Maastricht Foundations of Law Colloquia

The Department of Foundations of Law in the Faculty of Law cordially invites you to the next meeting of the Maastricht Foundations of Law Colloquia. On 1 October, our speaker is Martijn Hesselink from the European University Institute of Florence - Title: Prefigurative EU Law

Abstract: 
Prefigurative practices aim to foreshadow the more just society a radical political transformation would bring. So far, there has been little attention for the possibility of prefigurative legal practices. Perhaps the assumption is that prefigurative law is a contradiction in terms. Given the law’s structural complicity in social oppression, marginalisation and exploitation, how can it ever be part of the solution? The idea of a prefigurative EU law may seem even more absurd. The EU and its laws are deeply entangled with capitalism, racism, imperialism and premature deaths at its borders. Surely, EU law is beyond repair? But is it? This paper suggests the opposite. It argues that a radically different EU law could become a source of hope for a society without structural oppression and marginalisation. Most concretely, it proposes to occupy the European Commission’s recent plans for a 28th legal regime. To this end, it shows how the Commission’s idea of a deregulatory sandbox could be turned into a prefigurative proposal, foreshadowing the legal non-regime for a radically horizontal European society without borders.


The colloquium’s format is pre-read. Those attending are expected to have read the text in advance. The draft will be circulated in advance.

Convenors:
Lukasz Dziedzic
Sebastian Reyes Molina
Roland Pierik

The colloquia will take place physically and online. The Zoom link for the online sessions will be distributed later.