VUB Contextual Research in Law

  (image source: Belgian State Archives ) drs. Antoine Leclère (Joint PhD Candidate VUB/ULiège-FNRS PhD Fellow) published an article in the Revue d'Histoire liégeoise , published by the Belgian State Archives, in the thematic issue  Il y a 230 ans, la fin de la principauté de Liège . Read more here .

  The EUTopia Connected Learning Community Legal History is delighted to welcome Prof. dr. Miloš Vec (Universität Wien) for its annual opening lecture on Friday 14 November 2025. Within the framework of this year's theme The End of War, Prof. Vec will address the following topic: After 1919 and after 1945: How two World Wars shaped German Thinking on International Law More information on the EUTopia CoLeCo Legal History's blog . 

      (image source:  Wikimedia Commons ) Abstract: Rules shape nearly every aspect of our lives—from how we work and drive to how we greet each other and mark life’s milestones. We may resent some and crave others, but no culture can exist without them. To understand why rules matter, one must trace their history beyond their purely juridical ecology of production: from legal codes and cookbooks to military manuals and traffic regulations. Surprisingly, across centuries and contexts, their forms remain remarkably few. During this seminar, Lorraine Daston will explore the three enduring forms of rules—the algorithms that calculate, the laws that govern, and the models that teach. She will show how rules evolve, how they stiffen or soften, and how once-irritating regulations become daily habits. Far from being mere constraints, rules are also resources—tools that reveal as much about human imagination as they do about order. On the author: Lorraine Daston is one of th...

(image source: ESIL ) Dr. Stefano Cattelan contributed to the ESIL Proceedings  volume on  Technological change and international law: pre-conference workshops of the ESIL interest groups, ESIL annual conference, Vilnius, 4 September 2024  (pp. 34-40). Read more here  (open access).

  (image source: Université de La Rochelle ) dr. Raphaël Cahen contributed a paper to the colloquium Romanité et littoral , held at La Rochelle on 9-10 October 2025.  More information here .

  (Image source: Brill ) Abstract: This article reconsiders Hugo Grotius’ contribution to the law of the sea by shifting the focus from Mare liberum (1609) to the more nuanced arguments of De iure belli ac pacis (1625). While often portrayed as the chief advocate of the freedom of the seas, his later work reveals a more complex position: without abandoning the principle of free navigation on the high seas, he acknowledged that coastal states might, under specific conditions, assert exclusive rights over adjacent waters. Situating Grotius within a longue durée framework, the article traces the evolution of coastal jurisdiction from medieval practices in the Low Countries and beyond, through early modern diplomatic disputes over fishing rights and neutral waters. In particular, Grotius outlined the distinction between maritime dominium and imperium, hinting at the fact that exclusive rights at sea derived from either physical proximity to the coast or effective control. The ...

  (image source: ESCLH Blog ) The French Senate hosts an international colloquium on Edouard Laboulaye on 20 october 2025. Dr. Raphaël Cahen will present on " L’historien du droit, les revues juridiques et les réseaux européens ". More information here .