BOOK: "Granville Sharp's Cases on Slavery" by Andrew Lyall (March, 2017)

Andrew Lyall, Granville Sharp's Cases on Slavery

all information here

The purpose of Granville Sharpe's Cases on Slavery is twofold: first, to publish previously unpublished legal materials principally in three important cases in the 18th century on the issue of slavery in England, and specifically the status of black people who were slaves in the American colonies or the West Indies and who were taken to England by their masters. The unpublished materials are mostly verbatim transcripts made by shorthand writers commissioned by Granville Sharp, one of the first Englishmen to take up the cause of the abolition of the slave trade and slavery itself. Other related unpublished material is also made available for the first time, including an opinion of an attorney general and some minor cases from the library of York Minster.

The second purpose, outlined in the Introduction, is to give a social and legal background to the cases and an analysis of the position in England of black servants/slaves brought to England and the legal effects of the cases, taking into account the new information provided by the transcripts. There was a conflict in legal authorities as to whether black servants remained slaves, or became free on arrival in England. 

Lord Mansfield, the chief justice of the court of King's Bench, was a central figure in all the cases and clearly struggled to come to terms with slavery. The material provides a basis for tracing the evolution of his thought on the subject. On the one hand, the huge profits from slave production in the West Indies flooded into England, slave owners had penetrated the leading institutions in England and the pro-slavery lobby was influential. On the other hand, English law had over time established rights and liberties which in the 18th century were seen by many as national characteristics. That tradition was bolstered by the ideas of the Enlightenment. 

By about the 1760s it had become clear that there was no property in the person, and by the 1770s that such servants could not be sent abroad without their consent, but whether they owed an obligation of perpetual service remained unresolved. - See more at: http://www.bloomsburyprofessional.com/uk/granville-sharps-cases-on-slavery-9781509911219/#sthash.AY2eqVh2.dpuf 

Dr Andrew Lyall is a retired member of staff in Law at University College Dublin

Table of contents

Library guides on legal history at Oxford University (Legal History Blog)

The Legal History Blog provides a link to the Research Guides concerning Legal History at Oxford University:

Elizabeth Wells prepared guides on Ancient Law (Excluding Roman Law); Legal History: Western Europe; Legal History: England & Common Law Tradition; and International Law: Origins & History.  Margaret Watson prepared the guide on Roman Law.

More information here.

BOOK CHAPTER: Miriam KOENKLER & Tine STEIN, "State, Law, and Constitution: Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde's Political and Legal Thought in Context", in: Mirjam KUENKLER and Tine STEIN (eds.) Constitutional and Political Theory: Selected Writings by Ernst-Wolfgang Boeckenfoerde 1. Oxford: OUP, 2017

(image source: Wikimedia Commons)

The Law and Humanities Blog signals a forthcoming recueil of the writings of E.-W. Böckenförde, a seminal public law academic and judge in post-WWII Germany.

Abstract:

This is the introduction to Mirjam Künkler and Tine Stein (eds.): Constitutional and Political Theory. Selected Writings by Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde. Oxford University Press, January 2017. Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde (b. 1930) is one of Europe's foremost legal scholars and political thinkers. As a scholar of constitutional law and a judge on Germany's Federal Constitutional Court (December 1983-May 1996), Böckenförde has been a major contributor to contemporary debates in legal and political theory, to the conceptual framework of the modern state and its presuppositions, and to contested political issues ranging from emergency measures to the ethics of genetic engineering, citizenship rights, and challenges of European integration. His writings have shaped not only academic but also wider public debates from the 1950s to the present, to an extent that few European scholars can match. As a federal constitutional judge, Böckenförde has influenced the way in which academics and citizens think about law and politics. During his tenure as a member of the Second Senate of the Federal Constitutional Court, several path-breaking decisions for the Federal Republic of Germany were handed down, including decisions pertaining to the deployment of missiles, the law on political parties, the regulation of abortion, and the process of European integration. The volume is organized in four sections, focusing respectively on (I) the political theory of the state; (II) constitutional theory; (III) constitutional norms and fundamental rights; and (IV) the relation between state, citizenship, and political autonomy. Each of these feature introductions to the articles as well as a running editorial commentary to the work. A second volume will follow, comprising Böckenförde's writings on the relation between religion, law, and democracy.

See fulltext on SSRN.

CONFERENCE: "Aspects fiscaux du droit des successions sous l’Empire romain" (Paris, March 7, 2017)

WHAT Aspects fiscaux du droit des successions sous l’Empire romain, Conference

WHEN March 7, 2017, 17:30

WHERE Faculté de droit de l’Université Paris Descartes, salle des Actes, 10 avenue Pierre Larousse 92240 Malakoff (Métro ligne 13 Malakoff-Plateau de Vanves)

speaker

Prof. Ulrike Babusiaux, University of Zürich

CFP: "The Making of Commercial Law” Fifth Conference: (Helsinki, 26-28 September 2017)

WHAT The Making of Commercial Law Fifth Conference, Historiography of Commercial Law: Past, Present, and Future 

WHEN September 26-28, 2017

WHERE University of Helsinki, Law Faculty, Helsinki 

deadline March 31, 2017

“The Making of Commercial Law” Conference n:o 5 - Historiography of Commercial Law: Past, Present, and Future (Helsinki, 26-28 September 2017), Doctoral school session

The organisers of the 5th conference of the project ”The Making of Commercial Law” are pleased to call for papers for a doctoral school session at the upcoming conference ”Historiography of Commercial Law: Past, Present, and Future” to be held in Helsinki, Finland on 26-28 September, 2017. The director of the project is Prof. Heikki Pihlajamäki (University of Helsinki, email: heikki.pihlajamaki@helsinki.fi), and it is funded by the Academy of Finland and the Finnish Cultural Foundation.

The project seeks to study the history of commercial law through contemporary scholarly literature and statutory material as well as court records, thus re-evaluating the concept of a medieval and early modern lex mercatoria. According to critics, the main problem with this concept is that it is lacking empirical evidence, at least if a legally binding commercial practice in the form of lex mercatoria is thought to have covered more or less the whole European continent. More local studies are still needed, however, to find out to what extent common rules or practices existed, how binding they were, and whether commercial disputes were solved in courts of law or elsewhere in different parts of Europe. Because historical arguments have been used to bolster modern legal theories of modern lex mercatoria, it is pivotally important to screen the historical argumentation and to do it comparatively, setting national histories in an international context.

This conference aims to examine the historiography of commercial law in a broad perspective. First, there will be presentations by invited scholars from various European countries discussing the historiography in their respective regions (The Past). The second conference day will begin with a debate with invited historians and positive-law scholars discussing, e. g., the relationship between history and positive law in commercial matters (The Present). The final part of the conference is dedicated to a doctoral school for Ph.D. students introducing their current research (The Future). The preliminary programme of the Past and Present sections is available on our project website: http://blogs.helsinki.fi/makingcommerciallaw/

Six Ph.D. students will be selected through this open call to participate in the doctoral school session. The presentations (15 min) will first be commented by a senior researcher (10 min) followed by a discussion (10 min) Papers may cover the history of commercial law from the medieval to the modern period. Presentations should be in English. For the six selected students, hotel accommodation in single rooms for two nights in Helsinki and travel costs up to 500 euros per person will be paid. More students may be selected to participate at their own cost and conference fee of 50 euros.

To offer a paper, please send the title of the paper, a short abstract (200-400 words), and a short CV to the project coordinator Jussi Sallila (jussi.sallila@helsinki.fi) by 31 March, 2017. Accepted papers will be announced by 15 April, 2017.

NOTICE: Several positions for doctoral students at the Max Planck Institut (Frankfurt am Main, 2017)

Several positions are currently open for doctoral students at the Max Planck Institute for European Legal History in Frankfurt:

up to four doctoral students – Research Group: Transitions and Translations

one doctoral student – Research Group: Governance of the Universal Church

up to two doctoral students – Law and Diversity (German proficiency required)

Further information on these positions and application deadlines are available on the institute's website: http://www.rg.mpg.de/job_offers

SUMMER ACADEMY: 2017 Max Planck Summer Academy for Legal History (Frankfurt am Main, July 25-August 4 2017)

WHAT 2017 Max Planck Summer Academy for Legal History 

WHEN July 25-August 4 2017

WHERE Max Planck Institut, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

deadline for submissions March 31, 2017

The Course

The Max-Planck Summer Academy for Legal History provides a selected group of highly motivated early-stage graduates, usually PhD candidates, an in-depth introduction to methods and principles of research in legal history.

The academy consists of two parts. The first part provides an introduction to the study of sources, methodological principles, as well as theoretical models and controversial research debates on basic research fields of legal history.

In the second part the participants discuss the special research theme and develop their own approach to the theme.

The course will take place at the Max Planck Institute for European Legal History in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

Special Theme 2017: Conflict Regulation

Conflict is not just a constant challenge for the law, but also a key means of access to its history. Each society develops its own set of means of conflict regulation. The diversity ranges from different forms of dispute resolution and mediation to traditional juridical procedures at local and global level. The way conflicts are regulated reveals the normative options chosen by the parties involved in the conflict. Thus, conflicts and their regulation can provide an insight into local contingencies, traditions, as well as the pragmatic contexts and leading authorities of the law, the living law. Research projects to be presented at the Summer Academy should concentrate on historical mechanisms of conflict regulation and offer a critical reflection about the methods used for analyzing the conflicts and the way they are dealt with.

Eligibility Requirements

• Early-stage graduates, usually PhD candidates

• Working knowledge of English is required, German is not a prerequisite

Application

Required documents for the application are a CV, a project summary (approx. 10 pages) and a letter of motivation.

Fees

There is no participation fee. Accommodation will be provided by the organizers. Participants, however, will be responsible for covering their travel expenses. There will be a limited number of scholarships available.

For further information please visit the Max Planck Summer Academy’s website.

Contact

Max Planck Institute for European Legal History

Dr. Stefanie Rüther, e-mail: summeracademy@rg.mpg.de