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Abstract: The interpretation of contracts is one of the most common and important tasks of the courts. Yet this task is now mired in conceptual confusion. In Investors Compensation Scheme Ltd. v West Bromwich Building Society [1997] UKHL 28 Lord Hoffman self consciously embarked on a contextual revolution. This was a...

Although most judges continue as loyal servants to authoritarian masters and forgo their rule of law values, not all do. Surprisingly, there was a scope for judicial resistance during the Nazi and fascist regimes in the twentieth century. How is it that these repressive regimes tolerated opposition from the bench,...

Admission FREE, no booking required. Abstract: Scottish Justice Secretary Michael Mathieson recently disclosed that the Lord Advocate, James Wolffe QC had written to him to highlight a potential gap in the law arising from the somewhat perplexing decision by senior Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) counsel that the circumstances of...

(lecture followed by discussion) By Nicolas Bonnefoy Managing Director of Africa Oil and Gas Ltd. Previously a partner in Ashurst LLP’s global energy team focussing on Africa.

A free public lecture.

Speaker: Brooks Daly Abstract: The lecture will examine the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA)’s historical and modern role in the resolution of sensitive international disputes. Examples will be drawn from recent cases administered by the PCA, including investor-state and interstate arbitrations with an oil and gas component. PCA procedural innovations in arbitrator...

Speaker: Dr Roy Partain Abstract: The world is in need of renewable energy resources, and the technology of nuclear fusion, not nuclear fission, has long been identified as a potential solution. Nuclear fusion converts forms of hydrogen into helium, with a by-product of heat, which can then be used to create steam...

Speaker: Dr Andrew Simpson Abstract: Sir Richard Maitland of Lethington (ca.1496-1586) is perhaps best remembered today as a collector of late-medieval Scots vernacular poetry, particularly that written by William Dunbar. Yet Maitland was also an accomplished poet and indeed a historian in his own right. In his work, he explored various legal themes,...

A free public lecture.

Speaker:  Dr Irène Couzigou Abstract: The use of armed force by a State on the territory of another State is prohibited under international law, unless the territorial State gave its consent to the resort to force. Iraq agreed with the military action against the ‘Islamic State’ on its territory. Contrary to...