VUB Contextual Research in Law

Dra. Léna Sylvestre (Joint PhD candidate CY Cergy Paris Université/VUB) will hold a talk at CY Advanced Studies on "Language as an instrument of political and normative power: the UN's multilingualism and its consequences for international law".

  (image source: Alchetron ) Prof. Frederik Dhondt will present at the conference "Un médiévalisme juridique ? Représentation, réemploi et instrumentalisation du droit" organized by dr. Pierre-Anne Forcadet (Université d'Orléans, POLEN) on 2-3 June 2025. Read more here .

  Dr. Daniel Ricardo Quiroga-Villamarín (SNSF/University of Vienna)   Architects of the Better Worod: Democracy, Law, and the Construction of International Order, 1898-1998 Abstract Even before the US President Harry Truman famously urged the attendants of the 1945 United Nations Conference on International Organization to see themselves as “architects of the better world,” the field of global governance had already proven to be fertile ground for metaphors drawn from architecture. In the collective imagination of both practitioners and scholars, the international legal order appears as a vast and towering edifice: a structure with its own “architecture” that overlooks areas of governance sustained by normative pillars. And yet, international law’s castles were not built solely in the air. The metaphorical use of architectonical language in the existing literature only hides the discipline’s profound lack of engagement with the material and concrete spaces in which internation...

(image source: NCP Flanders)   A small scale online training for the Horizon Europe Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) 2025 call for proposals for the Postdoctoral Fellowships (PF) is organised by NCP Flanders. The training is organised to support highly motivated applicants in the preparation of their MSCA PF application at a host institution located in Flanders. It is advised to applicants to have attended/watched the general webinar/recording on the MSCA PF 2025 call which took place on 23 April 2025. More information here . Participation to this training is free of charge. Registration via this registration form is required. Registration form of the training. MSCA PFs, main eligibility requirements and 2025 call dates  MSCA PFs support researchers in all scientific domains with the objective to improve researchers’ employability and career prospects within academia and beyond, with a strong focus on interdisciplinarity and intersectoral experience. Candidates ...

  (image source: helsinki.fi ) Prof. Frederik Dhondt will present a paper ("Educating the Good Citizen: the Belgian Electoral Exam (1883-1893)") at the conference  Learning about the Law: Historical Perspectives on Public Legal Education for Laypersons and Underprivileged Groups  (Helsinki, 20-21 May). More information on the conference here .

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  (image source: AUP ) First paragraph: Deze heel verzorgde derde bundel over de correspondentie van Johan de Witt brengt 26 ‘schatten uit het Nationaal Archief’ uit het Rampjaar (1672), voorzien van context door bijna dertig auteurs (p. 7). Een afbeelding van de recto- of versozijde van de originele brief (of een pagina voor de gedrukte stukken) wordt gekoppeld aan een transcriptie en een hertaling. Prachtige portretten en tekeningen brengen de lezer oog in oog met de dochter van Hugo de Groot of Willem III’s gouverneur Frederik van Nassau-Zuylestein. Het geheel wordt ingeleid met een chronologisch overzicht vanaf het begin van het Rampjaar tot aan de publieke lynchpartij waarmee Johan en Cornelis de Witt in Den Haag aan hun einde komen (p. 15-28). De eerder verhalende bijdragen bevatten geen klassiek regest, maar wel annotaties van de transcripties, met biografische woordenboeken en eigentijdse bronnen, evengoed als oudere en recentere historiografie. Read the full review here: D...

   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 th...

        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...