VUB Contextual Research in Law

  (image source: University of Szeged ) CORE-members dr. Raphaël Cahen , dr. Stefano Cattelan , prof. Dave De ruysscher , prof. Frederik Dhondt and drs. Rodrick Van der Smissen will present at the 8th Biennial Conference of the European Society for Comparative Legal History . drs. Van der Smissen will equally participate in the PhD-workshop on the first day of the conference. More information here .

  (image source: PHEDRA ) Prof. Dave De ruysscher and Prof. Frederik Dhondt will present at the Phedra Encounters organised at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris. More information here .

  (image source: Amsterdam University Press ) Abstract: This article explores the dynamics of court practice with regard to mercantile pre-insolvency in late 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. In spite of 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...

  (image source: Brill ) Abstract: This volume by both younger and more established specialists of legal, maritime, diplomatic, and political history covers the nuanced interplay of neutrality and the law of the sea within Western, Central, and Eastern Europe, emphasising the opening up of the world in the early modern period (i.e. Africa, North America, and the Caribbean). The various faces of neutrality, both in law and politics, appear through commercial, administrative, and geopolitical practical cases and in the writings of famous legal writers. By linking up different sets of knowledge, a kaleidoscope of power configurations and arguments guides the reader through the labyrinth of trade, sea power, and negotiations. Contributors are: Stefano Cattelan, Frederik Dhondt, John Freeman, Nora Naguib Leerberg, Christian Pfister-Langanay, Leos Müller, Stephen C. Neff, and Victor Wilson. On the editors: Stefano Cattelan is Postdoctoral Researcher at the Faculty of Law and Crimino...

(image source: Grotiana ) dr. Stefano Cattelan  and Prof. Frederik Dhondt will present papers at the conference  Grotian Law and Modernity at the Dawn of a New Age, organised to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Hugo Grotius' De iure belli ac pacis libri tres , which appeared in 1625. More information here . Registration is open until 15 June 2025 .

  (image source: NDR ) dr. Raphaël Cahen will speak at the conference  Völkerrecht, Pazifismus und liberale Politik zwischen Kaiserreich und Nationalsozialismus. Kolloquium zum 150. Geburtstag von Walther Schücking, held in Friedrichsruh at the Otto-von-Bismarck Stiftung.  More information here .

  (image source: Construction History Society ) drs. Louis Debersaques and Prof. Dave De ruysscher are active in the EOS-project "Construction History": Posthumus Conference (drs. Debersaques as peer reviewer, Prof. De ruysscher as speaker) (Nijmegen, 27-28 May 2025 ) CHFC (Congrès francophone d'histoire de la construction) (presentation by drs. Debersaques, Toulouse, 18-20 June 2025 ) Labour Enforcement Workshop (presentation by drs. Debersaques, Glasgow, September 2025 ) Society of Construction Historians (presentation by drs. Debersaques, Cambridge, September 2025 )