Law & Popular Culture Research Network
Welcome to the Law & Popular Culture Research Network (LPC-RN) homepage. LPC-RN is a research initiative based at Maastricht University that brings together activities focused on the intersection of law and popular culture. Our goal is to bring together diverse approaches to the place of law in popular culture, and to explore the manner in which popular culture affects law and its understanding by actors in society. LPC-RN seeks to investigate alternative perspectives on law and the underlying value that non-conventional approaches contribute to a deeper understanding of the social sciences.
Call for papers
Law and Popular Culture Roundable VII - Deadline 3 February 2025
Law and Popular Culture VII aims to bring together multiple approaches to the place of law in
popular culture. Further, the Roundtable wants to bring out the manner in which popular culture
affects law and its understanding by actors in society. The Roundtable explores law in different
environments, such as art and entertainment, as well as cultural movements that constitute
phenomena to which the law must relate. Furthermore, besides these general areas within our
social reality, the Roundtable is also a space to discuss the legal significance of certain objects that
either defy or deplete categorisation.
Are you working or studying at Universiteit Maastricht? Don’t miss this opportunity to contribute to the upcoming Roundtable VII.
More information and requirements can be found here.
Upcoming events
Members
Steering Committee
| Eline Couperus | Agustín Parise |
| Livia Solaro | Arthur Willemse |
Members
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| Jochem van Atteveld | Syamsuriatina Binti Ishak | Lars van Vliet | Moramay Koomen | John Cotter |
| Konstantin Jänicke | Anna de Jong | Henrique Jerônimo Bezerra Marcos | Johanna Ritter | Arianna Visconti |
| Frank Nellen | Julieta Marotta | Paul Stewens | Sophia Zaka | Ted Laros |
| Karolina Podstawa | Emma Sanvito | Ann-Sophie Haspel | Remo Verdickt | Emma Patchett |
| Janneke Westra | Sarah Schoenmaekers | Bianca Tîrnovan | ||
| Donna Yates | Paula Lozada Alfaro | Emily Sipiorski |
Become a member
Membership in our network will enable you to be informed about our activities and projects. We also welcome your suggestions for potential speakers or themes for our activities that would fit under the Law & Popular Culture umbrella.
Additionally, as a member, you will have the opportunity to share projects and to foster synergy across departments/initiatives within the LPC-RN.
Are you interested in joining the Network? Please contact a member of the Steering Committee.
Pillars
The LPC-RN is anchored in the Faculty of Law of Maastricht University by three pillars: the annual Roundtable, the Lecture Series, and the events on Law in Stories (LiSt). These three pillars of the LPC-RN collectively foster a strong academic community that shares an interest in the comprehensive exploration of the intersection between law and popular culture.
Roundtable Series
The Roundtable aims to bring together multiple approaches to the place of law in popular culture. The Roundtable wants to discuss the manner in which popular culture affects law and how it is understood by actors in society. The Roundtable explores law in different environments, such as art and entertainment, as well as cultural movements that constitute phenomena to which the law must relate. Furthermore, besides these general areas within our social reality, the Roundtable is also a space to discuss the legal significance of certain objects that either defy or deplete categorisation.
Lecture Series
By means of establishing a Lecture Series, the LPC-RN involves distinguished scholars who present on the topic. The lectures are open to the entire UM community, including students, non-academic staff, and academic staff. The community at UM Law can only benefit from contrasting their perceptions of law with those of other external actors, exposing our perceptions to experts in other forums, and hence engaging in enriching dialogue.
Law in Stories
The Law in Stories Series (LiSt) aims to bring members of the UM Law community to enter into meaningful discussions about law by engaging with different kinds of media and the law. Through this exploration of media and the law, LiSt seeks to discuss and raise awareness that the law is omnipresent, and a legal perspective can be adopted to all kind of topics in everyday life.
Research Output
Our members engage in different ways of sharing their research output. These manifestations are represented in PhD projects, monographs, scientific chapters and articles, blog entries, conference papers, and cultural exhibits. These are the 10 latest publications by the LPC-RN members. Want to see all of them? Click 'see more research output'.
Latest research output
| 14.02.2025 - Solaro, Livia - "Foreign Sovereign Immunity in the Altmann Case", ELSA Maastricht film screening 'Woman in Gold' with commentary and Q&A session, Maastricht University (Maastricht, The Netherlands). | 21.09.2024 Solaro, Livia & Yu, Haiyang - “The Under-protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage: Some Considerations in Light of Getty v. Italy”, International Maritime and Transport Law Course, Inter-University Centre (IUC) Dubrovnik (Dubrovnik, Croatia). |
| 27.11.2024 - Parise, Agustín - “‘Hacemos las tortillas con maíz, no con paciencia’ La función social de la propiedad en ¡Viva Zapata! (1952)”, 6º Encuentro Internacional sobre Cine, Series y Derecho, Universidad de Chile (Santiago, Chile). | 24.07.2024 - Solaro, Livia - “Case Review: Getty v. Italy (2024)”, Center for Art Law. |
| 13.11.2024 - Solaro, Livia - “Il museo etnografico di Ginevra riapre con una nuova missione di decolonizzazione”, Artribune. | 15.05.2024 - Parise, Agustín - “Legal Science and Fairy Tales: A Fruitful Combination”, Opening of the FASoS Pop-up Edition of the Exhibit Once Upon a Law: The Grimm Brothers’ Stories, Language, and Legal Culture, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (Maastricht, The Netherlands). |
| 11.11.2024 - Solaro, Livia - “Case note: de Csepel v. Republic of Hungary [2024] 2024 WL 4345811 (United States District Court, District of Columbia)”, The Institute of Art and Law. | 07.05.2024 - Solaro, Livia - “La Chimera + Panel discussion”, Lumière Cinema (Maastricht, The Netherlands). |
| 07.11.2024 - Parise, Agustín - “Cinema as a Mirror of the Law”, LiSt Law in Stories Session, Maastricht University (Maastricht, The Netherlands). | 18.03.2024 - Solaro, Livia - “The Law of Restitution: Ethical Ambiguities of the Italian Approach.”, From Linguistic Innovation to Cultural Transformation: Unpacking the Implications of ICOM's New Museum Definition in Italy and France, University of Bologna (Bologna, Italy). |
See more research output
| 27.01.2024 | Parise, Agustín | “Ius ad bellum e ius in bello en la “Historia de la Guerra” (1942-1946) de Lino Palacio”, VIII Encuentro Internacional Ficción y Derecho, Facultad de Derecho, Universidad de Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires, Argentina). |
10.01.2024 | Parise, Agustín; Rabinovich-Berkman, Ricardo & Somovilla, Claudia | “Diálogo de Café: La Historia del Derecho y los Pasados Ficticios”, Universidad de Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires, Argentina) |
29.11.2023 | Parise, Agustín | “La omnipresencia de la codificación del derecho: Reflexiones desde la industria cinematográfica y televisiva de los EE. UU. durante el siglo XX”, 5º Encuentro Internacional sobre Cine, Series y Derecho, Universidad de Chile (Santiago, Chile) |
25.09.2023 | Parise, Agustín | “Censura de Les Misérables (1862) en la primera mitad del siglo XX: La épica travesía de Jean Valjean entre códigos e índices”, Arte y Derecho en Girona, Universitat de Girona (Girona, Spain) |
19.07.2023 | Parise, Agustín & Willemse, Arthur | “Manifestaciones bioéticas en La Lección de Anatomía de Rembrandt y en el diseño del Teatro Anatómico del Archiginnasio de Bolonia”, Artes Visuales y Bioética, Academia Nacional de Medicina (Buenos Aires, Argentina) |
23.06.2023 | Parise, Agustín | “‘What is that sticker sticking on my cultural object?’ Censorship of Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables (1862) in the 1934 Motion Picture Production Code and the 1948 Index Librorum Prohibitorum”, Roundtable on Law and Popular Culture V, Maastricht University (Maastricht, The Netherlands) |
23.06.2023 | Solaro, Livia | “A Legal Education from the Marvel Universe: From Daredevil to She-Hulk”, Roundtable on Law and Popular Culture V, Maastricht University (Maastricht, The Netherlands) |
23.06.2023 | Willemse, Arthur | “Nihilism and Democracy: Moral Argument and Hypocrisy in Populist Political Discourse”, Roundtable on Law and Popular Culture V, Maastricht University (Maastricht, The Netherlands) |
09.03.2023 | Solaro, Livia | “ ‘Arte Liberata’ – An Exhibition to Investigate the Italian Struggle to Protect the Country’s Cultural Heritage during World War II”, Center for Art Law, available at https://itsartlaw.org/2023/03/09/wywh-arte-liberata-an-exhibition-to-investigate-the-italian-struggle-to-protect-the-countrys-cultural-heritage-during-world-war-ii/ |
01.10.2022 | Parise, Agustín | “Legal Science through the Lens of Fairy Tales”, Maastricht University Faculty of Law Blogs, available at https://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/blog/2022/10/legal-science-through-lens-fairy-tales |
09.09.2022 | Parise, Agustín | “Fairy Tales as Mirrors of Local Rules”, Fairy Tales. Once Upon a Law: Three Voices | One Book, PAS – Pleasure, Art & Science (Maastricht, The Netherlands) |
01.09.2022-22.12.2022 | Sitzia, Emilie; Parise, Agustín; Essers, Odin; Prinz, Melissa; Strüder, Kevin; Nelson, Olivia; Moula, Konstantina; Briese, Katja & Gasparri, Elena | “Once Upon a Law: The Grimm Brothers’ Stories, Language, and Legal Culture”, Exhibit at Maastricht University (Maastricht, The Netherlands), available also at https://onceuponalaw.org/ |
31.08.2022 | Parise, Agustín | “Legal Science through the Lens of Fairy Tales”, Opening of the Exhibit Once Upon a Law: The Grimm Brothers’ Stories, Language, and Legal Culture, Maastricht University (Maastricht, The Netherlands) |
08.07.2022 | Solaro, Livia | “All that glitters is not gold: A critical look at the double-sided effects of Nazi looted art litigation in US courts”, Courts as an Arena for Societal Change, Leiden University (Leiden, The Netherlands) |
17.06.2022 | Couperus, Eline | “House & Techno Culture Shaping Law: How the Dancefloor Hurts and Heals ”, Roundtable on Law and Popular Culture IV, Maastricht University (Maastricht, The Netherlands) |
17.06.2022 | Solaro, Livia | “From Walt Disney to Stan Lee: A Comparative Analysis of the Shady Copyright Issues behind Comic Book Legends”, Roundtable on Law and Popular Culture IV, Maastricht University (Maastricht, The Netherlands) |
2022 | Solaro, Livia | Il saccheggio nazista dell’arte europea. Uno Sguardo Comparatistico sul Contenzioso Transnazionale nei Restitution Cases, Franco Angeli ed., Milan, 176 pp. |
22.10.2021 | Parise, Agustín | “A Night in the Museum with Defoe, Covid-19, and the Resilience of Law”, Museumnacht Maastricht, Boekhandel Dominicanen (Maastricht, The Netherlands) |
01.09.2021– ongoing | Solaro, Livia | “Nazi-looted art litigation as restitution of cultural property: the US approach in a comparative perspective”, PhD Project, Maastricht University (Maastricht, The Netherlands) |
31.07.2021 | Parise, Agustín | “El derecho entre los Yahoos en la literatura de Jonathan Swift y Jorge L. Borges”, VIIEncuentro Internacional Ficción y Derecho, Facultad de Derecho, Universidad de Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires, Argentina) |
01.03.2021 | Parise, Agustín | “Defoe, Covid-19, and Resilience of Law and Society”, Maastricht University Faculty of Law Blogs, available at https://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/blog/2021/03/defoe-covid-19-and-resilience-law-and-society |
2021 | Parise, Agustín | “¿Has oído hablar del Código Napoleón? Codificación y acceso a justicia en la adaptación cinematográfica de Un tranvía llamado Deseo (1951)”, 2 Revista Cine, Televisión y Derecho, pp. 18-33 |
2021 | Parise, Agustín | “Notas sobre la ficción como herramienta para la enseñanza del derecho”, 7 Anamorphosis. Revista Internacional de Direito e Literatura, pp. 355-374 |
04.12.2020 | Parise, Agustín | “`¿Has oído hablar del Código Napoleón?´ Codificación y acceso a justicia en la adaptación cinematográfica de Un tranvía llamado Deseo (1951)”, II Encuentro Internacional sobre Cine, Series y Derecho, Universidad de Chile (Santiago, Chile) |
27.10.2020 | Parise, Agustín | “Resilience of Law and Society: Current Takeaways from Defoe's 1772 Journal of the Plague Year”, Law Talks Series, Maastricht University (Maastricht, The Netherlands) |
01.08.2020 | Parise, Agustín | “`Todo el mundo estaba en paz; no había trabajo para los hombres de leyes:´ La omnipresencia del derecho en El Diario del Año de la Peste (1722) de Daniel Defoe”, VI Encuentro Internacional Ficción y Derecho, Facultad de Derecho, Universidad de Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires, Argentina) |
18.06.2020 | Willemse, Arthur | “Judgement in Regina Ullmann’s The Country Road and Franz Kafka’s The Trial”, Roundtable on Law and Popular Culture II, Maastricht University (Maastricht, The Netherlands) |
01.06.2020 | Parise, Agustín | “An Open Laboratory for Characters and Scenarios! The Value of Law and Literature in a PBL Environment”, Maastricht University Faculty of Law Blogs, available at https://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/blog/2020/06/open-laboratory-characters-and-scenarios |
27.07.2019 | Parise, Agustín | “John H. Wigmore, 100 clásicos y novelas jurídicas hispanas”, V Encuentro Internacional Ficción y Derecho, Facultad de Derecho, Universidad de Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires, Argentina) |
18.04.2019 | Parise, Agustín | “John H. Wigmore (1863-1943) and Ignacio Winizky (1910-1988): Drawing Pan-American Parallels on the |
29.07.2017 | Parise, Agustín | “Ius Commune y la Vida de un Coloso: La Obra Teatral como Herramienta para la Enseñanza de la Historia del Derecho”, III Encuentro Internacional Ficción y Derecho, Facultad de Derecho, Universidad de Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires, Argentina) |
30.07.2016 | Parise, Agustín | “La ficción como herramienta para la enseñanza del derecho: Escenarios ficticios, método socrático y aprendizaje basado en problemas”, II Encuentro Internacional Ficción y Derecho, Facultad de Derecho, Universidad de Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires, Argentina) |
01.08.2015 | Parise, Agustín | “Los ‘Cuentos’ de los Hermanos Grimm: Un Crisol para el Derecho, la Historia y el Folklore”, I Encuentro Internacional Ficción y Derecho, Facultad de Derecho, Universidad de Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires, Argentina) |
Blogs
In Algorithms We Trust? TikTok in the Digital Cold War
- Law
On the 3rd of February 2025, the Law & Popular Culture Research Network hosted the discussion panel “Whatever Happened to TikTok?”, aimed at diving into the current political and social developments around this platform. Moderator Livia Solaro welcomed experts Valentina Golunova, Jerry Spanakis, Konrad Kollnig, Monica Garcia-Salmones Rovira and Henrique Jerônimo Bezerra Marcos. Each speaker brought a different perspective with valuable insights into the current TikTok situation.
The Legal Philosophy of Role-Playing Games
- Law
In this blog, Michele Ubertone aims to show that the cognitive and rational skills that are involved in role-playing are also at the heart of legal practice. Cognitive developments we all go through in the early stages of our lives, train and develop a distinctive cognitive ability, a form of rationality that is intrinsic both to law and to literature.
Academic Curiosity in the Realm of the Law
- Law
Legal science evolves in many ways. Academic curiosity is an important drive in that evolution, opening paths of exploration and igniting awareness on the needs of society. Curiosity–in all its forms–deals with exploring, discovering, and learning towards acquiring new knowledge. Its etymology relates to an interest in care (cura). Academic curiosity can take people to different places (in mind and body), exposing them to other cultures and ideas.
Mediating the Kendrick Lamar and Drake Beef
- Law
The rap feud between Aubrey Drake Graham (aka Drake) and Kendrick Lamar Duckworth (aka Kendrick Lamar), has not only produced batches of blazing diss tracks, but now, a potential legal battle. Drake recently initiated two legal proceedings in New York and Texas, not against Kendrick Lamar, but against Universal Music for: 1) not stopping the release of Lamar’s track, “Not Like Us”, which was defamatory against Drake; and 2) for allegedly promoting the song “unethically” (i.e. by employing a pay-to-play scheme).
Legal science through the lens of fairy tales
- Law
Fairy tales, when understood as manuals of behaviour that are shared within the household, can serve as a means to study and understand the law at a specific time and space. This claim is not new. The Grimm Brothers, the renowned scholars Friedrich C. von Savigny (1779-1861) and John H. Wigmore (1863-1943), and many others have already endorsed this idea for centuries.
Previous events
Whatever happened to TikTok
3 February 2025 @ Faculty of Law
MACCH Spark Session with Gregory Zinman on Art in 1980s NYC Nightclubs
30 January 2025 @ Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
Ius Commune Workshop: New Developments in Art Law
29 November 2024 @ Utrecht
Film screening from the Law and Art course: The Treasures of Crimea
11 November 2024 @ Maastricht University Faculty of Law
La Chimera + Panel discussion
7 May 2024 @ Lumière Cinema
