Legal Information Symposium – The Legal Treatise: Past, Present, and Future

The Lillian Goldman Law Library is pleased to announce its second legal information symposium: “The Legal Treatise: Past, Present, and Future,” scheduled to take place at Yale Law School on Friday, March 24, 2023.

This symposium will examine the legal treatise as a source and genre through the lenses of history, authorship, identity, and transition. The eminent legal historian John H. Langbein, Sterling Professor Emeritus of Law and Legal History at Yale Law School, will open the symposium with a keynote address entitled “The Rise and Fall of Legal Academic Treatise Writing in the United States.”

Schedule

8:00–9:00 AM - Breakfast and Registration

9:00–9:30 AM - Welcome Remarks

• Femi Cadmus, Law Librarian and Professor of Law
• Heather Gerken, Dean and Sol & Lillian Goldman Professor of Law        

9:30–10:30 AM - Keynote Address

• John Langbein, Sterling Professor Emeritus of Law and Legal History
  • The Rise and Fall of Legal Academic Treatise Writing in the United States

10:30–10:45 AM - Break

10:45 AM–12:15 PM - Panel I: Historical and Comparative Perspectives

• Moderator:
  • Femi Cadmus (Yale Law School)
• Panelists:
  • M.H. Hoeflich (University of Kansas School of Law)
    • Reprinting English Treatises in Antebellum America
  • Carlton F.W. Larson (UC Davis School of Law)'
    • Treason and Treatise: English Legal Treatises in the American Revolution and Early National Period
  • Shawn Nevers (Brigham Young University J. Reuben Clark Law)
    • The Treatise and the Code

12:15–1:15 PM - Lunch

1:15–2:45 PM - Panel II: Authorship

• Moderator:
  • Fred Shapiro (Yale Law School)
• Panelists:
  • John Cannan (Villanova University School of Law)
    • Joel Bishop's Reign as King of the Treatise Writers and What it Means for Persuasive Authority
  • Wesley M. Oliver and Nicole Singleton (Thomas R. Kline School of Law of Duquesne University)
    • Nineteenth-Century Treatise Writers and Legal Codifiers Created a Fossil Record of Framing-Era Miranda Warnings
  • Anne Rajotte (University of Connecticut School of Law)
    • Zephaniah Swift and Swift's System of Laws

2:45–3:00 PM - Break

3:00–4:30 PM - Panel III: Identity

• Moderator:
  • Nicholas Mignanelli (Yale Law School)
• Panelists:
  • Jane Bahnson and Wickliffe Shreve (Duke University School of Law)
    • Legal Treatises and the Evolution of Civil Rights Case Law
  • John Moreland (Indiana University Maurer School of Law)
    • To Train the Legal Mind: An Inquiry in the Law of Negro Slavery and the Creation of a Pro-Slavery Legal Education
  • Simon Stern (University of Toronto Faculty of Law)
    • The Treatise and the Human Figure

4:30–4:45 PM - Break

4:45–6:15 PM - Panel IV: Transition

• Moderator:
  • Anne Klinefelter (UNC School of Law)
• Panelists:
  • Dana Neacsu (Thomas R. Kline School of Law of Duquesne University) and Paul D. Callister (University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law)
    • The Persistent Treatise
  • Kent Olson (University of Virginia School of Law (retired))
    • Citation of Treatises in Law Reviews: Bluebook and Reality
  • Amanda Watson (University of Houston Law Center)
    • Beyond Titles: Curating Relevant Law Library Collection

Between panels, attendees are invited to view "On Being On: Authority & the Legal Treatise," a rare book exhibit found on Level L2 of the Lillian Goldman Law Library.