Legal History
Legal history research and teaching at Edinburgh Law School focuses on Roman Law in the Ancient World and the Middle Ages, the History of Scots Law, European Legal History and the Legal History of Louisiana, Natural Law and Canon Law, and Slavery.
This activity reflects a long tradition in the School as the Chair of Civil Law, founded 1710, was the first active law chair in the University. These fields are covered in a number of different courses, and there is a lively group of postgraduate students. Teaching and research are generally pursued in an interdisciplinary and comparative fashion, drawing on the excellent resources available in Edinburgh, to support historical and comparative research within the civilian tradition.
John W. Cairns, Professor of Civil Law
Paul J. du Plessis, Professor of Roman Law
Lisa Cowan, PhD student
Hector L. MacQueen, Emeritus Professor of Private Law
Guido Rossi, Reader in European Legal History
View current publications by staff:
Professor John W. Cairns
Professor Paul J. du Plessis
Professor Hector MacQueen
Dr Guido Rossi
Centre for Legal History
The Centre for Legal History provides a lively social and scholarly focus for the active research community – faculty members, postdoctoral researchers, and postgraduate students - in legal history, including Civil (Roman) law, in the School of Law.
