New book by Ben Geva on the legal history of payment order

And people think my interest in municipal taxation is esoteric.... (Actually they think it's weird, but esoteric sounds better.)

Benjamin Geva of Osgoode Hall Law School has just published The Payment Order of Antiquity and the Middle Ages: A Legal History, number 6 in Hart Monographs in Transnational and International Law (under the editorship of Canada's newest NDP candidate.)

It could use a catchier title, but the cover illustration is lovely, and the book itself sounds intriguing. Amazon lists it as temporarily out of stock, so to order go to the Hart website. Caveat: at $160.51 and L95.00 it's a lot pricier than most legal histories. Also a little lengthier than the usual, at 784 pages.

Here's the publisher's blurb:

Examining the legal history of the order to pay money initiating a funds transfer, the author tracks basic principles of modern law to those that governed the payment order of Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Exploring the legal nature of the payment order and its underpinning in light of contemporary institutions and payment mechanisms, the book traces the evolution of money, payment mechanisms and the law that governs them, from developments in Ancient Mesopotamia, Ancient Greece, Rome, and Greco-Roman Egypt, through medieval Europe and post-medieval England. Doctrine is examined in Jewish, Islamic, Roman, common and civil laws.

Investigating such diverse legal systems and doctrines at the intersection of laws governing bank deposits, obligations, the assignment of debts, and negotiable instruments, the author identifies the common denominator for the evolving legal principles and speculates on possible reciprocity. At the same time he challenges the idea of 'law merchant' as a mercantile creation.

The book provides an account of the evolution of payment law as a distinct cohesive body of legal doctrine applicable to funds transfers. It shows how principles of law developed in tandem with the evolution of banking and in response to changing circumstances and proposes a redefinition of 'law merchant'.

The author points to deposit banking and emerging technologies as embodying a great potential for future non-cash payment system growth. However, he recommends caution in predicting both the future of deposit banking and the overall impact of technology. At the same time he expresses confidence in the durability of legal doctrine to continue to evolve and accommodate future payment system developments.

 

Montreal group to explore the legal in the historical and vice versa

Colour me jealous. First time I wished I lived in Montreal.

A legal history reading group is to be hosted by McGill's Institute for the Public Life of Arts and Ideas beginning January 17:  LEGAL HISTORY: EXPLORING THE LEGAL IN THE HISTORICAL & THE HISTORICAL IN THE LEGAL.

According to my source, Charles Hoffman, Richard H. Tomlinson Doctoral Fellow
McGill University Institute of Comparative Law (whom I thank for the info):

Over the course of seven sessions, this reading group will explore how historians and legal scholars specifically, and other scholars generally, approach legal history. The goal is to provide a forum in which scholars from a variety of disciplines can come together to discuss legal historical issues and questions. In particular, this reading group will serve as a venue for those interested in legal history to learn from one another and discuss their common research interests. We will begin by asking what “legal history” is, and then explore how legal scholars utilize history and how historians utilize the law. For most sessions, we will read and contrast an article written by a Professor of History with an article written by a Professor of Law on a related topic. Topics will include the study of legal cases, legal biographies, labour conflict, urban pigkeeping, “monstrous births”, and the use of fiction in legal history.

PLACE: 3610 McTavish St., Room 21-6
TIME:  2:00-4:00pm
DATES: 17 January, 31 January, 14 February, 28 February, 13 March, 27 March, 3 April

For more information, visit http://www.mcgill.ca/iplai/reading-groups/legal-history  (which provides a pdf seting out the themes and readings, with pictures no less!) or email charles.hoffman@mail.mcgill.ca .

It would be wonderful if one or more of the participants could report on one or more of these sessions for this blog. No need for live-blogging; after the fact reflections would be great. Send them along at I will post them verbatim or edited, your choice!

Legal History of the British Empire Conference in Singapore

Happy 2012 to all!

From Shaunnagh Dorsett of the Faculty of Law, University of Technology, Sydney NSW, a call for registrations for the Legal History of the British Empire Conference (title: Law, Spaces, Cultures & Empire: Engagements & Legacies) to be held in Singapore, July 5-7, 2012.  The keynote is Professor Catherine Hall of University College London. The plenary speaker is the Hon, Justice Andrew Phang of theSingapore Court of Appeal. In addition, there is a Blue Ribbon Panel consisting of our own John Weaver of McMaster University along with Martin Wiener of Rice University, and Bridget Brereton of University of the West Indies.  For more info, see the conference website.  While the call for papers is closed (a draft program will soon be available on the website,) registrations are open for non-presenters.

If you happen to be in the area this summer, or have travel money to spend, this looks like a good one.

More kind words for Sharpe's The Last Day,The Last Hour: The Currie Libel Trial

From Gary P. Rodrigues at Slaw.

Says Gary:

"My suggestion, if you haven’t already done so, is to check it out. The Last Day, The Last Hour is a good read and a valuable contribution to Canada’s legal, political and military history. You will like it."

Mr. Justice Sharpe's new book, The Lazier Murder: Prince Edward County, 1884, the Osgoode Society's  book of the year for 2011, is just as good a read. Either of these books would make a good Christmas present....

Philip Girard new legal history columnist at Law Times

Astute readers of the Law Times will have noticed that Philip Girard has succeeded Christopher Moore as the legal history columnist.

Here's the link to the November 21st issue. Philip's column is on page 6.

Chris did a great job with this gig--accessible yet scholarly--and fans of legal history will no doubt find Philip's efforts excellent as well. Caveat lector: the digital version of the Law Times is not easy to navigate. But the print version is fine--just turn the pages.

MacLaren to speak on Comparative Turn at Griffith Legal History Seminar

Readers in the vicinity of Griffith Law School (South Bank Campus, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia) may be interested in hearing John MacLaren at the Legal History Seminar Series on Tuesday, December 13, 2011, 5:30 for 6 pm. Registration required (classy, I guess?) Professor MacLaren will speak and answer questions about the 'Comparative Turn in Legal History,'  for which task no-one is more qualified. More information here.

Schneiderman review of Vaughan biography of Haldane

We get requests!

David Schneiderman of the U of T Faculty of Law and Department of Political Science has sent along a note about his review of Frederick Vaughan's biography, Viscount Haldane: 'The Wicked Stepfather of the Canadian Constitution.'  'Haldane unrevealed' will appear in the McGill Law Journal and is currently available on SSRN.

Suffice it to say Schneiderman is not a fan of the book. Here's the abstract:

When historians proffer historical truths they "must not merely tell truths," they must "demonstrate their truthfulness as well," observes Hackett Fisher. As against this standard, Frederick Vaughan's intellectual biography of Richard Burdon Haldane does not fare so well. Vaughan argues that Viscount Haldane's jurisprudential tilt, which favoured the provinces in Canadian federalism cases before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC), was rooted in Haldane's philosophizing about Hegel. He does so, however, without much reference to the political and legal currents within which Haldane thought, wrote, and thrived. More remarkably, Vaughan does not derive from his reading of Haldane and Hegel any clear preference for the local over the national. We are left to look elsewhere for an explanation for Haldane's favouring of the provincial side in division-of-powers cases. Vaughan additionally speculates about why Haldane's predecessor Lord Watson took a similar judicial path, yet offers only tired and unconvincing rationales. Vaughan, lastly, rips Haldane out of historical context for the purpose of condemning contemporary Supreme Court of Canada decision-making under the Charter. Under the guise of purposive interpretation, Vaughan claims that the justices are guilty of constitutionalizing a "historical relativism" that Vaughan wrongly alleges Hegel to have propounded. While passing judgment on the book's merits, the purpose of this review essay is to evaluate the book by situating it in the historiographic record, a record that Vaughan ignores at his peril.