VUB Contextual Research in Law

  Law Without Lawyers   On the 8th and 9th of May 2024, drs. João Freitas Mendes and his supervisor Prof. dr. Laurent de Sutter  are organising a workshop on Law Without Lawyers ,   generously funded by the Doctoral School of Humanities of VUB. Abstract:    Modern politics gave lawyers the role of governing freedom and equality to all through legality. Some lawyers appropriated this legitimacy to construct a “legal science”. Meanwhile, the most prolific lawyers and capitalists keep working together to enforce power and authority, independently of poverty, exclusion and knowledge. This workshop proposes a question: if we can see laws of phenomena, why do we need lawyers? Who gave social autority to technology and violence? Interestingly, participants don’t have the same opinion on the topic. Some will highlight external contributions to legal knowledge from art historians and poets, others will try to unveil the Roman foundation of juristocracy or argue fo...

        The Worlds of Pre-Modern Neutrality (ca. 1400-1800):  Norms, Institutions and Practices    Antwerp, Hendrik Conscience Heritage Library - 8-9 May 2025   Convened by Stefano  Cattelan  & Frederik  Dhondt  (Vrije Universiteit Brussel)   Supported by FWO Junior Fundamental Research Project G016122N,  In the Shadow of the Great Powers: Freedom of the Sea and Neutrality in the Long Eighteenth Century  (2024-2026)  _____________________________________________________ (image source:  Conscience Heritage Library ) DAY 1 (May 8) Hendrik Conscienceplein 4, 2000 ANTWERP (Nottebohm Room) 9:30 – 9:45 - Welcoming  Stefano  Cattelan  & Frederik  Dhondt   9:45 – 10:45 - Keynote n.1 :  Silvia  Marzagalli  (Université Côte d’Azur), ‘ Eighteenth-century neutrality: a view from the sea’ 10:45 – 11:00: Coffee break    11:00 – 12:15 - Panel I  ...

    (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...

(Source:  septentrion.com ) dr. Raphaël Cahen  contributed a chapter on "Alexandre Ribot penseur et acteur des relations internationales (1890-1914)" in  Alexandre Ribot Une vie en politique , edited by Pierre ALLORANT, Jean-Marc GUISLIN, Walter BADIER & Olivier TORT. Summary:  "Personnage majeur de la IIIe République et illustre représentant du Pas-de-Calais, Alexandre Ribot (1842-1923) demeure dans l'ombre de la mémoire collective. Cent ans après sa disparition, l'examen des multiples facettes de son parcours par une vingtaine d'historiens permet de saisir toute l'importance de cet homme d'Etat. Parlementaire influent, il a pesé sur les grands débats législatifs de son temps (protectionnisme, enseignement, Séparation des Eglises et de l'Etat, accession à la petite propriété, retraites ouvrières et paysannes). Cinq fois président du Conseil, ministre des Affaires étrangères, de l'Intérieur, des Finances, de la Justice, il gouverna à des m...

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 of SLT as o...

  (Source:  cambridge.org ) Abstract This article explores the dynamics of court practice with regard to mercantile preinsolvency in later nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Belgium. In 1883, the Belgian legislature introduced the proceeding of concordat préventif, making it possible for insolvent entrepreneurs to remain outside the liquidation-oriented procedure of faillite. Instead, they could declare their financial problems and propose a scheme of payment to their creditors. Despite this goal, however, the 1883 law, along with subsequent laws of 1885 and 1887, imposed high majority voting requirements. Accordingly, in the Antwerp commercial court, the shortcomings of the legislation were amended to ameliorate its procedural and judicial practice. The new practices of the court resulted in higher rates of acceptance of applications. However, these success ratios were not evenly distributed among the groups of debtors who applied. Perceptions shared by both creditors an...

  (Source: Wikimedia Commons) Le  20 octobre 2025 ,  Raphaël Cahen  (chercheur en histoire du droit à la JLU Giessen, professeur invité à la Vrije Universiteit Brussel) , Pierre Allorant (professeur d’histoire du droit et des institutions, université d’Orléans) et Walter Badier, (maître de conférences en histoire contemporaine, université d’Orléans) organisent une journée d'étude sur  Édouard Laboulaye et la galaxie libérale . Édouard Laboulaye (1811-1883) a tenu une place considérable dans la vie intellectuelle, scientifique, juridique et politique française du XIXe siècle. Outre la biographie intellectuelle que lui a consacrée en 1989 André Dauteribes, deux journées d’études lui ont été dédiées plus récemment : la première, au Collège de France, à l’occasion du bicentenaire de sa naissance (Revue internationale de droit comparé, 63/3, 2011) ; la seconde à l’université de Cergy-Pontoise en décembre 2016 sur sa pensée juridique et politique (Revue française d’Hi...