Labour Law History from a Global Perspective: Collective Workplace Disputes and their Normative Contexts

The history of labour law is a rather niche discipline in many countries, with only a few experts dealing with it. Depending on the historical genesis of the field, these are either jurists who have specialised in labour law or historians who come from a labour history background. What scholars have in common is that they often concentrate on national contexts and only rarely consider the relation to labour law of other nations (with the exception of European labour law or international regulation arising in connection with the International Labour Organization). That is, we do not find studies about the entangled history of these developments, literature with comparison as a methodological basis, or research questions that focus on similarities and differences of cases studies (unless the similarities and historical linkages are obvious, e.g. development in the context of colonial history).

As a first step to identify the research gaps, a conference is planned at which interdisciplinary, transversal, and transnational possibilities for networking and thematic focuses will be discussed. It will take place on 12-13 September 2023 at the Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Theory. Online participation will be offered. Registration is possible via the e-mail wolf@lhlt.mpg.de until 5 September 2023.