Maastricht Centre for Law & Jurisprudence

Research

MCLJ studies law by adopting a multidisciplinary and (methodologically) pluralistic approach. Moving beyond traditional doctrinal legal research, we start from the presumption that a correct understanding of (positive) law, its meaning and its institutions, requires comprehension of the different contexts where law operates. These are the contingent historical circumstances where the legal system emerged, how positive law is embedded in broader normative-philosophical and societal debates on customary law, constitutionalism, democracy, human rights and the rule of law or the functioning of law (or not) as a coherent system of norms.