In the 2023/24 winter semester, law students can look forward to something very special: The colloquium on “Transnational Legal History” will take place for the second time, and in a new format. The course is jointly organized by Goethe University Frankfurt, the Buchmann Faculty of Law at Tel Aviv University and the Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory.
The course centers on the history of cross-border law and the interweaving of legal histories over wide geographical areas. Globalization, which at first sight seems to restrict itself solely to the economy or banking, in fact also has an impact on law. New normative orders, which supposedly emerge independently of or in the shadow of state and international law, are leaving their mark on our everyday lives. The aim of the course is to analyze such processes of the transnationalization of law, discuss current research and at the same time further consolidate cooperation between the participating institutions and students.
In its weekly sessions, the course, which is taught in English and takes place online, looks at the latest – mostly unpublished – research results of distinguished scholars from across the world. The papers are distributed beforehand, and later analyzed and discussed together in class.
The course pays special attention to strengthening the partnership between Goethe University Frankfurt and Tel Aviv University. The universities’ long-standing cooperation, which was reaffirmed in December 2021, offers insights into unfamiliar legal cultures and fosters a broad understanding of different academic approaches. To further enhance this partnership, students from both universities have an opportunity to work together in German-Israeli tandems for the first time. They meet in smaller groups to prepare the discussion, allowing them to get to know each other as well as exchange thoughts and ideas.
Led by professors Thomas Duve and Stefan Vogenauer in Frankfurt and professors David Schorr and Rachel Friedman in Israel, the colloquium will shed light on various aspects of transnational legal history. Students and interested parties are warmly invited to attend.
To register or in case of questions, please contact Aria Zahedi (Chair of Comparative Legal History): zahedi@jur.uni-frankfurt.de
The course will take place weekly, and depending on the new semester starting date at Israeli universities, could commence on 3 December 2023.
Further information is available in QIS, the electronic course calendar.
