The ‘absent’ is a notion known in most legal systems. As a legal notion, primarily used in civil law, it refers to one who has left, either temporarily or permanently, their domicile or usual place of residence or business, or whose whereabouts are not known and cannot be ascertained by diligent effort. And yet, the absent may have a family, own a business or property, for whom or which life has to go on. Being absent does not mean having no interest or stake. However, one recurring related issue is determining who can legally speak in the name of, or represent the absent. The book takes root in this idea and widens it by considering the issue of the representation of all those who are not there now, stretching from those who are not there anymore because they have disappeared, to those who are not there yet, because they have not yet appeared. Past and future generations are not only emblematic of both ends of the spectrum but also of the fact that absents can indeed have interests and would therefore need someone to speak in their name/represent them. With contributions by Marcos de Armenteras Cabot | Silvia Bagni | Ludvig Beckman | Carlos J. Bichet Nicoletti | Michele Carducci | Alessandra Donati | Fritz Gillerke | Alexandra R. Harrington | Elena Ivanova | Fé de Jonge | Luis A. López Zamora | Lily Martinet | Yumiko Nakanishi | Stipe Odak | Sandra M. Rios Oyola | Valérie Rosoux | Hélène Ruiz Fabri | Kritika Sharma | Luisa Cortat Simonetti Gonçalves | Marta Torre-Schaub | Rudolf Schuessler | Marcel Szabó | I William Zartman