(Source: University of Turku)
We learned of a call for
papers for a conference on legal aid in the premodern and modern world at the
University of Turku. Here the call:
The idea of providing legal
assistance to the poor has long roots. In the medieval world, it was often linked
to theological notions of charitas
and was one form of aiding personae
miserabilis. The topic of legal aid was discussed in many writings since
the early Middle Ages, and distinctions were made e.g. between deserving and
undeserving poor. Many ecclesiastical and secular rulers felt the need for
providing such assistance officially and positions of advocate for the poor (advocatus pauperum) were established.
In the modern world, new
challenges, such as industrialisation and urbanisation, emerged creating an
ever-growing demand for legal aid and its proper organisation. In France,
legislation on legal aid (l’assistance
judiciaire) was passed in 1851, with many other countries reforming legal
aid in the following decades, as well. However, the actual organisation of
legal assistance to the poor took varying forms from country to country. Some
made it the charitable responsibility of lawyers to provide legal aid pro bono, others created special legal
aid offices, while elsewhere the state or the communality paid lawyers to take
on legal aid cases, and sometimes legal aid was created through the initiatives
of women’s associations, religious organisations or trade unions. In many
places, the 1970s witnessed another surge of legal aid reform.
This conference aims to bring together the various
aspects of legal aid around the world and throughout history, highlighting
common features and individual particularities.
Papers could discuss e.g.:
-the discussion of legal aid
in jurisprudence
-what the rationale for
providing legal aid was
-how and at who’s initiative
legal aid was organised
-who legal aid lawyers were
-the relations between legal
aid lawyers and other lawyers
-the participation of laymen
in legal aid offices
-legal aid given by others
than lawyers, e.g. social workers
-notions of access to justice
-what qualifications applied
to those eligible for legal aid
-what kind of cases were
handled
-developments in legislation
-legal advice given in
newspapers and magazines
Confirmed keynote lectures will be given by Prof. Felice
Batlan (Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology) and Dr.
Hiroki Kawamura (University of Frankfurt).
Deadline for paper proposals with abstracts (max. 400
words) is 18 November 2018. For further information, as well as sending paper
proposals, please contact Dr. Marianne Vasara-Aaltonen (marianne.vasara-aaltonen[at]utu.fi).
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