Wise men beyond borders. The transplantation of the French conseil de prud'hommes throughout Europe.

Many European countries have established specialised labour courts to settle individual labour disputes. In scholarship, hardly any attention has been paid to the fact that most of these systems have the same roots: the French conseil de prud’hommes. This institution was established by Napoleon in 1806 and has been transplanted throughout Europe. This wide transplantation has never been mapped, let alone analysed. However, this would be of great value. In the first place, a better insight in the development of specialised labour courts can contribute to the recurring debate about their reform or abolition. Secondly, the transplantation of the conseil de prud’hommes offers a unique opportunity to gain a better understanding of the concept of legal transplants. For half a century, there has been a lively discussion among scholars which factors drive or impede the movement of a legal rule or institution across borders. As no satisfactory answer has been given, an empirical study of the case of the conseil de prud’hommes can bring solace. The conseil is a perfect fit for this purpose, as scholars have been especially sceptical about the potential success of a legal transplant in labour law matters. The envisaged research aims to achieve these objectives by mapping the transplantation of the conseil de prud’hommes across Europe and comparing the introduction and evolution in a selection of countries (France, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and Luxembourg) in detail.