Latest blog articles

  • When should the State intervene on ownership to guarantee the protection of the environment? When is social responsibility triggered when dealing with ownership? There is a need to predict the impact that the Ecological Function paradigm will have.

  • Is there such a thing as ‘European private law’? In my opinion there is not, just as there is no Dutch, French, English, or Chinese private law. Let me explain. Legal rules, including rules of private law, have many characteristics. 

  • Globalising law, justice and legal education in the Western world and Arab countries. Is it reasonable for academics and judges to engage in a dialogue with the Arab and Islamic world about the curriculum of legal education? (Dutch only)

  • Do the people still have power? Some might feel forgotten and turn to populism promising to give the country back to them. But popular sovereignty is not dead.

  • The day after the “Brexit”-referendum, with a majority of 51.9% voting to leave the European Union, some speak of the success of democracy (“the people have spoken”). Already, there are calls for referenda in other countries to let the people speak there, too. This suggests that independently of our...

  • The senseless killings and horrific attack on a newspaper and on a shop. Of course these terrorist attacks are violations of the right to life and the freedom of expression and therefore on our democratic societies. The perpetrators wanted to instill fear and to create chaos and undo our precious...