1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910811843803321

Autore

Cownie Fiona

Titolo

A great and noble occupation! : the history of the Society of Legal Scholars / / Fiona Cownie and Raymond Cocks

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Oxford ; Portland, Oregon, : Hart Publishing, 2009

ISBN

1-4725-6057-4

1-282-55414-X

9786612554148

1-84731-539-9

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (292 p.)

Disciplina

340.06041

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index

Nota di contenuto

1 New Questions Affecting the Teaching of Law: 1908-1909 -- 2 Hope Followed by Dismay: 1910-1918 -- 3 Defiance and Debate: 1919-1930 -- 4 Research, Dissent and the Possible Admission of Women: 1930-1939 -- 5 War, Respectability, the Admission of Women, Legal Education with 'Vituperative Epithets' and Increasing Self-confidence: 1940-1960 -- 6 The First Fifty Years: A Summary -- 7 The Swinging Sixties -- 8 The 1970s: Reform Begins -- 9 The 1980s: A Difficult Decade -- 10 The 1990s: A Decade of Change -- 11 The New Millennium: 2000 and Beyond

Sommario/riassunto

The Society of Legal Scholars, originally the Society of Public Teachers of Law, was created in 1909, but was fortunate to survive its first half century. It had few members, lacked financial resources and was weak in influence. In comparison with other university disciplines Law enjoyed a fragile status, and was often held in low esteem by barristers and solicitors. At times the SPTL was caught up in problems of its own making, for instance refusing to admit women until the late 1940s. But there were also moments of excitement and achievement: the years between 1909 and the start of WWI were full of hope and new ideas and the establishment of the Journal of the Society of Public Teachers of Law in the 1920s was an important achievement for legal scholars.



During the social revolution of the 1960s the SPTL continued to function as a rather sedate gentleman's club, gathering at its annual conference to socialise, rather than to engage in academic debate. The 1970s saw a sustained drive from its Young Members' Group to create a new, more serious organisation, with better conferences and more effective decision-making processes. The Society evolved slowly, but the process accelerated in the 1990s, with members encouraged to reinforce their intellectual contribution to the discipline and act as a central point for policy debate within the legal academic community. As we stand at the beginning of the twenty first century, the Society, with nearly 3,000 members, has come a long way from its small beginnings