Tuesday, July 12, 2016

CFP: A&NZ Law and History Society, 2016

[Via H-Law, we have the following announcement.  Note the deadline of July 29.]

The 35th Annual Australia and New Zealand Law and History Society Conference will be held at the Curtin Law School, Perth City Building on Monday 5 to 7 December 2016. This year's conference is entitled: 'Echoes on the Periphery: The Transformation of British Law in Africa and the Asia-Pacific'. This conference focuses on how the law changed to address the local conditions of the peoples and settlers in the British Empire in the 19th and 20th centuries. The foundation of colonies and societies in Africa, Asia, Australasia and in the British Empire generally was a chaotic affair. Before the effective extension of state authority and jurisdiction across the territories, various settler and local populations interacted across a range of customary, informal, colonial and imperial legal orders. The disputes among these groups not only involved fundamental economic interests but also were about competing political and legal philosophies regarding the nature and extent of developing colonial and national states. This conference seeks to investigate the law and rules that arose from this colonial milieu: an amalgam of the colonial and imperial law, the informal law of the Anglo-settlers and the law of local and indigenous societies in the colonial territory, all of which gradually coalesced into the colonial and national states which exist today.

The theme for this conference is intended to be interpreted broadly and abstracts of papers on any legal history topic are welcome. Scholars and post-graduate students, particularly in the Asian, African and Pacific region, are encouraged to submit abstracts for consideration by the conference organisers. Abstracts will be selected on the basis of quality, relevance and originality of ideas. Presenters whose abstracts are accepted will be required to meet their own travel, accommodation and conference registration costs. Postgraduate students enrolled in an Australian or New Zealand university may apply for a Kercher Scholarship to assist with their attendance. Other postgraduate students may apply for similar funding from the Curtin Law School, directly to the conference convenors.

The deadline for submission of abstracts is Friday 29 July 2016. Abstracts of no more than 300 words should be contained in a Microsoft Word document and submitted via email to: ANZLHS2016@curtin.edu.au.