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Workshop:
How to Write Histories of European Law? A New RICHIE Workshop (January 2010)

First conference in Copenhagen (29 June 2010)

Historians of European integration have for long neglected the history of European law. Little historical research exists on the role of the European Court of Justice as a motor of further integration, for example. As a result, historiography systematically has underestimated the extent to which processes of European integration in the Twentieth Century have been influenced and shaped by law. Considering the fundamental legal nature of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the European Community (EC) and the European Union (EU), the result has been a distorted understanding of the institutional dimension of European integration.

This first conference held by the RICHIE workshop on the history of European law (http://www.europe-richie.org/Groupes/law/index-en.html) is organised with the express purpose of establishing the history of European law as a distinctive field of research, identifying possible archival resources, constructing methodological frameworks and eventually writing histories of European law that not only fill in the current gap in historiography, but also contribute to ongoing legal and social science research in European law.

The conference is organised by the following research network: Rethinking European Integration, (http://cemes.ku.dk/rethinking_european_integration/) Centre of Modern European Studies, Faculty of Humanities (CEMES) and Centre for Studies in Legal Culture, Faculty of Law (CRS) both part of the University of Copenhagen. It is funded by Rethinking European integration, CEMES and CRS.

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Historians of European integration have for long neglected the history of European law. Little historical research exists on the role of the European Court of Justice as a motor of further integration, for example. Similarly ignored has been the role of the European Court of Human Rights as a driving force behind the development and implementation of a regime of Human Rights in Europe. As a result, historiography systematically underestimates the extent to which processes of European integration in the Twentieth Century have been influenced and shaped by law. Considering the fundamental legal nature of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the European Community (EC) and the European Union (EU), the result has been a distorted understanding of the institutional dimension of European integration.

This new RICHIE workshop is organised with the expressed aim to establish the history of European law as a distinctive field of research, identify possible archival resources, construct methodological frameworks and eventually write histories of European law that not only fill in the current gap in historiography, but also contributes to ongoing legal and social science research in European law.

The workshop intends to explore at least four broad fields of study:

  1. The role of the European Court of Human Rights and the Human Rights regime in the Cold War, European integration and national societies.
  2. The role of the European Court of Justice and the role of law in the ECSC/EC/EU.
  3. The historical roots of the European law in the interwar and immediate post war period.
  4. The impact of the EC/EU legal order and the European regime of Human Rights on European states, societies and actors.

Researchers interested in participating are most welcome to contact the organiser. It is the aim to organise small conferences every half year. The first conference is slated to take place in Copenhagen in late June 2010.

Organiser: Morten Rasmussen (rasmussenmorten@mac.com).

Founding members of the workshop are:

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Contact : Morten Rasmussen