An insect’s-eye view

This article is concerned with representations of insects and insect habitats in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Dutch art and print culture. It adopts an eco-critical approach, with an eye toward multispecies studies. The article considers the ecologically conceived image of bees, butterflies, and other insects gathering pollen from a wide range of flowering plant life in Theo van Hoytema’s lithograph announcing the Biological Exhibition: the Life of Plants and Animals held in 1910 at the Royal Zoological Botanical Gardens in The Hague. This closely observed water’s-edge environment is considered in the context of the wider body of works on paper done by Van Huitema especially during the seminal period of the 1890s, and within the growing print culture surrounding the Dutch naturalist and environmental movements in the early years of the twentieth century.

Conflicting issues of legal regulation of surrogacy in private international law

The proposed article is devoted to the issue of Conflicting issues of legal regulation of surrogacy in Private International Law. The complexity and multidimensionality of issues, the emergence of which is due to the birth of children because of agreements on surrogacy, have been investigated. The article draws a number of conclusions. First, compliance with the recommendations of the Special Rapporteur requires the adoption of urgent measures to prevent violations of the rights of all participants in a surrogacy relationship due to their vulnerability. Also, regarding the lack of regulation of these legal relations at the level of law within the jurisdiction of Ukraine, the author expresses his opinion about the certain justification of such a situation until a unified normative act is adopted based on the results of the work of the Hague Conference on Private International Law.

Exploiting the Urban System? The Frictions of Military Finance and Diplomacy in the Dutch Republic, 1688–1714

This article examines how international military finance operated in the Dutch Republic between 1688–1714. The region’s unique urban geography in which the political and financial infrastructures crucial for military financing were geographically dispersed created stresses and strains. These inconveniences were overcome due to the Republic’s excellent intra-urban infrastructure – creating fast and reliable communication between the different urban centers – and their reliance on (semi-)private agents, the solliciteurs-militair. As a result, the urban system created a level of flexibility: credit for military purposes could be found both in The Hague and Amsterdam, rather than having to rely on a single city as was the case in London. This focus on the urban has broader historiographical importance because recent scholarship on early modern war and state formation is increasingly questioning whether the focus on political and financial centralization is necessarily the best way to understand these processes.

Swobodny przepływ dokumentów w Unii Europejskiej: znaczenie i oddziaływanie rozporządzenia 2016/1191

The article is dedicated to the (still relatively unknown) EU Regulation 2016/1191. The Regulation disposes of some of the formalities with respect to circulation of the public documents within EU. In particular, no legalization in any form, including the apostille under the Hague Convention, will be needed with respect to documents covered by the Regulation. Unliked originally planned by the Commission, the Regulation does not, unfortunately, completes a more challenging goal of mandating recognition of the civil status throughout the Union. This issue still remains subject to national conflict-of-law rules. Moreover, the scope of Regulation is relatively narrow. It does not, again regrettably, apply to many public documents which are crucial in cross-border transactions (excerpts from commercial registers, powers of attorney for sale of immovable property). The author analyses to what extent Regulation 2016/1191 offers progress in circulation of documents. This question is first raised in light of the long standing application of the Hague Apostille Convention. The author then attempts to discern the effective role of the Regulation given the fact that under Article 1138 of the Polish Code of Civil Procedure, no legalization in any form is in principle required for the foreign public documents to be treated as authentic and official proof in Poland (although the practice often is to ask for the apostille even if not required by law). Still, the Regulation 2016/1138 might come of assistance for the parties in some respects. First, it will facilitate acceptance of Polish public documents in those Member States, which have so far required apostille. Second, the Regulation may help to overcome an incorrect practice in Poland of requiring apostille by the officials, where Article 1138 actually dispenses of such formality. Third, the Regulation introduces an administrative cooperation based on the IMI system which allows to verify doubts as to the authenticity of the public document from another Member States. This last feature of the Regulation, it is argued, may prove of its true value to the freedom of circulation of public documents within the EU.

Haagse Harry, a Dutch chav from The Hague?

This paper presents two remarkably similar characterological figures who are stereotyped embodiments of working-class personas: Haagse Harry in The Hague and chavs in England. The two figures have similar attires, class positions, attitudes, and associated attributes. We compare and contextualize the indexical links between their linguistic features and their social characteristics. Firstly, while chavs can be both men and women, the fictional persona Haagse Harry represents an all-male lower-working-class subculture. Secondly, while Haagse Harry consistently speaks Broad Haags, the language of chavs is not rooted in any single regional dialect but invariably indexes working-class features. Thirdly, Haagse Harry, and his sociolect, has a higher social status compared to the language and persona of chavs, who embody British class prejudice. We demonstrate that the repertoire of linguistic features deployed in the stylisation of characterological figures is strongly dependent on patterns of variation and ideas that are prevalent in the local speech community.