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November 11, 2005

Legal History: It Can Be Very Interesting!

A
s I said last night, I'm in Cincinnati at the annual meeting of the American Society for Legal History.

This is my first step back into the world of academic conferences after what I like to call "the Great Vancouver Massacre of 2002." That was when I traveled across the continent to the Law & Society Association's annual meeting to lead a session I'd organized about three recent books on the Japanese American internment (including my own), and one person attended the session.

(I know, I know, it's stupid to post embarrassing stuff like this. I figure that if I use the blog for self-promotion, I need to balance it with occasional self-ridicule.)

The morning's panels were excellent. I heard a really interesting paper about the roles that women played in English probate cases in late 17th-century England, a riveting account of the post-Vichy trials of collaborationist judges in France, a beautifully written and very engaging paper about the battle against compulsory school vaccination laws in the early 20th century, and a fascinating account of WWI conscientious objectors.

My talk is this afternoon, and it's about the bureaucracy that was created in 1943 to adjudicate, on a case-by-case basis, the loyalty or disloyalty of 40,000 American citizens of Japanese ancestry.

Posted by Eric at November 11, 2005 8:04 AM

Comments

Eric,
Any chance you can post (or email me) the name of the author of the paper about compulsory school vaccination laws? I looked through the draft ASLH program available on line and didn't see it.

Thanks!

Posted by: Alisa Rosenthal at November 11, 2005 2:45 PM

Enjoy yourself in Cincinnati.
The Netherland is a beautiful hotel.

Eric, you have a great blog even if I only sometimes agree with you.

The Cincinnati Historian

Posted by: David Merkowitz at November 11, 2005 3:38 PM

Eric, are you back in Chapel Hill? Tomorrow, Tues 15 Nov 7-9, we're having a bloggers party in Durham. Please join us for free food, free beer, a tour of WUNC's new studios and plenty of gabbing about blogs and such. Details of the event are at http://mistersugar.com/article/4038/get-an-idea-roll-with-it. Any and all bloggers and podcasters in NC are welcome to attend.

Posted by: Anton Zuiker at November 14, 2005 2:41 PM