Professor Gerald Postema Interviewed a Second Time for the Eminent Scholars Archive

The Squire Law Library and the Faculty of Law are pleased to announce that the entry for a follow-up interview with Professor Gerald Postema has been added to the Eminent Scholars Archive.

Professor Postema is the outgoing Arthur Goodhart Visiting Professor of Legal Science for the academic year 2013-14. He is currently the Cary C. Boshamer Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, and Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

He was interviewed initially in January 2014 in the Squire Law Library, while the present interview was held on June 30th 2014. Professor Postema looks back favourably over his teaching activities while in the Goodhart Chair. He also speaks of his researches into the papers of Sir Matthew Hale, on which he bases part of his Boutwood Lecture at Corpus Christi college. In particular, he elaborates on Hale’s interesting concept of Potestas Irritans, and how his research on Hale led him to the works of the 17th century Spanish legal philosopher Francisco Suárez. Professor Postema also gives some details of new insights into his long standing research into the writings and ideas of Jeremy Bentham.

This is part of the sixth in a growing collection of interviews with the Goodhart professors. Previous interviews have been with Professor Martti Koskenniemi, Sir Robin Auld, Justice Paul Finn, Professor Jane Stapleton, Professor Peter Cane, and Professor Spyridon Flogaitis.