The International Research Network PHEDRA
The IRN « International Research Network » PHEDRA

Led by Luisa Brunori of the Centre d’Histoire Judiciaire (Lille), the project involves eight teams based in France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Morocco, Spain and the United Kingdom and individual researchers based also in Finland, Belgium and Turkey.
The IRN PHEDRA project aims at developing a concerted approach to European research on the history of business law, from antiquity to the present day, apprehended in its « European ecosystem ». This theme remains little explored by historiography, which nevertheless underlines the extent to which commercial norms and practices constitute a fundamental element in the study of issues related to the historical transformation of our societies.
To meet these objectives, the project – going beyond the traditional national approaches – mobilises several European teams around a collective reflection aiming at identifying the European characteristics of the evolution of business law, through a pooling of knowledge, expertise and sources.
The project relies on solid previous collaborations that highlighted the specific need for collective inter-team scientific work and identified the most appropriate collaborative instruments for this purpose.
The choice of partners follows a logic of strong complementarity: each team is a specialist in the history of business law in its own country, and at the same time each has its own specificities which make them indispensable to the project.
The organization of the network PHEDRA will allow for a collective work on sources and scientific discussions through face-to-face meetings. The mobility of teams is therefore at the heart of the proposed new methodology. For these reasons, regular working meetings are planned, as well as annual methodological and practical workshops, regular thematic seminars, a thematic school, one-day study sessions, and international conferences.
List of Participants
In France
Name | Laboratory | Institutional affiliation (employer) |
Luisa Brunori | Centre d’Histoire Judiciaire UMR 8025 | Cnrs |
Alain Wijffels | Centre d’Histoire Judiciaire UMR 8025 | Cnrs |
Victor Simon | Centre d’Histoire Judiciaire UMR 08025 | Université de Lille |
Renaud Limelette | Centre d’Histoire Judiciaire UMR 8025 | Université de Lille |
Alexis Audemar | Centre d’Histoire Judiciaire UMR 8025 | Univesité de Lille – ED 74 |
Gilles Hebben | Centre d’Histoire Judiciaire UMR 8024 | Université de Lille – ED 74 |
Olivier Descamps | Institut d’Histoire du Droit UMR 7184 | Université Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas |
Emanuelle Chevreau | Institut d’Histoire du Droit UMR 7184 | Université Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas |
Laurent Pfister | Institut d’Histoire du Droit UMR 7184 | Université Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas |
Vincent Gobin | Institut d’Histoire du Droit UMR 7184 | Université Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas |
Xavier Prévost | IRM – Institut de recherche Monstesquieu EA 7434 | Université de Bordeaux |
Victor Le Breton-Blon | IRM-Institut de recherche Montesquieu EA 7434 | Université de Bordeaux |
In Germany
Name | Laboratory | Institutional affiliation (employer) |
Anja Amend-Traut | Lehrstuhl für Deutsche und Europäische Rechtsgeschichte, Kirchenrecht und Bürgerliches Recht – Juristische Fakultät | Julius-Maximilians-Universität (JMU) Würzburg |
Johannes Romanski | Lehrstuhl für Deutsche und Europäische Rechtsgeschichte, Kirchenrecht und Bürgerliches Recht – Juristische Fakultät | Julius-Maximilians-Universität (JMU) Würzburg |
Albrecht Cordes | Institut für Rechtsgeschichte | Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main |
In Spain
Name | Laboratory | Institutional affiliation (employer) |
Carlos Manuel Petit Calvo | Departamento Theodor Mommsen | Universidad de Huelva |
Aurora Maria Lopez Medina | Departamento Theodor Mommsen | Universidad de Huelva |
In Holland
Name | Laboratory | Institutional affiliation (employer) |
Dave de Ruysscher | Tilburg Law School, Public Law & Governance | Tilburg University |
Nikolas Rajkovic | Tilburg Law School, Public Law & Governance | Tilburg University |
Maurits den Hollander | Tilburg Law School, Public Law & Governance | Tilburg University |
Marta Lupi | Tilburg Law School, Public Law & Governance | Tilburg University |
Remko Mooi | Tilburg Law School, Public Law & Governance | Tilburg University |
In Italy
Name | Laboratory | Institutional affiliation (employer) |
Annamaria Monti | Dipartimento di studi giuridici « Angelo Sraffa » | Università Bocconi di Milano |
Stefania Gialdroni | Dipartimento di Giurisprudenza | Università Roma Tre |
Gabriella Gimigliano | Dipartimento di Studi Aziendali e Giuridici | Università di Siena |
In Morocco
Name | Laboratory | Institutional affiliation (employer) |
Fouzi Rherrousse | Faculté des Sciences Juridiques, Économiques et Sociales | Université Mohammed Premier Oujda |
In Great Britain
Name | Laboratory | Institutional affiliation (employer) |
Guido Rossi | Center for Legal History | Edimbourgh Law School – Edimbourgh University |
Paul De Plessis | Center for Legal History | Edimbourgh Law School – Edimbourgh University |
In Belgium
Name | Laboratory | Institutional affiliation (employer) |
David Kusman | SociAMM | Université Libre de Bruxelles |
In Turkey
Name | Laboratory | Institutional affiliation (employer) |
Onur Yıldırım | Department of Economics – Faculty of Economic and Administrative Sciences | Middle East Technical University |
In Finland
Name | Laboratory | Institutional affiliation (employer) |
Pihlajamäki Heikki | Faculty of Law | University of Helsinki |