CALL FOR PAPERS: SEMINAR: On the Origins of International Legal Thought (Cambridge: Lauterpacht Centre, 7 Dec 2018); DEADLINE 31 JUL 2018

(image source: Lauterpacht centre)

Comprehension of the development of legal thought over time is necessary for any historical, philosophical, practical, or theoretical enquiry into the subject today. Perspective is everything. When seen against the background of broad geopolitical, diplomatic, administrative, intellectual, religious, and commercial changes, law begins to appear very resilient. It withstands the rise and fall of empires. It provides the framework for the establishment of new orders in the place of the old. Today what analogies, principles, and authorities of law have survived these changes continue to inform so much of the international legal tradition, and it is unobvious why tomorrow will be any different.

An intimate seminar will take place across one day at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law towards the end of Michaelmas Term. Participation is open to academics from around the world. The conference is free, with little chance of a per diem reimbursement, however there may be some prospect for the remuneration of a portion of travel and accommodation expenses in exceptional cases.

A handful of candidates will be invited to participate personally, and this line-up will be confirmed at a later date. On top of this, there are between three and four positions available to be filled. Although the call is open to historians and legal scholars working in any period from Ancient Rome to the present, preference will be shown towards historical research framed within the period between 1860 and 1939, especially if concern is shown for private international law, public international law, or legal/state personality in this period. Sympathy towards imperial, interpolitical, and/or interreligious perspectives will be especially welcome. More than anything else, participants should be prepared to contemplate the dynamism of legal thought in various contexts. If your work meets a good standard, there is every prospect of inclusion within an edited collection of chapters, entitled Empire and Legal Thought (Oxford University Press). If you would like to be included within this collection, a full chapter of 8,000 words will need to be provided before the end of the calendar year. Please, therefore, send an abstract of between 200 and 500 words, along with some indication of whether or not you would like to contribute a chapter to a volume for OUP, to lawandempirecambridge@gmail.com, by July 31st, 2018. All things considered, participants who are prepared to publish a chapter along the lines of the presentation will be favoured at the shortlisting stage.

This seminar will be organised and led by Dr Edward Cavanagh FRHistS is a Fellow of Downing College, a Fellow of the Lauterpacht Centre of International Law, an Associate Fellow at the Institute for Commonwealth Studies, and a member of the Faculty of History at the University of Cambridge. He has published several articles across law and history in a number of well reputed outlets, including Law and History Review, Itinerario, Modern Intellectual History, Historical Journal, Comparative Legal History, History Compass, South African Journal on Human Rights, and Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History.