Acknowledgements
This monograph is borne from the master’s thesis for the degree of Master of Laws that I submitted at Ghent University in 2017. Over the last two years, the original manuscript was extensively edited and expanded upon.
As a young scholar, I particularly owe a ton of gratitude to various persons who have been seminal in the conception of this monograph.In the first place, I wish to thank the staff of the Ghent Legal History Institute. During the course of my own law studies, the Legal History Institute invariably served as the perfect redoubt for a student interested in the contextual history of law, and the courses taught by its staff gave me a lasting interest for European legal history. Professor Dhondt, as the promoter of the original master’s thesis, and Professor Heirbaut, as the secretary, deserve particular gratitude. Professor Dhondt possesses an encyclopedic knowledge of European legal history, and both his substantive comments, as well as his willingness to always help a young student, have greatly improved the quality of this monograph. Likewise, Professor Heirbaut’s intellectual curiosity and experience have been of great importance in forming my academic background. I would also like to thank John Finlay, Professor of Scots Law at the University of Glasgow. An Erasmus+ exchange does not only give one a sense of appreciation for the EU’s motto of “united in diversity,” but also the opportunity to see things through “another lens,” which helps to frame research questions. It was through the work of the late Alan Watson, as well as the seminalMontgomery v. Sheddan case, both to which Professor Finlay introduced me, that the topic for my dissertation was further refined. I am also indebted to the various academics who were willing to answer e-mails from a curious law student, as well as to the peer reviewer who gave various useful comments for the completion of this book.
Over the past years, I have had the enormous opportunity to study and conduct research in three different countries and have greatly enjoyed from conversations with scholars, and assistance from library staff, at Ghent University, the University of Glasgow and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. I also had the chance to make use of some of the resources of the Free University of Brussels, where my promoter Prof. Dhondt currently teaches and where I have also been able to do an academic assistant internship. My year in the USA, which has greatly influenced my views on law and society, would have been impossible without the financial support of the Belgian American Educational Foundation (BAEF) and the Fletcher School’s LL.M. fund. Finally, gratitude also goes to Springer, the series editors Prof. Georges Martyn and Prof. Mortimer Sellers, Ms. Viradasarani Natarajan and Ms. Anja Trautmann, all who have been very helpful in the publishing process of my first monograph.Some thanks to friends are also due. As a person, one benefits not only from the academic assistance received, but also from friends with whom one shares the joys of life. My friends in Ghent from both secondary school, law school and student organizations, as well as those made in Glasgow and Boston, have been an incredible support during my life. Mats Cuvelier, Carlos Santana Rubino, Samir Salimzade, Philippe Baert, Glenn Deduytsche, Jonas Veys, Arno Buyse and my own sister An-Sofie Batselé have been willing to make various orthographical corrections to the original manuscript. Many thanks also to Rami Blair, who provided superb proofreading for the final manuscript of this book. Finally, a word of thanks to my parents. A stable and positive home environment is of incredible importance to a young student, and in my parents I have always found the most kind and loving people. I cannot thank them enough for the past 25 years.
Ghent, Belgium
October 2019
Filip Batselé