Institute for Transnational Legal Research
METRO, the Institute for Transnational Legal Research (in Dutch: Maastrichts Europees instituut voor Transnationaal Rechtswetenschappelijk Onderzoek), contributes to environmental law, tort law, competition law, and the economic analysis of law by executing high-quality research. Metro distinguishes itself for dedicated researchers in various fields of law.
Research
METRO initiates and stimulates comparative and transboundary legal research and organizes conferences about various legal themes. Moreover, the institute publishes the Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law, one of the top three journals in this field in Europe and the Ius Commune Europaeum Book Series. METRO is active in the field of contract research, for example for the EU, OECD, national governments and associations of insurers.
Core research topics of METRO include environmental law (including climate change, one of the topics listed under the pillar of Global Justice), tort law & insurance, and competition & regulation. METRO is specialised in the economic analysis of law. In that respect, METRO research has been geared towards a variety of Institutions, for example by analyzing smart mixes of regulation, and to the stream of Markets, for example by examining competition law in emerging markets.
METRO’s research takes place
in the following streams:
1. Values
2. Institutions
3. Markets
News
Phasing out of METRO
METRO has reached the goals for which it was created in 1991: stimulating comparative, European and international rese
Niels Philipsen appointed as Professor of Law and Economics
Dr Niels Philipsen has been appointed professor of Legal Economics at Maastricht University's Faculty of Law with effe
Farewell lecture Michael Faure
METRO Director Prof. Dr. Michael G. Faure will due to his retirement give a farewell lecture on Friday 4 April 2025 at 16.00.
Paula Roldan starts PhD research at SBE and METRO
Paula Roldán Barraza will join METRO as a PhD researcher.
PhD Candidate Doudou Huang Selected for fellowship programme at the International Court of Justice
It is the first time the International Court of Justice selected a student from Maastricht University.
Social media
Click here to follow METRO @ Facebook
Ius Commune Research School
METRO facilitates the Ius Commune Research School, a cooperation between the law faculties of the Universities of Maastricht (UM), Utrecht (UU), Amsterdam (UvA), and Leuven (K.U. Leuven), focused on the realization of a Ius Commune in Europe. Management and secretariat of the Research School are located at METRO, and METRO oversees the Ius Commune Casebooks and publishes the Ius Commune Europaeum Books.
Michael Faure
“We perform research on assignment for the Dutch government as well. After the firework disaster in Enschede, the ministry of interior asked us to examine a more adequate, fair and fast compensation to victims.”
Marjan Peeters
“Environmental law is a very complex field. It concerns many different environmental problems. Furthermore, there are many forms in which the behaviour of citizens and companies may be regulated. The main question is: how will you go about it? A lot of research is being conducted on these issues.”
Niels Philipsen
“In our research, we often employ methods derived from law and economics. Efficiency is a central concept in economics, but it is important also to make explicit the trade-offs between efficiency and other social values such as fairness, non-discrimination and income distribution.”
Agenda
Blogs
FullCompensation at the European Researchers’ Night in Groningen
The EU-funded project FullCompensation aims to make the compensation of pain and suffering damages more equitable and efficient. To this end, the project led to the development of a model legislative proposal and guidelines, based on comparative and empirical evidence. These results were presented to the participants of the European Researchers’ Night on 29th September 2023 organised by the University of Groningen.
Transforming full compensation: a model legislative proposal and guidelines for pain and suffering damages
The EU-funded project FullCompensation aims to make the compensation of pain and suffering damages more equitable and efficient. To this end, the project led to the development of a model legislative proposal and guidelines, based on comparative and empirical evidence. These documents are intended as a source of inspiration for EU Member States and adjudicators that are considering reforming or establishing their own systems for the quantification of pain and suffering awards.
How do judges award pain and suffering damages? Let’s ask them!
The EU-funded project FullCompensation aims to make the compensation of pain and suffering damages more fair and efficient. To offer judges better guidelines for this, it is essential to understand how judges actually award pain and suffering damages. Reading the case law and interviewing judges from different countries provided interesting insights on what works - and what works less - in different compensation systems.
Towards fairer non-economic damages: experts’ first reactions to FullCompensation
This blog includes a brief description of a METRO seminar held on 30 May 2022, where a draft research design of FullCompensation was shared for feedback. This seminar was the first scientific deliverable of the project and set the ground for its further development.
FullCompensation: pain and suffering damages shouldn’t be a lottery
Suppose that you get injured in an accident. In that case, you are entitled to damages. Damages are money that the injurer (or their insurer) must pay to you to make you ‘whole’. The aim of damages is, basically, to fully compensate you. Sounds easy? Believe me, it’s not!
