ARTICLE: "Le savoir politique contre les préjugés Antoine II Pecquet et son Esprit des maximes politiques (1757)" [Diplomatie et Lumières, dir. Jean-Charles SPEECKAERT] (Études sur le XVIIIe siècle n° 52 (2025), 37-59

 

(image source: ULB)

This contribution discusses Antoine II Pecquet's 1757 Esprit des Maximes Politiques pour servir de suite à l'Esprit des Loix du Président de Montesquieu, from the point of view of eighteenth-century in-house foreign office legal advice. It was presented in draft at the 7th Biennial Conference of the European Society for Comparative Legal History (Augsburg, June 2023) and at the 16th Congress of the International Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (Rome, July 2023). 

Pecquet notably refers to Montesquieu, but even more to Grotius. 

More information here. The journal also appears in open access on openedition.

CONFERENCE: 8th Biennial Conference of the European Society for Comparative Legal History (Szeged: University of Szeged, 2-4 JUL 2025)

(image source: ESCLH Blog)
 

I was happy to participate in the 8th Biennial Conference of the European Society for Comparative Legal History, where I presented the activity report of the ESCLH Blog, presided a panel and spoke in a panel with dr. Stefano Cattelan and dr. Raphaël Cahen (both VUB/CORE), wherein all contributions focused on the law of nations prior to professionalisation in the 1870s.

See here for more information.