Law and Equity, and “Law and History” as a Resource of Critique
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Sarah Wilson
Sarah Wilson is a Senior Lecturer in Law at York Law School, University of York in the UK. After qualifying initially in Law at Cardiff Law School she commenced studies in Modern British History gaining a MA (History) and PhD (History) before taking up a number of posts in UK Law Schools. Her key research interests lie in Trusts and Equity, Financial Law, and a “Law and History” combination of traditional Legal History and Modern British History. In the sphere of Trusts and Equity, Sarah is an enthusiastic member of the Equity and Trusts Research Network. In June 2015 she presented at the Network’s
Equity and the Resources of Critique workshop at the University of Kent, and then on “New Horizons in Equity” atComplicities: Law, Literature and the Humanities Association of Australasia Conference 2015 , University of Technology Sydney, December 2015. She is also the longstanding author ofTodd and Wilson’s Textbook on Trusts and Equity (Oxford, Oxford University Press) with its 11th edition published in April 2015, and where Sarah’s approach is to promote “mainstreaming” of interdisciplinary and critical perspectives.
Abstract
This article’s support for the critical equity agenda can be found in proposing that scholarship on equity could benefit from embracing a distinctive “Law and History” approach. In doing so, it acknowledges that amongst “mainstream” areas of law, equity has been the subject of very extensive historical scrutiny, and suggests that further but differently focused historicization can complement what is already exigent within conventional legal history alongside critical legal history. In illuminating how “Law and History” might differ from traditional and critical legal histories, the analysis explains how “Law and History” embodies established approaches within both, but emphasises the work of historians to a much greater degree than either. In identifying its current hallmarks, it explains that the parameters of “Law and History” are still being worked through. It also suggests that this notwithstanding, setting out for lawyers how historians perceive themselves and their work, and approach their craft – drawing this from current and highly profiled debate within history itself – identifies the potential of history as a resource of critique across legal scholarship. In identifying historians’ own perceptions of the importance of “mutual reinforcement” in social science scholarship, the analysis also explains how law can become a much more extensive resource of critique for history than is currently the case.
About the author
Sarah Wilson is a Senior Lecturer in Law at York Law School, University of York in the UK. After qualifying initially in Law at Cardiff Law School she commenced studies in Modern British History gaining a MA (History) and PhD (History) before taking up a number of posts in UK Law Schools. Her key research interests lie in Trusts and Equity, Financial Law, and a “Law and History” combination of traditional Legal History and Modern British History. In the sphere of Trusts and Equity, Sarah is an enthusiastic member of the Equity and Trusts Research Network. In June 2015 she presented at the Network’s Equity and the Resources of Critique workshop at the University of Kent, and then on “New Horizons in Equity” at Complicities: Law, Literature and the Humanities Association of Australasia Conference 2015, University of Technology Sydney, December 2015. She is also the longstanding author of Todd and Wilson’s Textbook on Trusts and Equity (Oxford, Oxford University Press) with its 11th edition published in April 2015, and where Sarah’s approach is to promote “mainstreaming” of interdisciplinary and critical perspectives.
© 2017 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Focus
- Equity and the Resources of Critique: Part II
- Aristotle’s Pharmacy
- Law and Equity, and “Law and History” as a Resource of Critique
- Equity and Legal Reasoning
- Equity and the Social Reproduction of Capital
- Equity, Property, and the Ethical Subject
- The Castrated Trustee: Jouissance and Breach of Trust
- Tending the Garden: Equity and Exscription
- From Helen’s Pharmacy to the Multiverse of Equities: Difference, Opposition, Différance
- Research
- Paul Johnston’s Body Politic: A Speculative Fable
- Utopias in The Tempest
- Spatial Imaginaries and the Sovereign Crisis
- From Hard-Copy to Digital Law via “Illustrated Courtrooms”: Visualising the History of Legal English
- “The Last Laugh?” A Multimodal Analysis of Captions in Photojournalism
- How to Enforce the Law: Video-Shocks for Road Security
- Book Review
- Sidia Fiorato and John Drakakis: Performing the Renaissance Body. Essays on Drama, Law, and Representation
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Focus
- Equity and the Resources of Critique: Part II
- Aristotle’s Pharmacy
- Law and Equity, and “Law and History” as a Resource of Critique
- Equity and Legal Reasoning
- Equity and the Social Reproduction of Capital
- Equity, Property, and the Ethical Subject
- The Castrated Trustee: Jouissance and Breach of Trust
- Tending the Garden: Equity and Exscription
- From Helen’s Pharmacy to the Multiverse of Equities: Difference, Opposition, Différance
- Research
- Paul Johnston’s Body Politic: A Speculative Fable
- Utopias in The Tempest
- Spatial Imaginaries and the Sovereign Crisis
- From Hard-Copy to Digital Law via “Illustrated Courtrooms”: Visualising the History of Legal English
- “The Last Laugh?” A Multimodal Analysis of Captions in Photojournalism
- How to Enforce the Law: Video-Shocks for Road Security
- Book Review
- Sidia Fiorato and John Drakakis: Performing the Renaissance Body. Essays on Drama, Law, and Representation
