Marie-Sophie Silan receives an FNRS grant for her research on the legal status of women in the modern era
Marie-Sophie Silan, an assistant in the department of Roman and comparative private law, was awarded an FNRS grant this summer to develop her thesis on the legal status of women in the principality of Liège during the modern period (1477-1795).
Can you tell us more about your research project?
According to John Gilissen*, the modern era is characterized by a significant decline in the individual rights and freedoms granted to women due to the re-establishment of Roman law in several regions of Europe - in particular in the Holy Roman Empire and in Italy, a little less so in France - from the 15th century onwards.
This assertion, shared by a wider public but rarely substantiated, is rather surprising for Roman law buffs: indeed, the history of ancient Rome is that of a progressive economic and legal emancipation of women, from the Archaic period until the rise to power of the first Christian emperor in the 4th century AD.
Through this research project, I will exhaustively analyze the legal status of women in the Principality of Liege during the period from 1477 to 1795 in order to study how Roman law was received there and to understand why the latter, a symbol of emancipation in its original context, became an instrument of subordination and oppression of women in modern times.
*Eminent professor of legal history at the Université libre de Bruxelles (1912-1988)
How did you come to be interested in this subject?
Professor Jean-François Gerkens, who heads the department of Roman law and comparative private law in which I work, followed the thesis project of Benoît Lagasse, also under the mandate of FNRS candidate. This one was dedicated to Charles de Méan, a famous jurist of the Principality of Liège in the XVIIth century.
While reading this thesis, a paragraph dedicated to women's rights caught my attention. It is a subject that interests me and it seemed to me that there was a research question that could be deepened.
What can this subject teach us about today's society?
The modern era is an exciting time: it is a pivotal moment, a period of transition that reminds me in many ways of the present time.
The Renaissance was a difficult time for women: the witch hunts, which are being talked about again today, are a good illustration. These mass murders of women are a testament to the way in which women were excluded from the public sphere.
I see this as a kind of "backlash" against women who had conquered rights and had managed to create real spaces of freedom for themselves, especially cultural and intellectual ones. They were sent back to their homes for a long time. This story echoes the post-me too period that we are living today.
What are the next steps for your research?
As a good jurist, I will start by gathering and scrutinizing as many legal texts of the time as possible, in order to draw up an overview of the legal status of women at the time. I also plan to consult court records to see how the law was applied in practice to women.
His background
Marie-Sophie holds a Master's degree in law from the University of Liège and an additional Master's degree in European law from the University of Maastricht. During her studies, she also spent a semester at the University of Hamburg with the Erasmus program.
She is currently an assistant in the Department of Roman Law and Comparative Private Law of Professor Jean-François Gerkens and will become an FNRS Aspirant as of October 1, 2020.
