An ecological consciousness is emerging in contemporary law and legal thought. Driven by the subversion of the subject/object distinction, this consciousness signals a renewed and potentially transformative legal paradigm that underscores the inherent interconnectedness of modern society and the blurring boundaries between humans and non-humans. Our Annual Theme for the 2022–2023 Lecture Series examines the place and role of private law within this emerging legal paradigm. Through a sequence of lectures focused on key private law institutions and practices, we seek to identify, understand, and assess how private law interacts with its diverse ecosystems and contributes to shaping socio-economic and political relations among humans or non-humans within these ecosystems, in the context of shifting normative expectations and social needs.

• 26 September 2022 — Anna di Robilant (Boston University): Reinventing Roman Property in Bourgeois Europe
• 31 October 2022 — Pietro Ortolani (Radboud University): Digital Due Process and the Moderation of Lawful (But Harmful) Content on Social Media Platforms
• 28 November 2022 — Anna Beckers (Maastricht University) and Gunther Teubner (Frankfurt University): Human Algorithm Hybrids as (Quasi) Organizations? On the Accountability of Collective Digital Actors
• 12 December 2022 — Beatriz Botero Arcila (Sciences Po, Paris): The Place of Law in the Urban Digital Age
• 23 January 2023 — Stefan Grundmann (Humboldt University Berlin): New Private Law Theory: A Pluralist Approach
• 3 April 2023 — Bram Akkermans: Sustainable Obligations in Property Law
• 15 May 2023 — Rónán Condon (University College Dublin): Network Responsibility. European Tort Law and the Society of Networks
• 12 June 2023 — Margaret Davies (Flinders University): Human and Nonhuman Normativity — What is to be Done?
• 3 July 2023 — Yotam Kaplan (Bar-Ilan University): Climate Change as Unjust Enrichment