The Mixed Courts of Egypt, 1876-1949: between imperial internationalism and shared legal knowledge | CfA

How did the Mixed Courts of Egypt impact legal knowledge and societies on both sides of the Mediterranean? 150 years after these once highly influential institutions heard their first cases, the Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory will dedicate a workshop to this question.

The event will take place in Frankfurt am Main on 23-24 February 2026. It is organized by Dr. Michel Erpelding, head of the newly constituted Max Planck research group ‘The hidden heritage of the European Union: the legacy of the law of the League of Nations’, and Mrs Aya Bejermi, whose work as a researcher within that group focusses on mixed courts established in semi-colonial contexts.

Topics of interest
The organizers have issued a call for papers (available in three languages) inviting submissions on topics such as the normative production and environment of the Mixed Courts, their relation to the political context during the time of their operation, and the sociology of actors involved with them.

The call welcomes papers based on archival sources and/or on doctrinal writings and the case law of Mixed Courts.

Submission details
Abstracts of no more than 500 words, written in English, French or Arabic and including the author’s name, e-mail address and a short curriculum vitae, should be submitted to erpelding@lhlt.mpg.de by 1st July 2025. Successful applicants will be notified via e-mail by 1st September 2025 and are expected to produce a summary draft paper by 31st January 2026.

The event will be held in person with no conference fee. Financial support for travel and accommodation is available. For more information, please contact Dr. Michel Erpelding.