Common Law Research Seminar

The seminar series 'Legal Transfer in the Common Law World’ provides a platform for the discussion of works in progress concerning the transfer of law across the British Empire. This ‘transfer’ includes the movement of legal ideas, personnel, legislation and practice between and across colonies and the metropole.

External scholars provide draft written pieces (ca. 20 pages) which are pre-circulated for discussion at a one-hour seminar. Internal and external PhD students are also encouraged to provide draft chapters of their thesis. At the seminar sessions speakers merely give a five-minute introduction before the discussion turns to their text. Scholars of different intellectual backgrounds are welcome, so as to provide an interdisciplinary discussion. The audience includes a mix of lawyers and historians who are all engaged in legal history research.

The seminar semesters run twice a year, from October to February, and April to July. The seminars are convened by Professor Stefan Vogenauer and Dr Martin O'Donoghue. They are open to undergraduate law students from Goethe University who are welcome to take the seminars as a module (Schwerpunktbereich ‘Grundlagen des Rechts’ und ‘Internationalisierung und Europäisierung des Rechts’ sowie für Studierende vor Ablauf der Zwischenprüfung).

Illustration of a very large ship with many fully occupied lifeboats floating in front of it.

The end of colonial laissez-faire in Indian company law: the Mundhra scandal and the expansion of penal control

Common Law Research Seminar
  • Date: Apr 27, 2026
  • Time: 02:15 PM - 03:15 PM (Local Time Germany)
  • Speaker: Vishnu T.H
  • (NALSAR University of Law/mpilhlt)
  • Location: mpilhlt
  • Room: Z01
  • Host: Stefan Vogenauer, Martin O'Donoghue
  • Contact: odonoghue@lhlt.mpg.de
Illustration of a very large ship with many fully occupied lifeboats floating in front of it.

Colonial heritage legislation in India: examining its influence on the construction of the past

Common Law Research Seminar
  • Date: May 11, 2026
  • Time: 02:15 PM - 03:15 PM (Local Time Germany)
  • Speaker: Debarati Pal
  • (NALSAR University of Law/mpilhlt)
  • Location: mpilhlt
  • Room: Z01
  • Host: Stefan Vogenauer, Martin O'Donoghue
  • Contact: odonoghue@lhlt.mpg.de
Illustration of a very large ship with many fully occupied lifeboats floating in front of it.

“To plow the seas and not lie by walls”: the ship as a dynamic form of business organization

Common Law Research Seminar
  • Date: May 18, 2026
  • Time: 02:15 PM - 03:15 PM (Local Time Germany)
  • Speaker: Hunter Harris
  • (University of Oxford)
  • Location: mpilhlt
  • Room: Z01
  • Host: Stefan Vogenauer, Martin O'Donoghue
  • Contact: odonoghue@lhlt.mpg.de
Illustration of a very large ship with many fully occupied lifeboats floating in front of it.

Writing the history of empires

Common Law Research Seminar
  • Date: Jun 8, 2026
  • Time: 02:00 PM - 06:00 PM (Local Time Germany)
  • Speaker: Benedikt Stuchtey
  • (Philipps University Marburg)
  • Location: mpilhlt
  • Room: Z01
  • Host: Stefan Vogenauer, Martin O'Donoghue
  • Contact: odonoghue@lhlt.mpg.de
Illustration of a very large ship with many fully occupied lifeboats floating in front of it.

Were there political prisoners in Mandate Palestine? Prisoner classification in a colonial setting

Common Law Research Seminar
  • Date: Jun 15, 2026
  • Time: 02:15 PM - 03:15 PM (Local Time Germany)
  • Speaker: Orna Alyagon-Darr
  • (Sapir College, Scha’ar HaNegev/mpilhlt)
  • Location: mpilhlt
  • Room: Z01
  • Host: Stefan Vogenauer, Martin O'Donoghue
  • Contact: odonoghue@lhlt.mpg.de
Illustration of a very large ship with many fully occupied lifeboats floating in front of it.

Criminology, "scientific" penology and social engineering: India 1889-1925

Common Law Research Seminar
  • Date: Jun 23, 2026
  • Time: 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM (Local Time Germany)
  • Speaker: Radhika Singha
  • (Jawaharlal Nehru University/mpilhlt)
  • Location: mpilhlt
  • Room: Z01
  • Host: Stefan Vogenauer, Martin O'Donoghue
  • Contact: odonoghue@lhlt.mpg.de
Illustration of a very large ship with many fully occupied lifeboats floating in front of it.

Refugees, belonging, and the law in the British Empire, 1790s–1830s

Common Law Research Seminar
  • Date: Jul 6, 2026
  • Time: 02:15 PM - 03:15 PM (Local Time Germany)
  • Speaker: Jan C. Jansen
  • (University of Tübingen)
  • Location: mpilhlt
  • Room: Z02
  • Host: Stefan Vogenauer, Martin O'Donoghue
  • Contact: odonoghue@lhlt.mpg.de
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