On 29th July the Civil Law Centre of the University of Aberdeen hosted an excellent and informative conference, organised by Adelyn Wilson, primarily on Scottish legal history. Papers were given by (1) Dr Andrew Simpson of Aberdeen on "History of the Presumption of Ownership in Moveable Property" exploring the early cases and practicks that formed the basis of Stair's influential view; (2) John MacLeod of Glasgow on the reception of the actio Pauliana in Scots law, discussing the Roman law, the ius commune and the Scottish legislation and cases; (3) Karen Baston of Edinburgh on Charles Areskine of Tinwald's law books; (4) Dr Paul du Plessis of Edinburgh on the background to Stair's view of contract in the ius commune, particularly focusing on Wesembecius and the issue of why Stair cited the sources he did; (5) Craig Newberry-Jones of Exter on the public image of barristers in 19th-century England, viewed through the lens provided by periodicals and newspapers; and (6) Dr John Finlay of Glasgow on notaries public in 18th-century Scotland.

The contributions were all of the highest order and stimuated important, far-ranging and enlightening discussion among an audience of legal historians, young and old, from all over Scotland.

Forthcoming at the Civil Law Centre are the following events: Dr Ivan Milotic, Zagreb, "Extrajudicial Mechanisms of Dispute Resolution in Roman Law" (26 October, 2011); Professor Jan Hallebeek (VU Amsterdam) Title TBC (27th April, 2012); "Law and Governance, 1400-1600" (18th-19th May, 2012) (With the Research Institute for Irish and Scottish Studies and the Society and Culture in the North Sea World Research project).

For further details and activities, please contact adelyn.wilson@abdn.ac.uk

Aug 1, 2011