Autumn 2015 Schedule

The Autumn semester of the Ancient Law reading group will be dedicated to the interaction of Roman law with that of other cultures and societies.  Topics will be drawn from the geographical, social and temporal fringes of the Roman empire.

7 October, Wednesday 5-6pm (Sam Alex A104)

Petitioning in Graeco-Roman Egypt (Will Mundy)

18 November, Wednesday 5-6pm (Sam Alex A104)

Selling your children into slavery within the Roman Empire (Ben Pliener)

2 December, Wednesday 5-6pm (Sam Alex A104)

From the Corpus Juris to Ottoman law (Colin Imber)

We are particularly interested in any points of comparison and contrast between the legal thought (and implications thereof) of different societies and we encourage all approaches (e.g. philosophical, legal, socio-historical, philological, literary). The topics promise a fertile ground for comparative discussions – people with a research interest in other ancient legal cultures are encouraged to join.

The sessions require no prior preparations from the participants. A typical session involves the close reading of a short passage with the session leader orchestrating the discussion and introducing the participants to the linguistic and methodological issues of his field.

The reading group is open to all.

For further information, please visit our blog or contact Marton Ribary and Sam Fernes: marton.ribary@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk and samuel.fernes@manchester.ac.uk.

Jewish law vs Jewish ethics - 4 March Wednesday

The next ancient law session will be in room A114 of the Samuel Alexander building on Wednesday 4 March at 5pm.

Katharina Keim will bring an excerpt from the Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer, a much debated collection of biblical interpretations which poses all sorts of methodological and theoretical challenges (dating, provenance, text composition, interpolations, genre etc.). Below please find Katharina's introductory comments ahead of the reading session:

"In this session, we will look at an extract from the Pirqei deRabbi Eliezer (PRE), a Hebrew work from 8th/9th century CE. On the face of it, PRE is an exposition on the Biblical books of Genesis and Exodus. What emerges from a reading of the text is that there are a number of themes at play, including the theme of ‘Jewish Ethics’. We will discuss the way the text articulates its interest in ethics, and reflect on the relationship between ethical behaviour and obedience to the Law."

The historical formation of Islamic law - Wednesday 18th February

The first Spring term meeting of the Ancient Law reading group will take place on Wednesday 18th February at 5pm in the Centre for Jewish Studies office which is Room 11 on the Lower Ground floor in the West Wing of the Samuel Alexander building.

Mehmet Ciftci will be leading a discussion on the historical formation of Islamic law. Below please find Mehmet's introductory comments ahead of the reading session:

"Ever more frequently we confront the need to understand Islamic law, not only to understand the actions of Muslims far away, but also those living in our midst. Without presuming any prior knowledge of this subject, I shall make a brief sketch of the historical formation of Islamic law from its four different sources, which continue to be the basis of Islamic law today: the Quran, the hadith, the consensus of the Islamic community and analogical reasoning. I also include a discussion of Shia Islam and of its differences from Sunni Islam. Finally, I have provided an excerpt from a recent fatwa written by a Sunni legal scholar to condemn the actions of ISIS, not only for its topical relevance, but also to give an example of Islamic law in practice."

Spring term 2015 schedule

The sessions require no prior preparations from the participants. A typical session involves the close reading of a short excerpt with the session leader orchestrating the discussion and introducing the participants to the linguistic and methodological issues of his/her own field. We are particularly interested in any points of comparison and contrast between the legal thought (and implications thereof) of different societies and encourage all approaches (e.g. philosophical, legal, socio-historical, philological, literary).

18 February, Wednesday 5pm
A114 (Samuel Alexander building)

The historical formation of Islamic law

(Mehmet Ciftci)

4 March, Wednesday 5pm
A114 (Samuel Alexander building)

Jewish ethics vs Jewish law - The Pirke de-Rabbi Eliezer

(Katharina Keim)

18 March, Wednesday 4pm
A18 (Samuel Alexander building)

Prostitution in Roman and Church law

(Rosie Jackson)

The reading group is open to all staff and students members of the university and beyond.

For further information, please visit our blog or contact Marton Ribary and Sam Jones: marton.ribary@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk and samuel.jones-2@manchester.ac.uk

Job, Moses, Aaron and Joshua from an Ethiopian manuscript

(15^th-16^th century CE, Gunda Gunde 440, ff. 15v-16r)

Kafka's ‘Before the Law’ - Wednesday 10th December 2014

The fifth and final meeting of the Ancient Law reading group in the Autumn term will take place on Wednesday 10th December at 5pm in Samuel Alexander S2.2. William Simms will be leading a discussion on Kafka's ‘Before the Law’ from his novel The Trial. Will has kindly provided the following introductory comments:

"Franz Kafka (1883-1924) was a Czech, Jewish, Modernist author whose work has had a profound impact on literary studies and philosophy. His novel The Trial has become one of the central texts around which debates on the relationship between law and literature have formed. Our interest is in a short parable lifted from the novel entitled ‘Before the Law’. The parable has particular relevance for us as readers of the law, as it reveals the absolute importance of the Law, its function as a guarantor of meaning within a given culture, but also brings that function under suspicion. What is the relationship between the law and literature, truth and fiction? What does it mean to be 'before the law' spatially and temporally? I would like to discuss all these issues with you and am really looking forward to what you can bring to this discussion. Kafka being Jewish also asks that we consider the parable in its religious context, a subject that I myself know little about but I'm hoping a few of you can elucidate!

No prior reading is required, the parable isn't long and I’ll provide you all with copies. But if you can't wait, please find Orson Welles's version below.

I’ll be guiding the seminar along to some degree, giving context where I can and perhaps introducing certain interpretations by my favourite theorists, but for the most part I'm interested in seeing where we take this as a group."

The Roman law of abortion - Wednesday 26th November

The fourth meeting of the Ancient Law reading group will take place on Wednesday 26th November at 4pm in Samuel Alexander S2.2. Rachel Plummer will be leading a discussion on the Roman law of abortion. Melissa has kindly provided the following introductory comments:

"We will explore the relationship between the ideals promoted in the legal texts and the reality which Roman literature suggests persevered despite elite male attempts to assert control over the female reproductive system. We will look at the legal rulings in the context of Roman medical and literary texts to assess the purpose and paranoia behind the laws."

The Theodosian Code… as a Letter Collection? - Wednesday 12th November

The third meeting of the Ancient Law reading group will take place on Wednesday 12th November at 5pm in Samuel Alexander S2.2. Melissa Markauskas will be leading a discussion on 'The Theodosian Code… as a Letter Collection?' Melissa has kindly provided the following introductory comments:

"The Theodosian Code preserves Roman legal material from the early fourth century AD through to the first third of the fifth. As counter-intuitive as it might at first seem, the individual constitutions of the Theodosian Code meet typical genre category guidelines for "letters." Even as they are preserved within the impressively hefty sixteen books of the Code, the original nature of these constitutions as letters, as messages taken down in tangible media and physically transmitted between parties who are separated by physical distance, is obvious in the address and subscription formula that appear with almost all constitutions.

This informal seminar will consider this "letter" metadata from a selection of Theodosian Code constitutions and ask what difference it makes to format a law code (or, indeed, legal texts in general) in this way."

No prior preparation is expected or required, but the reading is available here. Copies will be provided on the day.