Events
Forthcoming Events
The Third Annual Dodderidge Lecture will be delivered by Professor Michael Lobban (Queen Mary, University of London) in 2012. Full details to follow.
Dr Billy Davies, Visiting Leverhulme Professor, will deliver his third Leverhulme lecture in March 2012.
Recent Events
The Second Annual Dodderidge Lecture
Monday 6th June 2011 - University of Exeter
On 6th June 2011, Richard Ireland delivered the Second Annual Dodderidge Lecture at the Bracton Centre for Legal History Research in the University of Exeter Law School. To an enthusiastic audience he gave a stimulating lecture on How Common was the Common Law, questioning assumptions as to the scope and reach of the Common Law at different periods in history and challenging scholarship that claimed a law that was sufficiently widely applicable to be convincingly called a ‘common’ law. The lecture was accompanied by visual illustrations, including a photograph of one of Dodderidge’s works in his own hand, complete with his annotations, and with numerous examples drawn from the lecturer’s extensive scholarship. The absence of the Common Law from Wales led to an invigorating discussion on the role of custom and its powerful – and effective - resistance to an imposed ‘Common Law’. The evening concluded with a buffet and champagne. A transcript of the lecture is available here: How Common was the Common Law?
Inaugural Dodderidge Lecture
23 June 2010 – University of Exeter
Professor David Sugarman from Lancaster University, a leading authority on the English legal profession gave a stimulating lecture entitled ‘Revolting Law – Revolting Law Teachers? The Struggle to Render Law a Subject Fit for University Education’.
The Nineteenth British Legal History Conference
Wednesday 8th July - Saturday 11th July 2009 - University of Exeter
This is the first time the internationalconference addressed the two components of legal history research – its methodology and its substance, and papers reflecting both facets were presented.
The conference primarily considered the approaches, perspectives and methodologies of legal history. By drawing together the leading scholars in the field it stimulated debate, analysed and highlighted the fundamental processes in the researching and writing of legal history. It identified and explored both traditional and novel approaches to the use of diverse source materials, and discussed their nature, relative value and issues of interpretation.
This is the first time the methodology of legal history has been an area of focus in an international conference. In addressing the making of legal history, the conference provided an opportunity for scholars in law, history and other disciplines to take stock of how they conceive and construct their legal history, while at the same time offered a showcase for substantive legal history research. A volume of papers from the conference will be published in due course.
