Michel Villey Institute for the legal culture and the philosophy of law

The Institut Michel Villey is a research centre of Paris-Panthéon-Assas University. The Institute is the main French research centre for legal culture and philosophy of law. In 1998, it took over from the Centre de Philosophie du Droit which had been led since the late 1950’s by professors Battifol, Eisenmann and – primarily - Michel Villey. The Institut Michel Villey was created in its current form in 1998 by Stéphane Rials, and has been directed since 2007 by Olivier Beaud. As a place of meetings and exchanges between French and foreign specialists, each year the Institute organizes a large number of events, ranging from lectures and seminars, to symposiums (see : Activities).

The Institute publishes two journals :

• Droit & Philosophie and ed. Dalloz for the paper version. 
• Jus Politicum (www.juspoliticum.com and ed. Dalloz for the paper version), a constitutional law review that aims to revitalise this discipline by opening it both to political philosophy and to constitutional history.

The Institute also takes part and contributes to the courses and seminars provided in the Collège de Droit of Paris-Panthéon-Assas University.

We have received the highest rank (A+) awarded by the French Evaluation Agency for Research and Higher Education (AERES, april 2008). Five of our members are or have been members of the Institut Universitaire de France.

From 2009 to 2012, the Institute has hosted the “droit politique” project supported by the French National Research Agency.