VUB Contextual Research in Law

  (image source: TREATYLAB )  Three full-time PhD vacancies for the ERC Consolidator Grant TREATYLAB ("The Labyrinth of Treaties, 1712-1763. International Law Behind the Scenes of Early Enlightenment Diplomacy") have been published.  More information on the project's website .

  (image source: Premio Bartolo da Sassoferrato ) Next Saturday ( 13 June at 16:30 ), dr. Stefano Cattelan (JURI/CORE) is due to receive the prestigious Premio Bartolo da Sassoferrato per le scienze giuridiche e politico-sociali for his monograph Mare Clausum. The Formation of the Law of the Sea in Pre-Modern State Practice and Legal Doctrine (c. 1350–1650) (Martinus Nijhoff/Brill, Legal History Library, eds. Dirk Heirbaut, Michelle McKinley, Matthew C. Mirow & Remco Van Rhee, vol. 77/ Studies in the History of International Law, ed. Randall Lesaffer, vol. 28, 2025).  This prestigious legal award is named after Bartolus of Sassoferrato (1313-1357), the renowned fourteenth century postglossator or commentator, who continues to live on in the adagium “ nemo bonus jurista nisi bartolista” (no one can be truly called a lawyer if he or she is not familiar with Bartolus’ work). Among the other laureates this year: Sabino Cassese, president of the Corte Costituzionale (the It...

(Léna Sylvestre reading out the French Ministry for Higher Education and Research's oath as doctor, ' serment d'intégrité scientifique ') On Saturday 23 May, dr. Léna Sylvestre became the 7th doctor of our research group since 2020 , after succesfully defending at the Maison de la Recherche Annie Ernaux , Auditorium (Cergy-Pontoise), 23 May 2026. We congratulate her on this achievement. Dissertation title:  L'influence de la pluralité linguistique dans l'élaboration et l'application de normes juridiques internationales : Étude de cas historique du régime multilingue de l'Organisation des Nations Unies )  (539 p., incl. annexes)   Supervisors: prof. dr. Frederik Dhondt - prof. dr. Caroula Argyriadis-Kervégan (Cergy Paris Université) Jury: Prof. dr. Dirk Heirbaut (UGent/KVAB) Prof. dr. Sylvie Monjean-Decaudin (Sorbonne Université) Prof. dr. Paul De Hert (VUB) Dr. Gesa Dannenberg (CY) Prof. dr. Renaud Baumert (CY) (president)

  (Louis XIV by Le Brun; source: Wikimedia Commons ) On Thusrday 28 May, prof. Frederik Dhondt was interviewed by Gert Geens (VRT Radio 1/De Wereld Vandaag) on the abolition of the Code Noir  enacted by Louis XIV. More information here .

  (image source: SHD Turin ) dr. Stefano Cattelan and Prof. Frederik Dhondt will present at the Journées internationales  of the Société d'Histoire du Droit , organised in Turin by the University of Turin around the theme "Droit de l’art, du patrimoine et des biens culturels: histoires, normes, circulations". More information on the conference website .

  Prof. Dr.  Dave De ruysscher  has been awarded the Jean Stengers Prize of the Académie Royale de Belgique for the triennial period 2023–2025.  He received this distinction in recognition of his study A Political Economy Imparted: Trade, Law, and Institutions in Antwerp c. 1400–1680 , a work that sheds new light on the interplay between legal frameworks and economic development in the early modern Low Countries.  Our warmest congratulations to the laureate!