European Society for Comparative Legal History

The volume Vidas por el derecho (ed. by Esteban Conde Naranjo,  Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, 2012), which contains essays on the biography of important European lawyers of the 18th and 19th century, is the result of the common effort of some of the most well known experts in the field: Clara Álvarez Alonso, Frédéric Audren, Esteban Conde Naranjo, Catherine Fillon, Sebastián Martín, Aldo Mazzacane, Cristina Nogueira da Silva, Carlos Petit, María Nieves Saldaña, José Subtil, Jesús Vallejo, Cristina Vano.
The book is available both on paper and online as it can be freely downloaded clicking here 
It has also to be underlined that information about the biography of law professors in Spain (1847-1943) are available online in the Diccionario de catedráticos españoles de Derecho. It is the result of a project led by prof. Carlos Petit in collaboration with different universities: Huelva, Sevilla, Carlos III de Madrid, Autónoma de Madrid, Complutense, La Coruña, Valencia, Pablo de Olavide, Cádiz y Autónoma de Barcelona. 
http://www.uc3m.es/portal/page/portal/instituto_figuerola/programas/phu/diccionariodecatedraticos


Index (list of essays) of Vidas por el derecho


1. Dilemas metodológicos y percepción histórico-jurídica de la biografía del jurista moderno: Sebastián Martín 
2. La génesis del Mercado de las Ideas: la Areopagítica de John Milton. Su recepción en la tradición jurídica norteamericana: Oliver W. Holmes y la Primera Enmienda: María Nieves Saldaña 
3. Miguel de Manuel y Rodríguez (1741-1798), “el malogrado”: Esteban Conde Naranjo 
4. La vida de los desembargadores durante la crisis, las reformas y la Revolución liberal en Portugal (1750-1820): José Subtil 
5. Libertad, derechos naturales y “multiculturalismo” en el pensamiento de Silvestre Pinheiro Ferreira (1769-1846): Cristina Nogueira da Silva 
6. Las Novelas y la escuela. Vidas de textos y biografía (colectiva) de la Historische Rechtsschule: Cristina Vano 
7. En los orígenes de la comparación jurídica: la correspondencia de Carl Joseph Anton Mittermaier: Aldo Mazzacane 
8. Perfil del jurista romántico español (1834-1855 ca.): Clara Álvarez Alonso 
9. Biblioteca, archivo, escribanía. Portrait del abogado Manuel Cortina: Carlos Petit 
10. Biografía intermitente de Miguel Ayllón Altolaguirre: Jesús Vallejo 
11. La grandeza de Louis Josserand. Fuerzas y flaquezas de un civilista de provincias en la IIIa República francesa: Frédéric Audren/ Catherine Fillon 

What: Legal history seminar on Del Statute of Conspirators a las Combination Acts. Genealogía del delito de conspiración en la tradición de common law (1293-1800), by  Víctor Saucedo (University of Sevilla)
Where: Facultad de Derecho, Universidad Autònoma de Madrid, C/Kelsen 1, Seminario IV
When: March 20th 2013, 4:30 pm

More information here

The provisional programme of the British Legal History Conference, organized in Glasgow to celebrate the tercentenary of the Regius Chair of Legal History, is now available. This year's theme is "Law and Authority". Keynote speakers include dr. John Ford (Cambridge), professor sir John Baker (Cambridge), professor John Hudson (St Andrews) and professor Alain Wijffels (UCLouvain/Leiden).

Registration is open until 1 May 2013. Further information: www.britishlegalhistory.com.

The ERC Starting Grant -financed research project ”Reinventing the Foundations of European Legal Culture 1934-1964” (foundlaw.org) is looking for one post doc and two doctoral students for a period of four years. The project studies the cultural reception of Roman law and the uses of the classical past by Roman law scholars and as such the positions are amply suited for Romanists and historians. 


The project is located at the University of Helsinki and offers a decent salary with full benefits. The persons selected are expected to begin work within the end of the year. 
Here are links to the full adverts: http://www.helsinki.fi/recruitment/index.html?id=64815 (post doc)  http://www.helsinki.fi/recruitment/index.html?id=64817 (doctoral students) 

All materials related to the Seminar "Citizenship and Power between Middle Ages and Modern Era" (RomaTre University, Law Faculty, March-December 2013), are now available on Academia.edu: http://uniroma3.academia.edu/SeminarioCittadinanzeUniversitàdegliStudiRomaTre
See also: http://seminariocittadinanze.blogspot.it/
You can find the program on the ESCLH blog: http://esclh.blogspot.it/2013/02/seminars-citizenship-and-power-between.html

What: Giacomo Todeschini (Univ. of Trieste) on "Giuda e le reti del credito informale in Italia alla fine del Medioevo”.
Where: Aula grande de seminarios (1ª planta) de la IMF-CSIC (c/ Egipcíaques, 15, Barcelona) When: March 18th 2013, 12:00
The conference is organized by the Departamento de Ciencias Históricas – Estudios Medievales de la Institución Milá y Fontanals (CSIC, Barcelona)

What: First Annual American Society for Legal History Workshop on "Latin American Legal History"

Where: Miami/Fort Lauderdale

When: Immediately before the ASLH annual meeting in Miami/Fort Lauderdale (Nov. 7-10, 2013)

Deadline: April 1st 2013

Papers in Spanish or other languages will be considered if an abstract (one to two pages) is included in English.

Source: Legal History Blog 
"The American Society for Legal History (ASLH) invites paper submissions for its first annual ASLH Workshop, which will be held immediately preceding the ASLH annual meeting in Miami/Fort Lauderdale (Nov. 7-10, 2013).  The workshop is sponsored by ASLH to promote scholarship in areas of legal history that have been traditionally underrepresented at ASLH meetings and in the Law and History Review.  This year’s workshop topic is Latin American Legal History.  (Workshop topics will rotate on an annual basis.)  The ASLH Legal History Workshop will bring together authors and noted scholars in the field in order to work collaboratively toward refining scholarly writing.  An important objective of the workshop is encouraging scholarly conversations among historians of legal systems from a broad range of historical periods and places".
All information on the Legal History Blog  

Articles are being sought for publication in Comparative Legal History (CLH), an international and comparative review of law and history. 

CLH is the official journal of the European Society for Comparative Legal History (ESCLH) and is published by Hart Publishing (UK). 
The journal is published, both online and in print, twice a year, appearing in the spring and the autumn. The first issue will appear in Spring 2013:
Articles will explore both 'internal' legal history (doctrinal and disciplinary developments in the law) and 'external' legal history (legal ideas and institutions in wider contexts). Rooted in the complexity of the various Western legal traditions worldwide, the journal will also investigate other laws and customs from around the globe. Comparisons may be either temporal or geographical and both legal and other law-like normative traditions will be considered. Scholarship on comparative and trans-national historiography, including trans-disciplinary approaches, is particularly welcome.
The Editors welcome scholarly submissions in the English language:
To submit an article please contact Articles Editor Heikki Pihlajamäki (heikki.pihlajamaki@helsinki.fi). The optimal length for articles is between 7500 to 15000 words, including footnotes. All articles are submitted to double blind peer review.
To propose a review, please contact Reviews Editor Agustin Parise (agustin.parise@maastrichtuniversity.nl). Book reviews will generally range from 1500 to 2500 words. Review articles will also be considered.
The Hart website also has information on the Editors (both the Editorial Staff and International Editorial Board), an Email alert service of the 'Table of Contents', and subscription information. 
Note that a special arrangement between the ESCLH and Hart has been made to ensure that ESCLH membership fees include a subscription to CLH.
Potential contributors should pay special attention to the ‘Notes for Contributors’ on the website. In particular, contributors whose first language is not English are strongly advised to have their papers edited by native Anglophone scholars in advance of their submission to ensure a clear presentation of their ideas and an accurate appraisal of their work.

Spread the word. 

What: Presentation of "L'histoire à parts égales" by Romain Bertrand,  with Stefania Gialdroni (Università Roma Tre) and Arthur Weststeijn (Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut Rome), coordinated by Guillaume Calafat (École française de Rome) and François Dumasy (École française de Rome)
Where: École française de Rome, Piazza Navona 62, Rome 
When: March 8 2013, 5:30 pm 

The presentation will take place in English 

What: Conference "Regimi giuridici delle transizioni" Where: Università degli Studi di Catania, Dipartimento Seminario Giuridico, Villa Cerami, Aula Magna When: 11 March 2013, 9:00 am
SPEAKERS: 
Jacopo Torrisi (Univ. Catania)  Il Tribunale Speciale per la Difesa dello Stato
Camilla Poesio (Univ. Ca' Foscari Venezia) Misura di prevenzione? Misura di sicurezza? Misura alternativa all’azione giudiziaria? Il confino fascista e la questione della pericolosità
Lutz Klinkhammer (Deutsches Historisches Institut in Rom - Istituto Storico Germanico di Roma) I tribunali speciali nella Germania nazista
Jörg Luther (Univ. Piemonte Orientale “A. Avogadro”) Le piccole costituzioni italiane tra il 1943 e il 1948
Alessia Di Stefano (Univ. Catania) Gli esiti dei provvedimenti della Repubblica Sociale Italiana nella nuova Repubblica Italiana
Cecilia Nubola (Istituto Storico Italo Germanico, Trento) Giustizia di transizione: il caso dei provvedimenti di grazia nei confronti dei “collaborazionisti” (1945-1955)
Michela Ponzani (Univ. Firenze) Giustizia di transizione e processi di ricostruzione identitaria nazionale, nel passaggio dalla Monarchia alla Repubblica
Roundtable with:  Paolo Cappellini (Univ. Firenze) and Giuseppe Speciale (Univ. Catania)

The new issue of the Journal of Constitutional History (Giornale di Storia Costituzionale), 24.2 (2012) is now available. This issue is devoted to: "The Commonwealth of Australia: Themes and Traditions in Australian Constitutional Law and History".  
CONTENTS: Introduction: The Commonwealth of Australia / Introduzione. Il Commonwealth australiano, 5 Augusto Zimmermann
Foundations ‘Una società di società’: Why Australia is a Federation / ‘Una società di società’: perché l’Australia è una federazione, 23 Nicholas Aroney
Why Australia Does Not Have, and Does Not Need, a National Bill of Rights / Perché l’Australia non ha, e non ha bisogno di avere, un Bill of Rights nazionale, 35 James Allan
Directions The External Affairs Power in Australia and in Germany: Different Solutions, Similar Outcome? / Il potere degli Affari esteri in Australia e in Germania: diverse soluzioni, analogo risultato?, 49 Jürgen Bröhmer
Engineers: The Case that Changed Australian Constitutional History / Engineers: il caso che cambiò la storia costituzionale australiana, 65 Michelle Evans
The Power of the Purse: An Examination of Fiscal Federalism in Australia / Il potere della borsa: un esame del federalismo fiscale in Australia, 81 Lorraine Finlay
The Australian Constitution and Expressive Reform / La Costituzione Australiana e la qualità espressiva della riforma, 95 Eric Ghosh
Interpreting the Australian Constitution: Express Provisions and Unexpressed General Principles / Interpretare la Costituzione Australiana: provvedimenti espressi e principi generali inespressi, 117 Jeffrey Goldsworthy
The Validity of Henry VIII Clauses in Australian Federal Legislation / La validità delle Clausole di Enrico VIII nella legislazione federale australiana, 133 Gabriël A. Moens, John Trone
Australian State Courts and Chapter III of the Commonwealth Constitution – Interpretation and Re-Interpretation and the Creation of Australian Constitutional “Orthodoxy” / I Tribunali di Stato australiani e il Capitolo III della Costituzione del Commonwealth – Interpretazione e re-interpretazione e la creazione della “Ortodossia” costituzionale australiana, 145 Sarah Murray
Authors / Autori, 159
Abstracts, 161

At the occasion of the International Francqui Chair held by Prof. H. Pihlajamäki (Helsinki), Ghent University organizes an international colloquium on the theme "Laymen as Judges in European Courts".

Prof. dr. Paul Van Cauwenberghe (rector, Ghent University) will hand over the University's medal on the first day of the event.

A complete list of speakers, as well as the time schedule, is available on the Ghent Legal History Institute's website. Prior registration with Mrs. Karin Pensaert is compulsory (Karin.Pensaert@UGent.be)

A draft of my 'Entangled up in Red, White, and Blue: Spanish West Florida and the American Territory of Orleans, 1803-1810' is available here and will soon be available here.  


The piece has been accepted for Thomas Duve (ed.), Entanglements in Legal History: Conceptual Approaches to Legal History, Global Perspective on Legal History vol. 1, Max Planck Institute for European Legal History Open Access Publication, 2013.

The abstract reads:


This article is a preliminary case study of legal and normative entanglement in Spanish West Florida—which stretched across the Gulf Coast of present-day Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida—between 1803-1810. Between the time of the Louisiana Purchase (1803) and the annexation of Westernmost part of West Florida by the United States (1810), the laws and norms of the Territory criss-crossed in various ways those of Spain and the United States. Indeed, the territory was, in turn, French, British, and Spanish before being annexed, in part, by the Americans. For the period under study here, and decades before, its settlers were largely Anglophone, while its laws were a variant of the Spanish colonial ius commune. West Florida had an especially close relationship with the area that would become the new American Territory of Orleans (1805), especially the city of New Orleans. Carved out of the vast Louisiana Territory purchased from France, the Territory of Orleans had its own complex history. Its population was still largely Francophone. In its first decade, its laws were already a gumbo of continental and Anglo-American ingredients. Together, the two territories sat at the precipice of the modern nation-state, of nationalism and popular sovereignty, of legal positivism and legal formalism. In both territories, the diffusion—direct and indirect, formal and informal, ongoing and sporadic—of the various laws and norms of natives and newcomers created intricate legal and normative hybrids.   

I'd welcome your thoughts and corrections.

(image: de "Mammelokker", 18th century sculpture on the West side of the Ghent Belfry, relating the legend of a woman feeding her father in captivity in spite of an interdiction to smuggle food into the prison building; for more information click here)
The registration for this year's European Forum of Young Legal Historians ("(Wo)men in legal history"), which takes place in the Flemish capitals Ghent (Belgium) and Lille (France), is now open. This unique bicephal conference takes the participants by bus across the historically disputed Franco-Belgian border, in the footsteps of the armies of Philip IV the Fair, Louis XIV, Louis XV, the French Revolutionary Convention or Napoleon. This time, the organizers have done their utmost best to avoid any bloodshed, pillage or destruction, have eliminated toll posts on the Leie and Scheldt rivers and were dispensed from the obligation to conclude a treaty of contribution. The cities of Ghent and Lille, at the crossroads of Europe, have a remarkably rich historical past: the birthplaces of two statesmen of global reputation, Charles de Gaulle and Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, the foundation of the Nobel Prize-winning Institut de droit international, the conclusion of the Treaty of Ghent (1814) between Britain and the United States, and much more. The organizers warmly invite you to discover "Medieval Manhattan", the renowned Palais des Beaux-Arts, the Counts of Flanders' Castle in Ghent, Vauban's magistral citadel in Lille, or local gastronomy. 
As the sun never sets on the Empire of legal history, the organizers are delighted to welcome a diverse and impressive crowd of young academics. The conference's programme can be found here: 66 speakers from 20 different countries will address the male/female gender roles throughout all fields of legal history. 37 of them are women, 29 men. On 15 May 2013, prof. dr. Alain Wijffels (UCLouvain/Leiden/CNRS Dijon) will be the keynote speaker.
Registration on the UGent website (link). Passive attendants have until 19 April 2013 to register, speakers until 22 March 2013 (= one month from today on). Participants pay € 100, speakers € 80.

Cambridge University Press has published John Bell and David Ibbetson (eds), Comparative Studies in the Development of the Law of Torts in Europe: This three-volume set contains the results of the second and final stage of an AHRC-funded project which aims to examine the nature of legal development in Western Europe since 1850, focusing on liability for fault. 
By bringing together experts with different disciplinary backgrounds – comparative lawyers and legal historians, all with an understanding of modern tort law in their own systems – and getting them to work collaboratively, the books produce a more nuanced comparative legal history and one which is theoretically better informed. 
Also available, the six-volume set containing the results of the first stage of this project.
Very highly recommended. SPD

What: 250th Anniversary of Dei delitti e delle pene (Livorno, 1764), International Conference 
Where: Paris: École Normale Supérieure - Paris Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis (EA 4385, Laboratoire d’Études Romanes) Université Sorbonne Nouvelle - Paris 3 (CIRCE, Centre Interdisciplinaire de Recherche sur la Culture des Échanges, EA 3979 LECEMO) 
When: 4-6 December 2014
Submission deadline: 15 November 2013
Beccaria’s cultures
CALL FOR PAPERS The aim of the conference is to look into the various “cultures” that nurtured Beccaria’s thought, and into the various “cultures” he tried to transform, enrich or question. We’ve deliberately chosen the term “culture” for its scope and indeterminacy, as we hope to encourage open and many-sided reflections on the intellectual disciplines and on the fields of knowledge that stimulated Beccaria’s intellectual development, on the languages that structured his worldview, on the cultural and ideological traditions that shaped his ideas. We would also like to open a debate on the way Beccaria’s work, from Of Crimes and Punishments to his actions as a state official, bears witness to the ways disciplinary boundaries and areas of knowledge were constantly redefined, to the ways languages and traditions were questioned, and culture deeply renewed. The intellectual venture of the Caffè, which began in 1764, may also be food for thought and debate. Nevertheless, we would like to define more specifically culture as any set of references, readings, problems, styles, methods, which tend to appear as a coherent and significant whole, as a shared area of debate and questioning. In that sense, an author can have numerous and shifting cultures, which sometimes overlap, according to the ways he defines the intellectual output that precedes or surrounds him. We could then look into at least three related questions, which do not exclude other approaches or reflections:  1. Can we get a precise overview of Beccaria’s education and readings and do they form a coherent whole? What was, according to him, the role in his intellectual development of legal culture, philosophical culture, economic culture and literary culture? Did he give a central role, in his education, to Italian culture, French culture, English culture or ancient culture? How can we assess the importance and the influence on his intellectual development of mathematical culture, medical culture or theological culture? All this also raises more specific questions: what were, for Beccaria, the roles of Protestant culture, the culture of natural rights, baroque culture, materialist or “radical” culture, republican culture? These are only general examples and the list isn’t closed. In the end, our goal is to examine the coherence, the order (as a hierarchy or as an architecture), the (harmonious or tense) relationships between the different “cultures” that, according to Beccaria, determined the intellectual landscape of the time. 2. How and why did Beccaria, intentionally or not, change the dividing lines and balances of power between these various cultures? How and why did his style and references, his vocabulary or lexicon act on the various conceptions of knowledge, of its objects, methods and boundaries, as well as on the order of precedence between intellectual disciplines? For him, what was the most appropriate “culture” for the exercise of power? After Of Crimes and Punishments, did he pursue or did he alter his project? Were his later works and his role as a state official animated by the same tension (or intention)? 3. The early reception of Beccaria’s work, which closely followed the first edition of Crimes and Punishments, opens a third area of study. Franco Venturi’s work on the first translation into French and Gianni Francioni’s work on Pietro Verri’s “revision” successfully demonstrated the increasing changes in the generic contours of Beccaria’s text, as it went from hand to hand. First conceived as a satire or as a moral and philosophical pamphlet, it was gradually turned into a short treatise on criminal law. Later interpreters followed suit, appropriating the text to use it as a tool for their own problems and projects. Not only did they read and understand it in different ways, they also redefined it in different ways by associating it to a variety of “cultures”. We suggest to arbitrarily place the terminus ad quem of the “early reception” round the Congress of Vienna. How was Beccaria’s work read and understood, from the late Enlightenment to the revolutions that mark the end of the century? In which ways, according to the interests and to the cultures of its interpreters, was it received and conceived? The conference will welcome specialists in history, law, literature and philosophy, who will jointly examine the conflicts between different cultures – and not only between diverging ideas – as well as the stylistic and disciplinary redefinitions witnessed in Beccaria’s work and its early reception.
Abstracts in English, French or Italian (300-400 words) should be submitted, together with a short CV, to Philippe Audegean (philippe.audegean@univ-paris3.fr), Christian Del Vento (christian.del-vento@univ-paris3.fr), Pierre Musitelli (pierre.musitelli@ens.fr) and Xavier Tabet (xavier.tabet@wanadoo.fr) before 15 November 2013.

What:  Coloquio de Historia del Derecho Historicidad del trasplante legal: experiencias decimonónicas inter e intra-continentales by Prof.  Agustín Parise (University of Maastricht)

Where: Facultad de Derecho, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Seminario IV)
When: 26 February 2013, 4:00 pm
*****
What: Seminar on teaching methodology: ABP y desarrollo de habilidades de escritura académica en la enseñanza de la historia del derecho by prof. Agustín Parise 
Where: Facultad de Derecho, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Seminario IV)
When: 27 February 2013, 4:00 pm 
Organization: Mª Julia Solla Coordinadora del Área de Historia del Derecho y de las Instituciones j.sollasastre@gmail.com
Suggested readings:
1) C.H. van Rhee, J.A.J.M van der Meer, Teaching European Legal History at Maastricht University Netherlands, in How to Teach European Comparative Legal History. Workshop at the Faculty of Law, Lund University, 19-20 August 2009, ed. by Kjell A. Modéer and Per Nilsén, Lund 2011, 143-155. 
2) Agustín Parise,The 13 Steps of Successful Academic Legal Research, in "International Journal of Legal Information", 38.1 (2010), Article 4, Available at: http://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/ijli/vol38/iss1/4. 
3) Agustín Parise, Las revistas jurídicas en el ámbito universitario: foros de expresión y laboratorios de escritura, in "Academia. Revista sobre enseñanza del Derecho", 15 (2010), 123-132.  

What: Premio Giovanni Cassandro (IV Edition) for legal historical studies to Prof. Mario Ascheri

Where: Aula Magna of the Dipartimento Jonico in Sistemi Giuridici ed Economici del Mediterraneo: società, ambiente, culture of the Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, Convento San Francesco, Via Duomo 259, Taranto 
When: 28 February 2013, 10:00 am

Prof. Mario Ascheri will deliver a lectio magistralis on "Costituzioni, codici e Grande Révolution: mito e realtà della discontinuità oggi". 

What: Annual Conference of the Law, Literature and the Humanities Association of Australasia
Where: The Australian National University

Canberra, Australia When: 5-8 December 2013 
Deadline: 31 May 2013 

The annual conference of the Association invites scholarly and creative research from academics and graduate students working at the crossroads of law, justice, and culture, whether based in legal theory or in disciplines such as literature, art, film, music, history, continental philosophy, anthropology, psychoanalysis, visual culture, or cultural studies. Contributions may take a variety of forms from traditional academic papers to poster presentations, video, or other genres or media.
Contributors should provide a title and an abstract of 200 words or less, no later than 31 May 2013, by email sent to coast@law.anu.edu.au . 
Please include your name and the word Interpellations in the subject line

For more information on this year’s program, including on-line registration:

➢    check the web site 
http://law.anu.edu.au/conferences/interpellations

➢    or contact the Convenor, Professor Desmond Manderson      

The French Association of Young Legal Historians organizes a PhD-workshop on the Journées internationales d'histoire du droit in Besançon (France), 28 May-2 June 2013.

The session will be presided by a Professor. Contributions are strictly limited to 10 minutes. Proposals of up to 2000 characters, with an academic CV, are welcome on: assofjhd@gmail.com.

For more information, see the AFJHD's blog.