The hidden heritage of the European Union: the legacy of the law of the League of Nations

Max Planck Research Group | Michel Erpelding

Conventional accounts of European integration have often insisted on the novelty of the supranational law developed in that context, asserting its ‘sui generis’ character and highlighting its differences to 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.

This project starts from the premise that the League and its broader context not only generated legal discussions about regional integration, but also forms of supranational law and institutions, both in Europe (e.g. Danzig, Saar, Upper Silesia...) and in (semi-)colonial settings (e.g. League mandates, international cities, protectorates...). This hidden heritage would remain relevant after the Second World War, impacting the law of European regional integration both within what would become the EU and the Council of Europe.

The research group’s central aim will be to identify the continuities and discontinuities between this heritage and the law developed within the context of European integration. To do so, it will not only look at the relevant institutions and the norms they generated, but also at the actors that developed and used these norms, whether as legal professionals or as ‘subaltern’ individuals or groups, both in Europe and on its (semi-)colonial peripheries.

Researchers interested in collaborating or meeting with the Research Group should get in touch with: erpelding@lhlt.mpg.de.