INAUGURAL LECTURE 2011-12

Patterns of Legal Change

by
Professor Paul Mitchell 
Professor of Law, UCL Faculty of Laws

Chaired by
Professor Dame Hazel Genn DBE QC
Dean of UCL Faculty of Laws

on Thursday 9 February 2012, from 6-7.15pm

Venue:
UCL Gustave Tuck Lecture Theatre
UCL Central Campus
Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT 

Accredited with 1 CPD hour by the
Solicitors Regulation Authority and the Bar Standards Board (Pending)

About this lecture:
This lecture argues that understanding how and why legal change occurs is a fundamental inquiry for the academic study of law. However, the patterns of legal change remain inadequately understood, and - as a consequence - little studied in their own right, and under-theorised. We too often make crude assumptions based on limited evidence, which, when a wider range of primary sources are considered, are shown to be mistaken. These primary sources – such as law reform committee papers, judges’ notebooks, and correspondence – show that the way in which legal change comes about is far more complex, subtle and unpredictable than the official sources would have us believe. A more accurate understanding of what actually happens allows for the creation, and refinement, of radically different theoretical models of legal change.
 

About the speaker: 
Paul Mitchell joined UCL as Professor of Laws in 2010, having previously taught at King's College London, Queen Mary University of London, and Oxford University. His main research interests are the law of obligations, legal history and Roman law. He has recently edited the eighth edition of Goff and Jones on the Law of Unjust Enrichment (with Charles Mitchell and Stephen Watterson), and is presently working on a monograph on the history of tort law 1900-1950.