Continuing our round-up of the prizes and award announced at the recent meeting of the American Society for Legal History, we turn now to the election of several Honorary Fellows. As the ASLH website explains,
Election as an Honorary Fellow of the American Society for Legal History is the highest honor the Society can confer. It recognizes distinguished historians whose scholarship has shaped the broad discipline of legal history and influenced the work of others. Honorary Fellows are the scholars we admire, whom we aspire to emulate, and on whose shoulders we stand.The first fellow announced was James R. “Jim” Phillips, Professor on the Faculty of Law of the University of Toronto and Editor-in-Chief of the Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History. The citation:
Professor Phillips has shaped the field of Canadian legal history through his own scholarship and through the dozens of scholars whose books and monographs he has shepherded to publication. Across four co-authored books, eight co-edited collections of essays, and over sixty book chapters and journal articles, Professor Phillips has deepened our understanding of a wide range of topics–criminal law, private law and the economy, judicial reform, the development of judicial independence, state relations with indigenous peoples, marriage and gender, trusts, the legal profession, prisons, and more. Professor Phillips’s earliest published work–several articles on eighteenth-century India and the East India Company–grew from his doctoral field in British imperial history. Law school, which he undertook while teaching, turned his attention to the legal history of Nova Scotia. In short order, his focus expanded to include the legal history of Canada as a whole, where, with one notable exception, his focus has remained. As field-defining as Professor Phillips’s scholarship has been, he has also built the field by encouraging and supporting the work of others. As Editor-in-Chief of the Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History since 2006, he has overseen the publication of over sixty books, monographs, and essay collections.Read on here.
The second Fellow announced was Martha S. Jones, Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor of History at the Johns Hopkins University and Professor at the SNF Agora Institute. The citation:
An intellectually demanding scholar and teacher of the highest caliber, Professor Jones has delivered a forceful historical vision in sweeping revisionist accounts of race and law in the American past. Working in many communities and genres, she models an astonishing synthesis of clear-eyed purpose and uncompromised engagement. She has been a mentor for many and an inspiration for still more. Her energies and productivity are legendary, not only in scholarly research and fierce writing, but in teaching, editing, and curating. Professor Jones has innovated in public history through performance, creative nonfiction, exhibitions. She teaches in the classroom and in the world. She is, in short, a powerhouse.Read on here.
There is no better example of Jones’s unabating commitment to teaching students, colleagues, and communities alike than her “Hard Histories” project at Johns Hopkins. Beginning with a research project and Special Report of Preliminary Findings authored by Jones in December 2020 on Johns Hopkins and slavery, Hard Histories has convened members of the Hopkins community to study the school’s past and its significance for the school’s present and future. “Through the lessons of hard histories,” the project promises, “we will chart a way forward.” Serving as the project’s Director, Jones has convened and presided over workshops, public conversations, art installations, and more, all designed to find new ways to unearth, confront, and work through."
The third Fellow announced was Peter Solomon, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Criminology and Law at the University of Toronto. The citation:
Professor Solomon is recognized in Western scholarship as the foremost authority on Russian law, in both Soviet and post-Soviet variants. He has been studying and publishing in this field for almost fifty years, and has encouraged, nurtured, and inspired several generations of scholars interested in the not obvious and nonetheless vitally important question of how Russia’s legal system works. Solomon’s books and articles repeatedly challenged conventional assumptions about Russian law; these studies transformed interpretations, approaches and sources, and became classic references for scholars working on Soviet legal history. Professor Solomon has reached beyond the Russian setting in his comparative studies on authoritarian law. He was deeply engaged in Russian reforms begun in the 1990s and has assisted in international legal projects in post-Soviet states. Responding to Russia’s imperial aggression in the 21st century, Peter Solomon has been a generous advisor and host to legal specialists and scholars in or displaced from post-Soviet countries. Outstanding and innovative scholar, kind and inspiring teacher, engaged specialist on law in world history and politics, Peter Solomon is an ideal candidate to be named an honorary fellow of our society.Read on here.
He has been an active scholar of Russia’s ongoing judicial reforms and has published numerous articles on post-Soviet procedure, the criminal code, the organs of prosecution and investigation, policing, the training and behavior of judges, rights, constitutional changes, and the work of the law in an authoritarian regime. In post-Soviet countries, Solomon’s work is of vital interest to both scholars and judicial reformers.
Congratulations to Professor Phillips, Professor Jones, and Professor Solomon!
-- Karen Tani