Pieter De ReuVrije Universiteit Brussel | VUB · Metajuridica (JURI)
Pieter De Reu
PhD candidate
About
22
Publications
3,470
Reads
How we measure 'reads'
A 'read' is counted each time someone views a publication summary (such as the title, abstract, and list of authors), clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the full-text. Learn more
4
Citations
Citations since 2016
Introduction
Pieter De Reu is a researcher in social and economic history. He subsequently worked at the State Archives of Belgium in Beveren and in Ghent (2008-2012), and at the History Department of Ghent University (2012-2016). He is currently affliated to the Vrije Universiteit Brussel.
In 2018 he began exploring the legal backgrounds of bankruptcy and insolvency of nineteenth-century Belgian entrepreneurs. His ongoing PhD research brings into focus the power of the nineteenth century Belgian state, by mapping out the former Finance Department.
His research interests are in the area of fiscal history and commercial law history, public institutions, heuristics in history and research methodology. In addition he publishes on property practices in the past, as well as rural and industrial history.
Publications
Publications (22)
Wie de archieven van registratie en domeinen grondig doorzoekt, kan een prijzengeschiedenis reconstrueren met alle gegevens van een welbepaalde familie of streek. De precieze verkoopcijfers zijn immers waarden die meer vertellen over de algemene sociaal-economische organisatie van een dorpsgemeenschap. Bovendien kunnen de prijzen worden geïntegreer...
Looking at Belgian taxation and its fiscal system through a historical lens, contributes to the comprehension of its present-day characteristics. A taxation history of Belgium can only start at the inception of the state in 1830 or 1831, even though the taxation system was well-grounded by French and Dutch experiences at that time. Belgian fiscal h...
By proposing a reform of bankruptcy law in 1883, the Belgian legislator introduced an ambitious and far-reaching legal innovation, especially compared to other countries in Europe. The law of June 1883 would provide lifelines in pre-insolvency matters: a “preventive composition” was the first procedure in Europe to avoid declaring bankruptcy while...
In dit verkennende artikel tast ik af hoe context, tijd, ruimte en schaalgrootte kunnen bijdragen tot een beter begrip van delokaliseringsprocessen in de geschiedenis van de lokale samenleving en de bedrijven. Ik richt de blik op de gemechaniseerde katoennijverheid in een plattelandsdorp, die in de periode 1880-1925 nog heel conventioneel bleek. En...
As a group of young historians we are strongly convinced that the future of social and economic history will be a collective endeavour that crosses institutional and disciplinary boundaries. Only by means of continuous and intensive interaction (junior) researchers will be able to bring the societal turn to a decisive phase in the next ten years. T...
1801 was the year in which the French government gave authorization to industrialist Lieven Bauwens, who from then on could employ detainees from the city of Ghent. It also was the time in which the first mechanized cotton machinery on the European Continent spun yarn. Entrepreneur and daredevil Lieven Bauwens actually stood for a symbolic, histori...
This contribution sheds light on the cotton production of the nineteenth-century countryside, and examines the alteration from commercial capitalism towards industrial capitalism. The so-called commercial capitalism held a restraining influence: This impediment is proven by the transition from cottage industry to mechanized industry which failed to...
Hoewel het kadaster al een zeer oude instelling is die bij het grote publiek genoegzaam bekend is, mag toch gezegd worden dat inhoudelijk het kadaster nog heel wat geheimen bezit. Een oude instelling is het zeker. Pieter De Reu toont aan dat al onder Napoleon het kadaster min of meer zijn huidige vorm kreeg, dat er diverse voorlopers waren waarvan...
Een aangifte van nalatenschap is een onovertroffen historische bron voor de studie van historische vermogens in de moderne tijden. Het geeft een unieke inkijk in de inboedels van Belgische huishoudens, op een welbepaald ogenblik tijdens de levensloop. De beschrijving van have en goed op het moment van overlijden wordt doorgaans terecht vergeleken m...
Het zwaartepunt van de Oost-Vlaamse textielproductie verhuisde eind 19de eeuw van de provinciehoofdstad naar het platteland. In een recent onderzoek naar deze ‘rurale exodus’ vanuit Gent naar het platteland wordt de pioniersrol die Waarschoot en de figuur van Joseph de Hemptinne (katoenimperium Lousbergs) speelden, bevestigd. Er lagen verschillende...
In this article is revealed how the Belgian inheritance tax system was used as a functional political instrument, throughout the first half of the nineteenth century. It was a tool, offering a broad range of unifying and disintegrating processes, which shaped a state identity. The emphasis lays on the many changes of the political power. This of co...
Projects
Projects (2)
Insolvency law and practice have not often been studied for its responsiveness towards differences in the corporate finance structure of firms. As a result, SMEs have not often been the focus of insolvency legislation. It remains to a large extent open for research as to what extent pre-insolvency proceedings, which are aimed at corporate rescue, should address the specific characteristics of SMEs. In this regard, the Belgian situation between 1850 and 1910 is most important. In 1851 and 1883, pre-insolvency proceedings were introduced that were aimed at continuity of business instead of liquidation. This proposal hypothesizes that this shift was due to a rise in numbers of SMEs, and to their features of financing (debt over equity, few financiers, closely held management). These properties made the existing insolvency proceedings (judicial and extrajudicial) unfit. It will be found out to what extent forensic practice, as well as commercial practice were addressing the specific problems of SMEs in financial distress. The proposed project will have a profound impact on debates regarding corporate insolvency, which often take generalizing stances. Differentiation according to the size of business ventures, and their respective qualities, is assumed to be as relevant today as it was in the past.
Framed as an in-depth inquiry into the infrastructural power of the state, this project leads to new insights in the way the formation of a fiscal administration has supported state penetration in the founding years of Belgium. The research gains relevant insight into the state capacity by exploring the fiscal capacity. A thorough analysis of the different dimensions of infrastructural power, applied on the functioning of the tax man, grants a renewed contribution to the historiography of the leading efforts of state and nation formation.
