Call for Papers—Ab Initio: Law In Early America

The Legal History Consortium and the McNeil Center for Early American Studies, both of the University of Pennsylvania, together with the American Society for Legal History, the University of Michigan Law School and the University of Minnesota Law School, will sponsor a conference focusing on the legal history and historiography of North America to 1820. The conference will take place at the McNeil Center, and will feature work by new scholars, as well as commentary and new work by senior legal historians. Professor Bruce H. Mann of Harvard Law School will deliver the keynote address; other confirmed participants include Sarah Barringer Gordon of the University of Pennsylvania, William Novak and Martha Jones of the University of Michigan, Barbara Welke of the University of Minnesota Law School, and Richard Ross of the University of Illinois. Paper proposals in any field of law related to the geographic and chronological focus of the conference should be submitted by February 15, 2010. Proposals must include a 300-word abstract and a cv. For those selected to present, final papers of no more than 9,000 words must be submitted by May 1, 2010. All papers will be pre-circulated to conference participants. Support for presenters’ travel and lodging expenses will be available.

Please send proposals via email to: mceas@ccat.sas.upenn.edu, with “Legal History Conference” in the subject line.