Guest: Antoine Vauchez (University of Paris 1-Sorbonne and Max Planck Law Fellow).

On today’s episode Christopher Murphy is joined by Antoine Vauchez to focus on the re-invention of a central concept of contemporary European democracy, namely that of ‘independence’. Antoine—who heads the Max Planck Law Working Group on ‘Independence and Democracy in the European Union’—traces how the notion of independence has become a highly contested subject within the EU, often culminating in what he terms Europe’s independence wars. From the backsliding of the rule of law in Poland or Hungary to the heated debates over the unconventional monetary policies of the ‘über-independent’ European Central Bank, Antoine demonstrates that how we understand and interpret the notion of independence is at the heart of modern political and legal debate in Europe.

Link to Antoine's paper: https://academic.oup.com/icon/article/20/5/2032/6881104

Guest: Kadir Eryilmaz (Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology).

In this episode, Christopher Murphy talks with Kadir Eryilmaz about his ethnographic field research on the Syriacs, a small and often overlooked community from Turkey. They explore how marginalized groups, like the Syriacs, form their understanding of the law and how their experiences shape their views on human rights. Through real-life examples, they discuss how past interactions with legal authorities shape the way people approach the law today.

Guest: Ruth Mason (University of Virginia School of Law and Max Planck Law Fellow).

In a dramatic upset in September 2024, Apple and Ireland lost their state aid case before the European Union’s highest court. This decision—which is set to cost Apple over €13 billion—represents the most expensive state aid recovery ever.

Today's guest, Ruth Mason, offers a play-by-play of the case. The episode takes listeners through the European Commission’s administrative procedure, the judgment of the General Court of the European Union, and finally the judgment of the European Court of Justice.  Along the way, it offers criticism of the legal theory the Commission took in the case, as well as insights into Apple’s global tax plan and why that tax plan failed. Broader implications concerning the competitive position of the European Union and the future of US-EU tax relations are also discussed.

Guest: Sergio Mittlaender (FGV Law School in São Paulo and Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy).

In this podcast, we explore a fascinating study by Lisa Lenz and Sergio Mittlaender on the effects of intergroup contact on discrimination. Through economic experiments, the researchers investigate how structured interactions between individuals from opposing political groups—Democrats and Republicans—can reduce discrimination, further examining the conditions that are necessary for intergroup contact to be effective. Tune in to discover how this research sheds light on human behaviour and offers valuable insights for policymakers working to foster inclusion, integration, and the reduction of prejudice.

Guest: Mahdi Khesali (Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods).

Normative ambiguity, which stems from conflicting norms, can lead to inefficiency and self-serving behaviour. In this episode, Mahdi Khesali introduces a study that he and his colleague Yoan Hermstrüwer have conducted. Based on a 'stealing game', Mahdi discusses how voting on a given moral norm affects our moral compass. The findings emphasize the importance of expressive law and how effectively-designed voting mechanisms can communicate normative consensus.

(Audio Production: www.citysoundstudio.de)

Guest: Rick Sallaba (Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy).

It has been over a year now since the German government introduced Bürgergeld. The reforms present a major reworking of Germany’s  unemployment benefits system. While Bürgergeld has done away with a number of sanctions that were deemed unfair and counterproductive, not everyone is impressed by this new approach to unemployment and serious concerns have been raised that the benefits are now too attractive (and expensive).

To break the concept of Bürgergeld down with more reason and less emotion, Christopher Murphy is today joined in the studio by the legal scholar Rick Sallaba.

(Audio Production: www.citysoundstudio.de)

Guest: Ragini Surana (Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory).

Suppose you pay someone more than you intended to by mistake. What rule of law can be used to rectify the situation? It is not the law of contract because neither of you anticipated this possibility. Nor is it a tort because neither of you have committed a wrong. In this episode Christopher Murphy talks with Ragini Surana about the law of restitution for unjust enrichment with a particular analysis of the introduction and application of the law in India.

(Audio Production: www.citysoundstudio.de)

Guest: Alice Margaria (Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology).

Defining what makes someone a father has become a complex task in contemporary Europe. What roles are attributed to genetics, marriage, gender, and active involvement in a child's life? Courts are increasingly grappling with these questions, prompted by a combination of societal shifts and scientific advancements, including assisted reproductive technologies and the growing social acceptance of LGBTQ families. In this episode, Alice Margaria reveals how the European Court of Human Rights has – perhaps inadvertently – played a significant role in reshaping notions of fatherhood. Indeed, in recent decades the Court has increased its focus on paternal care, thereby expanding the boundaries of legal fatherhood to encompass a growing number of unconventional fathers.

(Audio Production: www.citysoundstudio.de)

Guest: Nina Cozzi (Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory).

After the liberation of Italian territory from the Nazi-Fascist regime, the government begun work on the drafting of a new constitution. One of the most novel aspects of the 1948 constitution was Article 37, which entitled working women the right to equal pay with their male counterparts. In this episode, Nina Cozzi reconstructs the path that led to the introduction of equal pay in 1948, with a clear focus on how women’s access to what had previously been considered ‘male jobs’ provided the impetus for more frequent and vocal demands for fairness. Moreover, she highlights how employers reacted to this major legal innovation and ends by looking at whether the principle of equal pay in Italy has indeed stood the test of time.  

(Audio Production: www.citysoundstudio.de)

Guest: Jan Peter Schmidt (Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law).

In this episode Jan Peter Schmidt discusses the long-standing tradition that the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and Private International Law (MPI) has of providing expert opinions on foreign law for German courts. To this end, the MPI supports judges in resolving cross-border cases which according to the rules of private international law are to be decided not according to German law but to foreign law.

(Audio Production: www.citysoundstudio.de)