SPD: On the Road Again

SPD [reconstructed after returning home for the one or two who care - Tweeting's a strange business ...]: 

I noted again the variety of voices at the British Legal History Conference: expanded female participation, more comparative perspectives, colonial papers, neglected institutions, and external histories!

I enjoyed a session on changes in Anglo-American criminal law and grand juries from c1783-1850.

I noted that the few 'Irish' papers presented obscured the actual complexities of law and authority there. Eventually I offered my collection with Michael Brown, The Laws & Other Legalities of Ireland, 1689-1850 (2011) as a corrective. Unfortunately, such voices weren’t present at the conference. I suggested, to the questions of others at the conference, that we in Ireland need to ensure that these others are present, too. Let a thousand flowers bloom …

On Friday afternoon, I was very excited about Alain Wijffels' 'Legal arguments in the English-Hanseatic commercial controversies, 1400-1700'.

The conference dinner, not least the company and the after-dinner whiskey, was excellent.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t stay for Saturday. It was a great conference and Mark Godfrey deserves tremendous credit for doing such a fine job. 

Next Summer: the European Society for Comparative Legal History ...