Why civil lawyers? Alberico Gentili's commitment to legal scholarship and public governance

On 20 November 2017 Professor Alain Wijffels of KU Leuven delivered the CELH annual lecture on the topic 'Why civil lawyers? Alberico Gentili's commitment to legal scholarship and public governance'.

Alberico Gentili (San Ginesio 1552 – London 1608) held the Regius Chair in civil law at Oxford. He has long been mainly remembered as one of the early authors on international law. More recent scholarship has emphasised his broader contributions to civil law studies and political ideas. A general view and reassessment of his work may offer a remarkably documented case-study of how an eminent civil lawyer in England committed himself to secure a central role for university-trained lawyers in public governance, not unlike the role they had played since the medieval development of civil law studies in Gentili’s native Italy. As a historical case-study, Gentili’s – by and large failed – efforts may even bear some relevance to the present-day purpose of academic legal education.

The Centre for English Legal History (CELH) was formally established in 2016 to provide a hub for researchers working in legal history across the University of Cambridge. The Centre holds regular seminars during academic terms, and an annual centrepiece lecture.

To find out more, and download the accompanying presentation, please refer to: http://www.celh.law.cam.ac.uk/lectures