Michael Lobban FBA\, Senior Research Fe llow at All Souls College and Professor of Legal H istory at the University of Oxford\, will deliver a lecture entitled: “Constitutional Debates and th e Path to 1776”.
\n \nIn this lecture\, Pro f. Lobban will examine the legal and constitutiona l antecedents of the debates that culminated in th e American Declaration of Independence on July 4\, 1776. His analysis will trace the evolution of co nstitutional argumentation in the eighteenth centu ry\, with particular attention to disputes concern ing sovereignty\, representation\, and the limits of legislative authority. These debates\, situated within the broader intellectual and political cur rents of the period\, contributed decisively to th e emergence of a distinct American constitutional identity.
\n \nProf. Lobban will explore ho w a recognisably American conception of constituti onalism developed in the decades preceding indepen dence\, and how this conception informed the subse quent debates articulated in the Federalist Papers . By linking historical constitutional argumentati on with modern jurisprudential controversies\, the lecture will illuminate the ways in which foundat ional legal principles continue to shape contempor ary understandings of the American Constitution an d\, how that informs contemporary constitutional l itigation. Hence\, the lecture will be of particul ar relevance to students and practitioners.
\n \nThe event also reflects the Inn’s historic t ransatlantic influence. Six Middle Templars signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776\, and sev en Middle Templars were signatories to the United States Constitution in 1787. The lecture therefore offers a rare opportunity to engage with a consti tutional tradition in which Middle Temple played a formative and enduring role.
\n \nStudent members (including transferring lawye rs) must attend the entire lecture in order to be awarded the Qualifying Session.
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