JOB: Conservator, Old and Precious Prints (Royal library of Belgium; DEADLINE 19 MAY 2020)

(image: the Royal Library in Brussels; source: Wikimedia Commons)

The Royal Library of Belgium keeps one of the mosts impressive collections of manuscripts and old prints in the world. The institution is currently advertising a vacancy for a conservator in the Department of Old and Precious Prints.

Deadline 19 May 2020.

More information here.

OPEN ACCESS: Books in free access on openedition.org

(image source: Modernum)

Modernum, the French-speaking network of Belgian early modern historians, has published an impressive list of free access-books on openedition.org.

Read further here.

INTENSIVE COURSE: Law Books: History & Connoisseurship (Yale Law School, 10-15 Jun 2018)

(image source: abovethelaw)

The Rare Book School is now accepting applications for "Law Books: History & Connoisseurship," a week-long, intensive course that will be offered June 10-15, 2018, at the Yale Law School in New Haven, Connecticut.

This year marks my sixth time teaching the course, and the first time that I will be most ably assisted by Ryan Greenwood, Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections at the University of Minnesota Law Library.

This intensive, week-long course is about building focused, interesting, and useful collections of historical materials in Anglo-American, European, and Latin American law. It is aimed at individuals and librarians who collect historical legal materials, and the book dealers who supply them. Lively discussion and extensive hands-on activities are hallmarks of the course. A full description, preliminary reading list, and past student evaluations are available at http://rarebookschool.org/courses/collections/c85/.

Details on applying for admission to the course are at http://rarebookschool.org/admissions-awards/application/. The application deadline for first-round decisions is February 19. Applications received after this date will be considered on a rolling basis. Enrollment is strictly limited to 12 students.

I can answer questions about the content of the course. All questions about applications, admissions, tuition, and housing should be directed to the Rare Book School staff, at rbsprograms@virginia.edu.

Contact:

MIKE WIDENER

Rare Book Librarian & Lecturer in Legal Research

Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale Law School

127 Wall Street, New Haven, CT 06511-8918

Phone: (203) 432-4494

http://library.law.yale.edu/rarebooks

Yale Law Library - Rare Books Blog:

     http://library.law.yale.edu/blogs/rare-books

(source: HLaw)

BOOK: Wilfrid PREST (ed.), The Oxford Edition of Blackstone: Commentaries on the Laws of England. Book I, II, III, and IV. Oxford/New York: OUP, 2016, 1784 p. ISBN 9780199601035, £ 125

(image source: OUP)

The Legal History Blog reported the publication of the Oxford Edition of Blackstone (4 volumes, 1784 pages).

Book description:

Oxford's variorum edition of William Blackstone's seminal treatise on the common law of England and Wales offers the definitive account of the Commentaries' development in a modern format. For the first time it is possible to trace the evolution of English law and Blackstone's thought through the eight editions of Blackstone's lifetime, and the authorial corrections of the posthumous ninth edition. Introductions by the general editor and the volume editors set the Commentaries in their historical context, examining Blackstone's distinctive view of the common law, and editorial notes throughout the four volumes assist the modern reader in understanding this key text in the Anglo-American common law tradition.

Book I: Of the Rights of PeopleVolume Editor: David Lemmings

Book II: Of the Rights of ThingsVolume Editor: Simon Stern

Book III: Of Private WrongsVolume Editor: Thomas P. Gallanis

Book IV: Of Public WrongsVolume Editor: Ruth Paley

On the editor:

Edited by Wilfrid Prest, University of Adelaide
Sir William Blackstone (1723-1780) was a prominent public figure in the eighteenth century. Judge and jurist, barrister and politician, his work has had a profound influence on the Anglo-American legal tradition. The first Vinerian Professor of English Law, Blackstone was a Justice of the Court of Common Pleas at the time of his death. The Commentaries published in eight editions in his lifetime, and a posthumous ninth edition in 1783.

Contributors:

Wilfrid Prest is Professor Emeritus of Law and History at the University of Adelaide. He is the author of William Blackstone: Law and Letters in the Eighteenth Century (OUP 2012) as well as many other works of legal history.

 More information here.

NOTICE: The Hart Publishing Summer Sale (August, 3-23 2015)

The Hart Publishing Summer Sale is now on!

50% discount on selected titles

Hart Publishing is delighted to announce its Summer Sale which is available for 3 weeks (3rd August – 23rd August) 

To browse through the titles that are available at half price please click on the link below:

http://www.hartpub.co.uk/HartPublishingSummerSale2015.xls

NOTICE: Italian Monographs on Legal History Published in 2013

For a complete overview of the books published in the field of legal history in Italy in 2013, we suggest to have a look at the interesting and inspiring website http://www.storiadeldiritto.org managed by Paolo Alvazzi del Frate (univ. Roma Tre) - Loredana Garlati (univ. Milano Bicocca) - Marco Miletti (univ. Foggia) - Giovanni Rossi (univ. Verona),  and Dario di Cecca (univ. Roma Tre). 

In order to visualize the list of monographs, click here. 

BOOKS: Irish Legal History Society

Dear members, we have a few fantastic books coming out over the next few months... watch this space! Free to members as always
— Irish Legal History (@IrLegalHist) June 17, 2013

For additional information, see the Irish Legal History Society website at http://www.ilhs.eu/

BOOKS: Bell and Ibbetson on Comparative Studies in the Development of the Law of Torts in Europe

Cambridge University Press has published John Bell and David Ibbetson (eds), Comparative Studies in the Development of the Law of Torts in Europe:

This three-volume set contains the results of the second and final stage of an AHRC-funded project which aims to examine the nature of legal development in Western Europe since 1850, focusing on liability for fault. 

By bringing together experts with different disciplinary backgrounds – comparative lawyers and legal historians, all with an understanding of modern tort law in their own systems – and getting them to work collaboratively, the books produce a more nuanced comparative legal history and one which is theoretically better informed. 

Also available, the six-volume set containing the results of the first stage of this project.

Very highly recommended. SPD

Vattel's International Law from a XXIst Century Perspective - Le Droit International de Vattel vu du XXIe Siècle (V. Chetail and P. Haggemnacher, eds.)

To celebrate the author's Le droit des gens ou principes de la loi naturelle appliqués à la conduite et aux affaires des nations et des souverains (1758), Martinus Nijhoff published a collective work on Swiss diplomat and legal scholar Emer de Vattel (1714-1767), edited by Vincent Chetail and Peter Haggenmacher (Graduate Institute, Geneva) assembling contributions from authorities in both positive public international law and legal history.

Contents:

Research Handbook on the Theory and History of International Law (A. Orakhelashvili, ed.)

Edward Elgar recently published a Research Handbook on the Theory and History of International Law (560 p.), edited by Alexander Orakhelashvili (University of Birmingham).

Contents:

ForewordPhilip Allott

PART I: THE ESSENCE AND DEVELOPMENT OF INTERNATIONAL LEGAL THEORY
1. The Relevance of Theory and History: The Essence and Origins of International LawAlexander Orakhelashvili

2. Early-Modern Scholarship on International Law
Alain Wijffels

Medieval Florence

Ross MacDonald from Dundee recently alerted me to the works of Robert Kuehn on the city laws of Medieval Florence. Having had a quick browse through one of them, they would seem to be very useful to anyone interested in the interplay between the ius proprium and the ius commune in medieval "Italy", Florence being an interesting example of a city where the influence of the ius commune was long resisted owing to the strength of local custom.

I take the liberty of posting a link to his works on amazon here.

Another interesting book which recently landed on my desk is the English translation of an Italian work on Tabula Picta. In this fascinating book, Marta Madero has collected many of the important medieval jurists' views on this thorny property-law issue and has demonstrated rather gracefully just how legally innovative they were when dealing with Roman law. Well worth purchasing.

I take the liberty of posting a link to this work on amazon here.