Latest blog articles

  • An open laboratory for characters and scenarios!

    The Law and Literature (L&L) movement gained momentum in Europe during the past decades, having had so far more exposure on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. L&L offers an open laboratory to create and test knowledge, and the teaching of law should benefit from the genius and creativity of...

    library_pbl_law_and_law_literature_blog_agustin_parise
  • Constitutive and constituted sovereignty

    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.

    law_reconstructing_sovereignty_antonia_waltermann
  • How to make surfboards: a checklist for our future graduates

    “What kind of skills do we want our graduates to have?” was the main topic of discussion during a recent staff meeting, which got me thinking.

    As the faculty of law, perhaps the “right” answer would entail something along the lines of: “Our graduates need to be capable of arguing logically, writing...

    surfboard_LBM
  • Conventionally unconventional

    During the Anniversary year 2016-2017 the Maastricht law faculty celebrated its 35th birthday. And when you have your birthday, you hand out treats. A book, because that is tradition among faculties celebrating their birthday. A book which tells the story of the faculty and which contains interviews...

    Onconventionele juristen_foto FdR jubileumboek
  • For the law, cognitive sciences should not change everything, but still a lot

    My message is, however, that next to the main lines of law’s contents, law students should learn about the ways in which law affects society and its participants. In this connection, they should study selected topics from sociology, but also – and that is the main message here – the cognitive...

    head and brain
  • Teamwork in academic legal research

    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...

    British library
  • Whose sovereignty is it, anyway? Catalonia vs Spain

    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.

    Catalonia_is_not_Spain
  • Comparative legal history

    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.

    pieter brueghel_the_younger - village_lawyer