Convenors: Lukasz Dziedzic, Sebastian Reyes Molina, and Roland Pierik

The Maastricht Foundations of Law Colloquia provide the opportunity to discuss unpublished work by both distinguished invited speakers, as well as members of the Foundations of Law department at the Faculty of Law of Maastricht University. The colloquia take place roughly every three weeks each term, and focus on the subject areas of expertise of the Foundations of Law department, including legal philosophy, legal history, and legal theory, widely conceived. 

Each colloquium lasts two hours and has a fixed format. The paper to be discussed will be circulated in advance, and those attending are expected to have read the text in advance.  During the first hour, there is a more general discussion of the paper. After the break, the second part of the meeting consists of a more in-depth discussion, and wine will be served.

Participation in the colloquia is possible both onsite and online.  A link for online participation will be distributed after registration.  The usual timeslot is Wednesdays from 16-18h. For onsite participation, the usual venue is 'de Bestuurskamer' room B1.019, Faculty of Law, Bouillonstraat 1-3 Maastricht.

For the most up-to-date version of the program, and details on registration, see here.

Convenors: Monica Garcia-Salmones and Wim Muller

Building on two events organised by the Maastricht Study Group for Critical Approaches to International Law in 2021 and 2022 and a visit to the UM on 21 February 2024 by Professor Martti Koskenniemi (University of Helsinki), one of the leading scholars of Critical International Law (CIL), we have initiated what we hope to be a speaker series on CIL. The aim is to invite leading CIL scholars to Maastricht and discuss and debate cutting-edge questions in the theory of international law. CIL has been indispensable in bringing contemporary questions on the relationship between international law and issues such as global justice, the legacy of colonialism, post-colonial globalisation, race, gender, the position of the Global South and the realignment of the global order to the attention of mainstream international legal scholars. The goal of the speaker series is to spark deep critical thinking on these questions.

We organize this activity together with the Department of International Law.

Upcoming events:

24 October 2024: prof. Thomas Skouteris     

Title: The Sense of an Ending                                                

Thomas Skouteris is Associate Professor at The American University in Cairo. He is also Director of the Access to Knowledge Foundation (a2kf.org) and Senior Fellow at Melbourne Law School.                                                                                         

14 November 2024: prof. Anne Orford

Title: Some (Legal) Realism about Reparations in International Law.

Professor Anne Orford is the holder of the Olof Palme Visiting Professorship 2024 - Swedish Research Council's Scientific Council for Humanities and Social Sciences. She is Melbourne Laureate Professor and Michael D Kirby Chair of International Law at Melbourne Law School, and Visiting Professor of Law and John Harvey Gregory Lecturer on World Organization at Harvard Law School.

12 December 2024, 11.15-12.45, Dr Carl E. Lewis

Title: Litigation in the Universal Interest

Dr Carl E. Lewis is a researcher in International Law at the T.M.C. Asser Institute, The Hague, currently focusing on Public International Law, International Human Rights Law (especially issues raised by Neurotechnological advancements) and international adjudication.

Registration:

Critical International Law Speaker Series - Events - Maastricht University

Convenor: Michele Ubertone

The Brownbag Lunch Discussion Group is a forum for members of the Foundations of Law Department and their research collaborators to share ideas and receive feedback. The function of these meetings is slightly different from the one of the Foundations of Law Colloquia. In this case, no full draft is required from the presenter and no pre-reading is required from the participants. The speaker doesn’t need to circulate a draft of a paper but just a text of 2000 words maximum that can constitute the basis for the discussion. This can be an extended abstract, a handout or a quote from an author the speaker is using in his or her research. The speaker has more or less 15 minutes to give a presentation, which ideally should be argumentative in nature. It should identify a tentative thesis and some arguments in its favour (and/or against it). This is followed by 1 hour and 15 minutes of discussion.

The usual timeslot is 12:30-14:00h. 
The venue is 'de Bestuurskamer' room B1.019, Faculty of Law, Bouillonstraat 1-3 Maastricht.

Past brown bag lunches:

8 May 2024 - Adelheid van Luipen

29 May 2024 - Elena Marchese

12 June 2024 - Monica Garcia-Salmones