VUB Contextual Research in Law

  EUTopia CoLeCo Legal History 2026-2027: Law and Image(s) (image: the judgment of Cambyses, or what happens to a bad judge, by Gerard David, Groeningemuseum Brugge; source: Topstukkencollectie Vlaamse Overheid) Since 2021, students and academic staff from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), the University of Ljubljana, CY Cergy Paris Université, Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona), NOVA University Lisbon, and the University of Warwick have been working together in a unique hybrid learning environment. The Connected Learning Community combines online and hybrid meetings with a physical peak event and the publication of student research on the EUTopia CoLeCo Blog. For the 2026–2027 academic year, we invite you to explore the theme Law and Image. At first sight, this may seem like a thoroughly contemporary topic. We live in a world shaped by images : short videos, streaming platforms, social media, and visual communication influence how we understand law, politics, and so...

(image source: University of Cambridge) Drs. Louis Debersaques  will present his paper “(Un)built to Escape Inspection? Problematising the Building Sector as an Industrial Category in (Inter)national Statistics. Case Study: Belgium, 1890s” at the Twelfth Annual Conference of the Construction History Society , held at Queens' College, Cambridge, from 25 to 27 September 2026.  This year’s conference focuses on “Building Practice: regulation, corruption, and adaptation.”  More information here .

Drs.  Hugo von Vietinghoff will participate in the XXXth   Annual Forum of Young Legal Historians , entitled Values in Law through the Ages , which will take place at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań from 23 to 26 September 2026.  He will present a paper entitled “Legal Diversity and Financial Values in Early Modern Cities” , exploring the relationship between legal diversity, commercial practices and financial values in early modern urban contexts. The Annual Forum brings together young legal historians from across Europe and beyond to discuss historical approaches to law and its underlying values.  Read more about the conference here .

(image source: UNED ) dr. Stefano Cattelan and Prof. Frederik Dhondt will present papers at the symposium Esta admirable antorcha. La Monarquía de España y la nueva forma de pensar el derecho público europeo a mediados del siglo XVIII , organised by Prof. Núria Sallés Vilaseca (UNED Madrid), part of the project De la hegemonía al equilibrio: La reubicación de la Monarquía de España en el orden de Utrecht  (PID2024-1621619NA-100 (Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades). Program: Frederik Dhondt (Vrije Universiteit Brussel). “Continuity and change: legal argumentation in the Public Law of Europe (1700-1771).” Pelayo Fernández García (Universidad de Oviedo). “Tener presentes los sucesos de la Historia: la proyectada colección de tratados de Santa Cruz de Marcenado. Francisco Eissa-Barroso (Universidad de Manchester). “Los orígenes de la Colección de los tratados de paz de España (1740- 1752) atribuida a Joseph Antonio de Abreu y Bertodano: marco intelectual, contexto soci...

(image source: MPILHLT ) Prof. Dave De ruysscher published an article on "The Bill of Exchange and the Dynamics of Legal Interpretation (15th–18th Centuries)" Abstract: This article analyses the developments of the law of bills of exchange in the later Middle Ages and early modern period from the vantage point of »legal dynamics«. From the 14th century onwards, the bill of exchange developed in interactions between international mercantile practice, legislative approaches and juristic interpretation. Close attention to mercantile documents and sources of practice allows us to nuance a largely »monolithic« image of the emergence of bills of exchange and their corresponding norms. For a long time, financial instruments have been presented as mere functional creations, derived from mercantile practice. This presentation went together with an assumption of continuity. With regard to bills of exchange, this resulted in the identification of the late medieval varieties with the st...

In het kader van het ERC-mandaat van prof. Frederik Dhondt zoekt de faculteit Recht en Criminologie van de Vrije Universiteit Brussel een tijdelijk docent (ZAP, 50%) om de opleidingsonderdelen Grondslagen van het Publiekrecht en Internationaal Recht  (plichtvak eerste jaar rechten) en Rechtsgeschiedenis  (keuzevak master rechten) te doceren, onderzoek te verrichten binnen de onderzoeksgroep CORE en bij te dragen tot de werking van onderzoeksgroep, vakgroep en faculteit. Kandidaten dienen houder te zijn van een doctoraatsdiploma in de rechten  en het Nederlands  perfect te beheersen. Het mandaat gaat in op 1 februari 2027 . Meer informatie op de vacaturesite van de universiteit .

  (image source: Rechtshistorikertag ) Prof. Dave De ruysscher will present at the German Legal History Days ( Deutscher Rechtshistorikertag ) on Wednesday. See program here .

  (image source: Brill Nijhoff)  Prof. Dave De ruysscher and Prof. Janne E. Nijman edited the volume Amsterdam: Sovereignty and Legal Agency of a 17th-Century Commercial City , published by Brill Nijhoff in the Legal History Library.  Abstract: This volume examines the sovereignty and autonomy of the city of Amsterdam in the seventeenth century. Analysing aspects of the city's institutions, trade, art and religion, the contributions shed new light on Amsterdam's legal and institutional agency during its Golden Age.  Read more here , DOI 10.1163/9789004761537.

(image source: Owl Press)   Prof. Laurence Heindryckx and Prof. Dave De ruysscher edited the volume Sites of Construction: Connected Histories , published by Owl Press. The book is the final publication of the EOS research project Above and Beyond Construction History. Abstract: Sites of Construction: Connected Histories reconceptualises construction as a dispersed, multi-sited and interdisciplinary field of practice. The volume explores the legal, logistical, educational, colonial, political and social forces that shape the production of the historic built environment.  The volume also includes two contributions involving CORE researcher Louis Debersaques : “The Chambers of the Investigating Judge: The Translocation of the Construction Site via Preliminary Judicial Inquiries into Accidents and Some Methodological Considerations (Belgium, Late Nineteenth–Early Twentieth Centuries)”, authored by Louis Debersaques, and “The Expert’s Not-knowing: Authority as Art”, co-authored ...

(image source: Franz Steiner Verlag)  Prof. Dave De ruysscher contributed a chapter on the perceived dangers of legal pluralism in sixteenth-century Antwerp to the collective volume Friedlicher Handel oder umkämpfte Geschäfte? Handel und Handelsrecht in der Vormoderne zwischen Krieg und Frieden , published by Franz Steiner Verlag.  Read more here .

  (image generated with AI, click to enlarge) Prof. Laurent Desutter will present his book Superweak  (see earlier on our blog) in Lisbon on Friday 11 September. The work will be introduced by drs. João Tiago Freitas Mendes .

(image source: Firenze University Press) Prof. Dave De ruysscher contributed a chapter on the emergence of a municipal legal culture of insolvency in the Low Countries to the collective volume Gestione del rischio, insolvenza e bancarotta nel mondo premoderno (secc. XIII-XVIII) / Risk Management, Insolvency, and Bankruptcy in the Pre-Modern World (13th-18th Centuries) , edited by Angela Orlandi.  Read the chapter here in open access: DOI 10.36253/979-12-215-0963-2.09.

Jemmy Suwannaluck joins CORE as a PhD student under the supervision of Prof. dr. Dave De ruysscher and Prof. dr. Frederik Dhondt . His research focuses on the legal history of sovereign debt and default, with particular attention to the development of collective negotiations and the legal mechanisms through which sovereign debt has been addressed historically and in international economic law.  Jemmy presents himself as follows:  I approach law across disciplinary and geographical boundaries, with research interests ranging from international law to legal history. I am particularly interested in how legal norms and institutions evolve through encounters between different actors, jurisdictions and economic interests, and in the broader social and cultural contexts in which these interactions unfold. My doctoral research brings this approach to the legal history of sovereign debt and default, exploring the development of collective negotiations. Through historical analysis, I ...

(image source: ESIL )   dr. Stefano Cattelan will present at the European Society of International Law/Société européenne de droit international 's Annual Conference, namely at the pre-conference event " Conflict, Crisis, Continuity - Historical Perspectives " at the Universidad de Malaga on 3 September 2026, organised by the Interest Group History of International Law. More information on the ESIL IGHIL's website .

(image source:  TREATYLAB )  Three full-time PhD vacancies for the ERC Consolidator Grant TREATYLAB ("The Labyrinth of Treaties, 1712-1763. International Law Behind the Scenes of Early Enlightenment Diplomacy") have been published.  More information on the project's  website .

  Prof. Laurent De Sutter intervenes in Valencia this week to present the Spanish translation of “Décevoir est un plaisir”.  More information on the QR-code. 

On Thursday 25 June, dr. Raphaël Cahen chaired the panel „Multinormativität“ at the symposium organised by the Institut für Rechts- und Verfassungsgeschichte“ at the University of Vienna.  The gathering was organised by his pupils dr. Sebastian Spitra (Vienna), dr. Nina Keller-Kemmerer (Gießen), dr. Hendrik Simon (Frankfurt) and dr. Anastasia Hanmerschmied (Vienna) to celebrate the 60th. birthday of prof. Miloš Vec. Prof. Luigi Nuzzo (Salento) presented a celebratory address.  Dean, institute President and thirteen panelists from legal history, intellectual property law, criminology, public international law, journalism, contemporary history, comparative law and legal theory (with an appearance of a film director) presented perspectives on multinormativity, history of science, international law and science communication.  

  The MICOLL ERC project organised the international conference entitled “Have the Gods Fallen? An Interdisciplinary Reconsideration of Lex Mercatoria and Commercial Revolution”, which took place in Venice from 17 to 20 June 2026, between the Centro Tedesco di Studi Veneziani (DSCV) and Venice International University (VIU – Isola di San Servolo).  The event, held under the direction of Prof. Stefania Gialdroni (University of Padua), formed part of the final-stage activities of the ERC Consolidator Grant MICOLL (2021–2027), dedicated to the historical development of commercial law and language between the eleventh and seventeenth centuries. The discussions focused on the plurality of legal practices, the circulation of commercial vocabularies, and the role of linguistic and institutional fragmentation in shaping medieval and early modern commerce.  Within this framework, the Venice meeting contributed to the broader MICOLL research agenda on the mobility of legal concep...

(image source: British Legal History Conference 2026 ) Prof. Dave De ruysscher will speak at the British Legal History Conference  in Nottingham next week. More information on the programme here .

  (image source: VIU ) dr. Stefano Cattelan will present at the 5th edition of The Venice Multidisciplinary World Conference on Republics and Republicanism held at the Venice International University on 26-28 June 2026. More information on the conference website .