Pro Memorie - Current Issue

Abstract The article examines a digitized criminal sentence book (1692-1698) of the Court of Friesland, assessing the effectiveness of digital tools such as Atlas.ti and QGIS in the analysis of large datasets. The sentence book serves as a test case in this analysis. The study identifies patterns in the number of defendants, their geographical origins, the nature of the crimes, the convictions and the punishments imposed, including Read More

Abstract The text of art. 5 par. 1 sub 1 of the Civil Code 1838 was confusing. Deviating from earlier drafts in 1822 it read that people, born from parents established in the colonies, were Dutch. Leaving aside that all read this as only applying to those who had moved their domicile to the Netherlands (the Civil Code did not apply in the colonies), and that this only regarded private law rights, granted by the Civil Code, it still Read More

Abstract This article explores the dynamics of court practice with regard to mercantile pre-insolvency in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Belgium. In 1883, the Belgian legislature introduced the proceeding of concordat préventif, making it possible for insolvent entrepreneurs to remain outside the liquidation-oriented procedure of faillite. Instead, they could declare their financial problems and propose a schem Read More

Abstract Can art provide a force to social reflection and shaping, that abstract laws and policy-making cannot reach? René Magritte (1898-1967), Belgian surrealist painter, touches upon the driving force towards a more equal society with his exploration of (gender-based) violence and sexuality. Les jours gigantesques (1928) depicts a scene of sexual abuse: a man with invisible face attempts to unwittingly overpower a n Read More