Christine Bell, FBA,

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

, is a legal scholar, specialising in human rights law. As of 2018, she is Professor of Constitutional Law and Assistant Principal (Global Justice) at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

Life

Bell graduated from

Selwyn College, Cambridge Selwyn College, Cambridge is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1882 by the Selwyn Memorial Committee in memory of George Selwyn (bishop of Lichfield), Georg ...

, with her undergraduate law degree in 1988, before completing a master of laws degree at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 1990. She qualified as a Barrister in that year and, after passing the New York bar examination, she worked at

Debevoise & Plimpton Debevoise & Plimpton LLP is an international white-shoe law firm headquartered in New York City, with offices in Washington D.C., San Francisco, London, Paris, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Luxembourg. The firm specializes in intellectual ...

. She was then Director of the Centre for International and Comparative Human Rights Law at

Queen's University Belfast The Queen's University of Belfast, commonly known as Queen's University Belfast (; abbreviated Queen's or QUB), is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The university received its charter in 1845 as part of ...

from 1997 to 1999, and then Professor of Public International Law at the

University of Ulster Ulster University (; Ulster Scots: or ), legally the University of Ulster, is a multi-campus public research university located in Northern Ireland. It is often referred to informally and unofficially as Ulster, or by the abbreviation UU. It i ...

from 2000 to 2011."Professor Christine Bell"
''University of Edinburgh''. Retrieved 12 April 2018."Professor Christine Bell"
''British Academy''. Retrieved 12 April 2018. One of Bell's contributions is the concept of the ''

lex pacificatoria The ''lex pacificatoria'' is a Latin neologism, which translates as 'pacific law' or the 'law of the peacemakers'; it refers to the law relating to agreements or treaties ending a state of war or establishing a permanent peace between belligerents, ...

''.

Honours

In 2015, Bell was elected a

Fellow of the British Academy Fellowship of the British Academy (post-nominal letters FBA) is an award granted by the British Academy to leading academics for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences. The categories are: # Fellows – scholars resident in t ...

(FBA), the United Kingdom's

national academy A national academy is an organizational body, usually operating with state financial support and approval, that co-ordinates scholarly research activities and standards for academic disciplines, and serves as a public policy advisors, research ...

for the humanities and social sciences. In 2019 she was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

Selected works

* (With John Morison) ''Tall Stories?: Reading Law and Literature'' (Dartmouth Publishing, 1996). * (With Marie Fox) ''Learning Legal Skills'' (Blackstone Press, 1999). * ''Peace Agreements and Human Rights'' (Oxford University Press, 2000). * ''On the Law of Peace: Peace Agreements and the Lex Pacificatoria'' (Oxford University Press, 2008) * (With Vanessa Utley) ''Chronology of Mindanao Peace Agreements'' (Political Settlements Research Programme, 2015). * (With Helia Farahnoosh) ''Chronology of the Peace Process and Peace Agreements between the Philippines and the National Democratic Front'' (Political Settlements Research Programme, 2015). * (With Catherine O'Rourke and Sissela Matzner) ''A Chronology of Colombian Peace Processes and Peace Agreements'' (Political Settlements Research Programme, 2015). * (With Celia Davies, Kimana Zulueta-Fuelscher, Asanga Welikala and Sumit Bisarya) ''Interim Constitutions in Post-Conflict Settings'' (International Idea, 2015). * ''Governance and Law: The Distinctive Context of Transitions from Conflict and its Consequences for Development Interventions'' (Political Settlements Research Programme, 2015) * ''Unsettling Bargains?: Power-sharing and the Inclusion of Women in Peace Negotiations'' (Political Settlements Research Programme, 2015). * ''Text and Context: Evaluating Peace Agreements for their "Gender Perspective"'' (Political Settlements Research Programme, 2015). * (With Jenna Sapiano, Kimana Zulueta-Fülscher, Sumit Bisarya and Asanga Welikala) ''Constitution-Building in Political Settlement Processes: The Quest for Inclusion'' (International Idea, 2016). * ''Transitional Justice'' (Routledge, 2016). * (With Kimana Zulueta-Fuelscher) ''Sequencing Peace Agreements and Constitutions in the Political Settlement Process'' (International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, 2016).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Christine Living people British legal scholars Alumni of Selwyn College, Cambridge Harvard Law School alumni Academics of Queen's University Belfast Academics of Ulster University Academics of the University of Edinburgh Fellows of the British Academy British women legal scholars Year of birth missing (living people) Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh People associated with Debevoise & Plimpton