UM - HiiL Chair on the Internationalisation of Law
The Faculty of Law, Maastricht University, and HiiL have been granted a subsidy from the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science in order to set up a Chair, with the purpose to involve prestigious lawyers, who work in the field of the internationalisation of law, in research, teaching and PhD research. Part of the grant allows the Faculty of Law to assign a young researcher to write a PhD under the supervision of the Chairholder.
A quote from Gunther Teubner, a former UM - HiiL Chair Professor on the internationalisation of Law:
'had the opportunity to be the second Visiting Professor of HiiL. It was a rewarding experience. I gained a lot from the intellectual and logistic support of HiiL. I spent most of the time for research writing several chapters of my new book on Societal Constitutionalism. HiiL gave me the chance to discuss my project with many scholars and practitioners from the Netherlands and from other countries. The Institute will organise an international conference where lawyers and social scientists will discuss the results of my research. At the same time I enjoyed the experience of teaching advanced students at the Law Faculty of the University of Maastricht.
In my view, this Visiting Professorship in its combination of research and teaching is an ideal academic institution which promises innovative research results and which should be continued in the future at any rate.'
Current Visiting Professor
Former Visiting Professor
- Prof. Gunther Teubner
- Prof. Antoine Garapon
PhD researchers appointed within the UM - HiiL Chair on the Internationalisation of Law
- William Bull
Appointed under the supervision of Prof. Dr Jan Smits within the HiiL Chair in June 2011. William’s research project focuses on existing and proposed optional instruments in different fields of European law, with a view to investigating the benefits and disadvantages of creating optional private law at European level, and to what extent these differ depending on the particular optional instrument in question. - Catalina Goanta
Appointed under the joint supervision of Dr Caroline Caufmann and Prof. Dr Jan Smits, within the framework of the Maastricht European Private Law Institute. Catalina's research deals with open-ended concepts in European private law and their harmonisation in France, Romania, Germany, the Netherlands and England. - Anna Beckers
Appointed under the supervision og Prof. Gunther Teubner. Anna's research project focuses on the legal and constitutional quality of rules set by multinational enterprises, NGOs and other civil actors regarding labour and environmental standards (Codes of Conduct, Compliance Initiatives). Based on the concept of law within postmodern legal theory, e.g. theory of legal pluralism and system theory, Anna aims to prove whether these Codes of Conduct can be defined not only as law, but also as a part of a new transnational societal constitutionalism. It will particularly be analysed how this new form of constitutionalism will influence the structures of the formal legal system.
Video message | 2011 Law of the Future Conference
Jan M. Smits (UM-HiiL Chair on the Internationalisation of Law; Maastricht University) elaborates on his student course on the future of law, during the 2011 Law of the Future Conference in The Hague.