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BOOK: Stefano CATTELAN, Mare Clausum: The Formation of the Law of the Sea in Pre-Modern State Practice and Legal Doctrine (c. 1350–1650) [Legal History Library, eds. Dirk HEIRBAUT, Michelle McKINLEY, Matthew C. MIROW and C.H. VAN RHEE, 77; Studies in the History of International Law, ed. Randall LESAFFER, 28] (Leiden/Boston: Martinus Nijhoff/Brill, 2025), ISBN 9789004741393, € 147,34

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  (image source:  Brill ) Abstract: Who owns the sea? This book explores this timeless question by tracing the development of claims over the sea from the late Middle Ages to the early modern era, shedding light on the complex interplay between legal arguments, political interests, and geostrategic realities. By the time Hugo Grotius’s Mare liberum (1609) famously championed the freedom of the seas, competing traditions of ‘claimed seas’ had already shaped European legal debates for centuries. Examining three macro-regions – the Mediterranean, the seas of Northern Europe, and the world oceans – this study challenges the dominant Grotius-centric narrative, offering a broader perspective on how political actors and jurists justified exclusive maritime rights long before John Selden’s Mare clausum (1635). While assessing the Eurocentric foundations of the modern law of the sea, it reveals how historical legal arguments and notions continue to shape contemporary ocean governance. ...
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REMINDER: 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)

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    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 More information on the EUTopia CoLeCo Legal History's  blog . 
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ARTICLE: Antoine LECLÈRE, "S’opposer pour exister : les contestations juridiques et diplomatiques de François-Antoine de Méan face à l’annexion de la principauté de Liège (1794-1801)", Revue d'Histoire liégeoise V (2025)

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  (image source: Belgian State Archives ) drs. Antoine Leclère (Joint PhD Candidate VUB/ULiège-FNRS PhD Fellow) published an article in the Revue d'Histoire liégeoise , published by the Belgian State Archives, in the thematic issue  Il y a 230 ans, la fin de la principauté de Liège . Read more here .
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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)

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  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 More information on the EUTopia CoLeCo Legal History's blog . 
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CORE SEMINAR IN LEGAL THEORY: Lorraine DASTON, "The History of Rules" (VUB: 4 C.05, 19 NOV 2025, 12:00-13:30) [HYBRID]

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      (image source:  Wikimedia Commons ) Abstract: Rules shape nearly every aspect of our lives—from how we work and drive to how we greet each other and mark life’s milestones. We may resent some and crave others, but no culture can exist without them. To understand why rules matter, one must trace their history beyond their purely juridical ecology of production: from legal codes and cookbooks to military manuals and traffic regulations. Surprisingly, across centuries and contexts, their forms remain remarkably few. During this seminar, Lorraine Daston will explore the three enduring forms of rules—the algorithms that calculate, the laws that govern, and the models that teach. She will show how rules evolve, how they stiffen or soften, and how once-irritating regulations become daily habits. Far from being mere constraints, rules are also resources—tools that reveal as much about human imagination as they do about order. On the author: Lorraine Daston is one of th...
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WORKING PAPER: Stefano CATTELAN, "Visualising, Exploring, and Claiming the Oceans: Cartography and Nautical Technology in an Age of Transition (c. 15th -16th Centuries)", in Technological change and international law : pre-conference workshops of the ESIL interest groups, ESIL annual conference, Vilnius, 4 September 2024 [Academy of European Law/European Society of International Law Proceedings] (Firenze: EUI, OCT 2025) [OPEN ACCESS]

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(image source: ESIL ) Dr. Stefano Cattelan contributed to the ESIL Proceedings  volume on  Technological change and international law: pre-conference workshops of the ESIL interest groups, ESIL annual conference, Vilnius, 4 September 2024  (pp. 34-40). Read more here  (open access).
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CONFERENCE PAPER: Raphaël CAHEN, "Romanité et littoral dans la pensée juridique d’Eugène Cauchy" [Romanité et littoral] (La Rochelle: Université de La Rochelle, Amphi Rivero, 9-10 OCT 2025)

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  (image source: Université de La Rochelle ) dr. Raphaël Cahen contributed a paper to the colloquium Romanité et littoral , held at La Rochelle on 9-10 October 2025.  More information here .
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