Law Blogs Maastricht

For decades, multilateralism has been the guiding principle for regulating international trade relations between states. The European Union (EU) has long championed this approach, firmly believing that global cooperation - ideally through consensus among all countries - is the most effective way to govern state trade relations. As a fallback, the EU has also supported plurilateralism, where a critical mass of countries agrees on rules even if not everyone is on board.

Patrons at the Arthur W. Diamond Law Library at Columbia University (USA) can encounter a duplicate of an automobile wheel that relates to the 1916 court case heard by Judge Benjamin Cardozo in MacPherson v. Buick Motor Co. The wheel is an object that hangs on a wall on the fourth floor of the library. Instructors could take the wheel to the classroom when dissecting that landmark case and when dealing with the core problem around the case: product liability. The use of the wheel helps to materialise the elements that are addressed in the court reporter, in the casebook, and in the daily-life situation that motivated the decision. Similar educational experiences can take place when students are welcomed at a rare book room and encounter for the first time a medieval copy of the Corpus Iuris Civilis. Some experiences are indeed indelible and help visualise what dozens of prescribed readings and explanations by an instructor cannot make easily evident and memorable.

The staging of San Marino representative’s performance during Eurovision might be in violation of Italian cultural heritage law – yet, the principle of territoriality prevents Italy from taking effective legal action.

The administrative approach to organised crime has redefined local governance in the Netherlands, where mayors wield powerful tools to disrupt illicit networks. As Germany begins to experiment with similar strategies, comparative insights become essential.

On 17 April, many of us had the pleasure of attending an IGIR Expert Lecture by John Clarke, former Chief Agriculture Negotiator of the European Union and former Head of the EU Delegation to the World Trade Organization and the United Nations in Geneva. He is currently a fellow at the Maastricht University Institute for Globalisation and International Regulation (IGIR). During his talk, John offered valuable insights into the escalating trade war sparked by the sweeping tariffs recently introduced by US President Donald Trump.