BOOK: Christopher W. CLOSE, State Formation and Shared Sovereignty. The Holy Roman Empire and the Dutch Republic, 1488-1696 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021), ISBN 9781108946827, €30,33

 

(image source: CUP)

Abstract:

During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, dozens of alliances asserting shared sovereignty formed in the Holy Roman Empire and the Low Countries. Many accounts of state formation struggle to explain these leagues, since they characterize state formation as a process of internal bureaucratization within individual states. This comparative study of alliances in the Holy Roman Empire and the Low Countries focuses on a formative time in European history, from the late fifteenth century until the immediate aftermath of the 1648 Peace of Westphalia, to demonstrate how the sharing of sovereignty through alliances influenced the evolution of the Empire, the Dutch Republic, and their various member states in fundamental ways. Alliances simultaneously supported and constrained central and territorial authorities, while their collaborative policy-making process empowered smaller states, helping to ensure their survival. By revealing how the interdependencies of alliance shaped states of all sizes in the Empire and the Low Countries, Christopher W. Close opens new perspectives on state formation with profound implications for understanding the development of states across Europe.

Table of contents: 

Introduction

1. The Swabian league and the politics of alliance (1488-1534)
2. Alliances and the early reformation (1526-1545)
3. Alliances and new visions for the empire and Low Countries (1540-1556)
4. Shared sovereignty and regional peace (1552-1567)
5. Shared sovereignty and multi-confessionality in the empire and Low Countries (1566-1609)
6. Religious alliance and the legacy of past leagues (1591-1613)
7. Religious alliance and the Thirty Years War (1610-1632)
8. Westphalia and politics of alliance in the empire and Dutch Republic (1631-1696)
Conclusion
Bibliography.

On the author:

Christopher W. Close is Associate Professor in the Department of History at Saint Joseph's University. He has received several prestigious research grants from organizations including the German Academic Exchange Service and the American Philosophical Society. He is the author of The Negotiated Reformation: Imperial Cities and the Politics of Urban Reform, 1525-1550 (2009) and numerous articles in The Sixteenth Century Journal and European History Quarterly.

 Read here: DOI 10.1017/9781108946827.

CALL FOR PAPERS: Law and Diversity in European History -19th Annual Graduate Conference in European History (GRACEH) (Wien: Universität Wien (Zoom), 7-9 APR 2025) DEADLINE 5 JAN 205

(image source: Wikimedia Commons)
 

GRACEH 2025 offers a platform to explore the complex interplay between legal systems and the diverse social fabric of Europe across different historical spaces and periods. Europe’s rich cultural, ethnic, and religious diversity has shaped numerous legal traditions, often oscillating between integration and exclusion. The conference seeks to examine the interaction between legal structures and social diversity as well as the role of law in promoting or suppressing diversity from a historical perspective. In this context, diversity can be understood as the variety of identities, social groups and cultural backgrounds. It includes among other aspects, differences in terms of encompassing gender, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, social class and DisAbilities.

Gustav Klimt's Faculty Painting “Jurisprudence”, provides a visual basis for the conference theme and symbolizes the complex relationship between law, power and human destiny. The painting does not emphasize the clear order and rationality of law, but rather its ambivalence, and its often unforeseen consequences. This multifaceted depiction of law opens up the discourse about the sanctioning of diversity and the use of law as an instrument to enforce social norms or to exclude certain groups.

Proposed contributions could, for example, deal with the legal challenges and developments in the area of minority rights. Migration and the legal measures of integration, as well as DisAbilities and LGBTIQ* are further central topics. Moreover, questions could revolve around diversity of the law itself, for example in the context of colonialism, multinormativity or around spaces of “lawlessness” which offer insights into normative practices and opportunities outside of the legal system.

Possible topics include but are not limited to:

 1.        Diversity in Law

Throughout history, the law has categorized certain people and behaviors as “normal” and others as “deviant”. Such categorizations are often the result of social and cultural norms embedded in the legal system. What categorizations can be found within the law? What was considered the norm in different times and places and how are certain people or behaviors categorized as “deviant”? In what way were certain people treated differently? 

2.        Diversity of Law

Multinormativity and legal pluralism are central themes in the study of the diversity of law. The divergence of canonical and secular law or the exchange between colonial law and European societies offer insights into the complex interactions of different legal systems. In what way for example was marriage regulated differently in coexisting legal systems? How did certain principles of law which shaped institutions (eg. the judiciary and the legislative body) in different ways interact or counteract each other?

3.        Sanctioning Diversity through Law

The sanctioning of “deviant” behavior by the means of the law can be found in almost all historical areas and periods. What can diversity mean in the context of the history of criminality? In what way does the ban of abortion illustrate how law has been used to enforce social norms and inequalities? How were homosexuality and transsexuality regulated differently throughout European history?

4.        Enabling Diversity through Law

Anti-discrimination laws, the legalization of homosexuality, same-sex marriage and the recognition of the third gender as well as minority rights, gender equality and the legal recognition of religious communities are examples of legal reforms that have contributed to greater equality and diversity in many European societies. However, the distinction between legal and social equality shows that while laws can contribute to the active promotion of equality, social equality is often more difficult to achieve. How are these dynamics for example reflected in the women's suffrage, the women's movements and the fight against social inequality? 

5.        Diversity of Making and Administrating Law

The role of legislators and judges and their influence on the administration of law is of great importance. Reform processes and the abuse of law, such as in National Socialist law, as well as the politicization of law illustrate the dynamics of legislation. Who were the people that made and administrated the law in different historical times and areas? What were their agendas? 

6.        Places of “Lawlessness”

Places of “lawlessness” offer fascinating insights into alternative forms of social organization and the possibilities of diversity at the margins of state and institutional control. In such spaces, different cultural, ethnic and social groups were often able to develop in a way not possible in more regulated areas of societies. To what extent did private spaces, far from public and legal control, enable individual lifestyles and identities or become places of oppression and violence? How did Monasteries, religious communities, the high sea or pubs and taverns offer space for lifestyles that deviated from the social norm?

 The conference is open to graduate students at all stages of research. We invite graduate students working on different topics and periods on a national, international, transnational, or comparative scale. We encourage contributions with novel and diverse perspectives and interdisciplinary approaches. GRACEH 2025 warmly welcomes participants to join in person. While we offer a limited hybrid model, we strive to foster an engaging in-person experience.

DATES AND INFORMATION

Please send abstracts up to 300 words and a scientific CV (max 100 words) to:

graceh2025.hkw@univie.ac.at by January 6th 2025. Participants will receive a notification of acceptance by February 6th 2025. Final papers (up to 2.000 words) are due March 17th 2025.

We particularly encourage submissions from those who have yet to present their work at conferences or are from underrepresented regions and/or institutions. We hope to be able to support travel and/or accommodation for a limited number of presenters without access to institutional funding. Participants should cover their accommodation and travel through their home institutions if possible.

If you have questions, you can get in touch with the organizational team here: graceh2025.hkw@univie.ac.at.

More information here.

REMINDER CALL FOR PAPERS: 8th ESCLH BIENNIAL CONFERENCE, "Back to the Past and Building the Future" (Szeged: University of Szeged, 2-4 JUL 2025; DEADLINE 31 OCT 2024)

   

The Organising Committee and the Executive Council of the European Society for Comparative Legal History are pleased to call for papers for the upcoming Society’s 8^th Biennial Conference to be held from 2 to 4 July 2025 at the University of Szeged, Hungary.

The conference series started in Valencia (2010), followed by Amsterdam (2012), Macerata (2014), Gdansk (2016), Paris (2018), and Lisbon (2022). In 2023, we had a successful conference in Augsburg.

The theme of the conference is to call attention to the development of legal institutions that are related to and serve as the foundation of modern/contemporary state and law. We mainly expect papers based on the examination of primary sources, since the main aim of the conference is to draw attention to the importance and analysis of primary sources (e.g. archival sources, judgements, parliamentary materials) in legal historical research, across legal systems.

The organizers wish to offer the opportunity to all participants who intend to present their legal historical and comparative research based mainly on primary sources, regardless of the historical era and geographical areas.

Back to the past and analysis of primary sources, new findings can be presented which can be used for the development of law in the contemporary period. Building the future can only be based on thorough historical and legal research, which can be achieved by connecting the past to the present. Through the complex and comparative assessment of the different branches of law, we can work towards a more general picture of legal development.

To offer a paper, please submit an abstract of up to 400 words, in English, by 31 October 2024. The abstract should include the title of your proposed paper and your personal data (full name, email address, work affiliation). Please also send a short CV (no more than 4 pages). Anyone at any stage in their research career can offer a paper. The submissions should be sent to [email protected]. Abstracts will be assessed against: (1) the aim to have a diverse conference; (2) the novelty of the work; (3) a professionally grounded presentation proposal including a description of the sources and methodology involved and a concise description of the research results. One author may only give one paper at the conference in order to allow as many people as possible to deliver papers.

It is also possible to submit a proposal for a complete panel. Panels normally consist of three papers. A panel proposal should – in addition to the abstracts and CVs of those who wish to present a paper in that panel – include an abstract for the entire panel, as well as a CV of the panel organizer. The list of accepted papers will be announced by December 2024.

A conference website will be launched with further details of the conference in December 2024.

The conference website will also contain information on the attendance fee for those not members of the ESCLH, transport to and from Szeged, and accommodation in Szeged. The conference website will allow registration for the conference, starting in February 2025. Finally, the conference will be preceded by an additional PhD-workshop on 2 July 2025. Further information about the workshop will also be published in December 2024.

Norbert Varga
organizer

University of Szeged

Faculty of Law and Political Sciences

Department of Hungarian Legal History

CALL FOR ROUNDTABLE PROPOSALS: Medieval Legal Sources and Digital Humanities - The FONTES project (Rome: Roma Tre University, 21 OCT 2024) [DEADLINE 18 OCT 2024 ]

The FONTES project (“FOstering iNnovative Training in the use of European legal Sources”) invites roundtable proposals from students, doctoral candidates, and researchers for the FONTES final conference, which will take place at the Faculty of Law of Roma Tre University on 21st October 2024.

The roundtable will be structured as a discussion to be held at the end of the FONTES final conference (see program). This format is ideal for an informal discussion of your personal research experiences with ancient legal sources and their intersections with, and potential within, the field of digital humanities.

Proposals can be submitted until 18th October 2024 and will be evaluated by the FONTES project staff.

     If you are interested, please reach out to [email protected]

JOURNAL: Tijdschrift voor Rechtsgeschiedenis/Revue d'histoire du droit/The Legal History Review XCII (2024), Nr. 1-2 (Aug)

 

(image source: Brill)

Quod se emisse diceret: Überlegungen zu einer Urkunde aus dem antiken London (Eva Jakab)
DOI 10.1163/15718190-20241201
Abstract:

In 1996, Roger Tomlin published a document from ancient London (rib ii 2443.19), which contains a professional Latin legal text. It mentions a purchase transaction, but it is not a deed of sale. The expressions used (cum ventum esset, in rem praesentem, se emisse dicetur, testatus est se) rather indicate an extrajudicial, pre-trial context. The interpretation proposed here builds on the results of recent research in Roman law of procedure. Several indications suggest that the tabula records a preparatory act for future trial between the protagonists: Bellicus (the pursuer) bindingly declares that he is ready to take an extrajudicial oath concerning a contract of sale with his opponent, about this he can produce no other evidence.

‘Scriptura recepta et usitata’ The impact of the Lex citandi on Justinian’s Digest (Willem Zwalve) [OPEN ACCESS]
DOI 10.1163/15718190-20241213
Abstract:

It is generally taken for granted that the 426 Law of Citations (Lex citandi) of the emperor Valentinian III had no impact on the composition of Justinian’s Digest and that it had already been repealed on 15 December 530 with the promulgation of Const. Deo auctore, announcing the composition of the Digest. In this article it is contended that the Lex citandi was only repealed on 16 December 533, with the promulgation of the Digest on which it had a considerable impact since it was referred to in Const. Deo auctore and was the main inspiration of the Index florentinus, which is to be regarded as an expanded version of the Lex citandi.

Bonfante, Vacca, Ankum: acquisition of ownership of res mancipi abandoned by their owner, Pomp. D. 41,7,5pr. (Jeroen M.J. Chorus)
DOI 10.1163/15718190-20241212
Abstract:

Pomponius, Digest 41,7,5pr., presents many difficulties. It holds, inter alia, that if the possessor of a thing abandoned by its owner, did not have that thing in bonis, the person who bought it from him, knowing that it had been abandoned, will usucapt it. But this seems to conflict with § 1, asserting that the acquirer of an abandoned thing becomes its dominus at once, without usucapio. Bonfante saw that the principium concerns only res mancipi and § 1 only res nec mancipi. Vacca did not agree, but subscribed to part of Bonfante’s interpretation. Both Bonfante and Vacca, however, introduced an element not mentioned by Pomponius: that the selling possessor ignored that the thing had been abandoned by its owner and, instead, thought the thing was res aliena. Ankum rejected that introduction and gave an interpretation (and reconstruction) of the fragment without the contested element. It is argued that Ankum’s interpretation should prevail.

Donationem non facit? Donations to people in potestate of the donor in Roman law (Daniele Curir)
DOI 10.1163/15718190-20241202
Abstract:

The paper focuses on the phenomenon of donation to people in potestate of the donor. Even though this kind of donation was an old practice in Roman society, classical jurisprudence considered it void due to the lack of legal capacity of the people alieni iuris. However, we can see that beginning from the Severian age, the jurists and then the imperial chancery gradually stated the validity of these acts of liberality, contingent upon certain conditions primarily based on the donor’s voluntas. The analysis of responsa and rescripta related to this subject highlights how this concessio worked under a juridical point of view, along with its progression. Finally, it is highlighted how this interpretatio was part of a broader phenomenon occurring in the 3rd century a.d. and aimed to value the donor’s voluntas.

Private legal practice and public authority in early Venetian Ithaca: thirteen new notarial documents (1575–1599) (K. Nikias) [OPEN ACCESS]
DOI 10.1163/15718190-20241205
Abstract:

The Greek notarial documents produced in the centuries after the fall of Byzantine rule are important sources for retracing the development of private legal practices under the influence of the different administrative and legal orders which came to rule the Greek-speaking territories. In the vast areas which came under Venetian control, the system of private transactions was conditioned by a tension between the widespread practice of notaries operating as private professionals during the Byzantine period, and the intervention of Venetian administrators who sought to regulate notaries as public officers. This article considers this tension in an understudied peripheral context, the small island of Ithaca in the period of early Venetian rule, through an analysis of thirteen new Greek notarial sources from 1575–1599 which are presented here in a critical edition. Owing to the small size of the Ithacan economy and the informality of the island’s administration during the sixteenth century, private transactions were executed mainly by independent scribes, priests, and in some cases by public notaries from neighbouring Cephalonia. This was gradually changed by successive regulatory interventions by the Venetians which formalised administrative structures on Ithaca, traced here through several unpublished sources from the local archives, in addition to documents from Cephalonia and Venice. These reforms led to the establishment of a system of publicly appointed and supervised notaries on Ithaca in the early seventeenth century, putting the freer practice of the earlier period under the closer control of the public administration and bringing Ithaca into line with practices in the larger Venetian possessions.

Les projets constitutionnels du Congrès de Polleur (1789–1791): La Révolution dans les campagnes de la Principauté de Liège (Quentin Leboutte)
DOI 10.1163/15718190-20241203
Abstract:

Within the history of revolutionary upheavals, the role of the Polleur Congress remains unique and yet overlooked. Drawing inspiration from the French and American Revolutions, and rooted in Enlightenment ideas, the congress participants adapted their demands to the local reality of the Marquisate of Franchimont. In doing so, they were able to create a more radical yet also more democratic revolutionary movement. Whether in the implementation of the separation of powers principle, the proclamation of a Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, or the establishment of a Franchimont Republic, all the proposed reforms demonstrate a genuine effort to reinterpret global revolutionary ideas and tailor them to the local situation. This contribution aims to rediscover the legal aspects of this Congress through the analysis of the demands for an institutional reform of the Principality of Liège, the various fundamental rights guaranteed to citizens, as well as the intentions for organizing the new state specific to the Franchimont region.

The issue of sexuality in Italian penitentiary law: a 1930s debate between international influences and fascist prison policies (Gianmarco Palmieri)
DOI 10.1163/15718190-20241211
Abstract:

This article delves into a crucial yet understudied aspect of Italian penitentiary history during the 1930s: the intricate interplay between international influences and the development of fascist prison policies with regard to issues of sexuality. Drawing from a rich archive of legislative documents, contemporary publications, and historical accounts, this study examines the emergence of a multifaceted discourse surrounding sexuality within the context of Italian prisons. Within this framework, the article illuminates the tensions between Mussolini’s authoritarian policies and the pioneering penitentiary practices that were undergoing experimentation in foreign legal systems.

Is legal history just writing a text? (Boudewijn Sirks) [OPEN ACCESS]
DOI 10.1163/15718190-20241204
Abstract:

The question, what constitutes the methodology of the legal history research, is answered in different ways. One is that it is the same as for general history: writing on history according to a set of rules which constitute its methodology, because in the end all research on history is just creating a text. It follows from this that legal history is a variation of history and belongs to history faculties, since there is no connection with legal methodology. It is maintained in this article that this view is based on too simple a view of history as science: there is not one methodology but various methodologies (‘discourses’, not only in history but in science in general), each with its own conditions and requirements. Legal history’s discourse has a particular distinguishing element, viz. legal analysis and methodology, which sets it apart from history in general. Its natural place is consequently in law faculties.

Book reviews

• S.F. Thönissen, Recht und Gerechtigkeit, Philosophisch-theologische Grundlagen der westlichen Rechtstradition. [Law and religion in the early modern period / Recht und Religion in der Frühen Neuzeit, 2]. Brill / Schöningh, [Paderborn 2022]. xx + 597 S. (N. Jansen)
  
• S. Soleil, Aux origines de l’opposition entre systèmes de common law et de droit codifié, Les controverses anglo-américaines des années 1820-1835. [Sensus iuris]. Société de législation comparée, [Paris 2021]. 371 p. (Caroline Laske)Delphine Sirks, Fire and life insurance in the Dutch Republic, Development and legal aspects. [Comparative studies in the history of insurance law / Studien zur vergleichenden Geschichte des Versicherungsrechts (hil), 18]. Duncker & Humblot, [Berlin 2022]. 233 p. (Guido Rossi)
• Th. Duve [und] J.L. Egío, Rechtsgeschichte des frühneuzeitlichen Hispanoamerika. [Methodica – Einführungen in die rechtshistorische Forschung, 6]. De Gruyter, Oldenbourg, [Berlin – Boston 2022]. viii + 231 S. (Jan Hallebeek)
• T. Beggio und A. Grebieniow (Hrgs.), Methodenfragen der Romanistik im Wandel, Paul Koschakers Vermächtnis 80 Jahre nach seiner Krisenschrift. [Ius Romanum, Beiträge zu Methode und Geschichte des römischen Rechts, 7]. Mohr Siebeck, [Tübingen 2020]. xiv + 236 S. (Boudewijn Sirks)

Obituary

In memoriam Hilde de Ridder-Symoens, 1943–2023 [OPEN ACCESS] (Prof. dr. Arnoud-Jan Bijsterveld and Dr. Jaap J. van Moolenbroek)

Read more here.

 

BOOK: Cornel ZWIERLEIN & Daniel LEE (eds.), Sovereignty. European and Global Histories, 1400-1800 [Intersections, ed. Karl A. E. ENENKEL] (Leiden/Boston: Martinus Nijhoff/Brill, 2025), XIV + 416 p. ISBN 9789004218628, €135,68

 

(image source: Brill)

Abstract:

Was the emperor as sovereign allowed to seize the property of his subjects? Was this handled differently in late medieval Roman law and in the practice and theory of zabt in Mughal India? How is political sovereignty relating to the church´s powers and to trade? How about maritime sovereignty after Grotius? How was the East India Company as a ´corporation´ interacting with an Indian Nawab? How was the Shogunate and the emperor negotiating ´sovereignty´ in early modern Japan? The volume addresses such questions through thoroughly researched historical case studies, covering the disciplines of History, Political Sciences, and Law. Contributors include: Kenneth Pennington, Fabrice Micallef, Philippe Denis, Sylvio Hermann De Franceschi, Joshua Freed, David Dyzenhaus, Michael P. Breen, Daniel Lee, Andrew Fitzmaurice and Kajo Kubala, Nicholas Abbott, Tiraana Bains, Cornel Zwierlein, Mark Ravina.

Table of contents:

1 Introduction
 Cornel Zwierlein and Daniel Lee

Part 1: European Sovereignties

2 Sovereignty, the Prince, and Property Rights
 Kenneth Pennington

3 Offering Sovereignty in Exchange for Assistance? The Appeal of the Dutch to Henry III of France (1584–1585)
 Fabrice Micallef

4 Edmond Richer, Jean Bodin and the Idea of Sovereignty
 Philippe Denis

5 Venetian Republicanism against the Roman Ambitions of Pontifical Theocracy ‒ Sovereignty According to Paolo Sarpi: Political Theory and the Challenge of the Venetian Interdict Crisis (1606–1607) and Its Aftermath
 Sylvio Hermann De Franceschi

6 Jurisdiction, Territory, Sovereignty: Giulio Pace and the Dominion of the Sea
 Joshua Freed

7 Hobbes and the Healthy Sovereign
 David Dyzenhaus

8 ‘Le prince doit avoir une autorité souveraine sur les mariages’: Annulments, Sovereignty, and the Law in Early Modern France
 Michael P. Breen

9 Sovereignty and the Duties of Humanity: On Money, Barter, and Sale
 Daniel Lee

Part 2: Global Sovereignties

10 ‘Company-states’ and Sovereignty
 Andrew Fitzmaurice and Kajo Kubala

11 Zabt and Its Discontents: Property Confiscation, Patrimonial Kingship, and the Performance of Sovereignty in Mughal India, c.1600–1800
 Nicholas Abbott

12 Unsettling Sovereignty between the Mughal and British Empires: the Case of the Nawab of Arcot, circa 1749–1795
 Tiraana Bains

13 Sovereignty and Untranslatability: European International Law, France, the Ottoman Empire and the Barbary States 1720–1740
 Cornel Zwierlein

14 Who Was Sovereign in Early Modern Japan?
 Mark Ravina

 

On the editors:

Cornel Zwierlein is teaching early modern history since 2001, holding Habilitation rights since 2011. He is a specialist in Early Modern European and Global History, Political Theory, Religion and Law. Daniel Lee is Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a specialist in political theory, the history of political thought, and jurisprudence. 

Read more: DOI 10.1163/9789004218628.

CFP: 'Rediscovering Inquisition Research and new perspectives from the Archives of the Inquisition(s)' (Naples, 17-18 SEPT 2025 ) [DEADLINE 30 NOV 2024]

(Source: EEHAR)

The inquisitorial archives have undergone a process of dispersal over the past two centuries, the outcomes of which are only partly known. While some large inquisitorial funds are still preserved in public and private institutions, the destination of many other archives (or archival series) has been more troubled and, in some cases, not well known. 

This call for papers intends to gather contributions, especially from young researchers, regarding new studies and/or new discoveries on inquisitorial archives, with a focus on the archives of the local courts of the (Roman, Spanish or Portuguese) Inquisition. 

Contributions could be focused on: 

- little-known or not yet studied funds or archival series of inquisitorial courts; 

- newly discovered funds that survived documentary dispersion (e.g., correspondence, instructions, etc.); 

- trials or files that shed new lights on the history of the Inquisition; 

- new discoveries on the libraries of local courts of the Inquisition; 

- the history of documentary funds of inquisitorial origin. All speakers will be required to give a brief preliminary overview on the history of the inquisitorial court investigated, from the origin to the suppression phase. 

The conference will take place on 17-18 September 2025 in Naples. Reimbursement of travel expenses (up to a maximum of 200 euros from Italy and 400 euros from abroad) and lodging will be provided. Selected papers will be published in a final volume. The article submissions are due by 1st November 2025. 

Each proposal should contain an abstract of the content to be illustrated (400-500 words) and a short cv of the proposer (200 words). Deadline for proposal submission: November 30, 2024. Acceptance will be communicated by December 15, 2024. Infos and proposal submission (Organization): Silvia Toppetta - [email protected] (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia)

Issued by: DIGITAL INQUISITION. Tools for multimedia access and exploitation of the Archive of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; NETEX - NETworks and EXchanges within the Congregations of the Roman Curia: a Digital Analysis of the Early Roman Church Archives; in collaboration with: INQUIRE - International Centre for Research on Inquisitions.

Scientific Commettee (members of DIGITAL INQUISITION/NETEX projects): Matteo Al Kalak, Nicoletta Bazzano, Massimo Carlo Giannini, Vittoria Fiorelli. 

BOOK: Helga BAITENMANN, Cuestión de justicia. Pueblos, Poder Judicial y reforma agraria en el México revolucionario (México: Tirant lo Blanch, 2024). ISBN: 9788411979764, pp. 302, $ 429.00 MXN

(Source: Tirant Lo Blanch)

ABOUT THE BOOK 

La reforma agraria fue, ante todo, una respuesta a las demandas que hicieron los representantes de los pueblos para la restitución de sus tierras y aguas comunales ancestrales. La restitución de tierras hunde sus raíces en la época colonial, cuando los apoderados legales de los pueblos llevaban ante los tribunales a quienes hubieran invadido o se hubieran apoderado de sus tierras y aguas. Con la Independencia y el cierre del Juzgado de Indios, el Poder Judicial se hizo cargo de todos los juicios de restitución. Sin embargo, durante la Revolución, con el Poder Judicial paralizado por sus vínculos con el antiguo régimen y la guerra civil, los dos principales programas de reforma agraria, aquellos implementados por Emiliano Zapata y Venustiano Carranza, optaron por encomendar esta tarea al poder ejecutivo y así dieron forma a un nuevo orden político con el apoyo de los pueblos. En ‘Cuestión de Justicia’, Helga Baitenmann ofrece el primer relato detallado de los programas de reforma agraria zapatista y carrancista tal como fueron implementados en la práctica a nivel local y luego reconfigurados en respuesta a conflictos imprevistos entre los pueblos y dentro de los mismos, poniendo énfasis en el modo como el ejecutivo se apropió de funciones previamente reservadas al poder judicial.

 

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

Helga Baitenmann es doctora en Antropología y está afiliada al Centro de Estudios Latinoamericanos y del Caribe de la Universidad de Londres. Es coeditora de ‘Los códigos del género: prácticas del derecho en el México contemporáneo’ y ha escrito extensamente sobre temas agrarios y de justicia para diversas revistas académicas. Sus áreas principales de investigación abarcan la reforma agraria, los derechos de las mujeres en los procesos desamortizadores del siglo XIX y la historia de la violencia de género en México.

More information with the publisher.

BOOK: Konstantina PAPATHANASIOU, Martin LOHNIG (eds.), Feuerbach 2.0? Das griechische Strafgesetzbuch von 1834 (Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 2024). ISBN: 9783428189748

(Image source: Duncker & Humblot)

ABOUT THE BOOK

HIn 1834, the new penal code written by the Bavarian jurist Maurer came into force in Greece. In Bavaria, Feuerbach's penal code had been in force since 1813, the first attempt to realise the postulate of rational and liberal criminal law in a codification. However, the need for reform of this code soon became apparent in legal practice. Against this background, Maurer's code appears as version 2.0 of Feuerbach's work.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Marcus Schladebach, Georg Ludwig von Maurer und die griechische Staatsgründung
• Martin Löhnig, Maurers Bücherkiste – Bemerkungen zu den Quellen des Griechischen Strafgesetzbuchs von 1834
• Konstantina Papathanasiou, Die „vollständigste und mildeste unter allen vorhandenen Strafgesetzgebungen“? Straftheoretische und rechtsphilosophische Überlegungen zum griechischen Strafgesetzbuch von 1834
• Georgios Michail Tzagkournis, Der Einfluss der Lehre Feuerbachs auf die griechische Beteiligungsdogmatik. Zugleich eine kritische Betrachtung zur formal-objektiven (Mit‑)‌Täterkonzeption
• Michael Tsapogas, Die Blasphemie vom Bayerischen zum Griechischen Strafgesetzbuch
• Ioannis K. Morozinis, Die Feuerbach'sche Untreueregelung des ersten griechischen Strafgesetzes und das überlieferte Missverständnis um die Novelle von 1911
• Nikolaos Pavlakos, Der Vermögensbezug des Betrugs im griechischen Strafgesetz von 1834 im Spiegel der europäischen Strafrechtsgeschichte
• Philippos-Georgios Kotsalis / Anna Sakellaraki, Das griechische StGB von 1834: Ein Legal Transplant und seine soziale Legitimation
• Wassiliki Neumann-Roustopanis, Die griechische Gerichts- und Notariats-Ordnung von 1834
• Ioannis Giannidis, Strukturen der Rezeption am Beispiel des Einflusses der deutschen Strafrechtswissenschaft auf das griechische Strafrecht

More information can be found here.

BOOK: Luka BURAZIN, Kenneth Einar HIMMA & Giorgio PINO (eds.), Jurisprudence in the Mirror. The Common Law Meets the Civil Law World (Oxford: OUP, 2024), 544 p. ISBN 9780192868688, 110 GBP

 

(image source: OUP)

Abstract:

There is something quite puzzling about the global conversation on jurisprudence. On the one hand, jurisprudence is supposed to deal with abstract questions concerning the nature, structure, and distinctive features of the law. These questions are not tightly associated with, or dependent on, the particular legal practices in one jurisdiction or another. But, on the other hand, it seems that jurisprudents are tacitly affected by their background institutional context: there is an evident divide between theorizing about the law in the civil law world and in the common law world. Jurisprudence in the Mirror: The Common Law World Meets the Civil Law World systematically presents the major achievements of contemporary civil law jurisprudence to the common law world and bridges the gap in analytic jurisprudence as it is currently practiced in the two traditions. The volume seeks to bring different voices to the table and overcome the cultural and linguistic divides that have created barriers in philosophical exchanges. The book's structure is dialogical: it includes twelve essays written by prominent and influential jurisprudents from the civil law world, each followed by a response by a jurisprudent from the common law world. This approach highlights what the two worlds share, where they part ways, and why. The varied contributions reveal how their respective legal traditions shape fundamental legal concepts and jurisprudential debates and will be invaluable to readers from both the civil and common law worlds.

On the authors:

Luka Burazin, Full Professor, University of Zagreb, Kenneth Einar Himma, Continuing Guest Professor, University of Zagreb, and Giorgio Pino, Full Professor of Philosophy of Law, Roma Tre University Luka Burazin is a full professor in legal theory at the University of Zagreb. In 2022 he was elected president of the Croatian section of IVR. He has published papers in journals Rechtstheorie, ARSP, Diritto e questioni pubbliche, Ratio Juris, Jurisprudence, Doxa, and in books by OUP, Edward Elgar and Springer. He co-edited books Law and State (Peter Lang 2015), Law as an Artifact (OUP 2018) and The Artifactual Nature of Law (Edward Elgar 2022). He is a co-editor of journal Revus. He has translated several legal theory books and a number of legal theory papers into Croatian. Kenneth Einar Himma is a continuing guest professor at the Faculty of Law at the University of Zagreb. He has published extensively in the areas of philosophy of law, philosophy of information and information ethics, philosophy of religion, and applied ethics. He is the author of Morality and the Nature of Law (OUP 2019) and Coercion and the Nature of Law (OUP 2020). He has published well over 100 essays and book reviews in these various areas and is on the editorial boards of Legal Theory, Law and Philosophy, Ratio Juris, Revus, and other journals in the area. Giorgio Pino is Full Professor of Philosophy of Law at Roma Tre University. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the IVR. He has published 9 books (in Italian, four of which have been translated in Spanish), and several scholarly articles in various international journals such as Law and Philosophy, Ratio Juris, Doxa, Analisi e Diritto, Ragion Pratica, Diritto & Questioni Pubbliche. He has held visiting positions at, among others, the EUI, Paris 1-Sorbonne, and Columbia University.

More information here. 

 

SEMINAR SERIES: Le discriminazioni di genere nel Medioevo (Rome: Università di Roma La Sapienza, OCT-NOV 2024)

 

(Source: Storia del diritto)

Programme and more information available here.

JOURNAL: Les Pays-Bas dans les systèmes impériaux [dir. Marie KERVYN & Yves JUNOT] (Études sur le XVIIIe siècle 51 (2023)) (ISBN 978-2-8004-1870-4)

 

(image source: editions-ULB)

Abstract:

Une Belgique « espagnole », « autrichienne » puis « française » à l'époque moderne, vraiment ? Au cours du XVIIIe siècle, les Pays-Bas méridionaux furent successivement incorporés aux Empires des Habsbourg d’Espagne puis d’Autriche et, par conquête, à la France. Avec l'émergence de l’État-nation et de ses « histoires nationales » au XIXe siècle, la lecture et l’analyse de la trajectoire de ces territoires rattachés à des ensembles politiques « étrangers » ont été sujettes à des biais et leur mémoire se retrouve encore partagée entre plusieurs pays. Aujourd’hui, la déconstruction de cette vision nationale ouvre une autre compréhension de ces configurations complexes. À ce titre, ce volume propose un bilan critique de l’historiographie qui a presque toujours traité séparément ces séquences historiques. Il souligne les continuités et interroge les enjeux de la gouvernance des anciens Pays-Bas comme espaces singuliers des systèmes impériaux européens au cours du XVIIIe siècle.

Table of contents:

Introduction
     Systèmes impériaux, Pays-Bas habsbourgeois et (dé)construction de l'État moderne - Un état de la recherche

Première partie - Gouverner à distance. Entre culture civique locale et intégration dans un système composit
     Mediating Local Identities as a Tool of Integration - The Austrian and French Regimes Compared (Southern Nederlands, 1715-1814)
     Les officiers fiscaux de Brabant : agents politiques du gouvernement à distance (deuxième moitié du XVIIIe siècle) - Le cas des demandes d'amortissement des organisations religieuses
     De Vienne à Bruxelles - La manifestation du pouvoir habsbourgeois à Bruxelles au temps du gouvernement de Charles de Lorraine (1744-1780)

Deuxième partie - Les enjeux de la gouvernance à travers l'ordre public et la sécurité
     A Border Case Study in Sint-Donaas - Criminal Trial Resolution ans Mapping Material
     Les aspirations à une police impériale dans l'espace belge, de Joseph II à Napoléon Ier (1780-1815) - Regard historiographique

Troisième partie - La modernisation économique dans les nouvelles stratégies impériales
     Juste une « guerre de la Marmite » ? - La politique globale de Joseph II et l'échec de la tentative de réorientation économique dans les Pays-Bas autrichiens, 1784-1785
     Entre exclusif et transit - Perspective de relance du commerce extérieur des départements belges

Bibliographie

Index des noms de persoones

Index des noms de lieux

Personalia

On the editors:

Marie Kervyn est chargée de cours en histoire moderne à l'ULB. Ses activités de recherche portent sur l’espace méridional des Pays-Bas habsbourgeois et, plus généralement, sur les frontières de l’Empire des Habsbourg. Elles investiguent les questions liées à la réception de migrants, à l’extranéité et à l’identification des personnes dans une perspective d’histoire « sociale du politique ».

Yves Junot est maître de conférences en histoire moderne à l'Université polytechnique Hauts-de-France (Valenciennes). Spécialiste des élites urbaines des Pays-Bas espagnols, il développe ses recherches sur les frontières et leurs logiques transrégionales, sur les processus de réconciliation et de renégociation des pactes politiques entre pouvoirs locaux et monarchie hispanique et sur la résilience des sociétés des XVIe et XVIIe siècles.

On the journal:

Created in 1974 at the initiative of Roland Mortier and Hervé Hasquin, this interdisciplinary series is an internationally renowned journal with premier scientific ranking.  Aiming to promote research on the long XVIIIth Century, it proposes interdisciplinary thematic issues. Mingling literature, history, art history and history of ideas, architecture, urbanism, but also social and medical sciences and philosophy, the journal takes up an intersectional perspective to gauge the interplay and inteferences that constitute an epoch's specific reality. Successively lead by Roland Mortier and Hervé Hasquin, Bruno Bernard and Manuel Couvreur, before the current tandem of Valérie André and Brigitte D'Hainaut, the 'Études sur le XVIIIe siècle'/'Studies on the XVIII Century' are supported by an editorial board and a scientific commission tasked with evaluating the submissions. The journal is financially supported by the FRS/FNRS and its various issues are integrally available in open access one year after their publication in print.

Read more here. 

REMINDER, DIALOGUE: Journal Comparative Legal History:Dialogues on Alternative Conceptions of Comparative Legal History - 30 October 2024 – 17:00-18:00hs (CEST)

 

The journal Comparative Legal History is an official academic forum of the European Society for Comparative Legal History. It was first published in 2013 and aims to offer a space for the development of comparative legal history. Based in Europe, it welcomes contributions that explore law in different times and jurisdictions from across the globe. Submissions are currently welcome and are being assessed on a rolling basis. 

 

The journal will host a one-hour public session to discuss on alternative conceptions of comparative legal history. Editors (past and present) will present exploratory points and all attendees will be invited to join in a general discussion. 

 

Comparative legal history continues attracting new followers. Scholarship and changes in law school curricula are showing significant developments in this field, with advocates subscribing to this movement from across the globe. What explains this rise in interest in this field of study? And, above all, what is comparative legal history? What are the different conceptions of this tool for the study of law? How is this wave of scholarship and curriculum development related to other fields of study? These and other questions will be explored during this public session.

 

The event is free and open to the public, and it will take place via Zoom. 

 

Registration is required by sending an email to [email protected].

BOOK: Robin Leon GOGOL, Kolonialrecht und Provenzienzforschung [Beiträge zu den Grundfragen des Rechts; 41] (Göttingen: V&R unipress, 2023), 217 p., ISBN 978-3-8471-1630-1

 

ABOUT THE BOOK:

 

Für die juristische Untersuchung der kolonialrechtlichen Erwerbsprozesse sind die dem deutschen Zivilrecht immanenten Gerechtigkeitsideale und Billigkeitsgrundsätze maßgeblich. Robin Leon Gogol gibt durch eine rechtshistorische Quellenauswertung einen Überblick über das Kolonialrecht und stellt mittels der Untersuchung des rechtlichen Rahmens der deutschen Kolonialisierungsgeschichte die Auswirkungen des Rechts auf die Provenienzforschung fest, um dann abschließend Kategorien rechtlicher Legitimität für den konkreten Einzelfall einer historischen Provenienzprüfung zu erarbeiten. Dabei behandelt er neben abstrakten juristischen Fragestellungen auch die spannende Herkunftsgeschichte der »Federkrone aus Kamerun«, die mutmaßlich vom Besitz des Manga Ndumbe Bell in die Hände des deutschen Missionars Theodor Christaller gelangt ist.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

 

Dr. Robin Leon Gogol arbeitete als Jurist an der Leibniz Universität Hannover am Lehrstuhl für öffentliches Medienrecht, am Lehrstuhl für Zivilrecht und Rechtsgeschichte sowie am CELLS-Institut für Medizin- und Ethikrecht. Während seiner Promotion am Lehrstuhl für Zivilrecht und Rechtsgeschichte war er zudem Researcher and Legal Counsel beim internationalen PAESE-Projekt des Landes Niedersachsen.  

 

Read more here.

BOOK: Aziz Z. HUQ, The Rule of Law. A Very Short Introduction [Very Short Introductions] (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2024), 152 p. ISBN 9780197657423, 8,99 GBP

 

(image source: OUP)

Abstract:

Politicians, judges, and citizens commonly use the phrase "rule of law" to describe some good that flows from a legal system. But what precisely is that good? Even in Aristotle's time, there was no agreement on either its nature, and on whether it counted as an unqualified good. Even now, a core rule-of-law aspiration is that law can constrain how power is flexed. But how or when? Disagreement persists as to whether the rule of law is a matter of how law is used or why it is deployed. In consequence, the World Bank, the leaders of Singapore's one-party state, and the Communist Party in China can all offer their own spins on the concept. By charting these disagreements and showing the overlap and the conflicts between different understandings of the concept, Aziz Z. Huq shows how the rule of law can still be used as an important tool for framing and evaluating the goals and functions of a legal system. He traces the idea's historical origins from ancient Greece to the constitutional theorist Albert Venn Dicey to the economist and political philosopher Friedrich Hayek. And he explores how that value is coming under pressure from terrorist threats, macroeconomic crisis, pandemics, autocratic populism, and climate change.

On the author:

Aziz Z. Huq is Frank and Bernice J. Greenberg Professor of Law at the University of Chicago, specializing in U.S. and comparative constitutional law. His previous books include The Collapse of Constitutional Remedies and How to Save a Constitutional Democracy (with Tom Ginsburg).

Table of contents:

Preface
Chapter 1. Why Might the Rule of Law Matter?
Chapter 2. Seeding the Rule of Law
Chapter 3. The Rule of Law's Green Shoots
Chapter 4. Three Branches of the Modern Rule of Law
Chapter 5. Why does the Rule of Law Survive?
Chapter 6. Cultivating the Rule of Law in New Lands
Chapter 7. The Rule of Law Condemned: Critics and Crises
Epilogue

 Read more here.