VUB Contextual Research in Law

  (image source: cairn ) Joint PhD-candidate Antoine Leclère (FNRS/ULiège) published an article in the Revue du Nord . Abstract: Between 1785 and 1787, the ecclesiastical and imperial Principality of Liège witnessed a series of legal proceedings that were fundamental to the Liège revolution that followed in 1789 : l’affaire des jeux de Spa. This was above all an accumulation of trials before the territorial and imperial courts. From a simple quarrel over the practice of gambling, the trials quickly questioned the form of government of the Principality and the powers of the prince-bishop. The case was brought before the Imperial Chamber of Wetzlar (Reichskammergericht) from the outset and was characterised by two simultaneous trials in Liege and Wetzlar. This double procedure was unanimously condemned by the Empire, whose mission was to safeguard the perpetual peace defined at the Diet of 1495. The situation in Liège was therefore a clear infringement of the rights of the Chamber an...

The recording of yesterday's lecture by our guest dr. Piotr Kuligowski is now online on our Youtube-channel .

(Source: hypotheses.org ) Dr.  Raphael Cahen  (JLU Giessen/ Vrije Universiteit Brussel)  will present a paper on "Louis XVIII vu par les différents acteurs du congrès de Vienne" at the colloquium on Louis XVIII (1755-1824) : Devenir et demeurer roi de France à l’ère des révolutions in Paris. More information here .

In the academic year 2023-2024, the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, CY Paris, the University of Warwick, the University of Ljubljana and Nova Lisboa brought together students, academic staff and external experts in the Connected Learning Community Legal History , this time around the theme connectedness in legal history . Students came together in Brussels in March for the peak event, and published their final output of this unique cross-campus learning experience on the blog of the Connected Learning Community. The virtual exhibition ( prezi ) combines all of their entries.

(Source: ihpan.edu.pl ) Abstract: This presentation introduces a  book   project  led by Piotr  Kuligowski , aiming to elucidate how the intertwined concepts of sovereignty and representation were utilized and debated by representative assemblies in European interfaces during the turbulent period of social revolutions and national upheavals. Focusing on the cases of Belgian and Polish representative bodies from the Congress of Vienna to the Spring of Nations, the  project  explores how these concepts were adapted to post-Vienna and post-1830 arrangements. In both contexts, their political geography—being situated in-between empires and exposed to their influences and interventions—resonates in the perception of sovereignty and representation. Additionally, the accumulated historical experiences of political fragmentation and uncertainty about the future intersected with the aspirations of emerging liberal elites and their perceptions of statehood and polit...

  (image source: openedition ) Joint PhD-candidate Antoine Leclère (ULiège/FNRS-VUB) published an article in the peer reviewed open access journal Bulletin du Centre de Recherche du Château de Versailles. Abstract: The imperial and ecclesiastical Principality of Liège, a state at the crossroads of European influences, was a central player in French and Austrian policy in the region roughly corresponding to present-day Belgium. During the reign of the Francophile prince-bishop François-Charles de Velbrück (1772-1784), the Principality turned towards France and entered into a series of economic, military and territorial negotiations. Faced with the scale of the task, the prince-bishop successively sent two diplomats to Versailles to maintain a direct channel with the French government, much to the regret of the Viennese court. This rapprochement continued under the reign of his successor, despite Vergennes’s reluctance to see a new diplomat from Liège installed at court. Based on the...

  (Source: LGDJ ) Prof. dr. Frederik DHONDT and Prof. dr. Raphaël CAHEN contributed in  Étienne-Denis Pasquier (1767-1862) Un parlementaire gallican sous la Restauration et la monarchie de Juillet.  Abstract: "Étienne-Denis Pasquier fut l'un des hommes politiques les plus importants de la première moitié du XIXe siècle. Ancien préfet de police de Paris (1810-1814), il fut député de la Seine puis pair de France sous la Restauration, tout en effectuant une riche carrière ministérielle (il fut garde des Sceaux à deux reprises puis ministre des Affaires étrangères, sous le règne de Louis XVIII). Pasquier se rallia ensuite à Louis-Philippe qui le nomma président de la Chambre des pairs (au mois d'août 1830) puis chancelier de France (en 1837). Contraint de quitter la vie politique à la suite de la Révolution de 1848, Étienne-Denis Pasquier consacra sa retraite à la rédaction de ses Mémoires (commencés en 1822) et à l'écriture de nombreux articles historiques et politiques ...

Prof. dr. Frederik Dhondt  contributed a chapter on "De La Haye à Cambrai: Lenteur et impatience de la pacification entre métropoles et congrès (1720-1725)" in Le traité de Nystad et l’établissement de la paix en Europe dans les années 1720 , edited by Eric Schnakenbourg. Summary: At the end of the War of the Quadruple Alliance (1718-1720), a general congress was convened to secure a permanent peace treaty between the Emperor and Philip V. The Congress of Cambrai, like the Congress of Soissons, was distinctive because it was held in the countryside, at a discreet distance from any major court or metropolis. The French and British mediators were theoretically supposed to act as neutral powers and guarantors of the Treaty of London (2 August 1718). However, Spanish trade had significant leverage. Philip V attempted to circumvent the treaty by sidelining the Emperor’s mediators. Although the theatres of the Great Northern War and the grievances from the War of the Spanish Succes...