acca2017 1.97

The Faculty of Law, Political Science and Criminology of the University of Liège welcomes abstracts from PhD researchers and assistants for the Sixth ACCA doctoral Conference entitled “The strong, the Weak and the Law”.

Père Henry Lacordaire once eloquently observed : « Between the strong and the weak, between the rich and the poor, between master and servant, it is liberty that is oppressive and the law that sets free ».

This inspiring sentence supposes that the law allows to restore equality between the weak and the strong, by protecting the weaker. But is it always the case ? Does the law necessarily act in favor of the weaker ? Although individuals may have de jure the same rights, de facto the situation can be that only the stronger may exercise their rights over the weaker, which are therefore deprived of their liberty.

The present issue raises many question relating to the interaction between the weak and the strong and how this interaction is grasped by the law. In other words, how does the law answers to differences in terms of (commercial, military, social, financial, etc.) power, to situations where there is no real equality between the parties.

The subject of this conference is broad and can encompass various topics such as fundamental rights, consumer protection, protection of workers, international relations, protection of the environment and rules of procedure. This list is far from exhaustive; we leave it open to your imagination.

The Sixth ACCA Conference will be held on JUNE 23rd 2017 at the University of Liège. Researchers from all Belgian universities are cordially invited to give a presentation on this subject. It should be noted that the presentations can be given in Dutch, French or English. Each speaker will be given 15 minutes for presenting and 10 minutes for questions and discussion.

Senior and junior researchers are invited to discuss and present their papers. Please submit your proposal for a contribution to the ACCA conference (maximum 500 words) at the latest by APRIL 30th 2017 on this website. Candidates will be notified by May 15th 2017 whether their proposal has been accepted.