FACULTY OF LAW MAASTRICHT RESEARCH BASED LEARNING (MARBLE) 2020-2021 - SEMESTERS 1 & 2
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Faculty of Law
Maastricht Research Based Learning (MaRBLe)
2020-2021
Semesters 1 & 2Maastricht Research Based Learning
The MaRBLe programme offers selected students the possibility to participate in research-based
learning. The aim is to have you learn about conducting research and acquire new substantive
knowledge by actually doing research. In other words, MaRBLe projects have a hands-on approach:
while participating in a MaRBLe project, you will learn about the research process, research
methodology and the dissemination of results, as well as obtain in-depth substantive knowledge in a
(new) field of law. MaRBLe is offered in the form of projects that focus on a theme or method that is
not generally addressed in the regular curriculum, that is current and topical and/or multidisciplinary.
By participating in a MaRBLe project, you are involved in a core task of the university: research.
In each project attention is given to research methodology as well as the specific theme under
investigation. In general, the project would start with group meetings in which you explore the
subject-matter and/or methodology under the guidance of the supervisor and/or guest speakers. As
the project progresses, the focus turns more towards your own research as you develop the contours
of your own research project. Throughout, you will be given the opportunity to share your experiences
with the other students, to discuss the progress of your research and the challenges you encounter,
as well as to provide and receive feedback on proposals, drafts and presentations. The project
culminates in a final paper. Where the project supervisor regards the quality of the papers of
sufficiently high quality it may be possible to publish the papers in a special issue in the Marble e-
journal. The outcome of the MaRBLe project will also be presented in public, for instance in a
workshop for the project.
The projects are supervised by researchers in the faculty who will guide and support you while you
explore the substantive topic and develop your own research project. The project groups usually have
4 - 8 participants.
Who can participate?
Participation in MaRBLe is open for students in the third year of their bachelor studies who meet one
of the following criteria:
I) participate in the Maastricht University Law College (UMLC);
II) belong to the top 25% of their cohort (in general, this means they must have a GPA of
approximately 7,5); or
III) who demonstrate exceptional drive and commitment to participate in research based
learning.
To be admitted to the MaRBLe programme, you need to submit an application in accordance with the
instructions below.
2How can you apply?
You can apply to the MaRBLe programme by sending an email to n.kornet@maastrichtuniversity.nl.
The application should include a short statement of one page explaining why you would like to
participate in the MaRBLe programme in general and which MaRBLe project you are applying for. You
should also include an overview of your grades from the Student Portal and a C.V. You should state
which project is your first, and which project is your second choice. The projects might be over- or
under registered. For some projects, you may be invited for an interview before a decision is taken on
your application.
The deadline for submitting an application to participate in a MaRBLe project is Friday, 26 June 2020.
We will endeavour to finalise the selection by Friday, 3 July 2020.
When do the Marble projects run?
The MaRBLe programme at the Faculty of Law is offered in both semester 1 and 2. The projects cover
a period of four months. In the first two months, the study load will be roughly one day a week, in the
last two months you are supposed to work full-time for the project. [This may differ slightly from
project to project.]
Projects in semester 1 will start on Monday, 31 August 2020; projects in semester 2 will start on
Monday, 1 February 2021.
The deadlines for submission of the MaRBLe paper offered at the Faculty of Law is the same as the
submission deadline for the bachelor essay unless otherwise stated in the project description. For
semester 1 projects, the deadline is 31 January 2021 (15 December 2020 if you wish to enter the
Master on 1 February 2021). For semester 2 projects, the deadline is 15 July 2021.
In exceptional circumstances, you may apply to the MaRBLe coordinator for an extension of the
deadline in accordance with the Examination regulations. You must provide sufficient reasons for such
an extension, and your application must be supported by the project supervisor.
What is the study load and how many credits can be earned?
The study load for participation in a MaRBLe project is 18 ECTS (504 hours) spread over one semester.
Upon successful completion, you can earn 18 ECTS. Of these 18 ECTS, a maximum of 12 credits will be
awarded within your regular bachelor programme, and six credits are awarded as extra-curricular
credits, reflecting the excellence character of the MaRBLe programme. For UMLC students, the six
extra-curricular credits will count towards your UMLC programme credits.
The 12 credits within your bachelor programme may replace your bachelor essay or two electives. You
may therefore choose to have your participation in MaRBLe replace your bachelor essay, or you may
choose to write a separate bachelor essay and have your participation in MaRBLe replace two
electives.
3To replace the bachelor essay, the research conducted in the context of the Marble project must
meet the requirements for a Bachelor essay in accordance with the Examination Regulations.
If you choose to participate in MaRBLe and write a separate bachelor essay, your MaRBLe participation
will replace two electives in your bachelor programme. Note: a MaRBLe project can only replace
elective courses; mandatory courses must still be followed in order to graduate.
Please note a successful application for MaRBLe will not lead to the automatic deregistration from
elective courses or the bachelor essay. Where applicable, you will need to deregister from any courses
and/or the bachelor essay. If your MaRBLe project is to replace the bachelor essay, you do not need
to register for the bachelor essay track. If you have already registered for the bachelor essay, please
deregister and inform the supervisor.
Successful completion of the Marble project will be mentioned in a special certificate which you will
receive with your diploma.
Who coordinates MaRBLe?
The MaRBLe programme is currently being coordinated by Dr Nicole Kornet. You can direct any general
questions about the MaRBLe programme to her. She can be contacted via email:
n.kornet@maastrichtuniversity.nl.
The individual projects are supervised by the project supervisor(s). Questions concerning the
particular project should be directed to the project supervisor(s).
Important
The information provided in this information brochure is subject to the Examination Regulations and
in particular the provisions relating to the MaRBLe programme.
4SEMESTER 1
PROJECT 1: INFLUENCER LAW CLINIC
The Influencer Law Clinic aims to clarify the rules that apply in influencer marketing and monetization
of content on social media. We help influencers, agencies, brands, legislators and citizens to better
understand what rights and responsibilities they have when they support, produce or consume
creative. We so contribute to making the Internet safer.
The Influencer Law Clinic was set up in 2019 as a Marble project, and continues to develop a)
student outreach and b) research projects.
Outreach activities
If you are interested in making content yourself, where you can discuss Internet ‘drama’ or ‘tea’ by
giving it a researched legal angle, you can opt to apply to the Clinic’s outreach activities, which will entail
basic research and social media account management, including contributing to our Youtube channel
in ways which are left to your creative discretion. This way you can experience what it takes to first
make briefs overviewing a situation that entails legal effects, and you can build on your video and photo
editing skills.
In addition to this, the outreach team will also be involved in contacting influencers to
disseminate academic research and inquire about potential legal issues that the Clinic can be of
assistance with.
Research project 2020
For its second iteration, the theme for the research which will be undertaken if you choose to engage
in interdisciplinary research (law and computer science) will be mining user opinions relating to content
moderation.
Taking the public perception of morals as a starting point, we aim to use computer science
methods to analyse public reactions to Youtubers/streamers being banned from the platforms (or
sanctioned in other ways) due to controversial content. As an illustration, big (~1m followers) Twitch
streamers from Brazil have been banned as a result of being accused of hate speech. Jukes (1.1m
followers), for instance, was banned because he said the n word. Some others, including Yoda (1.6m),
Rakin (870k), and Pimpimenta (730k), were banned for using the word “mongoloide”. Renan Bolsonaro,
the son of President Bolsonaro, was banned from Twitch for denying the covid-19 pandemic. He
defended himself by accusing Twitch of censorship, and implied that the platform is communist.
As expected, these bans sparked a lot of discussion on Twitter (e.g 1, 2, 3). Some members of
the audience acknowledge that the behaviour of the streamers was wrong, but the majority blame the
platform for being too politically correct and applying unjustified sanctions. Such a context allows us to
mine for opinions about three different topics:
1. The cause of the ban itself: people are expressing what they perceive to be offensive or not
and why.
52. The streamer: people are either defending or attacking the streamers’ actions based on
personal reasons, like their audience, personality, type of game they stream etc.
3. The platform: an overwhelming amount of comments are about Twitch content moderation
policies.
The computer science analysis will be based on a much needed legal analysis of what exactly the rules
are, as well as what the audience thinks they ought to be.
This project is coordinated by Dr. Catalina Goanta (catalina.goanta@maastrichtuniversity.nl) who will
work together with Thales Bertaglia (PhD student, Institute of Data Science).
6PROJECT 2: DEVELOPMENT RIGHTS OF CHILDREN LIVING IN UNRECOGNIZED
STATES: THEORY AND PRACTICE
During this MaRBLe project, students will become part of a larger research project on the development
rights of children living in unrecognized states. They will be invited to support the work of different
researchers working on this NWO-WOTRO funded project at Maastricht University.
Depending on the students’ interest and ambition, s/he may choose to focus on one of the following
topics:
• What is the meaning of children’s (international) development rights for children living in
unrecognized states?
• What is de children’s rights situation in:
§ Somaliland
§ Transnistria
§ The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
The research effort will involve literature study as well as discussions with relevant experts and, if
relevant, local actors. In addition to the research element, students will actively engage in sharing
output through contributions in the form of blogs, vlogs, lecture(s) and/or research reports. Please note
that the goal of this research project is not only to enhance existing (academic) knowledge, but also to
bring about positive transformative change. So, it is not just about understanding what happens to the
rights of children who live in unrecognized states, but it takes the research one step further, asking:
how can we use the research to improve children’s daily situations?
Students will have a large say in the set-up of the program which will, within the above stated themes
and the below stated skills, be tailor-made to their personal learning goals (both individual and as a
group). Students will participate in regular meetings with the researcher working on the theme of their
choosing.
Skills that we will be working on during the project, depending on the topic chosen, are:
- Doing research on children’s rights
- Doing legal doctrinal research
- Cooperating and communicating with other researchers and actors from the field (e.g. NGOs,
politicians, local communities)
- Writing for both academic and non-academic audiences
- Communicating research results with non-academic audiences
This project is coordinated by Prof. Fons Coomans and Dr. Marieke Hopman. For any questions, please
email Marieke Hopman at Marieke.hopman@maastrichtuniversity.nl. You can find more information
about the research project on the website: www.childrensrightsresearch.com.
7PROJECT 3: THE CYBERSECURITY & LAW OBSERVATORY
Cyberattacks in the public sector are relentless, and the scale of unpreparedness in dealing with
information security threats is worrying. Existing research unanimously shows how the vast majority of
public institutions struggle with tackling this threat. In a 2019 study on 244 public sector institutions
from United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, Mexico and Japan it was determined that up
to 88% of these institutions had suffered a damaging attack over the past two years.1 The first US
nation-wide survey regarding local government and cybersecurity paints a similarly grim picture, where,
on the one hand, 27.7% of the institutions surveyed reported they were able to detect cyberattacks
occurring hourly, and on the other hand almost 30% of the respondents were not able to report
whether they were being attacked.2 Attacks can take many forms, such as ransomware, which
according to some estimations accounted for approximately 4000 attacks per day, with 98% of the
attacks relying on social engineering.3 Universities, local government and state agencies are ideal
victims, because of infrastructure, funding, and general information security literacy issues. In Europe
and the US, ransomware attacks against universities have increased in the past years,
The recent global health crisis has only worsened these vulnerabilities. As global efforts of
teleworking are implemented by private as well as public actors alike, institutions become even more
vulnerable to cybercrime. As a result, cybercrime is reported to have increased during the beginning of
2020, as stated by the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in a video on this
matter on 24 March.4 In a study Europol published on 4 April, it came to the conclusion that ‘the impact
of the COVID-19 pandemic on cybercrime has been the most visible and striking compared to other
criminal activities’, as ‘phishing and ransomware campaigns are being launched to exploit the [...] crisis
and are expected to continue to increase in scope and scale’.5 In their attempts of moving work online,
public institutions have made ‘crisis’ purchases of technologies which were reported to have security
vulnerabilities, which have led to serious online harms such as swarm bullying (Zoom bombing) or
webcam hijacking.6 In general, more people online means more opportunities for cybercrime, the
fruition of which especially in the case of core infrastructure such as banks, hospitals or municipalities
can have debilitating socio-economic effects.
While it is unclear what the long term effects of the public health crisis will be from the
perspective of online security, there is universal agreement among security researchers that
cybersecurity risks are not taken sufficiently serious.
One of the reasons why this is the case is because although pervasive, the use of technology in
society has not organically led to a very high degree of digital literacy, especially with inconspicuous,
‘unseen’ parts of communicating and transacting over the Internet, such as covered by cybersecurity.
This project proposes the establishment of a Cybersecurity Legal Observatory, where MARBLE
students can:
1
https://static.tenable.com/marketing/whitepapers/Whitepaper-Cybersecurity_in_Public_Sector.pdf.
2
D.F. Norris et al., ‘Cyberattacks at the Grass Roots: American Local Governments and the Need for High
Levels of Cybersecurity’ (2019) 79(6) Public Administration Review 895.
3
https://www.ebf.eu/themes/cybersecurity/.
4
https://euobserver.com/coronavirus/147869.
5
https://www.europol.europa.eu/newsroom/news/catching-virus.
6
https://objective-see.com/blog/blog_0x56.html.
8• research the legal implications of cybersecurity threats from a public and private law
perspective;
• map the legal impact of major, international cybersecurity incidents;
• gain practical insights into how cyberattacks work, by using the gamified learning platform
provided by our private sector partner;
• engage in advocacy by writing popular posts in collaboration with our private sector partner
(e.g. blog posts) about cybersecurity awareness, or disseminate findings from legal research;
• systematize research-based insights into legal cybersecurity questions for the purpose of
creating online trainings for law students.
This project is coordinated by Constanta Rosca (constanta.rosca@maastrichtuniversity.nl), Prof. Gijs
van Dijck (gijs.vandijck@maastrichtuniversity.nl), and Dr Catalina Goanta
(catalina.goanta@maastrichtuniversity.nl) in collaboration with Lex de Lange of D5IQ (private sector
partner).
9SEMESTER 2
PROJECT 4: LAW IN HISTORICAL FICTION
Law is a social science and is a fundamental component of society. Law is, however, also an important
component in the creation of fictional scenarios. It many times serves as an anchor to a reality that is
familiar to the readers of a fictional elaboration; and may serve as a link, as a tool for authors to bridge
fiction and reality.
Sir Walter Scott, Honoré de Balzac, and Leo Tolstoy, to name a few authors, introduce readers
to past events. They skilfully transport readers to foreign lands or distant time periods, depicting a
certain society at a certain time. They also tend to depict legal aspects that are many times essential
for their writings. These authors enrich the genre of historical fiction (eg, epics, novels), a genre that
existed already in Ancient Greece.
This module enrols in the law and literature movement that is gaining momentum in academia.
The module also invites for a legal historical exercise. Participants will be invited to explore how law is
present in historical fiction. For example, participants will analyse the legal aspects depicted in the
governorship by Sancho Panza of his insula in Don Quixote (1605) by Miguel de Cervantes. They will
understand how law was depicted in that fictional time and space and will compare it–whenever
possible–with the law that applied in “reality.” Participants will therefore unveil the legal components
in seminal novels, and assess the role of those components in the construction of fictional scenarios.
Participants will likewise conduct independent legal historical research that should assist in explaining
the “real” law that is depicted in a certain fictional scenario. Contrasting reality and fiction–at a certain
time and space–helps better assess the role of law in historical fiction, and ultimately assists to better
identify the place that law occupies in society and in popular culture.
Participants will conduct independent research into a topic related to the theme of the module.
Participants will be also required to present parts of their research throughout the module as well as
provide feedback on the work of their colleagues. Participants will organize a workshop at which they
will present the results of their research.
This project is supervised by Dr. Agustin Parise (agustin.parise@maastrichtuniversity.nl).
10PROJECT 5: TAX RISKS AND TAX COMPLIANCE IN INTERNATIONAL SETTINGS
1. Background
Recent developments show an increase of measures against aggressive tax planning and artificial
structuring of groups of companies. Multinationals, but also smaller and middle-sized companies, have
changed or are in the process of changing, their attitude. They are not so much interested anymore in
classical tax planning but ask for advise on how they can organize the business structure in order to
comply with legal rules. With other words: companies are in search for good tax governance. For doing
this, there is also a non-tax reason: the liability of managers for wrong-doing gets more and more
important and not all risks can be insured.
2. Legal obligations
In a first step, companies have to identify which legal obligations they face and which rules they have
to comply with. This will mainly depend on the size of the enterprise and/or whether they are active
crossing borders. One of the main challenge of this Marble project will be to identify all those legal
obligations, and there are actually many.
3. Tax Risks
In a next step it will be necessary to identify the risks which are linked with non-compliance. We can
think on high interest payments, extra charges or other kind of sanctions like a turn of the burden of
proof, not being entitled to receive tax rulings, specific audits and control measures, etc.
4. Effective Tax Compliance Structures
As a consequence, companies work on effective tax compliance structures. This is not only about hiring
a person who is doing the tax risk management of the company, but such system will only be effective
if the risks come timely and directly to the attention of the top management.
Further, tax autorities nowadays require companies to implement an effective compliance
management system (CMS) which may be relevant for the treatment of the company by the tax
administration and/or courts. Accordingly, a CMS may help companies in being protected against
aggressive measures through the state.
5. Digitalization of tax management functions
In this context, the organisation of enterprises is changing. Digitalization has more and more influence
on processes within enterprises and the tax function of enterprises is not free of such developments.
There are already digitalized systems in place but they refer mainly to relatively simple and repetitive
activities. However, also more complex activities get now more attention.
This project is coordinated by Prof. Dr. Rainer Prokisch (rainer.prokisch@maastrichtuniversity.nl). This
11PROJECT 6: DIGITALE RECHTSWETENSCHAP: ONDERZOEK NAAR JURISPRUDENTIE-
NETWERKEN
Jurisprudentie worden vaak bestudeerd door middel van het handmatig lezen, interpreteren en
vergelijken van uitspraken. In dit MaRBLe project help je mee om technologie te ontwikkelen die
Nederlandse rechtspraak analyseert en visualiseert als jurisprudentienetwerken. Je zal leren om met
algoritmen voor het analyseren van rechtspraak te werken. We bieden je de mogelijkheid om door de
jurisprudentie te navigeren, clusters van beslissingen te identificeren en patronen te vinden die
onbekend blijven bij het toepassen van traditionele methodieken.
Het project geeft je nieuwe inzichten over methoden om het recht te onderzoeken. Je zult niet
alleen nieuwe kennis opdoen over een onderwerp van je keuze, maar ook waardevolle
informatietechnologische vaardigheden leren om jurisprudentie te analyseren. Het zal je leerproces
versnellen doordat je in staat wordt gesteld om zelf relevante uitspraken te identificeren (met behulp
van de technologie) in plaats van louter te vertrouwen op de mening van je docenten en de lijsten met
relevante jurisprudentie die zij voorschrijven.
Het onderzoek vindt plaats in het Maastricht Law & Tech Lab, een leuke en levendige
gemeenschap waar juristen en datawetenschappers elkaar ontmoeten en interdisciplinaire teams
vormen die werken op het kruispunt van rechtswetenschap en datawetenschap. Collega's beschrijven
de gemeenschap als divers maar inclusief, ambitieus en vernieuwend, waar initiatief en persoonlijke
ontwikkeling worden aangemoedigd. Dit project is onderdeel van het onderwijsinnovatieproject
‘Comenius Teaching Fellow: Case Law Analytics’ waarbij we in samenwerking met collega’s van het
Institute of Data Science de technologische applicatie ontwikkelen om de data van Rechtspraak.nl te
onderzoeken als jurisprudentienetwerken.
Het project wordt geleid door Prof. Gijs van Dijck (gijs.vandijck@maastrichtuniversity.nl), dr. Marcel
Schaper (mgh.schaper@maastrichtuniversity.nl) en dr. Matthias van der Haegen (m.vanderhaegen@
maastrichtuniversity.nl). Dit MaRBLe project staat open voor studenten Rechtsgeleerdheid en Fiscaal
Recht.
12PROJECT 7: EMPIRISCH ONDERZOEK RECHTSPRAKTIJK
In het project Empirisch onderzoek rechtspraktijk wordt onderzoek gedaan naar de werking in de
praktijk van procesrechtelijke en gedragsrechtelijke regels door vanuit een in het kader van het project
geformuleerde probleemstelling of onderzoekshypothese zelfstandig gegevens te verzamelen in de
rechtspraktijk (rechtspraak, advocatuur, notariaat e.d.). Deze gegevens dienen vervolgens te worden
geanalyseerd in het licht van de onderzoekshypothese, welke analyse de kern vormt van het op te
stellen onderzoeksrapport.
De doelstellingen van het project zijn:
1. de student leren juridische analyse te combineren met empirisch onderzoek;
2. de student kennis bijbrengen van en vertrouwd maken met methoden en technieken die bij
dergelijk onderzoek moeten worden ingezet;
3. onderzoeksresultaten verkrijgen die nieuwe inzichten opleveren in de werking van aan de
rechtspraktijk (rechtspraak, advocatuur, notariaat e.d.) gelieerde wet- en regelgeving;
4. de onderzoeksresultaten presenteren op het jaarlijkse seminar Public and Private Justice,
Dubrovnik (Kroatië);
5. deze onderzoeksresultaten publiceren in daarvoor geëigende media.
In de afgelopen jaren werd in dit MaRBLe project onderzoek gedaan naar:
- de consistentie van politierechterbeslissingen
Gemeten werd onder andere of de politierechter zich laat beïnvloeden door externe factoren als de persoon van
de verdachte, de duur en het tijdstip van de zitting of de aanwezigheid van een advocaat. Hiervoor werden
meetinstrumenten ontwikkeld waarmee deze onderzoeksdoelstelling geoperationaliseerd kon worden.
- de traagheid waarmee civiele vonnissen tot stand komen.
Er werd gewerkt aan een nieuwe werkwijze binnen de bestaande wettelijke kaders, die de periode tussen het
afsluiten van het debat tussen partijen en het afgeven van het executeerbare vonnis moest terugbrengen van
vele maanden naar enkele minuten. Een perfect uitgevoerde simulatie liet zien dat dit inderdaad mogelijk is,
zonder extra kosten te maken. Er is over gepubliceerd in het Tijdschrift voor de Procespraktijk. Per 1 september
2017 heeft de wetgever de in dit onderzoek naar voren gebrachte ideeën overgenomen (art. 30p Rv)
- het nut van de appelrechtspraak in civiele zaken.
Appelrechtspraak is mooi, maar vanuit een rechtseconomisch perspectief kan de vraag worden gesteld welke
verschuivingen die rechtspraak in de allocatie van welvaart teweegbrengt. Daarvoor moest een ingenieus model
worden ontwikkeld aan de hand waarvan die vermogensverschuivingen konden worden bepaald. Daarna werden
duizenden uitspraken uit de databank van de Raad voor de Rechtspraak tegen het licht gehouden. De uitkomst
was ontluisterend: appelrechtspraak blijkt meer te kosten dan er daadwerkelijk door verandert. Met andere
woorden: wanneer de kosten van de hoven gewoon aan partijen worden uitgedeeld, is de samenleving goedkoper
uit. Als "bijvangst" kwam nog aan het licht dat met name het Hof 's-Gravenhage zo afwijkend besliste, dat dit
statistisch gezien niet kan worden toegeschreven aan en ander zakenaanbod. De publicatie (Wealth Shift as a
Criterion to Assess the Impact of Appellate Proceedings - Applied to Dutch Civil Appeal, In: A. Uzelac and C.H. van
Rhee (eds), Nobody's Perfect, Comparative Essays on Appeals and other Means of Recourse against Judicial
Decisions in Civil Matters) trok internationaal aandacht, nu inmiddels een Belgisch promotieonderzoek wordt
gebaseerd op de in dit Marble-onderzoek ontwikkelde methode.
- de praktijk van de getuigenverhoren in civiele zaken.
Met name kwam aan de orde of het Nederlandse trechtermodel, waarbij getuigenverhoor eerst aan bod komt na
13een beslissing van de rechter, wel functioneert. Daarbij werd tevens nagegaan hoe de tijd die aan het horen van
getuigen wordt besteed, wordt benut. Het onderzoek leverde op dat het trechtermodel niet tot inhoudelijke
problemen leidt tijdens de verhoren. Het onderzoek is gepubliceerd in 2015 (Witness Testimony in Dutch Civil
Procedure: Facts, Figures and Statistical Relations, In: C.H. van Rhee and A. Uzelac (eds), Evidence in
Contemporary Civil Procedure, Fundamental Issues in a Comparative Perspective).
- de onvertegenwoordigde procespartijen bij de kantonrechter.
Door de verhoging van de competentiegrens kunnen procespartijen zelf hun belangen behartigen in procedures
over belangen tot € 25.000. Het gebrek aan juridische kennis zou er dus toe kunnen leiden dat aanzienlijke
bedragen onterecht verloren gaan. De onderzoeksvraag was of de rechter, nu de wetgever geen voorziening heeft
getroffen, zelf in het gat is gesprongen. Dat blijkt niet het geval te zijn. Het onderzoek is gepubliceerd in 2017 (The
Paradox of Access to Justice – Emprical Research into the Attitude of the Cantonal Judge Towards Unrepresented
Parties in Dutch Civil Procedure, In: C.H. van Rhee and A. Uzelac (eds), Revisiting Procedural Human Rights,
Fundamentals of Civil Procedure and the Changing Face of Civil Justice).
- de introductie van digitale technologie in het civiele proces.
De stand van zaken in een groot aantal landen in de Europese Unie werd geanalyseerd en vergeleken. Digitaal
procederen lijkt vooralsnog in de kinderschoenen te staan. Videoconferencing is alleen inzetbaar wanneer er een
één-op-één-communicatie plaatsvindt, maar loopt tegen zijn grenzen op wanneer rechters en procespartijen
gelijktijdig willen communiceren.
- de wisselwerking tussen arbitrage en het civiel proces, uitgaande van de veronderstelling dat proceservaringen
binnen de ene vorm van geschilbeslechting zouden kunnen worden benut in de andere vorm van
geschilbeslechting.
Het onderzoek leverde op dat de in de literatuur algemeen geuite veronderstellingen niet op feiten waren
gebaseerd. Arbitrage komt er over het algemeen slechter van af en de voordelen (sneller en maatwerk) bleken
door convergentie van beide procedures. Voor het eindrapport kregen de twee betrokken studenten de
Scriptieprijs.
- de wrakingsprocedure in rechtsvergelijkend perspectief
Daarvoor werd een matrix ontwikkeld aan de hand waarvan de art. 6-conformiteit van een wrakingsprocedure
kon worden onderzocht en beoordeeld. Het onderzoek werd gepubliceerd in 2018 (Safeguarding the right to an
impartial tribunal by means of challenging the judge, In: C.H. van Rhee and A. Uzelac (eds.), Transformation of
civil justice. Unity and diversity).
- onmiddellijke mondelinge uitspraken in civiele zaken in rechtsvergelijkend perspectief.
Het nieuw ingevoerde art. 30p Rv was daarvoor het uitgangspunt. Naast desktop research werd een survey onder
rechters en advocaten uitgezet. De resultaten daarvan creëerden meer duidelijkheid over praktijk en beoordeling
van de nieuwe bepaling. De publicatie is in voorbereiding.
De onderzoeken die gedaan worden in het kader van dit project worden gepresenteerd op het jaarlijkse
internationale seminar in Dubrovnik.
Het project wordt geleid door Fokke Fernhout (fokke.fernhout@maastrichtuniversity.nl), universitair
hoofddocent bij de capaciteitsgroep Grondslagen en Methoden van het Recht. Participatie is open voor
maximaal 4 studenten. Selectie zal eventueel plaatsvinden middels een motivatiebrief en een
selectiegesprek.
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