In memoriam
On 21 August 2024, our dear and highly esteemed colleague, Assistant Professor PD Eva Synek, passed away after a long illness.
Eva Synek enjoyed a worldwide reputation, especially in the field of Orthodox Canon Law. Her academic interests were, however, broader in their scope and made her into an accomplished contributor to the field of women’s rights. She was a leading member of numerous academic societies. She co-founded the Austrian Society for Religious Studies and served on its board. For twelve years, she held the position of the Secretary General of the Society for the Law of the Eastern Churches, and continued to serve on its board for a long time after she had stepped down from this position. Over many years, she became a driving force in the development of the society, not least as regards the publication of its yearbook ‘Kanon‘. In 2000, Eva Synek completed her habilitation at the University of Eichstätt with the work ‘Οἶκος. Zum Ehe- und Familienrecht der Apostolischen Konstitutionen’ [The house: On the marital and family law of the apostolic constitutions]. As a highly active academic, she published numerous articles and books and served on the editorial board of several scholarly journals. In 2013/14, she was a visiting professor of Orthodox Canon Law in Leuven, and until her passing she taught this subject with great dedication at the Faculty of Law of the University of Vienna.
Her premature death is an immense professional and personal loss. We will fondly remember our dear colleague and the numerous stimulating conversations with her.
Legal philosophy has a long tradition in Vienna, dating back to the days of the natural law theorists Karl Anton von Martini (1726–1800) and Franz von Zeiller (1751–1828). During the first half of the twentieth century, Viennese legal philosophy earned itself international acclaim when Hans Kelsen (1881–1973) and his collaborators developed a pronounced and much debated version of legal positivism, the so-called Pure Theory of Law. Owing to the initiative of Gerhard Luf, whose works have contributed considerably to the rehabilitation of practical reason in legal philosophy, the discipline became established as a separate Department in 1985.
In 2005, the Department of Legal Philosophy was merged with the Department of Law and Religion. It dated back to the founding of the Vienna law faculty and was home to many eminent scholars, such as Paul Joseph von Riegger (1705–1775), a defender of religious toleration, and Max Hussarek von Heinlein (1865–1936), a leading theorist of the legal relation between the state and religious communities. Under the stewardship of Richard Potz, the discipline was expanded into the comprehensive study of law and religion.
This fused unit has been given its current name in 2016.
Part of the interdisciplinary research of this faculty is the research unit "Hans Kelsen and his Circle", headed by Prof. Jabloner.
News – Publications – In the media
- 2024 07 08 - 10, Alexander Somek gives the lecture "European Constitutional Law and Its Digital Public Sphere" on ICON.S, annual conference, University of Madrid, Law School
- 2024 06 20, Ulrich Wagrandl "Die Verfassung ohne Eigenschaften? Österreichische Verfassungsnarrative auf dem Prüfstand”
- 2024 06 19, Clemens Jabloner will take part in a panel discussion at the Department of Contemporary History at the University of Vienna on the occasion of the presentation of Hanno Rebhan's book "Demokratie ohne Demokraten".
- 2024 06 08, Clemens Jabloner will speak at the 47th Völkerrechtstagung in St. Gilgen on the topic of „Kunstrückgabe in Österreich 1998-2024. Eine Bestandsaufnahme".
- 2024 06 06, Udit Bhatia "Acting Democratically under Clientelism“
- 2024 06 06, Stefan Schima speaks about „Eide vor Gericht: Blicke auf die österreichische Rechtsgeschichte und das geltende Recht“ as part of the lecture series „Legal History Lab '24: Current research in legal and constitutional history“
- 2024 06 05, science talk with Samuel Moyn, Herlinde Pauer-Studer, Alexander Somek und Fabio Wolkenstein: "Liberalism against itself - The Cold War roots of Liberalism's present crisis"
- 2024 05 22, Sofia Näsström talks about „Democracy and the Social Question: Sharing Uncertainty in Uncertain Times"
- 2024 04 18, Franca Feisel talks about "A reflexive theory of defending democracy", at the"Workshops on Democratic Constitutionalism"
- 2024 04 17, Stefan Schima gives an interview to "Gott und Mammon - Wie sich Religionsgemeinschaften finanzieren", oe1 Im Fokus Religion und Ethik
- 2024 04 15, Alexander Somek provides a guest commentary about the Grand Chamber rulings of the ECHR in three climate change cases, diepresse.com
- May 2024: New published at facultas: "Grundriss Religionsrecht", edit. by Brigitte Schinkele and Richard Potz, ISBN 978-3-7089-2396-3
- 2024 04 11,Stefan Hammer, talks about "Mit Kant in die Zukunft der Menschheit? Zur raumzeitlichen Unabgeschlossenheit des "ursprünglichen Gemeinbesitzes", at the Gesprächskreises "Rechtsphilosophie und Rechtstheorie"
- 2024 03 26/27 Alexander Somek gives the lecture "The relational approach" as part of the international conference "Penser l'Etat aujourd'hui: repenser le droit dans et par-delà les Etats", Institut national du service public 1, Strasbourg
- 2024 03 22, Alexander Somek talks about "Transnational Constitutional Law and the Republican Split" at the "Conference on global Constitutionalism and its Limits", University Nantes
- 2024 03 21, Alexander Somek talks about"Freiheit und Zwang: Der relationale Zugang zum Recht" at the international conference Das Rechtsverhältnis: Ein Perspektivenwechsel im Öffentlichen Recht , Verwaltungsgerichtshof Wien
- 2024 03 20, Stefan Schima gives an interview about "Der Prozess Jesu – Die Geburtsstunde des Judenhasses", oe1 "Im Fokus - Religion und Ethik"
- 2024 02 29, Clemens Jabloner speaks about "Hans Kelsen und Rose Rand- Existenz und Logik" at the conference: "Helen Silving-Ryu – Der Aufstieg einer jüdischen Migrantin aus Wien zur „First Lady of US-Criminal Law“", Juridicum, Vienna
- 2024 02 23, Alexander Somek provides guest commentary together with Fabio Wolkenstein on “Vermessene Demokratievermessung”, diepresse.com
- 2024 02 20, Stefan Schima gives oe1 an interview about "EGMR: Schächtverbot erlaubt", Religion aktuell
- 2024 02/08/09: Conference “Justice, Care, Responsibility: Rethinking the Family from a Legal and Philosophical Perspective" at the University of Geneva (Switzerland), organized by Michelle Cottier, Simone Zurbuchen and Anne Kühler.
- 2024 01 29, lecture by Koen Lenaerts, President of the Court of Justice of the European Union, about "Judicial Dialogue and Constitutional Disagreements: Bridging the Gap"
- 2024 01 10, Stefan Hammer talks about "Religionen und das Recht auf Öffentlichkeit", Religion ORF