EUTopia CoLeCo Legal History: Collective and Individual Rights in Legal History

As the train left a rather gloomy Leamington Spa, we were relishing the prospect of arriving in bustling Brussels the same day. Having represented Warwick at the conference last year in Ljubljana, three of us were extremely excited to have once again the opportunity to present in front of a fantastic community. For Tom, on the other hand, this was a new experience but he for sure made the most of it having returned home with a pair of European Union sunglasses and a Belgian flag - but no chocolate! Firstly, we would like to thank the students of Vrije Universiteit Brussel and Professor Frederik Dhondt for their excellent hospitality throughout the trip. The conference was perfectly arranged and the tours of such a fascinating city were conducted with such thoroughness and precision that we now have a good understanding of the Hapsburg Empire. That being said, we are not the biggest fans of Leopold II! Wednesday 13th March  Upon arrival in Brussels, our cohort was immediately thank...

(image source: VUB CORE ) Prof. Laurent De Sutter (VUB, Contextual Research in Law) hosts a lecture by Prof. Tamar Herzog (Harvard) on her synthesis A Short History of European Law. The Past Two and a Half Millenia  (Harvard University Press, 2018). It is possible to attend the lecture online, upon registring with Laurent dot desutter at vub dot be. More information here .

On Thursday the 14th and Friday the 15th of March, the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB)  had the pleasure to host the third edition of the EUTopia Peak Event in Legal History. This year’s CoLeCo (Connected Learning Community) focused on the topic of  Connectedness , which allowed the attendees to interchange ideas relating to similar research topics and connect with each other to learn about mirrored legal developments throughout history in different jurisdictions across Europe and around the world.  We started the first day of the Peak Event in the bustling heart of Brussels: at the Mont des arts, next to the statue of King Albert I. Behind the statue the tall windows of the KBR (the Belgian Royal Library, KBR is an acronym for “Koninklijke Bibliotheek” and “Bibliothèque Royale” in Dutch and French respectively) stand high and tall, we spent the majority of the first day of the Peak Event at this beautiful location.  The KBR has an extremely rich history. Not only i...

  Hi to who is reading this! We’re Sabrina and Maeva from Cergy-Paris University in France. I ( Maeva ) am specialising in Private Law, and Sabrina is specialising in Health Law. We were part of the EUTopia project of this year (2023/24) about Connectedness in Legal History .   Why did you join? On our very first day in Cergy-Paris University during a reunion about the master programs, Prof. Argyriadis-Kervegan presented the project to all of us, we were quite keen about the idea of contributing to a project in English, and meeting students from other EUTopia universities. We knew no one in this new school; we were both in different universities before. We saw this project as an opportunity to work in English, and as a way to challenge ourselves by talking in front of an (almost) unknown audience. With the Peak Event in mind, we were motivated to do a great job and very excited to go to Brussels for the first time!   What are you working on? I (Sabrina) worked...

Throughout history, the territory presently known as Belgium has undergone successive changes in governance, with authority shifting among prominent entities such as the Holy Roman Empire, the Habsburgs, France, Spain, and other notable powers. As a precious pearl among many countries, Belgium, with its magnificent cities and outstanding artists, merchants and diplomats, has established threads that stretch to all corners of the globe. These characteristics certainly made it the most suitable location for this year's Peak Event EUTopia legal history: Connectedness in legal history. Belgium and Slovenia are linked not only by a shared history in close connection with the Habsburg dynasty, but also by a special “affection” for the number two. Slovenian is one of the few languages which still preserves dual form, while Belgium expresses its “affection” for this number in a surprising way - all institutions are divided into two parts, Flemish and Walloon, which is bounded by the dualit...