VUB Contextual Research in Law

(image source: Owl Press)   Prof. Laurence Heindryckx and Prof. Dave De ruysscher edited the volume Sites of Construction: Connected Histories , published by Owl Press. The book is the final publication of the EOS research project Above and Beyond Construction History. Abstract: Sites of Construction: Connected Histories reconceptualises construction as a dispersed, multi-sited and interdisciplinary field of practice. The volume explores the legal, logistical, educational, colonial, political and social forces that shape the production of the historic built environment.  The volume also includes two contributions involving CORE researcher Louis Debersaques : “The Chambers of the Investigating Judge: The Translocation of the Construction Site via Preliminary Judicial Inquiries into Accidents and Some Methodological Considerations (Belgium, Late Nineteenth–Early Twentieth Centuries)”, authored by Louis Debersaques, and “The Expert’s Not-knowing: Authority as Art”, co-authored ...

(image source: Franz Steiner Verlag)  Prof. Dave De ruysscher contributed a chapter on the perceived dangers of legal pluralism in sixteenth-century Antwerp to the collective volume Friedlicher Handel oder umkämpfte Geschäfte? Handel und Handelsrecht in der Vormoderne zwischen Krieg und Frieden , published by Franz Steiner Verlag.  Read more here .

  (image generated with AI, click to enlarge) Prof. Laurent Desutter will present his book Superweak  (see earlier on our blog) in Lisbon on Friday 11 September. The work will be introduced by drs. João Tiago Freitas Mendes .

(image source: Firenze University Press) Prof. Dave De ruysscher contributed a chapter on the emergence of a municipal legal culture of insolvency in the Low Countries to the collective volume Gestione del rischio, insolvenza e bancarotta nel mondo premoderno (secc. XIII-XVIII) / Risk Management, Insolvency, and Bankruptcy in the Pre-Modern World (13th-18th Centuries) , edited by Angela Orlandi.  Read the chapter here in open access: DOI 10.36253/979-12-215-0963-2.09.

Jemmy Suwannaluck joins CORE as a PhD student under the supervision of Prof. dr. Dave De ruysscher and Prof. dr. Frederik Dhondt . His research focuses on the legal history of sovereign debt and default, with particular attention to the development of collective negotiations and the legal mechanisms through which sovereign debt has been addressed historically and in international economic law.  Jemmy presents himself as follows:  I approach law across disciplinary and geographical boundaries, with research interests ranging from international law to legal history. I am particularly interested in how legal norms and institutions evolve through encounters between different actors, jurisdictions and economic interests, and in the broader social and cultural contexts in which these interactions unfold. My doctoral research brings this approach to the legal history of sovereign debt and default, exploring the development of collective negotiations. Through historical analysis, I ...

(image source: ESIL )   dr. Stefano Cattelan will present at the European Society of International Law/Société européenne de droit international 's Annual Conference, namely at the pre-conference event " Conflict, Crisis, Continuity - Historical Perspectives " at the Universidad de Malaga on 3 September 2026, organised by the Interest Group History of International Law. More information on the ESIL IGHIL's website .