History of the Association
Legal and historical sciences are based on communication. This is a true statement that triggered the idea of founding an Association for Young Legal Historians. The yearly European Forum of Young Legal Historians has been the breeding ground, providing a “market” for scientific exchange of ideas and as a peek of this process, the Association for Young Legal Historians was born in Seville, 2007. These annual forums are usually organized by young researchers of their kind and the purpose of these conferences has always been to give a possibility for young legal historians to give an account of their scientific research results.
The roots of the Association were stated by the annually organized European Forum of Young Legal Historians. The idea of such a scientific forum first appeared in Frankfurt in 1992 and 1993 under the patronage of the Max Planck Institut für Europäische Rechtsgeschichte. From that time onwards, forums started to become a feature, which can also be noticed by the increasing number of participants.
In 1995, the conference of young legal historians obtained its official name that it has also nowadays: European Forum of Young Legal Historians and since then it also became popular to give a title for these forums around which the thematic of the presentations may be arranged. The so-called first European Forum of Young Legal Historians organized in Halle an der Salle in Germany had the subtitle: “Legal History and the Enlightenment”. 1996’s European Forum of Young Legal Historians was organized in Berlin and had the thematic title “Law and Social Transformation” and the 1997’s annual forum was hosted by the Karl Franzens Universität of Graz with the title “Laws without borders – Borders without Laws”. In 1998, Munich gave place for this kind of scientific meeting for young legal historians, where the forum got the title “Continuity and Rupture in the European Legal History”. The fifth annual forum was held in Zurich in 1999 with the title “Legal (Hi)stories?” and then, one year later, the conference moved its location to Leipzig where the thematic presentations had their subject in the theme “Ius commune propriumque: Saxonia in the Mirror of the Law”. This kind of annual meeting for young legal researchers working in the field of legal history became broad in its international sense after the forum held in Zurich, where the forum had 120 participants from 13 countries. The first forum of the 21st century was held in Vienna in 2001 with the thematic title “Ad Fontes” and then next year’s forum was organized in Osnabruck having its title “Europe and its Regions”. After Osnabruck, the forums left the German-speaking region for a while and moved to Budapest in 2003 and to Warsaw in 2004. The forums held here had the titles “The New Europe and its Traditions” and “The European Legal Community: Between Tradition and Perspectives”. In 2005, Switzerland hosted the European Forum of Young Legal Historians, when Lucerne gave a home for that event that for that time became known among all young legal historians. The title of the forum was “Legal Transfer in History” and it was the first conference where presentations having as subject Turkish, Islamic and Caucasian legal history were presented for the first time.
One year after the annual forum went back to its origin, it was hosted again by the Max Planck Institut für Europäische Rechtsgeschichte in Frankfurt with the motto “Remembering and Forgetting.” As in Frankfurt, as previously in Lucerne, it has been stated that it would be advisable and advantageous to open towards the southern parts of Europe because, until then, no participants were present from Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece. It has also become important that forums in their call for papers should assume general themes, such as ones that allow the inclusion of a broad spectrum of legal history research in progress without any chronological limits.
This gave the idea for the young legal historians of the University of Seville to organize the next year’s forum in Seville under the patronage of the Fundación Tres Culturas del Mediterraneo and the University of Seville. This forum is organized in the Mediterranean region of Europe and for the first time puts attention in its thematic on Jewish and Islamic culture, besides European, by having as the subject of presentations themes arranged around the motto “Crossing Legal Cultures”. The last forum, the XIVth edition of these kinds of annual meetings for young legal historians was organized by the legal historians of the University of Pécs.
STATUTES OF THE AYLH
This association is called the „Association of Young Legal Historians (AYLH) / Vereinigung Junger RechtshistorikerInnen (VJR)“. It is established under Artt. 60–79 of the Swiss Civil Code (ZGB) and based in Zürich (Switzerland).
The society’s correspondence and general assemblies (GA) shall be conducted through the medium of the English language
The society is established to organise the annual conference „European Forum of Young Legal Historians / Europäisches Forum Junger RechtshistorikerInnen“ (Forum), and to promote academic legal history in Europe and beyond.
The Forum shall provide a platform for young researchers for the presentation of their research results in the field of legal history. For this reason, the general themes should be as wide as possible. The Forum is aimed at all those who are interested in legal history; only professors holding a chair in legal history are, as a general rule, excluded from participation. Exceptional cases are decided by the organisational committee (OC).
The results of the conference are published in the series „Yearbook of Young Legal Historians / Jahrbuch Junge Rechtsgeschichte“.
The AYLH promotes scientific exchange between legal historians as well as the preservation and extension of legal history in Europe and beyond.
Membership is open to individuals and organisations who wish to support the objectives of the society. The society aspires to achieve as wide a diversity of nationalities and cultures as possible.
Members pay an ordinary annual contribution of €20,–. Members’ liability is limited to this amount. Members may purchase the volumes of the Yearbook at a reduced price if there is an agreement to this effect with the publishing house.
Membership commences with the payment of the annual contribution. Non-payment of the annual contribution will lead to the loss of membership. Members may leave the society through express statement. Other cases are decided by the GA (Art. 65 ZGB).
The organs of the AYLH are:
1. The general assembly (GA);
2. The executive board;
3. The auditors.
The GA is the supreme organ of the AYLH. Its powers include:
- The exclusion of members
- The amendment of these statutes
- The power to decide all matters that are not assigned to other organs of the society
- Supervision over the activities of the organs, and their revocation.
All members who are present are entitled to vote.
The ordinary GA is convened after every Forum. Extraordinary GA are convened by the executive board, or by one fifth of all members.
The GA is chaired by the executive board. Decisions can be made with regard to proposals that appear on the agenda. The agenda is sent to all members together with the invitation to the Forum. Members can submit proposals to the executive board in written form up to two weeks before the GA. Decisions with respect to proposals that have not been presented in this form may be taken on the approval of at least one third of the members present.
Votes are held by open ballot; they are held by secret ballot with the approval of at least one third of the members present. All members have equal voting rights. Decisions of the society are taken on a majority vote of the members present. In the case of equality of votes, the speaker of the executive board has a casting vote in matters not pertaining to elections or revocations. An equality of votes in election or revocation matters is resolved by means of drawing lots.
The minutes of the GA meetings are recorded. They are presented to the following GA for approval.
The executive board consists of the members of the organisational committees of the previous and of the subsequent years. The executive board is chaired by the organisational committee that prepares the following conference.
The treasurer collects and administers the annual contributions together with all other assets. He/she annually issues financial statements, consisting of a balance sheet and a profit and loss statement, based on the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).
The treasurer is responsible for handing over all bank details and information to the subsequent organisational committee.
At least one member of the executive board is responsible for networking according to Art. 2 para. 4 of these statues.
Otherwise, the members of the executive boards assign their own responsibilities (Art. 69 ZGB).
The accounting year is the calendar year.
The resources consist primarily of the following:
- Members’ annual contributions;
- Voluntary contributions and benefits;
- Legacies and treasures.
The annual financial statement is examined by two auditors who are elected by the GA. The auditors hold their office until a request for withdrawal or replacement is submitted. They present a written auditing report to the executive committee and to the GA.
Liquidation is performed according to Artt. 76–78 ZGB.
The society’s assets are liquidized in accordance with the provisions established for cooperatives (Art. 58 ZGB).