Legal historian’s monograph nominated for prize

Charles Areskine might be better known to legal scholars as Lord Tinwald. He lived from 1680 to 1763 and was Lord Justice Clerk from 1748 to 1763. He was also the first regius professor of the law of nature and nations at the University of Edinburgh in 1707.

The abstract that goes with the book states: “In Charles Areskine’s Library, Karen Baston uses a detailed study of an eighteenth-century Scottish advocate’s private book collection to explore key themes in the Scottish Enlightenment including secularisation, modernisation, internationalisation, and the development of legal literature in Scotland.

“By exploring a surviving manuscript dated 1731 that lists a Scottish lawyer’s library, Karen Baston demonstrates that the books Charles Areskine owned, used in practice, and read for pleasure embedded him in the intellectual culture that expanded in early eighteenth-century Scotland. Areskine and his fellow advocates emerged as scholarly and sociable gentlemen who led their nation. Lawyers were integral to and integrated with the Scottish society that allowed the Scottish Enlightenment to take root and flourish within Areskine’s lifetime.”

The book was published in April 2016 as part of Brill’s “Library of the Written Word - The Handpress World” series.

It had its origins in Dr Baston’s PhD which she did at Edinburgh Law School from 2008-2012 and in collaboration with the National Library of Scotland. This was funded by the Arts and Humanities Council (AHRC).