eLaw is a research institute of interdisciplinary scholars who explore issues at the intersection of law, technology and society.

The department of Constitutional and administrative law is situated in the Kamerlingh Onnes building

Contactinformation about the Europa Institute

Contact details secretariaat

INFORM (Introduction of the data protection reform to the judicial system) is a project granted by the Directorate-General Justice and Consumers of the European Commission.

Sweetie 2.0 is a research project commissioned by Terre des Hommes on online child sex tourism and criminal law.

What issues arise in the changing landscape of privacy, identity and data protection?

In what ways do matters of cybersecurity affect the relationship between governments and citizens, have a bearing on (fundamental) rights and civil liberties, and alter the role and responsibilities of governments?

How does the development of digital technologies impact society, and law/regulation within that society?

The activities of the Europa Institute (also known as the Department of European Law) are supported by ‘Stichting Europees Instituut’. This foundation was the first of its kind in both the Netherlands and Europe as a whole. Established in 1957, its aim was to ‘support and advance the study of scientific…

Music venue TivoliVredenburg in Utrecht has decided to ban camera glasses following an incident last month. Bart Schermer, Professor of Law and Digital Technologies, spoke to BNR Nieuwsradio about the legal grounds for such a ban.

The Dutch police must stop storing personal data indefinitely. This was decided by the Council of State following several publications by investigative journalism platform ‘Follow the Money’ (FTM). Bart Schermer, Professor of Law and Digital Technology, assisted in the investigation.

Illegal images spread fast via social media. That became painfully clear last week following incidents involving teenagers in Dutch towns. Bart Schermer, Professor of Law and Digital Technologies, spoke to NRC newspaper about the role and responsibility of social media platforms.

On the university’s birthday, professors teach a class of 10 and 11-year-olds during Meet the Professor. The professors were bombarded with questions.

Dutch doctors hold social media platform Snapchat responsible for the illegal sale of vapes, and are threatening legal action. Bart Schermer, Professor of Law and Digital Technology, spoke to RTL news: 'Snapchat is not liable for the content of its users'.

A new document casts doubt on the Dutch Public Prosecution Service’s role in the large-scale Sky ECC encryption bust, previously attributed to France. Bart Schermer, Professor of Law and Digital Technology, commented in ‘de Volkskrant’ newspaper.

Leiden University researchers have discovered by chance a note from 1783 in Papiamento. They are working on a linguistic study on confiscated Dutch letters. The ‘Letters as loot’ project is headed by Professor Marijke van der Wal.

Polarisation in our society is on the rise. What makes people increasingly radical? How do we protect ourselves from extremist, terrorist or criminal threats, be they physical or in the cyber world? And what role do intelligence services play in this?

In July 2019 Asser Press published the book 'Sweetie 2.0—Using Artificial Intelligence to Fight Webcam Child Sex Tourism’ which was coedited by Simone van der Hof en Bart Schermer from the Center for Law and Digital Technologies, Bert-Jaap Koops from the Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology, and Society…

Thanks to the virtual girl Sweetie created by Terre des Hommes, more than a thousand men who had webcam sex have been identified worldwide. They thought they were chatting with a ten-year-old girl. Whether that is punishable by law depends on the country, Leiden legal experts conclude.

Professor Niels Blokker, Schermers Chair and Professor of International Institutional Law, and Dr Brian McGarry, Assistant Professor of Public International Law (Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies), organised a first-of-its-kind conference at the headquarters of the International Criminal…

This research project from Leiden University looks at the opportunities and threats that flow from the existence of institutional and normative diversity in the area of fundamental rights for the effective protection of those rights in a pluralist world.

Annetje Ottow is the first female president of the Executive Board of Leiden University, which means a return to her Alma mater.

Tim Koopmans is one of the great minds in the history of Dutch and European legal scholarship. He taught law as a professor in Leiden and other universities, among which Ghent, Cambridge, Utrecht. He practiced it as a judge in the European Court of Justice and Advocate-General in the Dutch Supreme Court,…

Video conferencing from your sitting room and algorithms on social media that know your interests: new technology is an increasingly integral part of our lives. At the same time there is a growing call to protect our privacy, and this is causing friction, at the University too. In part because of the…

PhD defence

Many of our staff and students have won prizes over the past year. Others have been awarded a subsidy, or, because of their eminence in their field, they have been appointed member of an academic society or have taken on a position in the community. Reasons enough to be proud of them and to include…