This volume concerns legal history turns - that is, new directions or volte-faces in legal history and its interdisciplinarity. Legal history turns include deviations from historically-situated interpretations and practices in law and legal scholarship. The papers in this volume grew from the Griffith Law School's Legal History Seminar Series, a public lecture initiative intended to contribute to the interest in legal history of the profession, judiciary, academe, and the public. Written by a cast that includes authors with internationally-impressive legal history credentials, this collection illustrates legal history turns' dynamism and diversity, and is introduced with a Foreword by The Honourable Justice Susan Kiefel AC. The papers, in the order of presentation in the collection, are:
Dr Karen Schultz on Turns' topics and optics
Professor Emeritus John McLaren on the Comparative Turn
Associate Professor Penny Crofts on the Identic Turn
Professor Mark Finnane on the Narrative Turn
Professor The Honourable William Gummow AC on the Constitutional Turn
Professor Emeritus David Saunders on the Biographical Turn
Professor Jim Phillips on the Contextual Turn
About the Author: Dr Karen Schultz is a Lecturer at the Griffith Law School, and Chair of the Organising Committee for Griffith Law School's Legal History Seminar Series, established in 2011. Her teaching and research is focused in legal theory, constitutional law, equity, and legal history. Admitted as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of Queensland, she has a background in private practice (at Feez Ruthning, now Allens) and in public sector research (at the Queensland Law Reform Commission, Litigation Reform Commission, and Queensland Court of Appeal). She has been an editor of the Griffith Law Review and the Australian Journal of Legal Philosophy.
