‘Critique’ seems to have run out of steam, increasingly being reduced to a ritualized performative act. ‘Of course, I am critical’ one says and goes on with everyday practice. This is most visible in the gradual fading out of the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory. Surprisingly few read Habermas today. The US-American critical legal [...]
Transformative Law Encounters In a previous post on the Transformative Private Law Blog, Martijn Hesselink calls “the idea of transformative private law a little scary”. The intuitive reason for Hesselink to be scared seems to be one of instrumentalization. Does the adoption of the term ‘transformative law’ imply a transformation of (private) law [...]
A comment on the ACT Book Symposium of 30 September 2021 On 30 September 2021, the Amsterdam Centre for Transformative Private Law hosted and organised a book symposium around Martijn Hesselink’s recent book Justifying Contract in Europe: Political Philosophies of European Contract Law (Oxford University Press: 2021) in Amsterdam. The book is the [...]
“If the program of Realists was to lift the veil of legal form to reveal living essences of power and need, the program of the Critics is to lift the veil of power and need to expose the legal elements in their composition” Robert Gordon “Critical Legal Histories”, (1984) 36 Stanford Law Review, [...]
Private law is tasked with two antagonistic missions in modern society; that is to facilitate steady ordering while allowing for openness and the autonomous pursuit of highly pluralistic life plans. The solution to the tensions resulting from this dual orientation towards stability and mobility is commonly found in the timeless abstractions of the [...]
After months of hard work and preparation we welcome you to the Transformative Private Law blog. The transformative private law blog sets out to be a platform for the discussion, debating and (re)thinking of the transformative potential of private law. A blog that focusses on the role of private law in addressing some of [...]
During the recent Launch event of the Amsterdam Center for Transformative Private Law, we discussed the concept of Transformative Private Law. In what follows, I present the concept both as an analytical/critical project as well as a forward looking agenda. From the Center for the Study of European Contract Law (CSECL) to the Amsterdam Center for Transformative [...]
The transformation of the centre The recent transformation of the centre has been truly impressive. It was an excellent idea to widen horizons and pursue new themes. Moreover, the new mission statement is strong, ambitious and full of exciting ideas. Most visible is of course the name change. A striking innovation is the choice [...]
What is the meaning of ‘transformative private law’? Or what does membership of a research group that has chosen this name entail? Here are some reflections of a member of the newly launched Amsterdam Centre for Transformative Private Law (ACT), formerly known as the Centre for the Study of European Contract Law (CSECL). Following [...]
On Valentine’s day, the Amsterdam Centre for Transformative Law (Act) was launched at the Universiteit van Amsterdam. According to its Mission Statement, it focuses on ‘the role of private law in the making of society, as well as the processes of private law-making in a pluriform world’. By linking the concept of transformative law explicitly to societal challenges, [...]