The University of Belgrade Faculty of Law is now receiving paper proposals for the Third student conference on legal history – the Iustoria 2022, to be held on March 25^th-27^th, 2022, its topic being “Law, Health and Medicine”.

The current pandemic of COVID-19 opened up a new perspective of the relationship between law and medicine, and of the care bestowed on public health by the legal system. These issues, however, are far from being new: even in ancient Babylon, almost four millennia ago, we can find regulations dealing with doctors and their responsibility for the procedures they perform. As we move forward through the centuries, the number of subjects related to health and medicine in legal regulations and practice keeps rising. In many legal systems we find questions concerning fees for doctors, midwives, nurses, apothecaries and other specialists, but also the responsibility for the quality of their work and its consequences on the patients’ health; the professionalization of medicine and formalization of medical education raises questions on the requirements for practicing any activity related to health, regulations on the work of hospitals and medical practices, but also bans on unauthorized practice in this field, and felony status of quackery. The legality of certain medical procedures – from contraception and abortion to euthanasia – has varied through time, under the overreaching influence of religious and cultural norms; the same can be said of the use of corpses for medical research or testing drugs on patients. The development of the views on the role of the state, along with an increase of population in many countries, leads to regulations that deal with preventive healthcare, such as mandatory measures for the prevention and suppression of infectious diseases, disposal of bodies or maintaining hygiene in settlements. In cases of epidemics where a high number of people became infected or died, authorities often introduced more extreme measures, such as limiting the freedom of movement, at first ad hoc, and later on in an organized manner, under the regulations dealing with a state of emergency. The importance of medical expertise in court was also rising – most of all when it comes to violent crimes, but also for an increasing number of issues related to the accountability of a perpetrator, removal of legal capacity, determining paternity or the height of compensation in matters that include a medical component. We’re looking forward to applications on all of these and many other issues related to the main topic!

All students of undergraduate and post-graduate studies pertaining to law or other humanities are eligible to apply for the conference. The applications should contain basic personal information (name and surname, faculty, department, level and year of study), along with an extended abstract containing anywhere between 500 and 1000 words. Applications are accepted in either Serbian or English.

The applications should be e-mailed to iustoria@ius.bg.ac.rs before the 15th of January, 2022. The students will be informed by the 25th of January whether or not their application has been accepted. A provisional programme for the conference will be announced by the 1st of February. Drafts of the chosen papers need to be sent by the 15th of March. For any additional information you may enquire at the same e-mail address, or consult the official Facebook page of the conference – https://www.facebook.com/iustoria

Just like on our previous conferences, apart from the presentations given by their colleagues, the students at the conference will have an opportunity to attend several lectures given by renowned experts – more details on this will be available in the final version of the programme.

Given the fact that the situation with the COVID-19 pandemic is still uncertain, we will make a decision by the 25th of February whether the conference will be held live or online. If it is held live, we’ll do our best to secure accommodations either in student dorms or with student host families for those participants who don’t reside in Belgrade. These arrangements will depend on the number of available spots. Also, even if the conference is held live, participation via video link will be possible for participants who are unable to come to Belgrade in person.

The final versions of the papers presented at the conference, with final changes and corrections submitted within a reasonable time after the conference, will be submitted for publication in the journal „Vesnik pravne istorije / Herald of Legal History“ (http://epub.ius.bg.ac.rs/index.php/Vesnik/index).

Iustoria – International Student Conference on Legal History