Latest blog articles

Sovereignty is invoked in many discussions today, from Brexit to Catalan independence, but it is rarely clear what, exactly, those who invoke sovereignty mean by it. For the purposes of understanding, analyzing, and understanding legal phenomena, however, a more precise understanding is necessary.

Legislative enactments and court decisions, together with social-historical events, provide the causal mechanisms that enable scholars to trace the evolution of ownership paradigms in different jurisdictions. In addition, shifts in ownership paradigms result from the circulation and flow of legal...

More than ten years after the European Court of Justice ruled that the German Eigenheimzulage was in breach of European law, the EC also started questioning its successor, the Baukindergeld. ITEM had previously concluded that the Baukindergeld was in breach of European law. We now await the...

In its judgment of 19 September 2019, the ECJ ruled that Dutch legislation excluding frontier workers residing in the Netherlands but working as a mini-jobber in Germany from the Dutch social security system is compatible with EU law. If the Hoge Raad follows the approach taken by the ECJ, the...

What does sovereignty mean in today’s world, given trends of globalisation, Europeanisation and also polarisation?

Dowsing is the ability to detect the source of things. Dowsing for a source of legal ideas must start at an early stage in academic life, when students write their first legal papers. This ability is mastered if students and tutors interact in the process of developing academic legal research skills...

The European Union (EU) faces challenges after the results of the United Kingdom (UK) European Union membership referendum that was held on June 23, 2016. Yet, Brexit is not the first challenge faced by the EU. Three points invite for reflection on Brexit and the future of the EU.

Every endeavour is achieved as the result of teamwork, and librarians are fundamental members in our team when researching in law. Librarians provide able hands and without them effective research would be an almost impossible mission, especially in the Internet era. Above all, librarians hold the...

The wishes of the Spanish government and those of the Catalan people are diametrically opposed: 90% of voters in the referendum were for independence - but keep in mind also that only about half of the Catalan people voted.

Comparative legal historians do not undertake pure legal history or pure comparative law. The product of their research experience is more than the mere addition of the two building blocks.