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The Edinburgh Legal History Blog Posts

Joseph Knight and the End of Slavery in Scotland

Published 16 June 2020 by jcairns

Given current discussions, the Blog is delighted to draw the attention of its followers to the short video available on YouTube: “Joseph Knight Scenes for Survival“.

The story of Joseph Knight is relatively well known. African-born, and acquired in Jamaica as an adolescent by John Wedderburn, a Jacobite in exile trying to restore his family’s fortunes, he was brought to Scotland where he met and married Annie Thomson and sought successfully through legal means to have his freedom recognized. He had a series of distinguished lawyers act for him, including Henry Dundas, the future Viscount Melville, whose eloquent speech was quoted in the Caledonian Mercury on 21st February, 1776.

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Kilts, Plaids, and Togas

Published 7 June 2020 by jcairns

Pompeo Batoni’s brilliant picture of Colonel William Gordon in the ruins of Rome is fairly well known. It is part of the Fyvie Castle collection, and was recently displayed in Edinburgh.

One interesting aspect is that Batoni portrays Colonel Gordon” Huntly tartan plaid and kilt as if in silk. He has also given it a consciously toga-like aspect to it. In the ruins of Rome, he becomes a dignified, if glamorous, almost classical figure, with his sword and British military dress, as a personification of Rome offers him an orb, while also holding laurel wreath. With his right hand, he leans on his sword, while his left holds his Glengarry bonnet. His best known action was to defend the House of Commons against the mob led by his nephew, Lord George Gordon, in the Gordon riots in 1780.

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Recent Publications in Roman Law connected to the University of Edinburgh

Published 26 May 2020 by jcairns

The first subject taught in law in the University of Edinburgh was Roman law, then known as was traditional as Civil Law, the term still used in the Edinburgh curriculum. The chair of Civil Law was founded in 1710 as the second chair in law, but no teaching was offered from the first chair, that of public law and the law of nature and nations until 1711. But from 1710, Roman law has been continually taught in the University.

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Travel of ideas in the nineteenth century: from Scotland to Chile

Travel of ideas in the nineteenth century: from Scotland to Chile

Published 15 May 2020 by pdupless

by María Ithurria (PhD student, University of Edinburgh) and Claudio Soltmann (Historian, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile)

Introductory remarks

Let us go back to the nineteenth century. There is no doubt that Andrés Bello (1781 – 1865) was a prominent intellectual figure for Latin America. His work had a massive impact on the rise of post-independence nation-building. Bello was born in Venezuela but spent his entire adult life between London and Santiago de Chile: the London years (1810-1829) provided him with the most vibrant intellectual environment of those times, and Chile was the perfect place to develop the knowledge acquired there. Bello is widely recognised due to his work as the drafter of the Chilean Civil Code, which was borrowed by many other Latin-American countries. On the other hand, he is well-known as the founder of the Universidad de Chile. Is worth saying that this university played a crucial role in the construction of Chile as an independent country.

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Last Survivor of the Transatlantic Slave Trade

Published 26 March 2020 by jcairns

The BBC this morning (25 March) reported that Hannah Durkin of the University of Newcastle had traced the last survivor of the transatlantic slave trade as one Matilda McCrear, who lived until 1940, dying in Selma, later famous for its role in the civil rights movement in the U.S.A.  Dr Durkin is researching the survivors of the Clotilda, the last U.S. slave ship. Ms McCrear arrived in Alabama in 1860. This is fascinating news.

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