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The Paul Scholten Centre for Jurisprudence The Paul Scholten Centre for Jurisprudence

Research program: Law in Contexts

Paul Scholten Centre for Jurisprudence

Paul Scholten Centre for Jurisprudence (PSC) is the meta-juridical research institute in the Amsterdam Law School. We are the pivotal centre for the legal-theoretical, i.e. empirical, historic and normative study of the law.
Oudemanhuispoort

Research program: Law in Contexts 

The field of legal studies has established itself as an academic discipline, partly by employing rather strict legal distinctions and categories: private vs. public law, domestic vs. international law, legal vs. social norms, and law vs. politics. At the same time, it has been acknowledged that law becomes meaningful and effective only in particular societal contexts. Contemporary positive law is the product of a long history of law in the making, dating back even to Roman times. Moreover, law expresses social norms and actively shapes behavior in society, government and the marketplace. Finally, positive law is not merely a set of legal rules but also has (both explicit and implicit) normative content. Legal prescriptions and legal categories are inherently intertwined with normative ideals, including human rights and the rule of law, that are partly incorporated in law, and partly function as critical yardsticks to assess positive law. Research at the Paul Scholten Centre for Jurisprudence (hereafter: ‘the PSC’), therefore, aims to achieve a critical understanding of law in varied contexts.

We study law by adopting a multidisciplinary and (methodologically) pluralistic approach. Our program advances from the proposition that a proper understanding of positive law presupposes a solid understanding of the contexts in which law functions: the contingent historical tradition from which our current legal system has emerged; how positive law is embedded in broader normative philosophical debates on democracy, human rights, and the rule of law; and the ways in which the law in the books transforms into law in action and shapes behavior in society, government and organizations.

Our multidisciplinary study of law combines insights drawn from various legal-theoretical disciplines, including legal history, law & society, and legal and political philosophy, while also taking into account insights from adjacent disciplines, including sociology, anthropology, public administration, criminology, and psychology. Given the broad terrain covered by the various disciplines involved, the PSC cannot claim to cover the whole field of jurisprudence. Instead, our research addresses specific legal questions and dilemmas, submitting the topics involved to an in-depth legal-theoretical analysis. This research is conducted at the PSC and, increasingly, in collaboration with other research centers at the Amsterdam Law School, especially in the partnerships forged in the context of the former Law and Justice Across Borders framework, the cross-Faculty Amsterdam Centre for European Studies, and the University-wide Institute for Advanced Study of the University of Amsterdam.

Research program LAW IN CONTEXTS

Research in PSC is organized around three sub-themes:

1. The empirical and normative study of the legal professions;
2. The strained interrelations between democracy, the rule of law, fundamental rights, and instrumentalism;
3. Ethics, integrity and compliance: the ex-ante function of law.

Recent key publications:

  • Van Domselaar, I. (2026) The Role of Legal Professionals in Large-scale Miscarriages of Justice. Legal Ethics, 1-31.

  • Hommes, W. (2025) The Convention and the Kingdom. How The Netherlands Received the European Convention on Human Rights. Cambridge University Press.

  • Van Nifterik, G.P. (2025) Versions of War Slavery: Grotius, Hobbes and the Reception of their Ideas. Tijdschrift voor Rechtsgeschiedenis, 93, 565-593.

  • Olthuis, E.H. (2024) The Human Element in Judicial Decision-making: the Role of Personal Attitudes. Diss. University of Amsterdam.

  • Reinders Folmer, C.P., Kuiper, M.E, & Van Rooij, B. (2026) The People Versus Behavioral Science: Alignment between Lay and Scientific Understanding of Compliance. PLoS ONE.

  • Van Rooij, B., & Fine, A. (2018). Toxic Corporate Culture: Assessing Organizational Processes of Deviancy. Administrative Sciences, 8(3), 1-38.

  • Soeharno, J.E. (2025) De Mooiweerrechtsstaat. Over de Spanning tussen Politiek en Rechtspraak. Cossee.

  • De Waal, T. (2025) De Democratische Rechtsstaat in de Gevarenzone. Tijdschrift voor Beleid, Politiek en Maatschappij, 52(2), 85-87.

  • Burgersdijk, B., Nellen, H. & De Wilde, M. (2025) Hugo Grotius’s On Public Partnership with Unbelievers (De Societate Publica cum Infidelibus). Brill.