The Hidden Heritage of the European Union

Conventional accounts of European integration have often insisted on the 'sui generis' character of European integration law and highlighted its differences with earlier forms of international and regional integration. However, recent scholarship has questioned this view. A growing number of studies have reappraised the intense activity of the League of Nations and related contemporary international institutions, while others have highlighted the relevance of colonialism for the history of European integration.

Investigating the continuities and discontinuities between this heritage and the law of European integration is the central aim of the research group 'The hidden heritage of the European Union: the legacy of the law of the League of Nations', established in 2024 under the leadership of Dr. Michel Erpelding at the Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory (mpilhlt).

This seminar will bring together members of the research group, colleagues from the mpilhlt working on the legal history of the European Union, and researchers investigating related topics, with the aim of presenting and discussing their work in an informal setting.