Law and Constitutional Change

A collection of some of the best papers presented at the 25th British Legal History Conference at Queen’s University Belfast in July 2022, Law and Constitutional Change examines the role that law plays when countries experience a major constitutional upheaval. It examines the interaction of law and politics in history across different legal jurisdictions with different legal traditions. The theme of the conference was ‘Law and Constitutional Change’ and was inspired by the decade of anniversaries in Ireland (2012–23) commemorating events from a century ago that began with the Home Rule Crisis and ended with the partition of the country. It studies the changes that occurred at that time in a wider British and Irish as well as international context, with a view to deepening understanding of contemporary debates such as those surrounding Brexit and its longer-term implications.

This title is also available as open access on Cambridge Core.

David Capper is Professor of Civil Procedure and Remedies at Queen’s University Belfast and Joint Honorary Secretary of the Irish Legal History Society. He was co-convenor (with Professor Norma Dawson) of the 2022 British Legal History Conference. He has authored or co-authored four monographs on Civil Procedure and Remedies, as well as over seventy essays and law review articles in these fields.

Conor McCormick is Senior Lecturer in the School of Law at Queen’s University Belfast. He specialises in constitutional and administrative law, with a particular focus on the law and legal system of Northern Ireland. He has been elected to the Council of the Irish Legal History Society.

N. M. Dawson is Professor Emeritus at Queen’s University Belfast. A former President of the Irish Legal History Society, she is Honorary Professor at the University of Edinburgh. Her Modern Legal History of Treasure Law was published in 2023.