen Lane, 2004).

Id., ‘The Law and Language of Private Naval Warfare’, The Mariner’s Mirror, 100(1) (2014), 5-16

Schnakenbourg, Éric (ed.), Neutres et neutralité dans l’espace atlantique durant le long XVIIIe siècle (1700–1820): une approche globale (Bécherel: Editions Les Perséides, 2015).

Id., Entre la guerre et la paix: Neutralité et relations internationales, XVIIe–XVIIIe Siècles (Rennes: Presses universitaires, 2013).

Id., ‘A Challenge to State Authority: Controlling French Privateers’ Violence towards Neutrals in the late 17th and 18th Century’, Forum Navale, 70 (2013), 16-39.

Id., ‘La géographie des diplomates: la mondialisation de la diplomatie à l’époque moderne’, Revue d’histoire moderne & contemporaine, 67(1) (2020), 139-62.

Id., ‘Neutral cover and globalised commerce in the wars of the 18th century’, Magallanica. Revista de Historia moderna, 5(10) (2019), 57-77.

Id., La quasi-guerre. Le conflit entre la France et les États-Unis. 1796-1800 (Paris: Tallandier, 2024).

Schopfer, Sidney, Le principe juridique de la neutralité et son évolution dans l’histoire du droit de la guerre (Lausanne: Libraire F. Rouge, 1894).

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

Steiger, Heinhard, ‘Neutralität’, in Otto Brunner, Werner Conze and Reinhard Koselleck (eds.), Geschichtliche Grundbegriffe. Historisches Lexikon zur politisch-sozialen Sprache in Deutschland (Stuttgart: Steiner, 1987), vol. IV, 315-370.

Talini, Giulio, ‘Giovanni Maria Lampredi and the neutrality of small states in eighteenth-century Europe’, Intellectual History Review, 33(2) (2021), 227-48.

Vec, Miloš, ‘Neutralität’, in Albrecht Cordes et al. (eds.), Handwörterbuch zur deutschen Rechtsgeschichte (Berlin: Schmidt, 2016), 1892-1896.

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

Symposium: Les mondes de la neutralité prémoderne (1400-1800) : institutions, normes et pratiques

Organisateurs: dr. Stefano Cattelan & Prof. dr. Frederik Dhondt - Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Centre de recherches CORE

Soutenu par le Projet de recherche fondamental G016122N (2024-2026, Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique - Flandre)

Lieu: Salle Nottebohm, Bibliothèque patrimoniale Hendrik Conscience
Hendrik Conscienceplein 4, 2000 Anvers (Belgique)

Date: 8-9 mai 2025

Argumentaire: Pour assurer leur sécurité dans un monde dominé par des grandes puissances en compétition, les États ont le choix entre une alliance ou une position neutre. Si nous considérons que le monde est régi par la force brute, la neutralité (le choix de ne pas participer à un conflit entre deux ou plusieurs autres entités) ne serait qu'une condition factuelle, dépendant du gré des grands acteurs. Aujourd'hui encore, la guerre en Ukraine et les tensions géopolitiques entre la Chine et les États-Unis posent des défis aux pays tiers et à leur positionnement, démontrant la vitalité persistante du concept de neutralité au 21e siècle. Cela se répercute également sur les ressortissants des États tiers et sur d'autres acteurs non étatiques. L'articulation de l'ensemble des droits et des devoirs associés à la neutralité a un long pedigree dans l'histoire du droit. L'utilisation rhétorique d'arguments juridiques est liée à la protection du territoire et de la population, mais aussi à l'interdépendance qui favorise le commerce, en particulier en mer, reliant les marchés, les espaces et les peuples. Le droit et le pouvoir ne sont jamais déconnectés dans les questions liées à la neutralité, une influence mutuelle et réciproque des deux est généralement présente.

Ce symposium vise à apporter de nouvelles perspectives à l’étude de la longue durée du concept de neutralité, en se concentrant sur sa dimension "pré-moderne" au sens large (vers 1400-1800). En effet, le droit de la neutralité a commencé à émerger au début de l'époque moderne à travers les pratiques et les croyances du système étatique européen, mais aussi à partir de ses interactions avec des systèmes normatifs et culturels non européens. Des angles d'approche différents mais complémentaires peuvent être utilisés pour comprendre ce phénomène: par exemple, l'histoire diplomatique, l'histoire des relations internationales, l'histoire politique, l'histoire économique et l'histoire du droit. Tout au long de l'histoire, les politiques ainsi que les acteurs privés ont interprété la neutralité de manière flexible et divergente, proposant parfois une approche proactive-affirmative ou une approche plus passive. 

Bénéficiant de perspectives disciplinaires multiples, le symposium prend en considération à la fois la théorie et la pratique de la neutralité, faisant progresser notre connaissance de la conceptualisation souvent contestée des régimes juridiques en mer comme sur terre. Une telle conceptualisation dépend de l'interaction entre les situations de paix et de guerre, divergeant à travers différentes coordonnées temporelles et spatiales. Les contributions des participants mettront également en lumière le décalage récurrent entre les approches juridico-dogmatiques et les usages pratiques des connaissances, ainsi que leur production intellectuelle et bureaucratique. Le symposium participe ainsi à un tournant plus large vers la pratique étatique dans l'histoire du droit international, un domaine de recherche interdisciplinaire en plein essor.

Conférenciers principaux: Prof. Silvia Marzagalli, Université Côte d’Azur & Prof. Éric Schnakenbourg, Nantes Université.

Lieu: Le symposium se tiendra à la Bibliothèque patrimoniale Hendrik Conscience (Anvers) les 8 et 9 mai 2025. L'événement se déroulera à échelle relativement réduite (max. 30 participants) afin de privilégier des discussions intenses et approfondies. L'organisation est disposée à prendre en considération des demandes de financement pour le voyage et l'hébergement émanant de chercheurs ne disposant pas d'un droit d'inscription propre ou de moyens pour leur projet, ou provenant du Sud global, en fonction des moyens disponibles. Les travaux se tiendront dans le bâtiment historique de la Hendrik Conscience Heritage Library dans le centre-ville d'Anvers, à proximité de la gare centrale de la ville et facilement accessible en train depuis l'aéroport de Bruxelles-Zaventem.

Thématiques: Nous invitons les participants à présenter des communications de vingt minutes portant sur les nombreuses facettes de la neutralité prémoderne. Les thèmes suggérés sont, entre autres, les suivants: 

• Les aspects liés à la neutralité maritime (axe 1), par exemple la guerre de course, la contrebande, le blocus et les stratégies développées par les acteurs privés (par exemple les marchands, mais aussi les banquiers) ou les autorités urbaines pour aligner leurs intérêts sur l'interprétation la plus favorable de la politique de l'État.

• Les aspects liés à la neutralité sur terre (axe 2), par exemple le passage inoffensif, la neutralisation et les stratégies développées par les acteurs privés, les autorités urbaines ou les courtiers en pouvoirs seigneuriaux pour obtenir le résultat le plus favorable de leurs interactions avec les belligérants et les normes et actions de la politique de neutralité.

• La conceptualisation de la neutralité dans la doctrine juridique et la pensée politique et économique.

• La pratique de la neutralité: les aspects militaires et diplomatiques, mais aussi la jurisprudence, les prize papers et les archives d'entreprises privées.

• La neutralité des puissances de taille petite ou moyenne, en tant qu'élément d'équilibre dans le système étatique européen ou extra-européen.

Envoi des candidatures: Les propositions de communication, comprenant un résumé de 250 mots et une brève biographie de 100 mots, doivent être envoyées à stefano.cattelan@vub.be avant le 1er octobre 2024.  Les versions préliminaires des documents doivent être envoyées aux organisateurs avant le 15 mars 2025 pour permettre leur diffusion parmi les participants. 

Publication: Les contributions à la conférence (en anglais ou en français) seront soumises à la revue Clio@Themis pour publication. Elles feront l’objet d’une évaluation en double aveugle dans le cadre du dossier du numéro 31|2026, selon le calendrier suivant :

• Remise des articles au 1er décembre 2025.

• Première évaluation des articles lors du comité de janvier 2026.

• Remise des articles corrigés au 1er mai 2026.

• Seconde évaluation des articles lors du comité de juin 2026.

• Remise définitive des articles au 15 septembre 2026.

• Parution en novembre 2026.

Renseignements: dr. Stefano Cattelan (Vrije Universiteit Brussel), email: stefano.cattelan@vub.be.

Bibliographie indicative: 

Akashi, Kinji, Cornelius Van Bynkershoek: His Role in the History of International Law (Boston: Kluwer Law International, 1998).

Alatri, Paolo, Le relazioni internazionali in Europa nella prima metà del XVIII secolo (Napoli: IISF, 1990).

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

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

Baugh, Daniel A., The Global Seven Years War, 1754–1763: Britain and France in a Great Power Contest (Harlow and New York: Longman, 2011).

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