Research Seminars
Glasgow Legal History Seminars aim to give authors the opportunity to discuss their recently published monographs and publications. Although seminars are organised on an ad hoc basis we hope to host four to five seminars each academic year. If you are interested in participating, please do get in touch with Stephen Bogle or Graeme Cunningham.
The seminars for Autumn 2022 are below, with Zoom links.
9 November, 3.00 pm
Stair Building, rm 207
University of Glasgow
or via Zoom
'Modernising' the Law: Seller's Liability for Delivering the Defective in Chile
María Ithurriar
PhD student, University of Edinburgh, and founder and president of the 'Red Chilena de Derecho Comparado'
Over the past 20 years, there have been increasing and more vigorous calls for modernising the rules of the Chilean Civil Code in the field of contract law. As a result, a reformist spirit is beginning to take hold amongst Chilean contract law scholars. Reformers are driven by the undoubtedly alluring idea that the Chilean codification should be brought in line with international and European law trends. ‘This would align with European trends’ is an authoritative claim that is increasingly heard in academic conferences to make the case for legal change. Amongst the areas targeted by this reformist spirit are the rules providing for the seller’s liability for the delivery of defective things.
Critics of the Chilean Civil Code have, on the one hand, imported European doctrines uncritically and, on the other, neglected the complexities of change. A conservative disposition is appropriate to explore these issues as it pushes us to look twice at the reformers’ claims before accepting them.
7 December, 3.00 pm
10 The Square, rm 207
or via Zoom
Intimate Partner Violence and Socialisation in Roman Legal Education
Kirsten Parkin
PhD candidate, University of Cambridge, and Alan Rodger Postgraduate Visitor at the University of Glasgow
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a major public health issue of global proportions: one in three women report having experienced a form of physical or sexual violence during their life (WHO 2022). We have good reason to think that so too IPV was endemic in ancient Rome. This paper examines the salience of IPV in the Latin pedagogical exercise of the controversiae. These exercises were designed to teach their participant persuasive oratory by arguing as the prosecution and/or defence in a case with hypothetical laws and scenarios. What is so striking about the controversiae is that they frequently ask their adolescent participant to imagine that they have committed IPV and then to justify their actions. In this paper, I will first unpack the various scenarios of the controversiae that feature IPV, with a specific focus on actio malae tractationis and adultery related homicide. Then, drawing on a range of modern studies on the role of education and exposure to interpersonal violence, I question what it meant to be educated in and with intimate partner violence.