We have recently opened up a webpage for the research project “A legal history of the global commons“. The project is funded by a Dutch starting grant for early career researchers and it is run by Dr Ville Kari at Tilburg Law School Department of Public Law and Governance. The project coordinator is Maria Hanswijk.…

The weekend’s news cycle was dominated by a stray Chinese spy balloon which travelled across the U.S. skies, accompanied by the loud howl and wail of American commentators protesting against the “brazen disregard for US sovereignty”, while their Chinese counterparts criticised the US for the “indiscriminate use of military force” against the balloon, which had…

The first close-up pictures of the Moon – with the Earth conveniently in the background – were published by the Artemis I programme. I have been following it with close interest, and will keep doing so, as mankind is reaching out beyond the Earth orbit again. In case you’ve missed the story, have a look…

Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, No. 19-1392, 597 U.S. (2022) [decision here] Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973) Planned Parenthood v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833 (1992) Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954) Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896) It has taken me a while to digest the…

The Tank Man stopped the armoured column on 5 June 1989, the day following the Tiananmen square massacre. He was taken into custody by Chinese security officials. His fate is not known.

Today, the International Court of Justice delivered its order on the request for provisional measures in the matter of the Allegations of Genocide under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Ukraine v. Russian Federation). So we had booked a room for a campus screening of the session. We had…

A collection of documents, texts and materials on the war in Ukraine is now available → see www.doctorscommons.com/documents.

Legal Perspectives on the War in Ukraine In this Current Affairs Talk experts from Tilburg Law School explain and discuss several legal perspectives on the war in Ukraine. Dr. Ville Kari will discuss the use of force by states and refers to historical perspectives of the conflict. Prof.dr. Conny Rijken will explain migration law aspects and…

Speech given at Studium Generale, Tilburg University, 3 March 2022. I have been invited to say something about the events in Ukraine in the light of the international law on the use of force, and the history of international law. I will now do my best to present a brief, and hopefully simple, summary of…

Here we go. The site is up and running. The times are busy, so the site will remain under construction for a while. But we will be here eventually.