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

  (image: Fords Hospital - Alms house of old ladies of Coventry) 14 posts have been released as part of this year's EUTopia Connected Learning Community Legal History's virtual exhibition.  Students from Ljubljana, CY Cergy Paris, Warwick and Brussels worked around the common theme " Collective and Individual Rights in Legal History" .  Ajra Šišernik on the University of Graz as a Slovene Cultural Centre ( here ) Améline Verhelst on female suffrage in 19th and 20th century Belgium and "male allies" of women ( here ) Ash Fowkes-Gajan on Venetian Social Rights through Patronage ( here ) August Vanschoubroek on Collective Action and the Struggle for Universal Suffrage in Belgium ( here ) Benjamin on Marenče The development of the Carniola Bar Association ( here ) Domen Bogdan on the Sokol association in Ljutomer ( here ) Emma Cornette on Children's Rights in 19th Century France ( here ) Ferdaousse Abdeljelil and Aude Froese on the Anzin Miners' Strike (...

Referred to in Italian as La Serenissima, the ‘Most Serene Republic of Venice’ was outwardly portrayed by the state through a variety of different mechanisms. By the late fifteenth century, Venice had established herself at the heart of European commercial activity boasting an expansive empire which ranged expansively across the Istrian peninsula to the island of Cyprus. Central to this political and economic identity sat the Palazzo Ducale where the doge and his elected Great Council administered justice. Legal mechanisms by the sixteenth century were justified through a Renaissance ideal of architectural commissioning and the evolution of visual, iconographical messages.1 An increase in state patronage of the visual arts hinged around the damaging realities suffered by the state in the aftermath of the War of the League of Cambrai. Losing a sizable part of the maritime stato da mar and the majority of the mainland Terraferma, the empire was rapidly collapsing yet the city itself ...

Photo of a Cuban abortion clinic, from Hampton Institue, hamptonthink.org , [Accessed 08/07/2025] In 1996, the average Cuban woman had 2.3 abortions,  with “ No tenía condiciones ” (“I didn’t have the conditions”) being the most common justification for having done so.  Faced with the various responsibilities of bringing up a child, especially in the post-Cold War, socialist, US-embargoed Cuba, Cuban working-class women often turned to abortion upon finding themselves pregnant. Since becoming the first country in Latin America and the Western Hemisphere to legalise the medical process in 1965,  Cuba’s high rates of abortion meant it came to take on what some historians call a ‘culture of abortion,’ where women used the termination of pregnancy as a form of contraception.  A contentious issue which calls into question the meaning of legality, we decided to use the EUTopia theme of Legal History to investigate this concept further, researching the idea of reproductive ...

  After having made the most of our wonderful trips abroad, it was finally time for us at the University of Warwick to host the peak event in March this year. Under the excellent supervision of Professor Rosie Doyle, the Warwick cohort met a few weeks in advance to discuss the plans for the conference ahead. The most difficult task was trying to brainstorm a schedule that made Coventry seem like a distant utopia. Unsurprisingly, this was an extremely daunting task. Eagerly anticipating the arrival of the European cohorts, Mayukha and I thought merely about how much food and drink we could consume at Las Iguanas later that evening. Nevertheless, our last minute presentation edits were cut short as it was time to venture into Coventry to meet everyone else. Once at the hotel, it was lovely to see some familiar faces again including Professor Frederik Dhondt from Belgium who was responsible for organising the wonderful peak event last year. Mayukha and I recognised August from the VUB...

Often dismissed within the romanticised narrative describing the Italian Risorgimento is a famous remark made by Prince Klemens von Metternich (1773-1859) in 1847. The Austrian statesman described the territories of Italy as a ‘ mere geographical expression ’ to suggest it was politically, socially and culturally fragmented. Whilst historians have written extensively on the heroic, patriotic nature of the Italian struggle for national unification, ongoing structural inequalities and cultural differences lend weight towards Metternich’s claim.  (image: Nuovi Stati Costituzionali di Europa nell'Anno 1848 ; source: Museo del Risorgimento/Europeana ) Terminology used to justify the legal unification of Italy acted as a facade for the internal divisions within the newly established nation state. This sentiment was even hinted at by key political figures across the ideological spectrum. Where the Risorgimento is unfortunately a movement dominated by ‘great’ men, some appear to resonat...