Belgian social law and its journals: a reflected history

Through the analysis of the emergence of contemporary social law, Bruno Debaenst stresses the multiple links resulting from the creation of a new field in law and its specialized journals. These milestones underline how actors interact to define and manage an autonomous space in the legal culture in the making. Progressively, the two founding pillars of social law, labour law and social security law emancipated. Thus, journals follow a similar path to become distinct and specialized. Since the end of the nineteenth century, as the author lists the multiple titles, legal practitioners, lawyers and magistrates animate the journals until the Second World War. With the integration of social law in the legal curriculum, these journals received attention of Liège, Louvain and Brussels universities professors. In a way, this analysis documents how legal journals contribute to the definition of legal culture, beyond reflecting it

A study on juridification: the case of industrial accidents in nineteenth century Belgium

Juridification is a complex and ambiguous concept, which legal history can help to understand. In the article, the transitions regarding industrial accidents in nineteenth century Belgium are discussed as processes of juridification. It shows the necessity to distinguish between several semi-autonomous social fields of juridification (administration, parliament, justice), each of which is characterized by autonomous evolutions and mutual interferences

The argumentation in workplace accident trials : the case of the civil court of Mons (1870-1904)

At the end of the nineteenth century, workplace accident trials increased significantly in number in Belgium and in other European countries. These cases are interesting, as they have a hybrid character, with a unique blend of industrial and legal argumentation. The article focuses on 293 cases from the civil court of Mons, from the period 1870 till 1904, in order to analyze this specific argumentation.À la fin du dix-neuvième siècle, les procès d’accident du travail se multiplient en Belgique, comme dans les autres pays européens. Ces procès ont un caractère hybride, mêlant argumentation industrielle et juridique. L’article analyse cette argumentation spécifique via l’étude de 293 procédures ayant eu lieu devant le tribunal civil de Mons entre 1870 à 1904