Cambridge Core - Jurisprudence - Neil MacCormick

Writing the life of a thinker is a long and difficult process. As an author, one often needs sources to which one can return and which never fail to refresh one’s original interests and revive the spirits, reanimating one’s pen. For me, writing about Neil MacCormick, one of those key sources was...

Neil MacCormick - June 2025

Maksymilian Del Mar, Queen Mary University of London, has published Neil MacCormick: A Life in Politics, Philosophy, and Law (Cambridge University Press):Neil MacCormick (1941–2009) was one of the twentieth century's most important legal philosophers and one of Scotland's most influential public intellectuals. This book tells the story of his political and philosophical life, from his intensely political childhood as the son of 'King John', one of the founders of the Scottish National Party, through to his involvement in Scottish politics – especially as the author of SNP's constitutional policy – and his role as a Member of the European Parliament, helping to draft the European Constitution. With special attention to MacCormick's character, this book offers a reading of his entire oeuvre, covering his contributions to theories of legal and moral reasoning, institutional legal theory, nationalism, post-sovereignty, subsidiarity, and constitutional pluralism in Europe. This book reads MacCormick as a highly creative thinker who excelled in the art of constructing inclusive middles and thereby developed his own distinctive approach to politics and philosophy. --Dan Ernst 

Stephen James Bogle, University of Glasgow School of Law, has posted James Dalrymple, Viscount Stair, 1619-1695: a pioneer of law and commerce? James Dalrymple, Viscount Stair (NYPL) James Dalrymple, Viscount Stair (1619-1695), is rarely…

The publishers of the Compendium of Scottish Ethnology are looking to give away remaining stock for free. A list of what is available is attached; it includes the volume in the series on Law. Please c...

Come celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Stair Society with a Scottish Legal History Moot.