VUB Contextual Research in Law

    (image source:  ESCLH Blog )   On the book: More than half of the world's population lives under law codes. Yet, defining the concept of codification remains elusive. Rather than delving into abstract theories, this book provides a rich and contextual comparative legal history of codes in France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium from the late eighteenth century to the present. The author starts by examining the evolution of French, German, Dutch, and Belgian codes in their political and comparative context, thus challenging deeply rooted national narratives. He covers the well-studied civil codes and the often-overlooked commercial and procedural codes and drafts that failed to become law. Against this backdrop, the book embarks on a comprehensive analysis of the factors contributing to the success or failure of codification efforts. Employing an innovative method of comparative legal history, Redefining Codification explores the key players and objectives b...

Speculative Legal Theory and World (Dis-)order José Antonio Magalhães  is a juridico-political theorist and currently a research fellow at  ICI-Berlin .    Abstract: The world we thought we lived in, built on eras of diplomacy among human and non-human peoples, seems to be falling apart in the sway of technological acceleration, ecological collapse and geopolitical turmoil. In times of cosmic stability, the work of the jurist became either technical, analytic, interpretive, critical or deconstructive, taking for granted fundamental juridical concepts as well as the world-order they maintain. When, however, worlds themselves are up for grabs, jurists are called upon to create or find the concepts necessary for unforeseen world-arrangements. That implies a mode of jurisprudence different in nature from the ones mentioned above, one in which we cannot take for granted that we know what law is. We call it speculative legal theory. We will explore some basic definitions o...

  (click on image to enlarge) Dr. Stefano Cattelan will present on Venetian maritime policies between justice and sovereignty, at the lecture series History & Law Encounters , organised by prof. Elisabetta Fusar Poli and Federica Paletti at the University of Brescia. more information on the image above.

(image source: Cambridge Core )   Vol. 6 of The Cambridge History of International Law  (International Law in Early Modern Europe) has been published on Cambridge Core. Three CORE-members contributed chapters: - dr. Stefano Cattelan : (with Raymond Kubben) "Warfare on Land in Old Regime Europe" (DOI 10.1017/9781108757355.019) and "Maritime Warfare in Old Regime Europe" (DOI 10.1017/9781108757355.020) - Prof. Dave De ruysscher : "Trade and Navigation in Renaissance Europe" (Section 1, DOI 10.1017/9781108757355.010) and "Trade in Old Regime Europe" (Section 2, DOI 10.1017/9781108757355.022) - Prof. Frederik Dhondt , "Territory and Jurisdiction in Old Regime Europe" (DOI 10.1017/9781108757355.016) Read more on Cambridge Core .

  (image source:  ESCLH Blog )   On the book: More than half of the world's population lives under law codes. Yet, defining the concept of codification remains elusive. Rather than delving into abstract theories, this book provides a rich and contextual comparative legal history of codes in France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium from the late eighteenth century to the present. The author starts by examining the evolution of French, German, Dutch, and Belgian codes in their political and comparative context, thus challenging deeply rooted national narratives. He covers the well-studied civil codes and the often-overlooked commercial and procedural codes and drafts that failed to become law. Against this backdrop, the book embarks on a comprehensive analysis of the factors contributing to the success or failure of codification efforts. Employing an innovative method of comparative legal history, Redefining Codification explores the key players and objectives behind c...

  Prof. Frederik Dhondt published an entry in the Max Planck Encyclopedia of International Procedural Law  in 2021 on the 1464 draft treaty of pacification proposed by Georg of Podebrad, King of Hungary.  Due to the move of the whole Max Planck Encyclopedias of International Law  to open access, the final version can at present be consulted by all with Oxford University Press. Abstract: The ‘Treaty on the Establishment of Peace Throughout Christendom’ is a draft treaty proposed in 1463 and 1464 by king George of Poděbrad of Bohemia (1420-1471) to the Kings of Hungary, Poland and France, as well as to the Republic of Venice. Formulated as a plan for a crusade against the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II (1432-1481), who had taken Constantinople in 1453, the text foresees the creation of an international organisation comprising all European sovereigns, in equal ‘universal fraternity’. The use of force between members of this new organisation would be strictly forbidden. A pa...