On November 13 and 14, 2017 the third conference on Constitutional History: Comparative Perspectives was held in Bologna, Italy. This conference series is jointly sponsored by the College of Law's Program in Constitutional Theory, History and Law, the University of Bologna School of Law, and the Johns Hopkins Center for Constitutional Studies and Democratic Development. Fifteen scholars from a dozen different countries presented papers at this year's conference; those papers will be published as a forthcoming volume. Justice Gonçalo Manoel de Vilhena de Almeida Ribeiro of the Constitutional Court of Portugal delivered the keynote speech.

Professor Jason Mazzone, chair of the organizing committee, says: "The University of Illinois has long been a leader in the historical study of the U.S. Constitution and in comparative law. Through our partnership with the University of Bologna, the oldest university in the world, those two strengths come together and allow us to showcase some extraordinary scholarship in the field of comparative constitutional history." The conference will return to Illinois in the spring of 2019.

View the full conference schedule

View the full list of speakers and bios