The discipline with which law has always been most deeply involved is history.  Law is founded in history, legitimated by history, and developed through history. Yet the relationship of law to history is often something that we either take for granted or shy away from.

Why does legal history matter? What are its demands and its rewards? How might it relate to your legal research?

The visit next week of Professor Emanuele Conte, one of Europe’s leading legal historians, provides the perfect opportunity to explore these questions.  We invite all members of the College – in particular HDR students and early career researchers – to join a conversation on the role, the potential, and the distinct challenges of research into questions of law in history. 

If you wish to explore the ways in which historical methods might inform or enrich your own research; or if you have a current research project that raises particular problems or issues in the handling of historical materials, come along to this discussion and share your work and your questions with a renowned international expert in the field. 

For further information contact: desmond.manderson@anu.edu.au

Born in Rome in 1959, Emanuele Conte undertook a classical education in Italy. Following a degree in the Humanities through the Faculty of History, University of Rome “La Sapienza”, he turned to the study of legal history, focussing on 16th Century legal education and 12th and 13th Century legal scholasticism, under the supervision of the most noteworthy specialist in the history of medieval law, Ennio Cortese.

Conte began teaching at Roma Tre in 1995, where he became a full Professor in 2000, and was appointed to the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS) in Paris, as a member of the Centre d'études des normes juridiques. He has published six books as an author, five as an editor, and more than sixty articles, and has given talks and papers in the US, the UK, Argentina, Taiwan, and throughout Europe. In 2014 he was Visiting Professor at the Law School of the University of Pennsylvania. In 2008, he introduced a new course, Law and the Humanities, at Roma Tre, which has attracted the participation of some of the most significant specialists and scholars in the field.