Free Gresham College law lectures
Gresham College have a programme of free public law lectures during Hilary Term, which members may find of interest. You can book to watch online or in-person via the links below.
Terror and the Rule of Law
Monday 24 January at 6 pm
Barnard’s Inn Hall, London/ Online (or watch later)
Thomas Grant QC, Visiting Professor of Politics and Law
The Revolutionary tribunals in 1790s Paris; the Moscow show trials of the late 1930s; and the prosecution of conspirators in the assassination attempt on Hitler by the so-called “People’s Court”, are well-known examples of the way the law and its processes can be misused in totalitarian societies. These were trials designed to terrorize the population and solidify the power of the state. This lecture will explore how the courts can be the vehicles of despotic power
The Brixton Riots: Policing the Black Community in the Last 40 Years
Thursday 3 February at 6 pm
Barnard’s Inn Hall, London/ Online (or watch later)
Professor Leslie Thomas QC
Judges, who are typically drawn from privileged backgrounds, wield vast power over the lives of the most marginalised people in society. This lecture will explore the role of judicial racism in perpetuating injustice and inequality in the legal system. The Lammy Review found gross disparities sentencing for Black and white defendants – while also finding no systematic racial bias in juries’ decisions to convict or acquit. What should we do about racism in the judiciary and the legal profession?
Human Rights in the UK and the Commonwealth Caribbean
Thursday 10 March at 6 pm
Barnard’s Inn Hall, London/ Online (or watch later)
Professor Leslie Thomas QC
The Human Rights Act 1998, which incorporated the European Convention on Human Rights into domestic law, was a landmark moment in British legal history, with quasi-constitutional protection for fundamental rights. Meanwhile, the national constitutions of the Commonwealth Caribbean contain fundamental rights provisions which are often inspired by, but diverge significantly from, the European Convention. This lecture will examine the judicial protection of human rights in the UK and the Commonwealth Caribbean, and will confront its shortcomings and vulnerabilities.
Segregation and the Rule of Law
Monday 21 March at 6 pm
Barnard’s Inn Hall, London/ Online (or watch later)
Thomas Grant QC, Visiting Professor of Politics and Law
The law has been used to entrench and uphold racial prejudice, most infamously in South Africa during the apartheid years, but also in the United States in the period up to the mid-twentieth century. In South Africa and the southern states of America, judges showed themselves willing to use the law to uphold and promote white supremacy. This lecture will discuss the uneasy interplay between the concept of the rule of law and the enforcement of segregation legislation
Taking on a Corporate Giant: David v Goliath Legal Cases
Thursday 7 April at 6 pm
Barnard’s Inn Hall, London/ Online (or watch later)
Professor Leslie Thomas QC
Many people are inspired by stories of individual litigants, often with few financial resources and little assistance, taking on large corporations in court and fighting for their rights. This lecture will explore some of those stories, from Thomas Cook to the islanders in Barbuda, and from the perspective of a lawyer who has represented many Davids against many Goliaths.
Freezing Eggs and Delaying Fertility: Law, Ethics and Society
Monday 11 April at 1 pm
Barnard’s Inn Hall/ Online (Or Watch Later)
Imogen Goold, Visiting Professor of Medical Law
With the development of new vitrification techniques, egg freezing has become a viable option for women to protect and extend their fertility. Being able to control when to have children can help achieve life-goals. But there are downsides. This lecture explains the science of fertility and egg freezing, the impact of child-bearing and rearing on women’s educational and employment prospects, and outlines the law on freezing eggs. It will cover the complex issues around the law’s regulation of this practice.