From the department of Historical Regimes of Normativity at the Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory

¿Un parche en una nalga, cuando el dolor es de muela? A propósito de los 15 años de la Declaración de las Naciones Unidas sobre los Derechos de los pueblos indígenas
Reflexionar sobre los 15 años de la UNDRIP nos enfrenta a la pregunta por los impactos que tiene la normativa internacional en las luchas locales de los pueblos indígenas a nivel global. Aunque los balances de estos 15 años son en general positivos, ¿podemos realmente asumir un tono celebratorio? En este post, Karla Escobar reflexiona sobre el caso de Colombia y llama la atención sobre los limitantes estructurales que siguen afectando a los pueblos indígenas en la contemporáneidad y problematiza el papel del derecho en sus luchas.

Legal regime for a mosaic of differences: 25th anniversary of UNDRIP – experiences in Brazil
UNDRIP and ILO 169 combine with the 1988 Constitution to form a legal regime that recognizes the intrinsic value of socio-cultural diversity and defines principles for the protection of difference. In particular, the principles of self-determination and self-identification have acted as a catalyst for the agency of indigenous and other traditional peoples at different scales: from the village, through state organs, to international forums.

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples seen from a legal historical perspective
How did indigenous communities in Latin America respond to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples? Experts took a look at Bolivia, Brazil and Colombia from a legal historical point of view.

What was the theme of this year’s Summer Academy, “Using History in Law”, all about?
This year’s Summer Academy for Legal History took place in July 2022 and was oriented around the theme “Using History in Law”. The participants dealt with this topic from various perspectives and in a number of sessions throughout the two weeks.

Papers of Pacific Colonial Pasts: a visit to the national archives in Samoa
A researcher’s experience visiting an archive in Samoa with holdings from the German colonial period.

Producing Paper for Venice: The Valley of Papermills (Valle delle Cartiere)
One of the pleasures of being a legal historian concerned with topics from the Early Modern period is the possibility to get to handle and work with historical books, often originals printed in the 16th and 17th century. Too often, we tend to concentrate exclusively on the content of a book, not taking into account the wealth of information stemming from the materiality of the book: who printed it, how it was printed, and how the materials carrying all the precious content were produced. Between the 15th and 17th century, the largest part of paper for the many book prints
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Legal History Insights is a blog about legal history, created by the researchers, guests and affiliated researchers of the department of Historical Regimes of Normativity at the Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory.