Common Law Research Seminar

The seminar series 'Legal Transfer in the Common Law World’ provides a platform for the discussion of works in progress concerning the transfer of law across the British Empire. This ‘transfer’ includes the movement of legal ideas, personnel, legislation and practice between and across colonies and the metropole.

External scholars provide draft written pieces (ca. 20 pages) which are pre-circulated for discussion at a one-hour seminar. Internal and external PhD students are also encouraged to provide draft chapters of their thesis. At the seminar sessions speakers merely give a five-minute introduction before the discussion turns to their text. Scholars of different intellectual backgrounds are welcome, so as to provide an interdisciplinary discussion. The audience includes a mix of lawyers and historians who are all engaged in legal history research.

The seminar semesters run twice a year, from October to February, and April to July. The seminars are convened by Professor Stefan Vogenauer and Dr Martin O'Donoghue. They are open to undergraduate law students from Goethe University who are welcome to take the seminars as a module (Schwerpunktbereich ‘Grundlagen des Rechts’ und ‘Internationalisierung und Europäisierung des Rechts’ sowie für Studierende vor Ablauf der Zwischenprüfung).

English law in India: The introduction and codification of the law of restitution for unjust enrichment in India

Common Law Research Seminar
  • Date: Apr 28, 2025
  • Time: 02:15 PM - 03:15 PM (Local Time Germany)
  • Speaker: Ragini Surana
  • Room: Z01
  • Host: Stefan Vogenauer, Martin O'Donoghue
  • Contact: odonoghue@lhlt.mpg.de

The punitive origins of 'welfare' legislation

Common Law Research Seminar
  • Date: May 12, 2025
  • Time: 02:15 PM - 03:15 PM (Local Time Germany)
  • Speaker: Prakhar Ganguly
  • Room: Z01
  • Host: Stefan Vogenauer, Martin O'Donoghue
  • Contact: odonoghue@lhlt.mpg.de

Form and content of dissenting judgments and the doctrine of precedent in the Cape of Good Hope (1828-1890)

Common Law Research Seminar
  • Date: May 19, 2025
  • Time: 02:15 PM - 03:15 PM (Local Time Germany)
  • Speaker: Alexandra Wielandt
  • Room: Z01
  • Host: Stefan Vogenauer, Martin O'Donoghue
  • Contact: odonoghue@lhlt.mpg.de

Departure and decree: The HMT Empire Windrush and the 1948 British Nationality Act in the Jamaican perspective

Common Law Research Seminar
  • Date: May 26, 2025
  • Time: 02:15 PM - 03:15 PM (Local Time Germany)
  • Speaker: Holly French
  • Room: Z01
  • Host: Stefan Vogenauer, Martin O'Donoghue
  • Contact: odonoghue@lhlt.mpg.de

Writing the history of empires

Common Law Research Seminar
  • Other Location
  • Date: Jun 16, 2025
  • Time: 02:15 PM - 03:15 PM (Local Time Germany)
  • Speaker: Benedikt Stuchtey
  • Location: Marburg
  • Host: Stefan Vogenauer, Martin O'Donoghue
  • Contact: odonoghue@lhlt.mpg.de

Jeremy Bentham and the communication of legal authority: The Indian Penal Code of 1861

Common Law Research Seminar
  • Date: Jun 23, 2025
  • Time: 02:15 PM - 03:15 PM (Local Time Germany)
  • Speaker: Erica Ollikainen-Read
  • Location: mpilhlt
  • Room: Z01
  • Host: Stefan Vogenauer, Martin O'Donoghue
  • Contact: odonoghue@lhlt.mpg.de

Through the looking glass: Locating litigation privilege under the Indian Evidence Code

Common Law Research Seminar
  • Other room
  • Date: Jul 7, 2025
  • Time: 02:15 PM - 03:15 PM (Local Time Germany)
  • Speaker: Shaurya Upadhyay
  • Location: mpilhlt
  • Room: Z02
  • Host: Stefan Vogenauer, Martin O'Donoghue
  • Contact: odonoghue@lhlt.mpg.de
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