The fourth section of the, European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg, in a judgment from 26 February 2002, held that the German authorities, in a case involving the revocation of parenting rights, violated Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The circumstances of the case are compelling: the painful separation of parents and children ordered by the German authorities in the interests of the children, followed by several years of hard-fought litigation as the parents struggled to reestablish their parenting rights over their children and to restore their natural family. The Court concluded that the interference in the right of private and family life was not proportionate to the legitimate aim pursued by the German authorities.

In the middle of the 19th century Jurists Forums were founded in several European countries, including Germany, Switzerland, the Scandinavian countries, the Netherlands, Italy and Hungary. The aim of the institution was to assemble practitioners and academics, in order to discuss contemporary legal problems with the goal of influencing jurisprudence and legislation. The activities of the Deutscher Juristentag (German Jurists' Forum) were interrupted after Hitler came to power, primarily because the German Jurists' Forum refused to exclude its Jewish members. The organization was resurrected after the Second World War, and has taken a leading role in influencing the jurisprudence of the Bundesgerichtshof (BGH — German Federal Court of Justice), for example in the area of product liability and family law.

The case concerning Military and Paramilitary Activities in and against Nicaragua, better known as the ‘Nicaragua case’ or simply Nicaragua, is arguably one of the most important and controversial cases ever to be heard by the International Court of Justice. Twenty-five years after the judgment on the merits was handed down, it is high time to reassess the impact of Nicaragua on international law. The joint efforts of the Grotius Centre of the Leiden Law School, the Centre on International Courts and Tribunals at University College London, the Netherlands Society of International Law, and the law firm Foley Hoag LLP resulted in a one-day conference, on 27 June 2011, the very day on which the judgment on the merits of the Nicaragua case was handed down, 25 years ago.