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:: CURRENT NEWS ::

ASLH seeks Editor-in-Chief for Law and History Review. After seven years of exceptional service, David Tanenhaus has decided to step down as editor of the Law and History Review, which is sponsored by the American Society for Legal History and published by the Cambridge University Press. The ASLH Publications Committee invites applications for the position. For details on how to apply click here.

ASLH seeks nominations for honors. In 2011 the American Society for Legal History made some important changes to its processes for electing Honorary Fellows of the Society.  First, recognizing that we live in an increasingly globalized world, from now on there will be only one category of Honorary Fellows for all legal historians wherever they may be. Second, recognizing that the number of legal historians both in the United States and world-wide has greatly expanded in recent years, the Society has abandoned any upper limit on the total number of Honorary Fellows that may be recognized at any given time.  The Society's Honors Committee has now adopted a procedure that offers ASLH members at large the opportunity to bring worthy candidates for honors to its attention.  For details on how to nominate click
here. For details on the Society's honors categories, click here.

Next year Saint Louis, November 8-11, 2012. The Program Committee with Adriaan Lanni of Harvard University and Michael Willrich of Brandeis University as co-chairs has already been formed. The committee has already issued its call for papers (PDF) (Word). David Konig of Washington University in Saint Louis is the chair of the Local Arrangements Commitee. That committee has already produced a zippy flyer.

The Atlanta meeting of the ASLH in 2011 was a smashing success. The program may be found here (PDF). A list of the prizes and fellowships awarded, the honors conferred, and the results of the annual election may be found below. Abstracts of most of the papers given may be found here. The webmaster's somewhat irreverant illustrated chronicle of the meeting may be found here. That chronicle provides links to more formal accounts of what happened, e.g., the annual report (committee reports, etc.).

Bruce Mann of Harvard University elected president and Michael Grossberg of Indiana University president-elect. R. B. Bernstein of New York Law School, Christian G. Fritz of the University of New Mexico, Dan Hamilton of the University of Illinois, Linda K. Kerber of the University of Iowa, and Amalia Kessler of Stanford University were elected to the Board of Directors. Lucy E. Salyer was elected to the Nominating Committee. A complete list of the officers and directors of the Society and the beginnings of the committee assignments for 2012 may be found here.

Awards, prizes, and fellowships galore. At the meeting in Atlanta, Constance Backhouse, outgoing president of the Society, announced that: Michelle McKinley (University of Oregon) had been awarded the Surrency Prize; N. G. Jones (Cambridge University), the Sutherland Prize; Cynthia Greenlee-Donnell (Duke University), Melissa Hayes (Shawnee Community College), Jeffrey Kahn (University of Chicago), and Kimberley Reilly (University of Baltimore), Cromwell Fellowships; Mark Brilliant, the Cromwell Book Prize; Cynthia Nicoletti (Mississippi College Law School), the Cromwell Dissertation Prize; Krishanti Vignarajah (Jenner & Block), the Cromwell Article Prize; and Christopher Tomlins (University of California at Irvine), the Reid Book Award. Kevin Arlyck (New York University), Anne Fleming (University of Pennsylvania), and Michael Schoeppner (University of Florida) were designated Preyer Scholars. The president also announced that beginning next year the Society will make two Paul L. Murphy Awards for scholars completing books on any aspect of civil liberties in any period of American history.

Girard and Nelson named honorary fellows of the Society. The president announced at the meeting in Atlanta that Philip Girard of Dalhousie University (Canada) and William E. Nelson of New York University have been elected Honorary Fellows of the Society. Jim Phillips of the University of Toronto read the citation (PDF) (Word) of the Committee on Honors for Girard and Dirk Hartog of Princeton University the citation (PDF) (Word) for Nelson.

Craig Joyce named first recipient of Craig Joyce medal.The medal, which the board authorized to honor extraordinary volunteer service to the Society, is described in more detail here, as is Craig's most recent project, the committee on the history of the Society.

Renew your ASLH membership with Cambridge University Press. For the details click here.