Congratulations to Professor Catherine Evans who was awarded a SSHRC Connections Grant for her project "Legal Histories of Empire Conference: Empires in Touch"!
The conference will take place at the University of Toronto July 10-12, 2025.
Description
Empires are not creatures of the distant past. Many jurisdictions, such as British Overseas Territories, remain in essence formal colonies. In many other places, including Canada, Indigenous nations challenge the notion that modern states are truly 'post'-colonial. Everywhere, the legacies of empire continue to shape borders, identities, legalities, and culture. Confronting the past and appreciating its nuances and its surprising interconnections can help us to cultivate a richer sense of the possibilities, and limits, of law in empire.
From July 10-12, 2025, St. Michael's College at the University of Toronto will host the fourth meeting of the Legal Histories of Empire (LHE) scholarly collective. The conference, on the theme of "Empires in Touch," will bring together 158 scholars from around the world to disseminate and exchange research on the dynamic, interconnected histories of law, colonialism, and empire and on law's role in constituting, connecting, and separating empires. Participants will explore the movements of people, expertise, ideas, and institutions across colonial and imperial spaces.
Legal historians of and in Canada have shaped the scholarly mission of the LHE group since its inception. By bringing the conference to Toronto, we will have the opportunity to highlight groundbreaking work on the themes of law, empire, justice, and colonialism being developed here. At a time of global upheaval, we are once again reminded of the lasting impact of empire on the configuration of national boundaries, regimes of citizenship and migration, and visions of justice. It is critical that we engage with these legacies, and the world of law they have left us.
Sponsors
Co-sponsors of the conference include CrimSL, Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History, the University of St. Michael's College at the University of Toronto, the University of Technology, Sydney, and the Max Planck Institute.
Program overview
While the call for proposals has now closed, members of the CrimSL community are warmly welcomed to attend our free opening event, "Empires in Touch: Comparing Notes," on Thursday, July 10, 2025.
Everyone is also encouraged to attend the whole conference, including our keynote address by Professor Mitra Sharafi on Friday, July 11, 2025, and a special professional development session for graduate students working on themes related to the histories of empire and colonialism, as participants. Registration fees for the full conference apply, but are deeply discounted for graduate students ($60 CAD).