Professor John Cairns
After early research on the comparative legal history of Louisiana and Quebec, Professor Cairns has devoted himself to the study of the legal literature of Scotland and England in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and to a long term research project on the relationship between legal thought and legal education in the Scottish enlightenment. He has published extensively in those fields in Britain, North America, continental Europe and Japan. He is currently researching law and slavery in eighteenth-century Scotland and completing a monograph on the history of Scots law.
Mr WDH Sellar
Scottish Legal History: General; more specifically, history of obligations - promise, delict, unjust enrichment; family law - marriage and divorce; law of succession; presumptions; birlaw courts; homicide; Celtic law. Comparative legal history: Scottish, English and European.
WDH Sellar is the Lord Lyon King of Arms and is responsible for State Ceremonial in Scotland.
Dr Paul du Plessis
Dr du Plessis' research interests include Roman law the historical development of the civilian tradition in mixed jurisdictions, the relationship between law and history as well as between law and society in a historical context. Secondary research interests include the development of European Private Law, Comparative Law and International Private Law.
Professor Hector MacQueen
Professor MacQueen has written extensively on the law of medieval Scotland, making comparative use of English law in particular, but also considering canon law and the Celtic laws of medieval Ireland and Wales. He has also worked on later perceptions of medieval law in Scotland, and has recently developed a significant body of work on modern legal nationalism considered in its historical context. He has also worked on the doctrinal history of the law of obligations, often in collaboration with David Sellar.
Professor MacQueen is also a Commissioner at the Scottish Law Commission.
Centre for Legal History Students
Doctoral Research Students
Karen Baston is researching 'The Library of Charles Areskine (or Erskine) (1680-1763): Book Collecting and Lawyers in Scotland, 1700-1760'. Her research homepage is available here.
Amy Bratton is researching 'Slaves and free in Augustan social legislation'.
Michael Fry is researching 'Cities of Light: civil law and civic life in Edinburgh and Leipzig 1707-1806'
Jasmin Hepburn is researching 'The “ius commune” in Early Modern European legal thought (1453 – 1683)'. Her research homepage is available here.
Jonathan Horton is researching 'The limits of legislation as a source of law - a historical and comparative analysis'.
Juan P. Lewis is researching 'Slaves who exploit slaves: the use of
servi vicarii in the consolidation of the Roman slave system'.
Asya Ostroukh is researching the 'Reception of the French Civil Code in Quebec, Louisiana and Francophone Swiss Cantons: a Socio-legal Study'. Her research homepage is available here.
Munin Pongsapan is researching 'The Reception of Foreign Laws in Thailand: An Analysis of Breach of Contract Rules'. His research homepage is available here.
