Like others organising conferences scheduled for 2021, we initially hoped to still be able to proceed, if not all together in Maynooth, at least in a mixed format. However, as the pandemic spreads it has become obvious that this is not really possible. We have considered an online format, but the genuinely global nature of our participants makes this difficult. We reluctantly have decided, therefore, to delay the conference until 2022. We are still finalising dates, but we do hope it will be more or less exactly one year later, and of course still at Maynooth. We will confirm dates as soon as possible.
In the meantime we will post the call for papers. Although there will be a formal call for papers in the first half of next year, we hope doing so might get people thinking about topics. And we know that with much research limited by the pandemic it is taking longer to get projects going.
We intend next year to hold a number of small, online, events on Legal Histories of Empires. Details will be posted. We will certainly do our best to ensure that there is something for everyone, no matter your time zone!
In the meantime we very much hope you will still think of joining us in 2022. It may be that some mixed format will still be needed, both for safety and because we all sadly expect that funding may not have been fully restored. We will decide this much closer to the time. It has proven very difficult to anticipate even several months ahead.
Finally, we note that the British Legal History Conference has also delayed one year. For those who were hoping to attend both, please note that our respective dates should hopefully stay close in order to make this possible.
For further information, email Lyndsay Campbell (lyndsay@iii.ca) or Shaunnagh Dorsett (Shaunnagh.dorsett@uts.edu.au).
Updates will continue to be posted to the Legal Histories of Empires website.