The 2nd Gdańsk International Seminar on the Tradition of Private Law: “Agreement in Private Law”

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On 23–24 April 2026, our Faculty hosted the 2nd Gdańsk International Seminar on the Tradition of Private Law. This year’s edition of the event, entitled “Agreement in Private Law”, brought together representatives of various academic centres, students, and all those interested in private law from national, comparative, and international perspectives.

Over two intensive days, our Faculty became a forum for the encounter of different legal traditions, research perspectives, and academic experiences. The main theme of the Seminar provided an excellent starting point for discussion on the significance of agreement in private law, both in the context of classical institutions of civil law and contemporary legal challenges.

The event was organised by student research associations operating at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Gdańsk:

Civil Law Student Research Association “Sapere Aude”,
Interfaculty Student Research Association of Family and Guardianship Law,
Commercial Law Student Research Association,
Student Research Association for the Tradition of Roman Law,
Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Law Student Research Association “Law and Life Sciences”.

The Seminar featured speakers representing numerous academic centres in Poland. Students of our Faculty currently participating in the Erasmus+ programme in Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, and Hungary also joined us online. The discussion on agreement in private law was situated within a broad context, encompassing both the civil law and common law traditions, as well as current issues concerning the law of obligations, family law, healthcare law, consumer law, artificial intelligence, and contracts concluded in the digital environment.

The event was attended by representatives of the following academic centres:

Łomża Academy,
University of Gdańsk,
Jagiellonian University, Kraków,
Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw,
University of Opole,
University of Silesia in Katowice,
Tashkent State University of Law, Uzbekistan

The Seminar programme included thematic panels devoted to various areas of private law. Participants discussed, among other topics, the role of consensus in contract law, the significance of agreement in civil procedure, party autonomy in family law, contractual relations between parties, as well as the inheritance of digital assets, the validity of electronic contracts, and contracts generated by artificial intelligence. The presentations also addressed issues in commercial, medical, pharmaceutical, and biomedical law, consumer protection, and the tradition of Roman law and its influence on the contemporary understanding of agreement in private law.

We are particularly pleased with the international dimension of this year’s edition. Thanks to the contacts established by our students with students from Uzbekistan, the speakers included students from Tashkent State University of Law, a leading law university in Central Asia and a strategic partner of our Faculty. The second day of the Seminar was conducted entirely in English. The presentations delivered by our Uzbek colleagues enriched the proceedings with a Central Asian perspective and made it possible to view the issue of agreement in private law from a different and highly interesting angle. The presence of a large group of speakers from Uzbekistan demonstrated how valuable dialogue can be when European and Central Asian legal traditions and systems meet.

The Seminar opened with introductory addresses, including speeches by Dr Maja Maciejewska-Szałas from the Department of Civil Law, Dr Bartosz Szolc-Nartowski, and Dr Beata Kowalczyk from the Department of Civil Law and Legal Tradition. This was followed by an introductory lecture delivered by Professor Maciej Jońca, PhD, DSc, from Lomza Academy, a well-known populariser of Roman law. Professor Jońca’s lecture provided an inspiring introduction to the subsequent discussions and thematic panels.

The second day of the Seminar, conducted in English, was opened by Marcin M. Wiszowaty, PhD, DSc, Associate Professor at the University of Gdańsk, Vice-Dean for International Cooperation and Development of the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Gdańsk. This part of the event particularly highlighted the international and comparative-law character of the Seminar, with the proceedings becoming a forum for the exchange of perspectives between representatives of Polish academic centres and speakers from Uzbekistan.

The event was not only a space for academic presentations, but also an opportunity to build academic relationships, exchange experiences, and develop international cooperation. The Seminar forms part of the broader policy of the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Gdańsk, aimed at the internationalisation of research, teaching, and academic cooperation involving academic staff, students, and administrative staff alike.

We would like to express our sincere thanks to all participants, speakers, and guests for their presence, engagement, and inspiring presentations.

Special thanks are due to the Dean of the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Gdańsk, Wojciech Zalewski, PhD, DSc, Associate Professor at the University of Gdańsk, for granting his patronage to the event and for his kind support of the initiative.

We also extend our sincere thanks to the Dean of the Regional Chamber of Attorneys-at-Law in Gdańsk, Dr Bartosz Szolc-Nartowski, for granting patronage to the Seminar. As the main patron of the event, the Regional Chamber of Attorneys-at-Law in Gdańsk also provided in-kind prizes for the participants, for which we are very grateful.

We would like to express our gratitude to the Academic Supervisors of the event, Dr Maja Maciejewska-Szałas and Dr Beata Kowalczyk, for their organisational support and academic guidance throughout the Seminar. We also thank Vice-Dean Marcin M. Wiszowaty for his support and assistance.

We are delighted that the 2nd Gdańsk Seminar on the Tradition of Private Law proved to be a very successful event and that, this year, it gained an international and comparative-law dimension.

See you next year at the 3rd edition of the Seminar.