Author: John Cairns

Professor Emeritus William Gordon

In memoriam

As many readers of this Blog will know, Bill Gordon, Douglas Professor of Civil Law Emeritus at the University of Glasgow, died peacefully at home on 1 Septmber 2012. Rather fittingly,  after the Conference in Glasgow in commemoration of its disntiguished Alumnus, Lord Rodger, it was possible for those attending to go to the Thanksgiving Service for Bill at Jordanhill Parish Church, Glasgow on 8 Septmeber.

Bill was in many ways a quiet and unassuming man; but he was a very talented legal historian indeed. He studied in Aberdeen, where he had attended the classes of David Daube, as well having his doctorate supervised by Peter Stein; he also spent time in Leiden working on it at the chair of Robert Feenstra. With this pedgree and his achievements, his appointment as Douglas Professor in Glasgow in 1969 was well merited. He held the chair for thirty years.

Bill offered excellent service for many years as Literary Director of the Stair Society; and he long continued on its Council as a co-opted member, where his wisdom , experience, and understated, sly sense of humour were much appreciated. With this is mind he was elected Vice-President of thse Stair Society in 2011. His own University of Aberdeen honoured him with the honorary degree of LL.D. in 2005.

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John Inglis of Glencorse: the family silver

Legal History

John Inglis, Lord Glencorse, presents a traditionally heroic figure as an energetic Victorian judge. This may be partly based on the splendid portrait of him by Sir George Reid, where he sits dressed as Lord Justice General, the magnificent robes negligently open, the face commanding. Inglis's story is well covered in the ODNB, so there is no need to rehearse it here. It may be pointed out he was counsel for Madeleine Smith, and more significantly, as Lord Advocate, ensured the passing of the Universities (Scotland) Act of 1858. This reformed the Scottish universities, created the first version of the modern degree of LL.B., and introduced a structure with which we still in theory live. He became Chancellor of the University of Edinburgh, though a Glasgow and Oxford graduate.

Readers of the blog may be interested to know that his family silver is being sold by Bonhams, the first three lots in their Scottish Sale Part II on 29 August, the rest in their silver sale on 20 September.  Much of the silver bears the helm and mantled crest below the motto recte faciendo securus granted to him in 1867. 

The Community of the College of Justice

New Books

Study and understanding of the history Scottish central court continues apace. In 2009, this blog noted the publication of Mark Godfrey's magisterial work on the College of Justice in the Renaissance period Civil Justice in Renaissance Scotland: The Origins of a Central Court (although such a description does not really do justice to the richness and complexity of the of the work). Godfrey's colleague at Glasgow, John Finlay, has just published a work on the College in the eighteenth century, entitled The Community of the College of Justice: Edinburgh and the Court of Session, 1687-1808, Edinburgh University Press, ISBN  978-0748645770, £75. This is an important study of an institution at the time of the Enlightenment. It deserves to be widely read.

 

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George Dargo, Essays in American Legal History

New Books

At the beginning of this year, this Blog had the sad task of reporting the death of George Dargo. Professor Dargo was one of the kindest men with a wry sense of humour whom this blogger has ever met, though, he never knew him well.  For a man of his ability and distinction as a scholar, he was remarkably lacking in pomposity and self importance.

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In the last few months of his life, Professor Dargo had worked on a collection of some of his more important essays. These have now been published in a handsome volume by the Lawbook Exchange Ltd.,  who had already published in 2009 the new edition of his 1975 classic, Jefferson's Louisiana.

The essays included cover the full scope of Professor Dargo's scholarship, which ranged from colonial America to Sunday trading laws and the constitutional position of Puerto Rico (the last two reflecting on the significance of Calvert Magruder, whose papers were the foundation of Professor Dargo's  History of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit (1993)). All are learned; all reflect the man. Given this Blog's interest in Louisiana, it is good to see reproduced the important article from 2009 in which he revisited the background to the Digest of 1808, as well as his account of Edward Livingston and the Batture Controversy from Jefferson's Louisiana and his essay on the legal-legal significance of shipping on the Mississippi (a rather pedestrian way of describing a profound piece).

On the back of the dust-jacket, which shows on the front a fine paddle-steamer (this blogger writes from the country from which sails the last sea-going paddle steamer in the world), there are two interesting laudatory quotations. The first, from Dean Greenberg of Suffolk University College of Arts and Sciences, describes the book as "a monument to an extraordinary historian" and as reflecting  "the depth of his background in law and history", thereby representing "the work of an impressive life in scholarship". In the second, Professor Emeritus Hecht of Boston University writes that "Multiculturalism is a misapplied buzz-word today. For a true understanding of its role and application, many of the chapters in this book provide a useful corrective. … Its broad reach and wide scope provide a critical new perspective on the role of law in American history."

But the essays generally demonstrate a humane and humanistic approach to law and legal history; in this they also reflect the man.

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Professor Angelo Forte

In memoriam

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This Blog is saddened to have to report the death of Angelo Forte. Though ill recently, Angelo had always shown enthusiasm for having fun in life and strong commitment to legal history. His photo on the Aberdeen web page shows the man in typical pose and expression.

Angelo graduated in history and law from the University of Edinburgh. Private practice was followed by teaching posts in Glasgow, Dundee and Edinburgh, before his move to the Chair of Commercial law in Aberdeen in 1993. He was a noted scholar of commercial law, producing what became the standard textbook for Scots students. His legal history research often reflected his commercial law interests, particularly in insurance.

Angelo was very proud of his descent from Italian immigrants who had married into Fife fisherfolk.  He had a strong interest in boats and the sea – interests that often cropped up in his scholarly work. Of  course, for one interested in the history of commercial law, shipping was inevitably important. But few legal historians publish on fifteenth-century ship types in the Mariner's Mirror, as Angelo did.

As well as his own work, Angelo was instrumental in founding the Scottish Legal History Group in 1981, holding meetings in his office in the Glasgow Law School, which then was in a number of converted houses in the area near the Main Library. Hector MacQueen recalls the meeting vividly – Angelo was a comfy figure, with a chuckle in his voice, smoking a pipe, sitting in a large chair. Though like all lives, Angelo's was not without its sadnesses and disappointments, his air of genial comfort is well remembered. Indeed, this blogger crossed the Karoo Desert in a 4 by 4 with Angelo and three others, the journey, from Pretoria to Cape Town, took two days, a test of good humour which Angelo passed with flying colours. Indeed we all had fun.

Our thoughts go to his wife and daughter.

He will be missed.

 

MacMillan on Benjamin, 23 Aug, 2012

Legal History

The fascinating work of Dr Catharine MacMillan of Queen Mary, London, on Judah Bejamin has been mentioned more than once in this Blog. Benjamin had one of the most fascinating careers as a lawyer in Louisiana, member of the Confederate Government, and then lawyer in London. Dr MacMillan's path-breaking, painstaking scholarship is always delivered with gusto and flair, so her lecture at the Loyola University of New Orleans College of Law on 23 August will be well worth attending (in room 344, 12.30-2p.m.). Any queries shoudl be directed to Georgia Chadwick: gchadwick@lasc.org  (504) 310 2402. Your blogger only wishes he was in New Orleans and could attend what will be an excellent event! The rather handsome poster is pasted in below.width=960

Legal Theory and Legal History: A Neglected Dialogue?

News and Events

Legal Theory and Legal History: A Neglected Dialogue?

12 April 2013 – 13 April 2013
Time: 9:00am – 5:00pm
Venue: Law building, Queen Mary, University of London, Mile End
The 2013 UK IVR Annual Conference
Outline of Theme

Apart from some notable exceptions, much of contemporary legal theory is uninformed by history, including legal history. This is deeply regrettable, for legal theories may be vastly improved by being informed, and perhaps more importantly, challenged by historical contexts. Theories of law, one might say, are better if they are forged at the coal-face of historical research. Similarly, one could argue that legal histories are better when they draw on, and themselves contribute to, the conceptual resources of legal theory.

Somewhat more radically, if one agrees law does not have a nature, but a culture, then one must account for how the culture of law changes, and has changed, over time. This, by necessity, demands a historically-informed methodology. Similarly, the problem of change is an unavoidable one in legal theory, whether that be change in legal regimes or changes in certain areas of the law – here, again, the resources of history, including the philosophy of history, are invaluable. Putting things a little more colourfully, one could say that legal ideas cannot but be understood historically.

Further, legal theory has, of course, its own history: legal theories are not disconnected islands, but rather interventions in a long series of dialogues and polylogues amongst theorists. As many have observed, and described, legal theory’s history needs to be informed not only by such dialogues and polylogues amongst theorists, but also by awareness of the theorist’s immersion in political, economic and other conditions of his or her time and place – there, once more, a serious engagement with history is important.

This conference – the annual conference of the UK Branch of the IVR – is designed to bring together legal theorists and legal historians (including historians of legal theory and political thought) in an attempt to facilitate and encourage dialogue between the two disciplines.

Call for Papers
A call for papers is issued for the open paper sessions. A group of selectors from the Legal Theory and Legal History Group at Queen Mary will select papers based on abstracts. Abstracts are to be no longer than one A4 page, and should include the name and affiliation of the author(s).

Strong preference will be given to papers related to the theme, broadly construed. However, papers may be submitted on any aspect of legal and social philosophy.

Abstracts should be emailed to m.delmar@qmul.ac.uk by 1 October 2012.

Draft Programme
Friday 12 April 2013
10-11
Keynote: Professor John Bell, Title TBC
11.15 – 12.45
Open Paper Session I
12.45 – 1.45
Lunch
2-3
Keynote: Professor Joshua Getzler, Title TBC
3.15 – 4.45
Open Paper Session II
5-6
Keynote: Professor Quentin Skinner, The Concept of the State in Legal History and Theory
6-6.30
Annual General Meeting
6.30
Drinks
Official dinner
Saturday 13 April 2013
10-11.30
Dr Eric Descheemaeker, Legal Rationality as Legal History, with commentary by Professor William Lucy
Dr Ian Williams, The role of rules: legal maxims in early-modern common law principle and practice, with commentary by Dr Thomas Poole
11.45 – 12.45
PhD Paper Presentation Session
12.45-1.45
Lunch
1.45 – 2.45
Closing Panel with Professor David Ibbetson and Professor Philip Schofield
Fee and Organisation
The attendance fee is £20 for academics and £10 for students, which will also constitute membership to the UK IVR for 2013.

The conference is organised by the Legal Theory and Legal History Research Group at Queen Mary, University of London. The Group is convened by Professor Michael Lobban and Dr Maksymilian Del Mar.

Dr Del Mar is the Convenor of the UK IVR, and can be contacted directly by email: m.delmar@qmul.ac.uk.

Irish Legal Diaspora Conference, 7-8 July 2013

News and Events

The Irish Legal History Society is apporaching its 25th Anniversary. As part of its celebrations, it is promoting a conference on the Irish Legal Diaspora.

The Irish Legal History Society accordingly would like to invite Irish and international scholars to Dublin in order to celebrate the global significance of the Irish legal diaspora. For centuries the reality of Irish immigration has included qualified lawyers and persons who would qualify abroad. They served at all levels of the first and second British Empires, in the United States, in the former dominions and colonies that became the British Commonwealth and the independent states that grew from it. The objective of this conference is to gain anwidth=150 understanding of these people, their political outlook and the contribution made to their new countries.

Irish lawyers have imbued the laws and politics of many lands with ther own ideas and experience. Significant contributions were made in other ways, too. Thus, Thomas D'Arcy McGee, law graduate, politician and journalist, is seen as one of the fathers of Canadian confederation. See http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/confederation/023001-4000.52-e.html. A young Dublin lawyer, John Robert Godley, was the driving force behind the settlement and organisation of a new city in New Zealand that he named Christchurch. See http://christchurchcitylibraries.com/heritage/earlychristchurch/johnrobertgodley.asp

 

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The dates of this conference, 7-8 July 2013, dovetail with the British Legal History Conference that will be held at the University of Glasgow on 10-13 July 2013. Some participants may wish to attend both events.
Proposals of less than 500 words for papers relating to the Irish legal diaspora in any part of the world should reach the organisers by 30 September 2012. Contributors who are unsure whether their proposals suitably reflect the conference theme should contact the organisers at the email address below.
A draft programme and details of registration and accommodation will be circulated early in 2013. Selected papers may be chosen for inclusion in a future publication of the Irish Legal History Society.
Conference email: ildc2013@yahoo.ie

Conference Sub-Committee: Mr Robert Marshall, Dr Niamh Howlin, Ms Yvonne Mullen, Dr Thomas Moh

New Perspectives on locatio conductio in Roman law, 6-7 June 2012, Old College, Edinburgh

Legal History

In the nearly 100 years since the publication of Emilio Costa’s La locazione di cose nel diritto romano (1915), the first monograph of the twentieth-century on letting and hiring in Roman law, modern understanding of this contract has changed significantly. The reasons for this are mainly twofold. First, scholars of Roman law, while still largely engaged in purely dogmatic investigations of the origins and development of legal rules and of the contributions of individual Roman jurists to this process, are slowly becoming more aware of the contexts in which these rules operated and their relation to Roman society such as, for example, in the work of Bruce Frier (Landlords and Tenants in Imperial Rome (1980)) and Dennis Kehoe (Investment, Profit and Tenancy: the Jurists and the Roman Agrarian Economy (1998)), to name but a few. In second place, the publication in 1999 of Roberto Fiori’s La definizione della ‘locatio conductio’ (1999) comprehensively transformed modern understanding of the conceptual structure of this contract and finally laid to rest the much debated issue of the 'trichotomy'. The aim of this conference is to bring together scholars with an interest in locatio conductio in Roman law (whether in Roman private or public law) to explore new insights (dogmatic, social, economic) into the origin and growth of this contract.

The Conference, ably hosted by Dr Paul du Plessis, who has just published the monograph, Letting and Hiring in Roman Legal Thought, 27BCE-284CE (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2012), developed these ideas through a number of excellent papers. The first was that of Dr. Paul du Plessis (Edinburgh) "The significance of locatio conductio: past, present and future research", which opened the conference with a historiographical survey setting the scene for what followed. Next, Professor Eva Jacub of Szeged, in a paper entitled "Storehouses in the Roman Empire", explored the complex links between trade, storehouses and leases in the Mediterranean world, drawing on a broad range of epigraphic, archaeological and other evidence. Professor Susan D. Martin of the University of Tennessee (Knoxville) discussed "Principals, agents, and transport in locatio conductio". This was followed by Mr. Benedikt Forschner (Erlangen/Edinburgh) who explored the historical and legal issues of the famous case of "The ship of Saufeius", providing an ingenious solution that did not neglect palingenetic questions. This was followed by a short reception.

The next day opened with Professor Roberto Fiori (Rome)  expounding his main ideas on letting and hiring in a paper entitled "Locatio conductio: the 'infinite' contract". Dr Wolfram Buchwitz (Bonn) then discussed "Probatio operis: liability for material defects in locatio conductio operis", exploring the significance of probation, introducing significant epigraphic evidence of ths role of probatio in construction contracts. Dr. Orietta Cordovana (Freie Universitaet, Berlin) then considered "Soil quality, social status and locatio conductio contracts", exploring a series of complex situations derived form a range of hsitroical sources. Finally, Professor Jose Antonio Martinez Vela (Albacete) spoke on "The reception of locatio conductio in medieval Spanish law, with specific reference to relocatio tacita". This provided a view the complex history of the Iberian peninsual before an illuminating discussion of the texts of the Siete Partidas.

The Conference was scheduled to allow for considerable discussion and much ground was covered in it. It concluded with a lively dinner.

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Netherlands, Slavery and the Treaty of Utrecht

Slavery

Slavery was abolished in the Dutch Colonies in 1863, making next year the 150th anniversary. Readers will be aware of this Blog's interest in slavery, so it is worth noting the following conference organised in Utrecht. It is also worth noting that next year is the tercentenary of the Treaty of Utrecht, one provision of which was the British acquisition of the Asiento, the contract to supply slaves to the Spanish colonies, a treaty which helped make Britain the great slave-trading nation of the eighteenth century:

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The centre for the Humanities presents the conference of the Treaty of Utrecht commemoration.

The Colonial Legacy of the Treaty of Utrecht:
1713-1863-2013

An international conference organised by the Centre for the Humanities, Utrecht University, convened by Rosi Braidotti and Esther Captain

June 21 and 22, 2013

This conference links the commemoration of the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, to the abolition of Slavery by the Dutch 100 years later.
Over the course of two days, illustrious academics will delve into the haunting legacy of the Treaty of Utrecht, the history of slavery, the state of slavery today and the connections between them.
The two-day conference will take you from history and philosophy, to anthropology and post-colonialism, transnational memories and transitional justice. In a great number of interdisciplinary lectures and panels, scholars examine the lasting legacy of slavery and the persistent presence of human trafficking in the contemporary world.
Preliminary Programme:

Friday June 21, 2013: History and Geography
Time: 9:30 – 19:30
Location: Aula (Academy Building)

09:30 – 10:15 Registration, coffee and tea
10:15 – 11:00 Opening by the rector magnificus of Utrecht University
Welcoming address by the mayor of Utrecht
Welcoming address by the director of the Treaty of Utrecht
11:00 – 12:00 Keynote lecture: dr. Françoise Vergès, Goldsmiths University of London, UK, president of the Committee for Memory and History of Slavery, Paris, France
12:00 – 13:00 Keynote Lecture: prof. Nathalie Zemon Davis, professor of History, University of Toronto, Canada
13:00 – 14:00 Lunch Break
14:00 – 15:00 Keynote Lecture: dr. Patrick Eyres, Wentworth Castle Heritage Trust
15:00 – 15:30 Tea Break

 

Start of parallel program; choice between panel 1 and panel 2

Panel 1: The Treaty of Utrecht and the History of Slavery
Time: 15:30 – 17:30
Location: Belle van Zuylenzaal (Academy Building)
• Lecture by prof. Catherine Hall, University College London and principal investigator of the project ‘Legacies of British slave ownership'
• Response by prof. Wijnand Mijnhardt, Utrecht University

Panel 2: Geographies of Slavery: the Transatlantic and the Indian Ocean World
Time: 15:30 – 17:30
Location: Maskeradezaal (Academy Building)
• Lecture by prof. Achille Mbembe, professor of history and politics, University of Witwatersrand, SA
• Response by prof. Maarten Prak, Utrecht University

Evening Programme:
Location: Aula, Academy building

17:30 – 18:30 Break and Snack at the Faculty Club
18:30 – 19:30 Keynote Lecture: Dr. Kevin Bales, director and co-founder of Free the Slaves, Washington DC, US, professor of sociology at the University of Surrey Roehampton (England), author of Disposable People. New Slavery in the Global Economy
20:00 Dinner with Speakers of the confernce

Saturday June 22, 2013: Cultural Memory
Time: 9:30 – 16:30
Location: Aula (Academy Building)

09:30 – 10:00 Registration, coffee and tea
10:00 – 11:00 Keynote lecture: prof. Paul Gilroy, Treaty of Utrecht visiting professor, London School of Economics, UK
11:00 – 12:00 Keynote Lecture: prof. Michael Rothberg, professor of English and Director of the Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, US
12:00 – 13:00 Lunch Break

Start of parallel program; choice between panel 1, 2 and 3
Panel 1: Practices of Commemoration
Time: 13:00 – 15:00
Location: Aula (Academy Building)
• Lecture by prof. Jonathan Jansen, University of Johannesburg, SA
• Response by prof. Ann Rigney, Utrecht University

Panel 2: Reconciliation and Recovery in the Past and Present
Time: 13:00 – 15:00
Location: Belle van Zuylenzaal (Academy Building)
• Lecture by prof. Elazar Barkan, professor of international and public affairs, Columbia University, US
• Response by dr. Paulla Ebron, associate professor of anthropology, Stanford University, US

Panel 3: Contemporary slavery: child labour, prostitution and trafficking in women and children
Time: 13:00 – 15:00
Location: Maskeradezaal (Academy Building)
• Lecture by dr. Rutvica Andreijasevic, Open University, London, UK

15:00 – 15:30 Tea Break
15:30 – 16:30 Closing round table discussion
18:00 – 21:00 Conference Dinner

 

This programme is sponsored by The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences

 

 

 

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