BOOK: Lorren ELDRIDGE, Emily IRELAND & Caroline DERRY (eds.), Celebrating Women in Legal History. Making and Shaping a Discipline (London: Bloomsbury, 2026), 232 p. ISBN 9781509983919

 

(image source: Bloomsbury)

Abstract:

This book champions the work of women in legal history, and their contributions to both the discipline and feminist activism over nearly two centuries. It considers women in academia, which was, in theory, open to women before they could become lawyers in most European countries. And it considers women working beyond the academy: many studied legal history in other ways; in local history societies, through archival work, and via activism. Women legal historians have been under-recognised or forgotten altogether, even where they made substantial scholarly contributions. In focusing on the work of women in legal history, this book lays the foundations for a transformational reassessment of the discipline. It asks searching questions about what counts as legal history. It demonstrates that work by and about women should appear in our legal history courses, be discussed in our seminars, and be cited in our academic work. If the field of legal history is lively, innovative, and wide-ranging, everyone working in it benefits. By shining a light on undervalued scholarship, and areas which have received insufficient attention, we challenge assumptions in our discipline and advance its methods. Whilst some women were pioneers and worked to change gendered aspects of the law, others led more ordinary lives, disappearing from the gaze of legal history even as they contributed to it. This book tells some of their stories.

Table of contents:

Foreword, Erika Rackley (University of Birmingham, UK)
1. Selden's Sister and Women in Legal History, Lorren Eldridge (University of Cambridge, UK), Emma Ireland (University of Liverpool, UK) and Caroline Derry (The Open University, UK)

Part I: Methodology and Studying Women in Legal History
2. Unwritten Stories: Recovering and Writing Women's Legal History, Jennifer Aston (Northumbria University UK)
3. Missing Mildred Miles, Christine George (New York University Law Library, USA)

Part II: Women Legal Historians in the Academy
4. Rights and Duties of Englishwomen: The Life and Work of Erna Reiss (1888-1974), Feminist Legal Historian, Anne Logan (University of Kent, UK)
5. Aere Perennius: The Life and Legacy of Professor Olivia Robinson, Lisa Cowan (University of Edinburgh, UK)
6. The First Women Scholars in Serbian and Yugoslav Legal History at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law, Nina Kršljanin (University of Belgrade, Serbia)
7. Jelena Danilovic: The First Woman to Teach Roman Law in Serbia, Valentina Cvetkovic-Ðordevic (University of Belgrade, Serbia)

Part III: Women Legal Historians on the Periphery
8. Madge Easton Anderson: Making and Shaping Legal History from Scotland, Maria Fletcher, Charlie Peevers and Seonaid Stevenson-McCabe (University of Glasgow, UK)
9. Scotland's Representative: Chrystal Macmillan and Suffragist Legal Historical Practice, Charlie Peevers (University of Glasgow, UK)

10. The Marriages of Captain John Campbell of Carrick: How a Wronged Wife Changed English Marriage Law, Deborah Siddoway (Durham University, UK)

 

 On the editors:

Lorren Eldridge is Assistant Professor at the University of Cambridge, UK; Emily Ireland is a Lecturer in Law at the University of Liverpool, UK.; Caroline Derry is Lecturer in Law at The Open University, UK.

More information here.