Today is the 100th birthday of Eric Stein (1913-2011), and there would be many reasons to mark this occasion with a biographical sketch (there has been an obituary here, followed by a bunch of obituaries in eminent journals, written by his friends and colleagues), with a juicy piece of archival material, with reflections on the rise(s) and decline(s) of European constitutionalism(s), with witty poetry and profound comparative law, with reflections on the historiographical turn in European law and the legal turn in the historiography of European integration.
But how could I dare to honour a diligent, careful, pointed and elegant writer such as Eric Stein with a quick post written in the final hours of a rather turbulent last day of another exciting academic year with Recht im Kontext and Rechtskulturen? With poor me struggling with the still rather enigmatic technicalities of this blog, and Max somewhere out of reach in the Bavarian mountains? Thoughts and ideas need time and space, as he knew so well. Even (and in particular) quick thoughts and small ideas.
In the coming weeks of a hopefully quiet and inspiring summer, I will write a short Verfassungsblog column here and there, on the life and legacy of Eric Stein, on the internationalisation of legal education, on the pasts and perspectives of Europe, on comparative constitutionalism and on other matters that I am interested in and which might be of interest for Verfassungsblog readers, too.
Foto: Hutchins Hall, University of Michigan Law School, Ann Arbor (Phil Dokas, flickr, Creative Commons Licence)