Maastricht Foundations of Law Colloquia

01/10/2026

The Maastricht Centre for Law & Jurisprudence, embedded in the Department of Foundations of Law cordially invites you to a colloquium with Martijn Hesselink (European University Institute). The title of the presentation is: Revolutionary legal scholarship

Abstract
A revolution is a change in the most basic structure of the scientific, social, political, economic, or legal world. Revolutionary legal scholarship examines arguments and strategies for legal revolution in this sense. The paper defends revolutionary legal scholarship as a legitimate and much needed approach to law – at least as legitimate as dominant positivist-doctrinal and policy-oriented approaches. Epistemically, there is no reason to assume that true knowledge is more likely to be obtained concerning the legal status quo or gradual legal reform than regarding revolutionary change. Normatively, revolution may be justified as a remedy for structural injustice – a radical but perhaps necessary form of corrective justice. Research-ethically, revolutionary legal scholarship can be as rigorous as any legal scholarship. The paper centres four strands in contemporary revolutionary legal scholarship: work on abolition, non-reformist reform, legal prefiguration, and being a legal revolution.

Date: Wednesday, 07 October 2026
Time: 16:00-18:00h
Venue: Faculty of Law, Bestuurskamer and via Teams

If you want to join, either in person or via Teams, please register here: https://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/events/maastricht-foundations-law-colloquia

10/06/2026

The Maastricht Centre for Law & Jurisprudence (Department of Foundations of Law) invites you to a colloquium with Prof. Alexander Somek (University of Vienna). During this session, he will present his paper: 'Republicanism and Liberal Democracy: Transformation of our Political Predicament'.

🗓️ Date: Tuesday, 16 June 2026
🕓 Time: 16:00–18:00
📍 Venue: Faculty of Law, Kapoenstraat 2, Maastricht — room KAP2 0.009 (and via Teams)
👉 Register here (in person or online): https://www.aanmelder.nl/169090/subscribe?survey_id=199377

18/05/2026

The Maastricht Centre for Law & Jurisprudence invites you to a colloquium with Marta Maroni (Maastricht University) about her paper entitled: "Managing Risk, Missing Democracy? The Politics of the Digital Services Act’s Risk-Based Approach".

The colloquium will take place on Wednesday, 20 May 2026, from 16:00-18:00h in the Faculty of Law, Bouillonstraat 1-3 Maastricht, room B1.019 (bestuurskamer) and via Teams.

If you want to join, either in person or via ​teams, please register here: https://www.aanmelder.nl/169090/subscribe?survey_id=199377

17/03/2026

Join us tomorrow!

The Maastricht Centre for Law & Jurisprudence cordially invites you to a colloquium with Damiano Canale (Bocconi University) on 'When Experts Make the Law'.

Canale will present a paper in which he examines a form of expert deference in legal decision-making that gives rise to what I call “the opacity of law.” An authoritative legal text is opaque when it incorporates technical terms or expressions that are not fully understood by either the legislators who enact the text or the judges who is called upon to apply its content. In such cases, epistemic deference shifts into semantic deference: experts effectively determine the content of authoritative legal texts and, in that sense, make new law. I argue that opacity undermines the legitimacy of statutory law in constitutional democracies and hampers judicial reasoning. Drawing on a case-law example, the article traces the sources of opacity and assesses its pernicious effects.

Date: Wednesday, 18 March 2026
Time: 16:00-18:00h
Venue: Faculty of Law, Bouillonstraat 1-3 Maastricht, room B1.019 (bestuurskamer) and via Teams

If you want to join, either in person or via Teams, please register here:

All events are hybrid. In case you can attend physically, the location is Maastricht University, Faculty of Law. The room will be communicated a few days before each seminar. If you attend the colloquia online, you will receive the Teams link a few days before each seminar.

19/02/2026

Join us for our next colloquium with Guilherme Vasconcelos Vilaca!

25th of February from 16-18h at the Maastricht University Faculty of Law or online. Hope to see you there!

Registration via:
https://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/events/maastricht-foundations-law-colloquia

21/01/2026

The Maastricht Centre for Law & Jurisprudence invites you to a colloquium with Professor Ingo Venzke (University of Amsterdam)!

Event details
Date: Tuesday, 27 January 2026
Time: 16:00-18:00h
Venue: Faculty of Law, Kapoenstraat 2, Maastricht (KAP2 0.009) and via Zoom

If you want to join, either in person or via Zoom, please register here: https://www.aanmelder.nl/169090/subscribe?survey_id=199377

For the full 2025-26 colloquia program, use this link: https://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/about-um/faculties/faculty-law/departments/foundations-and-methods-law/maastricht-foundations-law

18/11/2025

The Maastricht Centre for Law & Jurisprudence (Faculty of Law, Department of Foundations of Law) invites you to a special colloquium featuring André Nunes Chaib (Maastricht University).

In this colloquium, we will discuss his paper 'Law, Markets and the Valuation of Nature: Legal Infrastructures, Financial Instruments, and the Contest over Ecological Value.'

When: Wednesday, 19 November 2025
Time: 16:00–18:00
Where: Faculty of Law, Bouillonstraat 1-3 Maastricht, room B1.019 (Bestuurskamer) & via Zoom

For more information and registration: https://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/events/maastricht-foundations-law-colloquia

15/10/2025

📣 Upcoming Colloquium – Maastricht Centre for Law & Jurisprudence

Join us for our next colloquium featuring Anne Ruth Mackor, Professor of Philosophy of Law at the University of Groningen.

🧠 Topic: On Bayesian modelling of criminal cases as a whole
📅 Date: Wednesday, 22 October 2025
🕓 Time: 16:00–18:00
📍 Location: Faculty of Law, Bouillonstraat 1–3, Room B1.019 (bestuurskamer) or via Zoom

👉 Register here to join (in person or via Zoom): https://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/events/maastricht-foundations-law-colloquia

For the full 2025–26 program, visit: https://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/about-um/faculties/faculty-law/departments/foundations-and-methods-law/maastricht-foundations-law

04/09/2025

We are excited to start the new academic year with a new series of our Foundations of Law Colloquium! We will kick off this year at September 10 (16:00) with the paper of Massimo Fichera (Maastricht University) on Communal Constitutionalism. To register, go to: https://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/events/maastricht-foundations-law-colloquia

15/05/2025

🎓 Upcoming Colloquium: An Institutional (Re)turn in Legal Scholarship 🎓

The Maastricht Centre for Law & Jurisprudence, in the Department of Foundations of Law, warmly invites you to our next colloquium featuring Prof. Anna Beckers (Maastricht University), Chair of Private Law and Social Theory. Prof. Beckers will present her latest work, "An institutional (re)turn in legal scholarship."

🗓 Date: Wednesday, 21 May 2025
⏰ Time: 16:00–18:00
📍 Venue: Faculty of Law, Bouillonstraat 1-3 Maastricht, Room B1.019 (bestuurskamer) & online via Zoom

🥂 Drinks:
Join us afterwards for drinks at De Preuverij (Kakeberg 6) from 18:30–20:30.

Registration:
Please register to attend in person or via Zoom via https://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/events/maastricht-foundations-law-colloquia.

We look forward to seeing you there!