Introduction
Legal traditions, community, harmonization and integration have been the hallmarks of the Association's Annual Forums for 29 years. Values in law, which is the main topic of the 30th anniversary edition of the Meeting of Young Legal Historians, is an excellent opportunity to look at the issues discussed at previous forums from a wider perspective. The legal maxim Ubi societas ibi ius, which dates back to ancient times, is a simple affirmation of common sense: wherever there are people, wherever there is a community, wherever relationships and bonds are formed, there must be a certain order, which is referred to as ius — law. The conference “Values in law through the ages”, organized by the Faculty of Law and Administration and the Faculty of History of the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, will be a space for discussion on the transdisciplinary issues of axiological matters present in various cultures and legal systems.
Conference theme
We are planning to include various contexts for the use of the main topic at the conference. We invite you to submit proposals for papers from various fields of law and other fields related to law, clearly linked to historical and legal analysis and the topic of the conference. The proposed topics, which are not exhaustive, include in particular issues such as principles of law, rule of law, legal unlawfulness, revolutions in law, crises of values in law, inter-systemic and intra-systemic contrasts of values, history of human rights, theoretical concepts of values in law or constitutional protection of values.
Requirements for submitting abstracts
We invite submissions on essentially any aspect of the values in the legal history. Authors may approach the topic dogmatically, historically or comparatively, they may focus on a specific period and place or present general reflections on the axiology of law in a historical context. Authors are encouraged to use innovative approaches and transdisciplinary research.
If you would like to present a paper during the conference, please send an application including an abstract of not more than 300 words and your CV to aylhforum2026@amu.edu.pl before 30 April 2026. Acceptance letters will be sent out by the end of May. Please send documents in PDF format.
In justified individual cases, the forum's scientific committee may consider abstracts earlier. To do so, please contact the organizing committee, indicating “EARLY APPLICATION” in the subject line of your message.
Presentations have to be in English and should not exceed 15 minutes each. Since one of the primary goals of the conference is to allow young researchers to get to know each other personally, we only accept presentations in person.
Publication
We intend to publish the presented papers. The organizing committee intends to resume publication with Peter Lang Publishing, which was associated with the first editions of our forums. Depending on the number of interested parties and financial possibilities, we plan to publish another volume of the Yearbook of Young Legal History, or a monograph, or a special issue in a Polish academic journal. The related details will be sent in advance to the accepted participants.
Conference fee
Two types of conference fees are anticipated for this year's forum:
1. The conference fee without post-conference publication costs is 200 € and does not include travel or accommodation costs.
2. The conference fee including post-conference publication costs is 300 € and also does not include travel or accommodation costs.
After the announcement of the abstract selection results on May 31, 2026, the Organizing Committee will contact the selected participants with further information on registration by paying the conference fee.
Other information
The Forum will be in English, and each paper presentation should not exceed 15 minutes, so there is time for discussions in the last part of each panel.
The submission deadline is 30th April 2026. Abstracts received after the submission deadline will be declined. Please indicate in your application the type of participation (without publication or with publication).
Keep in mind that registration is limited to a number of people. Therefore, early registration is strongly recommended!
Event organization
The forum will last four days: the first day will be a welcome day with the participation of keynote speakers and a special guest, the next two days will feature many parallel sessions, and on the last day we are planning a jubilee meeting on organizational matters of the Association for Young Legal Historians.
Our meeting will take place in Poznań, the capital of Greater Poland. The city can be reached by plane or other means of transport (train, bus). We recommend planning your travel and accommodation in advance. The organizing committee will provide recommendations in this regard at a later date.
We look forward to receiving your abstracts and we will uncompromisingly endeavor to provide a conference that is both academically and socially fulfilling. We wish you all the best for this time!
Organizing Committee:
Dawid Szulc, MA, Department of Government Systems Studies and Political and Legal Thought – Committee Chair
Patryk Maćkowiak, MA, Department of Source Analysis and Auxiliary Historical Sciences – Vice Committee Chair
Fatma Mejri, MA, Department of Government Systems Studies and Political and Legal Thought
Maria Kola, MA, Department of Roman Law, Legal Traditions and Cultural Heritage Law
Szymon Siuda, MA, Department of Public Economic Law
Kamil Gaweł, MA, Department of Medical and Pharmaceutical Law at the Poznań University of Medical Sciences
