Thursday, September 26, 2019

Conference: League of Nations and international law

[We have the following announcement.]

A conference on the League of Nations and International Law during the Interbellum will take place in Brussels on Oct. 25-26, 2019. It will focus on the role of international law and lawyers in the formation of the League and of the League in the development of international law. Registration is possible until Oct. 15, 2019 (registration form here). Here's the program, after the jump: 


Friday, 25 October 2019 (Palace of Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and Arts)

13:00: Welcome by Prof. dr. Dirk Heirbaut (UGent/Instituut voor Rechtsgeschiedenis; President of the Committee for Legal History)

13:10:  Welcome by Prof. dr. Randall Lesaffer (Tilburg/iHilt – KULeuven/Onderzoekseenheid Romeins Recht en Rechtsgeschiedenis) – Dr. Inge Van Hulle (Tilburg/iHilt) en Prof. dr. Frederik Dhondt (VUB/UAntwerpen)

13:30-14:45: Panel 1

- Prof. dr. Giulio Bartolini (Roma Trè), “The League of Nations and Italian International Law scholars”

- Dr. Camilla Boisen (NYU Abu Dhabi) and Chris Allsobrook (Fort Hare University), “'The Development of Segregated Trusteeship in Africa and its Role in Decolonisation”

14:45-15:15: Coffee break

15:15-16:30: Panel 2

- Prof. dr. Péter Kovács (ICC), “Historical and Legal Sources: The Protection of Minorities under the Auspices of the League of Nations”

- Dr. Martyn Housden (University Bradford), “Who were the most progressive: statesmen, international staff or nationality leaders? A discussion of the slow emergence of the international law of minority rights after the First World War.

16:30-17:00: Coffee Break

17:00-18:15: Panel 3

- Dr. Vincent Genin (KULeuven/FWO), “Belgian Lawyers and the International Labour Organization (1920-1940)”

- Prof. dr. Agatha Verdebout (Université Catholique de Lille), “The Doctrinal Debates on the Concept of ‘War’ in the LN Covenant of the League of Nations and the Evolution of the Law on the Use of Force in the Interbellum”

18:15: Intermediate reflections by Prof. Dr. Frederik Dhondt.

19:30: Conference dinner at the university foundation
            adress: Egmontstraat 11, 1000 Brussels

21:00: Facultative social activities in the city centre of Brussels 

Saturday, 26 October 2019 (Palace of Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and Arts)

08:30 Welcome

08:45-10:00: Panel 4

- Dr. Megan Donaldson (Cambridge University), “Diplomacy by other means: international law, international lawyers, and the practice of codification”

- Dr. Sebastian Spitra (Universität Wien) , “The League of Nations and Cultural Heritage”

10:00-10:15: Coffee Break

10:15-12:00: Panel 5

- Dr. Rose Parfitt (Kent University), “The Process of International League-al Reproduction”

- Prof. Dr. Morten Rasmussen (University of Kopenhagen) & Dr. Karin Van Leeuwen (Maastricht University), “Promoting the general interest in international law? Joost Adriaan van Hamel and the early years of the League of Nation’s Legal Section (1920-1925)”

- Dr. Klaas Dykmann (University of Roskilde), “Pan Americanism and its Imprint on the League of Nations”

12.00: Final Remarks (Prof. Dr. Randall Lesaffer)

Further information is available here.