Subjects of law: rightful selves and the legal process in imperial Britain and the British empire

这个项目旨在利用一个重要的和迄今为止被忽视的法律的记录档案缓存，探索殖民地法律对社会和政治身份的影响，将文化特定的思想和实践翻译成“全球”法律的语言，以及普通法本身的转变-在英国以及英国臣民曾经居住的遥远国家。它始于这样一个假设，即在断言他们（或其他人）有权，人们陷入任何法律的程序不可避免地被迫说明他们是谁，（和其他人）是，在殖民地或帝国背景下，这种冲动是特别尖锐的，也是变革性的。这个网络将以三种新颖的方式来研究权利和代表性是如何（权利和身份）在英国帝国统治的背景下相互塑造。首先，它将汇集一批专家，他们的综合研究兴趣是真正的泛帝国，他们的学科专长涵盖历史，法律和文学批评。在这样做的过程中，该网络将鼓励多学科和跨学科研究，以及跨国范围的研究-鼓励个人研究人员和集体作为一个整体，推动知识和务实的界限。其次，它将利用一个新兴的档案馆-枢密理事会司法委员会（JCPC）的记录-一个独特的档案馆的能力，鉴于其规模，为这些非常广泛和“全球”的主题提供研究的经验基础所提供的研究机会。通过加强现有的原型网站和在线目录，将有可能进行这种开发和前所未有的使用，该网站和目录是作为主要调查员和共同调查员开展的“评判帝国”试点项目的一部分开发的。最后，它将利用网络成员的专门知识，以便从补充性非联合王国和/或非法律记录的专业知识中获益。该网络的一个重要核心将由使用联协委记录的学者组成;但也包括那些集中于非英国的法律的记录，以及非法律的来源，如行政和警察记录，英语和其他语言的小册子，文学和视觉资源-这种多样性是必不可少的，以跟踪翻译的多个层次的理论，美学，道德，制度形式，社交网络和政治身份发生在殖民地和帝国的法律的制度（S），并确定动机和强制性，形成了法律的主体性的假设非常不同的人，由共同指定的“英国臣民”。该网络，其中包括早期的职业研究人员以及建立学者，通过邀请以及“滚雪球”过程，成立了网络成员，帮助确定研究人员自己不太熟悉的领域的杰出学者。我们打算让网络在其整个生命周期内招募成员，从而实现我们的雄心壮志，即在英国帝国统治的背景下，将法律作为交流，转变和翻译的重要场所。我们特别打算使用增强的项目网站及其用户博客，作为一个强大的工具，宣传和参与-与其他学者，以及更广泛的公众。我们将进一步努力让公众参与治理、文化多样性和司法问题，方法是在一开始就组织一次用户审查活动，寻求许可在最高法院大楼内策划一次关于司法促进中心历史作用的公开展览，并探索与媒体合作的每一个机会，例如，最近，当我们在制作一部由协进会委讬制作的纪录片时，曾征询我们的意见。

This project aims to use a major and hitherto neglected archival cache of legal records to explore the impact of colonial law upon the making of social and political identities, the translation of culturally specific ideas and practices into a 'global' legal language, and the transformation of common law itself - in Britain as much as in those distant countries where British subjects once lived. It begins with the hypothesis that in asserting what they (or others) were entitled to, people enmeshed in any legal process are inevitably compelled to state who they (and others) are, and that in a colonial or imperial context, the compulsions are particularly acute as well as transformative.This network will examine in three novel ways how entitlement and representation (rights and identities) shaped each other in the context of British imperial rule. First, it will bring together a group of specialists whose combined research interests are genuinely pan-imperial and whose disciplinary expertise spans history, law and literary criticism. In doing so, the network will encourage both multi- and trans-disciplinary research, as well as research that is trans-national in scope - encouraging individual researchers and the collective as a whole to push boundaries, both intellectual and pragmatic. Secondly, it will exploit the research opportunity presented by an emerging archive - the records of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) - an archive unique for its capacity, given its size, for providing an empirical basis for research in these very broad and 'global' themes. Such exploitation and unprecedented usage will be made possible by enhancing an existing prototype website and online catalogue, developed as part of a pilot project "Judging Empire" - conducted by the Principal and Co-investigators. Finally, it will utilise the expertise of the network members in order to benefit from specialist knowledge of supplementary non-UK and/or non-legal records. A significant core of the network will consist of scholars using the JCPC records; but also those concentrating on non-UK legal records, and non-legal sources such as administrative and police records, pamphlets in English and other languages, literary and visual resources - such variety being essential in order to trace the multiple levels at which translations of doctrines, aesthetics, ethics, institutional forms, social networks and political identities occurred within the colonial and imperial legal system(s), and to identify the motivations and compulsions that shaped the assumption of legal subjectivities by very different people, united by the common designation of 'British subjects'.The network, which includes early career researchers as well as established scholars, has been formed through invitation, as well as by a 'snowballing' process, whereby incorporated network members, have helped to identify outstanding scholars in fields less familiar to the Investigators themselves. We intend to allow the network to recruit members all through its lifetime, thus fulfilling our ambition of setting a new research agenda in law as a crucial site of exchange, transformation and translation in the context of British imperial rule. We especially intend to use the enhanced project website, with its user blog, as a powerful tool for publicity as well as engagement - with other scholars, as well as the wider public. We will further attempt to engage the general public on issues of governance, cultural diversity and justice by organising a user review event at the outset, by seeking permission to curate a public exhibition on the historic role of the JCPC in the Supreme Court's premises, and also by exploring every opportunity for collaboration with the media, such as was recently offered when our consultation was sought during the production of a documentary film commissioned by the JCPC, intended for visitors.