Caroline Humfress, FRHS, FSLS, is a

legal historian Legal history or the history of law is the study of how law has evolved and why it has changed. Legal history is closely connected to the development of civilizations and operates in the wider context of social history. Certain jurists and histo ...

who is professor at the

University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...

and a former director of its ''Institute of Legal and Constitutional Research''. In 2020 she was appointed L. Bates Lea Global Professor of Law, University of Michigan Law School (Ann Arbor), where she teaches on the history of the Civil Law tradition.

Early life and education

Caroline Humfress received her advanced education at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

from where she earned her BA, MA, and PhD, the last for a thesis titled ''Forensic practice in the development of Roman law and ecclesiastical law in late antiquity, with special reference to the prosecution of heresy'' (1999).

Career

Humfress held a Junior Research Fellowship at

Queens' College, Cambridge Queens' College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens' is one of the 16 "old colleges" of the university, and was founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. Its buildings span the R ...

before being appointed the "Carlyle Research Fellow in the History of Political Thought" at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

and Research Fellow at St Catherine's College. She was Assistant Professor in Rhetoric and Law at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, from 2000 to 2005 before moving to

Birkbeck College Birkbeck, University of London (formally Birkbeck College, University of London), is a public research university located in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. Established in 1823 as the London Mechanics' ...

, University of London where she worked for eleven years (becoming Professor of History in 2014). In July 2015 she was appointed Professor of Medieval History and Deputy Director of the

Institute of Legal and Constitutional Research. In 2019/20 she became Director of the Institute of Legal and Constitutional Research. She is a fellow of the

Royal Historical Society The Royal Historical Society (RHS), founded in 1868, is a learned society of the United Kingdom which advances scholarly studies of history. Origins The society was founded and received its royal charter in 1868. Until 1872 it was known as the H ...

and the

Society of Legal Scholars The Society of Legal Scholars (SLS) is the learned society for those who teach law in a university or similar institution or who are otherwise engaged in legal scholarship. As of the beginning of 2016 the Society had over 3,000 members consisting ...

Selected publications

*Humfress, Caroline, Ibbetson, David and Olivelle, Patrick, eds., (2024) ''Cambridge Comparative History of Ancient Law'' (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press). *Humfress, Caroline (2024). ‘Legal Pluralism’s Other: Mythologizing Modern Law” '' Law and History Review 42.1 (at press)'', First View (Open access): https://doi.org/10.1017/S07382480230001 *Humfress, Caroline (2023). ‘Out of Time? Eternity, Christology and Justinianic Law’ in John Robertson, ed., ''Political Thought, Time, And History'' (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press), 36 - 53 *Humfress, Caroline (2022). ‘The Early Church’ in Anders Winroth and John Wei, eds., ''The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Canon Law (''Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press), 11 - 31 *Humfress, Caroline (2021). ‘Beyond the (Byzantine) State: Towards a User Theory of Jurisdiction’ in Nico Krisch, ed.,''Entangled Legalities Beyond the State'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 353 - 375 *Humfress, Caroline (2021). ‘Law, Bureaucracy, and the Practice of Government and Rule’ in Peter Bang, Christopher Bayly, and Walter Scheidel, eds., ''The Oxford World History of Empire'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 266 - 287 *Humfress, Caroline (2021). ‘Natural Law and Casuistic Reasoning in Roman Jurisprudence’ in Peter Adamson and Christoff Rapp, eds., ''State and Nature: Essays on Ancient Political Philosophy'' (Berlin: De Gruyter), 247 - 266 https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110730944-012 *Humfress, Caroline (2020). ‘ “Cherchez La Femme!” Heresy and Law in Late Antiquity' in Rosamond McKitterick, Charlotte Methuen and Andrew Spicer, eds., ''The Church and the Law. Studies in Church History'' Volume 56 (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press) *Humfress, Caroline (2018). ’A New Legal Cosmos: Late Roman Lawyers and the Early Medieval Church', ''The Medieval World'', Linehan, P., Nelson, J. L. & Costambeys, M. (eds.) (London: Routledge) Print * * * * * * *

References

External links

''Justinian's Legal Code''extended podcast version
, In Our Time, Humfress on the panel with Simon Corcoran and Paul du Plessis, 2016.
''Gnosticism''
In Our Time, Humfress on the panel with

Martin Palmer Martin Giles Palmer (born 14 October 1953) is a theologian, Sinologist, author and international specialist on all major faiths and religious traditions and cultures. He is the Founding President and Chief Executive oFaithInvest an international n ...

and Alastair Logan, 2013.
''The Pelagian Controversy''
In Our Time, Humfress on the panel with

and

John Milbank Alasdair John Milbank (born 23 October 1952) is an English Anglo-Catholic theologian and is an Emeritus Professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Nottingham, where he is President of the Centre of Theolo ...

, 2011.
''The Nicene Creed''
In Our Time, Humfress on the panel with Andrew Louth and Martin Palmer, 2007. {{DEFAULTSORT:Humfress, Caroline Living people Academics of Birkbeck, University of London British legal historians Academics of the University of St Andrews Alumni of the University of Cambridge Fellows of the Royal Historical Society British women historians Women legal scholars Fellows of Queens' College, Cambridge Year of birth missing (living people)