Michael Lobban FBA\, Senior Researc h Fellow at All Souls College and Professor of Leg al History at the University of Oxford\, will deli ver a lecture entitled: “Constitutional Debates an d the Path to 1776”.
\n \nIn this lecture\, Prof. Lobban will examine the legal and constitut ional antecedents of the debates that culminated i n the American Declaration of Independence on July 4\, 1776. His analysis will trace the evolution o f constitutional argumentation in the eighteenth c entury\, with particular attention to disputes con cerning sovereignty\, representation\, and the lim its of legislative authority. These debates\, situ ated within the broader intellectual and political currents of the period\, contributed decisively t o the emergence of a distinct American constitutio nal identity.
\n \nProf. Lobban will explor e how a recognisably American conception of consti tutionalism developed in the decades preceding ind ependence\, and how this conception informed the s ubsequent debates articulated in the Federalist Pa pers. By linking historical constitutional argumen tation with modern jurisprudential controversies\, the lecture will illuminate the ways in which fou ndational legal principles continue to shape conte mporary understandings of the American Constitutio n and\, how that informs contemporary constitution al litigation. Hence\, the lecture will be of part icular relevance to students and practitioners.
\n \nThe event also reflects the Inn’s histor ic transatlantic influence. Six Middle Templars si gned the Declaration of Independence in 1776\, and seven Middle Templars were signatories to the Uni ted States Constitution in 1787. The lecture there fore offers a rare opportunity to engage with a co nstitutional tradition in which Middle Temple play ed a formative and enduring role.
\n \nStudent members (including transferring l awyers) must attend the lecture and the reception& nbsp\;in order to be awarded the Qualifying Sessio n.
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