70th session of SIHDA – Paris, September 2016

The first announcement has just been circulated by the organisers. Herewith:

“Dear Colleagues, dear friends,

As was decided in Naples and confirmed in Istanbul, the LXXe Session of the Société Internationale Fernand de Visscher pour l’Histoire des Droits de l’Antiquité will take place in Paris and be hosted by University Panthéon-Assas also known as Paris II. As you all know, it is the heir of the famous Sorbonne and is situated on mount Sainte-Geneviève at the very heart of the famous Latin Quarter.
The conference will take place from Tuesday, September 13 to Saturday, September 17, 2016, this last day being as usual reserved for sightseeing activities.

The chosen theme this year is:

Ius et Periculum

Law as confronted to risk in the Antiquity period

It is a transversal theme so as to allow contributions belonging to the various periods and specialties and an in-depth treatment of the subject. Risk can be understood in both a negative and a positive manner. On the negative side, risk is related to the idea of danger and jeopardy. On the positive side, it implies the notion of foresight and domestication of contingency and as a consequence of the time continuum. The law is by definition at the very heart of the tension between what is unforeseeable and what is foreseeable. The analysis of the phenomenon can be developed into various themes: risk and contracts and that includes varieties of acts of God and force majeure; also tort and delictual liability; commerce and in particular maritime commerce with its unavoidable aspects such as storm, piracy, speculation, economic and financial crises; as well as town planning, the management of natural and climate disasters, state of emergency, religion especially impiety, police, war, diplomacy etc ..

I would also like to emphasize that as is the custom, colleagues may choose a subject that is not directly related to the main theme. Communications should be 20 minutes long and will be organized in several parallel sessions and panels. We would also like to remind you that French is the official language of the SIHDA but the tradition allows communications in Italian, German, English and Spanish.
You will receive a second e-mail during the month of March giving specific information concerning registration fees, prices for excursions (optional) as well as all financial and other practical details. You will also at that stage receive specific information about the webpage for the conference where you will be able to proceed with your registration and download the summary of the conferences.

We are of course at your disposal if you have any questions and we are looking forward to having the pleasure of hosting you in Paris.

We take this opportunity to wish you a happy 2016 and send our best regards,

Paris January 31, 2016,
Emmanuelle CHEVREAU”