Seminars and lectures

Ancient Law in Context  is an interdisciplinary research network comprising scholars from different disciplines who are interested in the interplay between law and society in the ancient Mediterranean. The co-ordinators of this group are Professor Paul J. du Plessis in the School of Law and Dr Ulrike Roth in the School of History, Classics and Archaeology. 

We start from the belief that there are a number of fundamental problems to be addressed: how and how far Roman law and other legal systems provided a framework for, and even perhaps facilitated, economic development, social change and political evolution, and whether that development, change and evolution modified the content and procedures of Roman law and other ancient legal systems; and how the use of legal evidence may lead to a better understanding of ancient societies, and vice versa. While the expertise of the co-ordinators lies within the study of law and society in the Graeco-Roman world, the network aims to include discussion of legal systems also of other parts of the ancient world. 

ALC also provides a forum for doctoral students to undertake research on aspects that fall within the remit of the network.

ALC aims to meet as a network once per term to discuss a specific issue within its remit.

For more information, contact Professor Paul du Plessis (p.duplessis@ed.ac.uk).

We especially welcome inquiries from doctoral students on the following areas:

• The interplay between law and society in the Roman Republic and early Empire
• Law, society and the Roman familia
• Roman slavery and the law
• Greek slavery and the law
• The use of Roman law in later legal systems, esp. the use of Roman slave law in early modern slave-owning societies

The Edinburgh Roman Law Group was founded in the early 1980s by the late Professor Peter Birks, then holder of the Chair of Civil Law at the University of Edinburgh, later Regius Professor of Civil Law at All Souls, Oxford. It is an interdisciplinary forum devoted to the study of Roman law in its broadest sense. The Group consists of specialists, students and members of the public with a general interest in Roman law.

Professor Paul du Plessis is the convener of the Edinburgh Roman Law Group and all enquires about it may be directed to him at p.duplessis@ed.ac.uk.

The group meets on two or three occasions during the course of the academic year. All meetings are open to the public.

If you wish to be informed of future meetings of the ERLG, join our mailing list by sending an email to the convener at p.duplessis@ed.ac.uk.

Projects

The Edinburgh Roman Law Group organised a conference on 'Law and Society in the Roman World' in 2004/05. The proceedings have been published as a volume in the Edinburgh Studies in Law series as JW Cairns and PJ du Plessis (eds) Beyond Dogmatics: Law and Society in the Roman World (EUP 2007).

New Frontiers: Law and Society in the Roman World (EUP 2013; pbk edn 2014), edited by Paul J du Plessis, continued the interdisciplinary perspective and approach explored in Beyond Dogmatics.

During the course of the 1980s, Peter Birks, then holder of the chair of Civil law at the University of Edinburgh, set up a Roman law club. According to the advertisement for this club, it was designed to operate in conjunction with the Edinburgh Roman Law Group and was ‘… an informal activity of the [Edinburgh Roman Law] Group with the particular aim of encouraging students whose interest in law or the ancient world attracts them to the study of Roman law.’

After Peter Birks’ departure from the chair in Civil law in the late 80s, the Roman law club lay dormant, while the Edinburgh Roman Law Group went from strength to strength, becoming one of the most prestigious meetings of its kind in Europe. With the filling of the chair in Civil law once more in 2013, it seems appropriate to resurrect the Roman law club also. Given the long and illustrious history of Civil law teaching at Edinburgh, it seems appropriate to rename the club after one of the great civilians who held the chair in the past, Henry Goudy,* professor of Civil law at the University of Edinburgh from 1889 to 1893. Thus, from 2013, the newly resurrected Roman law club will be known as the Henry Goudy Seminar in Roman Law.

Meetings

The Henry Goudy Seminar is a Roman law reading group that meets twice per semester to discuss law and life in the ancient world. The group is convened by Jonathan Ainslie. In this semester we will be meeting online. All students and staff with an interest in legal history and the history of the ancient world are warmly invited to take part. We particularly welcome undergraduates to attend, whether or not they formally study Roman law. 

The Chiene Lectures honour the memory of Peter Chiene, a graduate in Law and Philosophy of the School of Law. After concluding his studies in 1971, Peter qualified and practiced as a solicitor in Edinburgh. He retained a lively interest in legal history, especially in the historic links between Scotland and the Netherlands during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, until his tragic, early death.

Founded in 1985 by Professor Peter Birks as Legal History Discussion Group, the forum has evolved into a series of interdisciplinary seminars (two a year) led by international specialists on medieval and early modern law in historical context. The Seminar is named after Professor Alan Watson, who held the Chair of Civil Law in Edinburgh from 1968 to 1980.

The Cambridge–Edinburgh Roman Law Moot offers students an exciting new forum for intellectual and social exchange at the heart of the Western legal tradition. A collaboration between the Centre for Legal History at Edinburgh Law School and the Faculty of Law at the University of Cambridge, with the participation of the University of Edinburgh Mooting Society and the Cambridge University Law Society, the Moot pits teams of four undergraduates from each University against one another to argue a dispute in Roman private law set in the reign of the Emperor Justinian the Great (527–565 CE). The libellus for the inaugural Moot involves claims of damnum iniuria (loss and damage to property) and iniuria (outrage), and associated subtleties connected with the law of property and burial.

It is anticipated that Moot will take place annually in the autumn, alternately hosted in Edinburgh and Cambridge. The format is a double moot, in which each team presents argument against the other both as claimant and as defendant. A professor from each University presides. A perpetual trophy will be presented at a dinner for all participants at the conclusion of the Moot, together with a Præmium Optimi Oratoris sive Best Oralist Award.

The Centre for Legal History, Edinburgh Law School, is proud to announce the formation of an online forum devoted to the study of Historical Jurisprudence. Historical Jurisprudence, broadly conceived, involves considering the intersection of legal history and legal theory, and how thinking about the law has changed over time. The forum will meet online, three times per academic year, to host an invited speaker who will present a paper on the main figures within this movement and the intellectual ramifications of their scholarship. The conveners of the Forum are Dr Lorren Eldridge and Professor Paul J. du Plessis.