Lunch Seminar with Chantal Mak
New Orientations in Private Law Theory: Reflections on the Shell Nigeria Cases in Light of Theories of Communication and Constitutionalisation
In conversation with several Chapters of Stefan Grundmann’s, Hans Micklitz’s and Moritz Renner’s book on New Private Law Theory, this paper reflects on contributions that theories of communication and constitutionalisation can make to our understanding of the changing role of private law in a globalising world. More abstract ideals are checked against an assessment of recent judgments of Dutch courts in cases regarding oil company Shell’s responsibility for environmental pollution in Nigeria. Such theoretical readings of case law, it is held, in the spirit of New Private Law Theory show new directions that private law theories may choose in order to understand and strengthen the private-legal framework for societal questions of our times.
Speaker bio
Chantal Mak is a professor of private law, in particular fundamental rights and private law, at the Amsterdam Centre for Transformative Private Law (ACT), University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Her research focuses on the influence of fundamental rights on the handling of private legal questions in the interaction between the national and European level, with particular interest for the interaction among courts. Chantal will be visiting iCourts in May and June 2022.
Meeting ID: 668 7739 0377
Passcode: 168706