EUTopia CoLeCo Legal History: The End(s) of War

Introduction and context: the difficulty of building an integrationist project after a devastating war After 1945, Europe was deeply divided, destroyed and unstable, and coal and steel were key resources as they were the backbone of military power. Control over these industries had been a major conflict in both world wars and the Western allies believed something had to be done to prevent another war. In this context, the French government hosted a conference along 5 other European states, resulting in the Treaty of Paris of 1951, by which the European Coal and Steel Community was created with the goal of integrating the aforementioned resources in a single common market to prevent another war and promote trade. Though, in the text itself only the economic face of this goal was mentioned and, as we will see, the focus of the treaty was in many points looking at economic growth more than citizens in this first phase of integration, as per art. 2 of the Treaty: Article 2 of the Treaty of...

 1. Belgium's Awkward Origin Story: Neutrality as Identity To understand Belgium's immigration policy, one must begin not with migration law but with geopolitics, with Belgium's rather awkward birth. It all started when the Belgians got sick of the Dutch and wanted independence. Its independence came at a price: permanent neutrality, imposed by the Big 5 of that time: Britain, France, Prussia, Austria, and Russia . This was formalised in the Treaty of London of 1839 , Article 7: "Belgium shall form an independent and perpetually neutral State." In short: little Belgium should mind its little business and stay out of any conflicts, conformably to neutrality's main obligations: abstention and impartiality . Now, being forced into neutrality by five larger countries is not exactly the most heroic origin story. But that neutrality ended up shaping Belgium’s political culture, its foreign policy, and eventually its treatment of foreigners. In practice, your nationa...

 Inleiding De impact van oorlog sijpelt binnen in de verschillende lagen van de samenleving, zowel op politiek, economisch als op sociaal vlak. Zo ook op vlak van het recht, meer bepaald van het eigendoms- en familierecht. Familierecht is een rechtstak die uiterst gevoelig is aan maatschappelijke veranderingen en onophoudelijk flexibel genoeg moet zijn om mee te evolueren met en zich te adapteren aan de noden van de samenleving. Het kan dan ook niet anders dan dat de moeilijke omstandigheden, voortgebracht door de oorlog, het Belgische familierecht grondig hervormd hebben en de gevolgen hiervan doordrongen tot op de stoel van de wetgever. Men moest het hoofd bieden aan nieuwe maatschappelijke problemen, verbonden aan de oorlog, en men verwachtte dat het familierecht hieraan zou tegemoetkomen. In deze uiteenzetting wordt dieper ingegaan op enkele familiaal- en eigendomsrechtelijke aspecten die beïnvloed werden door de Eerste Wereldoorlog, die België en bij uitbreiding Europa bijna o...