Centre for Legal History
Summary Report to School of Law, 2015-2016
ACTIVITIES AND EVENTS 2015-2016
- Peter Chiene Lecture
Prof. Jean-Louis Halpérin, ‘The Invention of Legal Orders: Historical Comparisons between Roman, Chinese and Jewish Laws’, 9 October, 2015
- Edinburgh Roman Law Group:
Prof. Paul Mitchell (UCL), ‘On the Legal Effects of Sponsalia’, 6 November, 2015
Prof. Caroline Humfress, (St Andrews) 'Natural Laws and the “Hypothetical Case” in Roman Juristic Texts', 11 March, 2016
- Alan Watson Seminar in Legal History:
Prof. Orazio Condorelli (Catania University) ‘Scotland and the Ius Commune: Customs, Litigation and Papal Decretals’, 20 April, 2016
Prof.Manuel Alejandro Rodriguez de la Pena (San Pablo University Madrid), ‘Erudiminireges qui judicatisterram: SapientalRulership and the Medieval Discourse on the King as Lawgiver’, 22 January, 2016
- New Book Discussions
Dr Andreas Rahmatian (Glasgow), Lord Kames: Legal and Social Theorist (EUP 2015); discussant: Dr James Harris (St Andrews), 15 January, 2016
Prof. John Finlay (Glasgow), Legal Practice in Eighteenth-Century Scotland (Brill, 2015); discussant: Prof. John W. Cairns (Edinburgh), 23 October, 2015
- Other Seminars/Lectures
Prof. Matthew Mirow, FIU, Miami (MacCormick Fellow) ‘Florida's Forgotten British Legal Past’, 10 May, 2016
- Ancient Law in Context Research Network:
The research network co-hosted by the Centre for Legal History (Dr Paul J. du Plessis) and the Subject Area: History, Classics and Archaeology hosted another successful workshop:
Workshop 6: 'Procedure', 29-30 January, 2016
Jose Luis Alonso Rodriguez – ‘Etiam cum iniquedecernit: jurisdictional discretion in the Late Republic and the EarlyEmpire.’; Anna Dolganov – ‘Case-law and the work of judges in the Roman Empire.’; Jakub Urbanik – ‘Between arbitration and rescript procedure or the force of the imperial court.’; Lina Girdvainyte – ‘C. PoppaeusSabinus in Thessaly (IG IX 2.261, 15-35 CE): Territorial dispute resolution under Rome.’; Kimberley Czajkowski ‘Trial narratives in Josephus.’; Michael Crawford – ‘The Roman law of procedure, Ivo of Chartres, and the beginning of research on ancient slavery.’; MirkoCanevaro – ‘The Procedure of Demosthenes’ Against Leptines: How to Repeal (and Replace) an Existing Law.’; Edward Harris - ‘The Legal Procedure of Demosthenes' Against Meidias.’; Pier Luigi Morbidoni – ‘Gaius, Inst. 3.55 and friends.’; Halcyon Weber – ‘Further thoughts on the existence of a “Liber quinquagintadecisionum.”’; BenediktEckhardt – ‘Manumissio per mensam.’
- Henry Goudy Seminar:
This Reading Group (‘… an informal activity of the [Edinburgh Roman Law] Group with the particular aim of encouraging students whose interest in law or the ancient world attracts them to the study of Roman law’) for students and staff met, examining law in novels of Walter Scott.
- Forthcoming:
Conference (organised by Dr Paul J du Plessis): A Very British Pursuit: Studies in the lexAquilia, 8 July, 2016: John W. Cairns ‘The historiography of the lex Aquilia in Britain’; Paul Mitchell ‘“This pursuit of patterns: F.H. Lawson on Negligence”; Robin Evans-Jones and Helen Scott ‘The Roman-law origins of the foreseeability test for the duty of care adopted in Donoghue v Stevenson’; David Ibbetson ‘Buckland and the lex Aquilia’; Joe Sampson ‘Revisiting Rodger on damages under the lex Aquilia’; David Johnston ‘Causation and remoteness: British steps on a Roman path’; Benjamin Spagnolo ‘Students’ Digest: IX.2 in Oxford, 1893-2004’; Giuseppe Valditara ‘Wrongful loss, interesse and the lex Aquilia’; Alberto Lorusso ‘The rediscovery of Daube’s legacy in Southern Europe’
A book will result from this project
Book discussions forthcoming include Dr Karen G. Baston, Charles Areskine’s Library: Lawyers and Their Books at the Dawn of the Scottish Enlightenment (Brill, 2016), and Dr Guido Rossi, Insurance in Elizabethan England: The London Code (CUP, 2016)
POSTGRADUATE RESEARCH
In 2015-16, 10 PhD students were registered for supervision by core members of the Centre, of whom three have now been successfully examined.
Mr Jonathan Horton (first supervisor, Dr Paul J. du Plessis)
Ms Jasmin Hepburn (first supervisor, Dr Paul du Plessis)
Mr Stephen Bogle (co-Supervisor, Professor John W. Cairns)
A Ph.D. student scheduled to start in 2016 has been awarded a full scholarship.
KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER/IMPACT
Active Blog:
Professor John W. Cairns and Dr Karen G. Baston are involved in a cross-disciplinary and multi-institutional proposal to digitise Edinburgh’s extensive collection of printed Court of Session papers dating from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The partners, including the University of Edinburgh, the Faculty of Advocates, and the Society of Her Majesty’s Writers to the Signet, are currently investigating funding options for a pilot project.
Professor John W. Cairns addressed the Friends of the Georgian Society of Jamaica on ‘Jamaicans in Georgian Scotland’ on 17 May, 2016
Dr Paul du Plessis was awarded a grant from the National Research Foundation (South Africa) and hosted a workshop in Paarl, South Africa, on ‘custom and oral history: rewriting the history of South African law’. Dr du Plessis, together with Professor Anne Griffiths, also presented a workshop at the University of the North West on Socio-legal research methods in law. (May 2016)
DISTINCTIONS
Dr Guido Rossi was invited to give a cycle of lectures on ‘The Development of Contractual Liability in the Common Law’ at the University of Rome Roma Tre (April 2016)
Dr Guido Rossi received an invitation to speak at Exeter University on ‘Maritime Averages in Early Modern Europe’ (28.11.2015)
Dr Guido Rossi was awarded a Humboldt Fellowship to take part in the Cluster of Excellence ‘Religion and Politics in Pre-Modern and Modern Cultures’ of Münster University for the year 2016/17
Dr Paul du Plessis, was a Tytus Fellow at the Department of Classics, University of Cincinnati, Fall, 2015
Dr Paul du Plessis was a Herbert Smith Freehills Visitor at Cambridgeduring the second semester of the academic year 2015/16.
Dr Paul du Plessis was appointed visiting professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Milan (Statale)
Dr Paul du Plessis delivered a Tytus seminar at the University of Cincinnati (October 2015 – ‘Socio-legal Scholarship and Roman Law’)
Dr Paul du Plessis gave a faculty lecture in the faculty of classics, University of Chicago (November 2015 – ‘New Perspectives on Roman Britain’)
Dr Paul du Plessis gave a faculty lecture in the faculty of classics, Tulane University (December 2015 – ‘Lesion Beyond Moiety in Roman law’)
Dr Paul du Plessis gave a cycle of lectures on the lexAquilia at New York University (December 2015)
Dr Paul du Plessis gave a centre lecture at the Portus/Limen project, University of Southampton (January 2016)
Dr Paul du Plessis took part in a closed workshop and presented a paper at Harvard University on the law of sale in antiquity (February 2016 – ‘Bartering Your Way to Sale’)
Professor John W. Cairns, received an invitation to speak at the ‘Frankfurter RechtshistorischeAbendgespräche’at the Max Planck Institute for European Legal History on 13 April, 2014, on ‘Regulating Slavery in Europe: A Global Problem of the Eighteenth Century’
Dr Karen G. Baston has accepted an invitation to speak at the Book History Research Network on the theme of ‘Book Collecting in the British Isles, 1650-1850’ which will take place in Dublin on 25 November 2016.
Dr Karen G. Baston is an elected member of the Stair Society Council (2013-2017).
Dr Karen G. Baston has been commissioned to write a history of Brodies, Scotland’s largest law firm
PLANS FOR 2016-17, include:
Roman Law Group Meetings
Alan Watson Seminar Meetings
Ancient Law in Context Workshops
MEMBERSHIP
Core members: Professor John W. Cairns; Dr Guido Rossi; Dr Paul J. du Plessis; Dr Karen Baston. (Also associated with the centre are Dr Eric Descheemaekar, Professor H. L. MacQueen, Dr Chloe and Mr W. David H. Sellar.) Website:
The Centre is supported by a grant from the School of Law, which it gratefully acknowledges, as it does further support for conferences and other projects.
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