Learning about the law: Historical perspectives on public legal education for laypersons and underprivileged groups. 20-21 May 2025, University of Helsinki
This conference focuses on public legal education in a historical perspective. It aims to discuss the various ways in which legal information has been disseminated to groups of laypersons or underprivileged people in order to enhance their legal literacy. Such groups can include e.g. women and children, workers, people with disabilities, immigrants and refugees.
In the wake of industrialisation and the growth of the working class, many countries implemented legislation regarding workers' protection in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This in turn caused the need to educate workers on their rights. The early 20th century also witnessed the growth of women's rights regarding e.g. education, occupation, property and marriage - all of which women needed information on. Throughout history, there have been waves of immigration around the world for various reasons. Those leaving their homes and moving to another country have also needed knowledge on their rights and the laws they need to follow. Moreover, besides underprivileged groups, educating laypersons in general on legal matters has also been part of building liberal, democratic nation states in which citizens are aware of the legal system and know how to navigate it. This kind of public legal education can take various forms. Legal knowledge has been distributed e.g. through handbooks, magazine articles, popular lectures and courses.
The conference aims to bring together historical research on the topic from different countries or regions to form a comparative understanding on the reasons for such activities, the forms they take and the consequences these practices had for each group of people and even society as a whole.
Papers could discuss e.g.:
- the motives for distributing legal knowledge to laypersons and underprivileged groups
- the different actors involved (providers and recipients of public legal education)
- whether the activities are initiated from within the specific group or from the outside
- what kind of legal information was seen as relevant for each group
- the role of professional lawyers in these activities
- the role of various interest groups in promoting these activities (associations, political parties etc.)
- the role of the state in these activities
- the different media used to disseminate legal education (courses, lectures, handbooks, magazines, radio and tv programmes etc.)
- the role of publishers or media outlets
- public legal education as part of developing a civil society
- how has the increasing legal awareness impacted each group
- the topic from a broader comparative perspective
- a longue durée view on the phenomenon
Keynote presentations will be given by: Dr. Kate Bradley (University of Kent); Dr. Elsa Trolle Önnerfors (Lund University); and Prof. Felice Batlan (Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology).
Deadline for paper proposals with abstracts (max. 400 words) and a short description of the presenter is 30 November 2024. For further information, as well as sending paper proposals, please contact Marianne Vasara-Aaltonen (marianne.vasara-aaltonen@helsinki.fi), University Lecturer in Legal History at the University of Helsinki.
