A workshop sponsored by the CHS
This past April, Charles Bartlett and James Townshend, members of the Department of the Classics at Harvard University, convened a workshop entitled “Law, Economics, and Society: Purchase and Sale in Ancient Law.” The event included scholars from numerous universities across the United States and Europe, and addressed topics such as the origins of the Roman law of sale, the question of symbolic sale, the integration of the economy during the high Roman Empire, and the afterlife of Roman conceptions of property in modern legal debates, among others.
Participants included: Barbara Abatino (Amsterdam/Naples), Jean-Jacques Aubert (Neuchâtel), Charles Bartlett (Harvard), Cristina Carusi (UT, Austin), Charles Donahue (Harvard), Éva Jakab (Szeged), Dennis Kehoe (Tulane), Michael Leese (UNH), Paul du Plessis (Edinburgh), Anna di Robilant (Boston), Peter Temin (MIT), Gerhard Thür (OAW), James Townshend (Harvard).
The organizers billed the forum as a way for those invited to present work in progress and to gain feedback before the final stages of their respective projects. James and Charles were pleased that all those who participated found the workshop helpful in formulating their thoughts and enjoyable for the company and conversation. They are currently entertaining several options for future meetings and/or collaborations, and they wish to express their thanks to the CHS for the support it has given.
