Research Method

The work will integrate comparative and historical approaches, drawing on the different methodologies developed by comparative lawyers and legal historians. Since the work focuses on the specifically legal aspects of development, the majority of the principal researchers will be lawyers. That said, the project will obviously involve scholars familiar with broader economic and social analysis in the endeavour. We would envisage their acting primarily as interlocutors and commentators, ensuring that we were not downplaying differences between the social and economic experiences in different places. The one non-legal topic which we identify as sufficiently pivotal to demand expert competence throughout the lifetime of the project is the history of insurance; we would expect to integrate a scholar with this expertise (Deakin or Fenn) into the core team of researchers. A number of established scholars have agreed in principle to participate in the project: Ernst (Bonn), Zimmermann (Max Planck), Jansen (Augsburg), Modéer (Lund), Schrage (RotterdamAmsterdam), Cafaggi (EUI, an expert in economics of law), Whittaker and Vogenauer (Oxford), Oliphant (Cardiff) and Watkin (CardiffBangor). Additional colleagues from Latin countries would be drawn particularly from Spain, since the English team has considerable expertise in French law. Younger scholars would include Giliker (Queen Mary) and Swain (Birmingham).

1. The research process would involve a first plenary meeting, based on pre-circulated papers, whose function was to refine the precise scope of the project and the distribution of topics within it. Two subsequent meetings of sub-groups, again based on the discussion of pre-circulated papers, would aim to identify and develop common themes. The rewritten sub-group papers and conclusions would be discussed in a further plenary, then revised and edited for publication. The principal authors of the papers would be well-established scholars in the UK and continental Europe, but they would normally be joined by younger UK scholars who would play an important part both in the conduct of the research and in the writing of the papers. We envisage that it will be useful for some participants to spend short visits of up to one month working with the principal investigators in Cambridge, particularly as they seek to draw together the strands of the project.
2. There would be three loose sub-groups: covering the Common law, northern Europe (Germany and Scandinavia), and "Latin" countries (the Low Countries, France, Spain, Italy). These represent the three main divisions in research on modern European legal systems. Two research students, based in Cambridge, would be attached to the project, each one working in both legal history and comparative law. We expect one would be attached to the "Latin" group, one to the northern European; they would receive both orthodox postgraduate supervision and also assistance from the scholars working within the group to which they were attached. Each student would examine a particular subject in need of further detailed research at both national level and comparatively. We anticipate the student in the northern European group would spend some time working in the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Law in Hamburg; the student in the "Latin" group would also be expected to spend some time working abroad, though exactly where would depend on the precise topic being researched. Research dissertations leading to publication and the training of young academics in a framework which will enable them to have in place a network of relationships necessary to sustain contemporary research. Given the small number of academics in the field and the limited number with doctorates, we believe that this investment will contribute to sustaining relatively small subject areas.
3. A website would be established, following similar design features to the Cambridge Law Faculty website. The Faculty will then maintain the website after the life of the project. Working papers could be posted on it with discussion and commentary invited. Such a feature is particularly appropriate to the dispersed locations of legal historians and comparative lawyers. An area of the website would be restricted to the participants, facilitating closed-group discussion. This methodology of research will be of long-term benefit to future projects in the subjects: face-to-face meetings will be more productive and the researchers will be bonded closer together.
4. Casual research assistance would be used to support the preparation and coordination of meetings, and also to assist the visiting scholars. (In Law, people do not apply for post-doctoral research assistantships.) Secretarial and office support would also be provided in Cambridge.