A Rightful Condition for Legalities

Theme:

Kant famously argued that, for social interactions to be governed by reason rather than mere power, it is necessary to create a rightful, or juridical, condition (Rechtszustand). This applies not only to relations between individuals and states, but also, increasingly, to interactions among diverse legal and normative orders.

Today, fragmentation, transnational challenges, and geopolitical tensions have brought to the surface realities long hidden behind doctrinal certainties: conflicting requirements and authorities, conceptual fluidity and borrowing, politically sensitive conceptualizations and delimitations, and the urgent need for responsibility and cooperation.

Is a rightful condition possible under such circumstances? Where, and how, might it be created?

Topics:

The following topics are indicative and non-exhaustive. Proposals on related issues are equally welcome

Philosophical, Theoretical

• Kantian or related arguments on entering a rightful condition, in the context of overlapping legalities and law beyond the state
• Interactions between the rule of law, Rechtsstaat ideals, and their transposition beyond the state
• Theoretical or historical inquiries into common law and/or ius commune, and their intersections
• Democracy and deliberation beyond the state and in international law
• Legitimacy concerning law beyond the state, international law, and regulations by private actors
• Critical and decolonial approaches to overlapping or globalized legalities

Methodological

• Methodologies to manage fragmentation and its pitfalls
• Interlegal reasoning (i.e., legal reasoning under the conditions of interlegality, broadly construed, and legal pluralism)
• Interface conflicts, norms, doctrines from a legal-theoretical perspective

Doctrinal, Empirical

We also welcome doctrinal and empirical contributions that engage with the above themes. Related proposals are equally encouraged, and as illustrative examples we may mention the following:

• Case studies examining or critically engaging with fragmentation, interlegal reasoning, legitimacy, or related theoretical questions
• Applications to contemporary transnational challenges (e.g., climate protection, migration, poverty, digitalization)
• Intercultural standards and their contestation
• Reform of international regimes, multilateralism, and related debates

Prospective participants are invited to submit abstracts (ca 400 words) to jan.sieckmann@fau.de and gabriel.encinas92@gmail.com. To facilitate discussion, we warmly invite participants to circulate a final paper by June 12, 2026.