The ELIA and EUI Initiatives
In Europe the idea of founding a European Law Institute had been in discussion for more than a decade. Two main initiatives were launched:
In October 2008, a group of scholars from leading European law schools and research institutes convened in Brussels to discuss the project. Follow-up meetings took place in Prague, Amsterdam, Stockholm and Frankfurt. In March 2010, the Association for a European Law Institute (ELIA) was founded, which served to initiate and coordinate a Europe-wide debate. By 2011, the ELIA had around 250 members, academics from more than 100 European law faculties as well as judges, many of them from Member States' supreme courts, and legal professionals.
An independent initiative towards the foundation of a European Law Institute was taken by the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies of the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence. Four colleagues from the EUI launched a Conference in April 2010, inviting many leading figures from European institutions and networks to discuss the idea (RSCAS Policy Paper 2010/03).
The Hamburg Memorandum
Even though – or rather because – there was a great deal of overlap between the ELIA and the EUI initiatives, they came to be seen as possible competitors, which caused concern among members of the academic community. Thus, upon the kind invitation of Reinhard Zimmermann, Director of the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law, a meeting was held on the premises of the Institute (in Hamburg) on 22 and 23 June 2010 in order to find out whether the two initiatives could be brought together and whether a common roadmap could be developed for the establishment of a European Law Institute, if possible in partnership with Trans Europe Experts (TEE). The discussions held in Hamburg and the consensus reached are outlined in the minutes of that meeting (the 'Hamburg Memorandum').
Towards the European Law Institute: The Vienna Memorandum
In accordance with the Hamburg Memorandum, a joint project group had been formed by the ELIA and EUI initiatives and further networks and stakeholder organisations. A first meeting of this joint project group and of observers from the European Commission was held in Vienna on 23 and 24 November 2010. The meeting was chaired jointly by the President of the Network of the Presidents of the Supreme Judicial Courts of the EU, Irmgard Griss, and by Zimmermann. The results are summarised in the Vienna Memorandum.
Three Working Groups were set up:
- Working Group I (coordinated by Fabrizio Cafaggi, Christiane Wendehorst and Sabino Cassese) would prepare a draft manifesto and a draft statute; and it would investigate and present a proposal concerning the question of the place of incorporation of ELI
- Working Group II (coordinated by Sjef van Erp, Hans Micklitz and Sir Francis Jacobs) would suggest which additional members to adopt for the Founding Committee; and it would prepare criteria for a decision on the seat of the Secretariat of ELI
- Working Group III (coordinated by Miguel Poiares Maduro, Hans Schulte-Nölke and Bénédicte Fauvarque-Cosson) would look into the question of which academic projects should be pursued by ELI; and it would prepare the Founding Congress of ELI
Meeting of the ELI Founding Committee in Athens
On 15 and 16 April 2011, the ELI Founding Committee convened in Athens upon the kind invitation of Spyridon Flogaitis, Director of the European Public Law Organisation (EPLO) and President of its Board of Directors, in order to debate the results submitted by the three Working Groups that had been established on the basis of the Vienna Memorandum. The discussions in Athens were again moderated by Zimmermann and Griss. Following the proposal made by Working Group I, it was decided to found ELI as an Association Internationale Sans But Lucratif (AISBL) under Belgian law. A Statute and a Manifesto for ELI were adopted and the first ELI Council was appointed. A procedure for determining the place of the ELI Secretariat was agreed upon.
Founding Individual Members of the ELI
For ease of reference, the entries in each column can be alphabetically arranged by clicking on the different categories.
Surname | Name | Affilliation |
---|---|---|
Ajani | Gianmaria | Former Rector, University of Turin |
Alonso Landeta | Gabriel | Former President, European Land Registry Association (ELRA) |
Aubert de Vincelles | Carole | Trans Europe Experts, Professor, CY Cergy Paris University |
Auby | Jean-Bernard | Professor and Director, Center on Changes in Governance, Public Law at Sciences Po |
Beale | Hugh | Professor, University of Warwick |
Bermann | George A | International Academy of Comparative Law, Professor, Columbia University |
Botusharova | Snezhana | Judge, Constitutional Court of the Republic of Kosovo |
Cafaggi | Fabrizio | Former Professor, European University Institute, Florence |
Caponi | Remo | Professor, University of Florence |
Clément | Marc | Judge, Administrative Court of Appeal of Lyon |
Dal | Georges-Albert | Partner, DALDEWOLF, Former President Conseil des Barreaux Europées (Ex Officio) |
Doralt | Walter | Professor, University of Graz |
Fauvarque-Cosson | Bénédicte | General Administrator, French Conservatoire national des arts et métiers (CNAM), Former ELI Vice-President |
Flogaitis | Spyridon | European Public Law Organization, Professor at the University of Athens |
Garlicki | Lech | Former Judge, European Court of Human Rights |
Gernandt | Johan | Former Chairman, Stockholm Centre for Commercial Law, Former ELI Treasurer |
Graf Westphalen | Friedrich | Lawyer |
Griss | Irmgard | Former President, Austrian Supreme Court, Former President, Network of the Presidents of the Supreme Judicial Courts of the EU |
Grundmann | Stefan | President, Society of European Contract Law |
Hofmann | Herwig | Professor, University of Luxembourg |
Huguenin | Claire | Professor, University of Zurich (✝) |
Illescas | Rafael | Professor, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, President of AIDA Spain |
Jacobs | Francis | Professor, King’s College London, Former ELI President |
Jerez Delgado | Carmen | Professor, Autonomous University of Madrid |
Kaindl | Rudolf | Former President, Council of the Notariats of the European Union (ex officio) |
Kreins | Yves | Former President, Belgian Council of State |
Lord Thomas | John | Former Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales |
Lando | Ole | Commission on European Contract Law (✝) |
Lord Mance | Jonathan | Chair, International Law Association (ILA) |
Maher | Imelda | Dean, UCD Sutherland School of Law |
Micklitz | Hans | Professor, European University Institute |
Mikelenas | Valentinas | Lawyer, Former Judge, Supreme Court of Lithuania |
Muir-Watt | Horatia | Professor, Sciences Po, Paris |
Netten | Leo | Former President, Union Internationale des Huissiers de Justice (UIHJ) |
Papasavvas | Savvas | Judge and Vice-president, General Court of the European Union |
Philippe | Denis | Professor, University of Louvain, Visiting Professor, University of Paris Ouest, former ELI Treasurer |
Poiares Maduro | Miguel | Former Professor and Director, Global Governance Program, European University Institute Florence |
Polcak | Radim | Head of Institute of Law and Technology at Masaryk University |
Reynis | Bernard | Former President, Council of the Notariats of the EU |
Safjan | Marek | Judge, European Court of Justice |
Schulte-Nölke | Hans | European Legal Studies Institute, Osnabrück |
Schulze | Reiner | Professor, Westfälische Wilhelms University (WWU) Münster |
Sorabji | John | Senior Judicial Institute Fellow, UCL’s Judicial Institute |
Storme | Matthias | Professor, University of Leuven |
Timmermans | Christiaan | Former Judge, European Court of Justice |
Trstenjak | Verica | Professor, University of Vienna |
Van Erp | Sjef | Professor, University of Maastricht |
Varul | Paul | Lawyer, Professor emeritus, University of Tartu |
Von Bar | Christian | Professor, University of Osnabrück |
Wendehorst | Christiane | Professor, University of Vienna, former ELI President, current ELI Scientific Director |
Zimmermann | Reinhard | Director, Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law |
Zoll | Fryderyk | Professor, Jagiellonian University and University of Osnabrück |
Founding Institutional Members of ELI
- The International Union of Judicial Officers (Union Internationale des Huissiers de Justice, UIHJ)
- The Council of the Notariats of the European Union (CNUE)
- The Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (Conseil des Barreaux Européens, CCBE)
- The European Land Registry Association (ELRA)