Junior European Crystal Scales of Justice Prize
3rd edition of the Prize
"Junior Crystal Scales of Justice"
Edition 2024
The Crystal Scales of Justice Prize is a European Prize to promote innovative practices contributing to the efficiency of justice, organised jointly by the CEPEJ and the Faculty of Law of Strasbourg
Competition open to students enrolled, for the current year, in Master or equivalent diploma from a Faculty of Law of a Council of Europe member State or an observer country to the CEPEJ*.
* Canada, United States, Guatemala, Israel, Japan, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Morocco, Holy See, Tunisia.
The Junior Crystal Scales of Justice Prize complements the existing Crystal Scales of Justice Prize, the European Prize for innovative practices contributing to the efficiency and quality of justice. It is open to Master's students from law schools of one of the member States of the Council of Europe or an observer country to the CEPEJ and is organized every two years, alternating with the Crystal Scales of Justice Prize.
For this 2024 edition, 7 student teams from Italy, Georgia, Lithuania, Hungary, Belgium, and the Netherlands defended one of the winning projects of the Crystal Scales of Justice Prize 2023.
After preparing a research and legal analysis file highlighting the innovative aspects of one of the winning projects of the CEPEJ Crystal Scales of Justice Prize, and after studying its possible transposition to another context or country, the shortlisted candidate teams were invited to defend their project orally before the jury by videoconference.
The jury convened on May 28, 2024 to select the Prize winners.
The jury was composed of:
- Jean-Paul JEAN, Honorary President of Chamber of the Court of Cassation, France, President of the jury
- Ivan CRNCEC, Expert on judicial reforms, Advisor to the Minister of Justice, Croatia, Vice-President of the CEPEJ
- Meryem DEMIR, Legal Adviser, Legal Department, Directorate General for the Judiciary, SPF Justice, Belgium, national correspondent of the CEPEJ
- Seçkin KOCER, Judge and Head of Department, General Directorate of Strategic Development, Ministry of Justice, Türkiye, member of the Bureau of the CEPEJ
- Séverine MENETREY, Professor at the Faculty of Law, Economics and Finance, University of Luxembourg
- Florence THEPOT, Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law, Political Science and Management, University of Strasbourg
- Martin PLISSONNIER, Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law and Political Science, University of Paris Nanterre
The jury of the Junior Cristal Scales of Justice Prize decided to reward a team of students from the Faculty of Law at Leiden University (Netherlands), Matheus F. Andrade Mendes, Rosa S. Calles Contreras, Justy Thomas, and Paul Benedict Lee, supervised by Philex T.L. YE (link to the project), for their defense of an initiative by the Court of appeal of Mons (Belgium) regarding the establishment of a "Civil and criminal chamber specialised in environmental and urbanism matters”, which was rewarded by the CEPEJ in 2023.
The jury also decided to grant two special mentions to :
- the team from the Faculty of Law, Political Science, and Criminology at the University of Liège (Belgium), supervised by Patrick Wautelet (link to the Project – in French), for the defense of the Cypriot project entitled “Kids in Court Game (KiCGame)”
- the team from Eötvös Loránd University (Hungary), supervised by Reka Somssich (link to the project), for the defense of the European project entitled “Facility Dogs Europe – FYDO”.
The award ceremony for the 3rd Edition of the Junior Crystal Scales Prize will take place during the CEPEJ plenary meeting on June 18 and 19, 2024 in Strasbourg, at the Council of Europe, during which the winning team will be invited to present its project.
Download the Rules of the Prize and the application form: 
Collaborative workspaces:
