VUB Contextual Research in Law

  (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: 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 .

(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...

  (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...

  (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...

  (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’Histoire des idées ...

(image source: dagvandewetenschap )   The Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) published the outcome of its 2024 call for Senior Fundamental Research Projects. Prof. Dave De ruysscher obtained two four year research grants (2025-2028): Collective Bargaining in State Bankruptcies and Corporate Insolvencies (1890–1920) (G0A3025N) (co-supervisor: Prof. Frederik Dhondt ) Cities as Breeding Grounds: Legal Change in Financial Law (c. 1620–c. 1750) (G0ACT25N) (co-supervisors: Prof. Luisa Brunori /ENS Paris and Prof. Stefania Gialdroni (Padova))

The recording of yesterday's lecture by our guest dr. Piotr Kuligowski is now online on our Youtube-channel .

(Source: hypotheses.org ) Dr.  Raphael Cahen  (JLU Giessen/ Vrije Universiteit Brussel)  will present a paper on "Louis XVIII vu par les différents acteurs du congrès de Vienne" at the colloquium on Louis XVIII (1755-1824) : Devenir et demeurer roi de France à l’ère des révolutions in Paris. More information here .

(Source: ihpan.edu.pl ) Abstract: This presentation introduces a  book   project  led by Piotr  Kuligowski , aiming to elucidate how the intertwined concepts of sovereignty and representation were utilized and debated by representative assemblies in European interfaces during the turbulent period of social revolutions and national upheavals. Focusing on the cases of Belgian and Polish representative bodies from the Congress of Vienna to the Spring of Nations, the  project  explores how these concepts were adapted to post-Vienna and post-1830 arrangements. In both contexts, their political geography—being situated in-between empires and exposed to their influences and interventions—resonates in the perception of sovereignty and representation. Additionally, the accumulated historical experiences of political fragmentation and uncertainty about the future intersected with the aspirations of emerging liberal elites and their perceptions of statehood and polit...

(Source: CONFORM )   Louis Debersaques will present on the international workshop titled “Intertwining Architectural History with Legal History”. His presentation on legal consciousness of Belgian builders will take place on Friday September 27th in the archive (Sala D. João III) of the University of Coimbra, Portugal. The content of the presentation mainly revolves around the use and analysis of witness interrogations (correctional tribunal) concerning construction site accidents; conducted by both the local police and the investigating judge.    Original call for papers :  “Intertwining Architectural History with Legal History. This workshop aims to encourage interdisciplinary discussions and international collaborations that explore the intersection of Architectural History and Legal History. As Architectural History expands towards the cultural history of the built environment, surpassing traditional focus on design and artistic aspects, Legal History encompasse...

As member of the 2023 PhD cohort of the N.W. Posthumus Institute, drs.  Louis Debersaques will present his paper “Construction History meets Legal History: normative practice in the Belgian construction sector through criminal litigation on negligence (1880-1950)” on the ESTER Research Design Course at the University of Münster. The study mainly focuses on research methodology and the use of sources from Belgian courts and tribunals. In doing so, he underlines the underused yet fascinating potential of discursive analysis in both construction history and legal history research. This “major paper” is one of the final steps in completing  Posthumus’ Basic Training .   More information:   Posthumusinstitute.org  

  (image source: IHPAN ) Our visitor dr. Piotr Kuligowski co-organizes a conference on 19th century parliamentary history in Warsaw in January 2025. A call for papers can be found here .

  (image: Porträt von Ètienne Denis Pasquier - Deutsche Fotothek, Germany - Public Domain; Europeana ) Abstract: Étienne-Denis Pasquier fut l'un des hommes politiques les plus importants de la première moitié du XIXe siècle. Ancien préfet de police de Paris (1810-1814), il fut député de la Seine puis pair de France sous la Restauration, tout en effectuant une riche carrière ministérielle (il fut garde des Sceaux à deux reprises puis ministre des Affaires étrangères, sous le règne de Louis XVIII). Pasquier se rallia ensuite à Louis-Philippe qui le nomma président de la Chambre des pairs (au mois d'août 1830) puis chancelier de France (en 1837). Contraint de quitter la vie politique à la suite de la Révolution de 1848, Étienne-Denis Pasquier consacra sa retraite à la rédaction de ses Mémoires (commencés en 1822) et à l'écriture de nombreux articles historiques et politiques (demeurés inédits). L'ambition de cet ouvrage est de revenir sur les aspects méconnus de la carriè...

  Dr. Raphaël Cahen and dr. Wouter De Rycke organised a symposium on peace and legal argumentation on 15 September, for which Prof. Martti Koskenniemi (honorary doctor of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel) held a public keynote lecture. The recording of this lecture can be consulted on our Youtube-channel, or above. 

Drs. Wouter De Rycke (PhD-researcher on FWO Junior Fundamental Research Project G015420N The Legal Construction of Peace, 1815-1870. Networks and Arguments ) will publicly defend his PhD-dissertation Justifying Utopia. A Legal History of the International Peace Movement (1815-1873) (576 p., submitted with the permission of the Board of the Faculty of Law and Criminology on 29 June 2023 and approved for public defense by the jury on 4 September 2023) on Thursday 14 September 2023  at 15:00 .  Wouter holds a Bachelor of Arts in Language and Literature (UGent, 2012), and a Bachelor and a Master of Laws (UGent, 2015 and 2017). Early in the Spring of 2020, he was a visiting researcher ( Gast ) at the Max Planck Institute for Legal Theory and Legal History (Frankfurt am Main). Wouter has disseminated and published work in progress as well as research results at national and international fora , and managed to generate  press attention . He is a member of CORE si...

    (image: the Brussels Grand Place in the seventeenth century; source:  Wikimedia Commons ) Prof. Dave De ruysscher advertises a vacancy for a PhD-Fellow (four years) on " Legal History and Construction History ". Deadline  15 July 2023 . For more details see  academia.edu .

(image: the plenary assembly room of the French Conseil d'Etat ) In the Academic Year 2021-22, the Faculty of Law and Criminology of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel launched a scheme whereby talented Master students are offered the opportunity to work for two consecutive academic years  within a research group, under the guidance of a supervisor. The Faculty's Research Director, Prof. Dave De ruysscher , coordinates the scheme. In 2022-2023, Senne De Kerpel and Max Van den Bosch  were selected on Prof. Frederik Dhondt 's project " Belgian Constitutional Law in the Belle Époque (1870-1914) ". Student-researchers can develop their own independent research profile, and are closely associated to the "backoffice" of research (data collection, data management, debate on sources, editorial choices in academic writing, peer review cycle, networking, conferences...), with a regular, weekly activity. More information on both students can be found on their pages.  ...

James Monroe by Samuel Morse (Source:  Wikimedia Commons ) Frankfurt-am-Main, 1 and 2 December 2023 Organized by Justus-Liebig Universität Giessen and the TRACE Research Center “Transformations of Political Violence”,  an inter­disciplinary research network of five Hessian research Institutions: The Peace Research In­stitute Frankfurt (PRIF), the Goethe University Frankfurt, the Justus Liebig University Giessen, the Philipps University Marburg and the Technical University of Darmstadt. Additional support provided by the Asser Institute for International and Development Studies, The Hague, and the Peace Research Institute, Frankfurt. Call for Papers:   December 2 nd , 2023, will mark the bicentenary of President James Monroe’s famous State of the Union to the U.S. Congress. Out of the 6500 words of his full address, two sentences are remembered as the Monroe Doctrine: « no future colonization by any European power » in the American continents and « not to in...