Thursday, October 8, 2015

Law and Governance in pre-Modern Britain

[Via H-Law, we have an announcement for the conference Law and Governance in pre-Modern Britain, October 23-24, 2015.]

Law and Governance in pre-Modern Britain is the fifth conference on this general theme held at Western University, London, Ontario, Canada, and the second to focus entirely on the pre-modern period. The theme of the conference is intentionally broad, and the speakers have been asked simply to talk about whatever aspect of their research interests them most at the time.

Over the course of two days we will hear from an international group of leading legal historians with interests in crime, religion, the intersection of laws, the development of the profession, pardon, prison, process and trade. The range of topics is broad but their intersections are complex and varied. Two of the speakers are involved with the Early English Laws project to re-edit and translate all English legal texts written before Magna Carta, and thus are playing a role in revolutionizing the way we access sources and conduct research. Three are authors of volumes of the Oxford History of the Laws of England, either in print or in preparation, and thus are shaping the way we will understand the field for a generation.

The conference will take place in the Moot Court room of the Faculty of Law, and the atmosphere will be informal, with ample opportunity for discussion and conversation during breaks or over the conference lunch or Friday night dinner. Registration is available online, but will also be available on-site at the time of the conference. Space at the conference dinner on Friday evening is limited: early booking is strongly recommended and no bookings will be taken after October 19.

[Update: The draft program is here.]