CELH Annual Lecture: 'Why civil lawyers? Alberico Gentili's commitment to legal scholarship and public governance'

Speaker: Alain Wijffels (KU Leuven)

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.

All welcome.  

Enquiries to Emily Gordon (egg26@cam.ac.uk), Julia Kelsoe (jek50@cam.ac.uk) or Lorenzo Maniscalco (lm632@cam.ac.uk).