Prof Caroline Humfress

Prof Caroline Humfress

Deputy Head of School

Professor in Medieval History

Researcher profile

Phone
+44 (0)1334 46 2893
Email
ch226@st-andrews.ac.uk
Location
Mediaeval History, 71 South Street
Office hours
On Research Leave

 

Teaching

Undergraduate:

Legal Cultures in Late Antiquity (Hons)

Holy Lives in Late Antiquity (Hons)

The Fall of Rome and the Origins of Europe 400 - 1000 (Sub-Hons)

Postgraduate:

The Idea of Law (MLitt Legal and Constitutional Studies)

Comparative Studies in Legal History (MLitt Legal and Constitutional Studies)

Research areas

Caroline Humfress is Professor of Medieval History, a former Director of the Institute of Legal and Constitutional Research and the founding / current Convenor of the MLitt in Legal and Constitutional Studies. She has published widely on Ancient, Late Antique and Early Medieval law and religion, placing historical questions in dialogue with legal, anthropological and sociological concepts and approaches.

Most recently she has edited The Cambridge Comparative History of Ancient Law (Cambridge University Press, at press 2023): the first project of its kind in the field of comparative ancient legal history, working with an international team of experts across the fields of Ancient Greek, Roman, Indo-European, Near-Eastern and Chinese law. She is currently completing a monograph for Oxford University Press (Laws' Empire. Multilegalism in Late Antiquity), in addition to working on ancient constitutionalism and ideas of legal ordering in Late Antiquity and beyond. 

PhD supervision

  • Misty Ducasse
  • Meghan Dulsky
  • Chao Xiao
  • Sophia Kniaz
  • Freja Stamper

Selected publications

  • Open access

    Legal pluralism’s Other: mythologizing modern law

    Humfress, C., 9 Jun 2023, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Law and History Review. FirstView, 14 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  • Out of time? Eternity, christology and Justinianic law

    Humfress, C., 31 Aug 2023, Political thought, time, and history. Robertson, J. (ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 36-53 18 p.

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

  • “The Early Church”

    Humfress, C., Feb 2022, The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Canon Law . Winroth, A. & Wei, J. (eds.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

  • Open access

    Beyond the (Byzantine) state: towards a user theory of jurisdiction

    Humfress, C., Oct 2021, Entangled Legalities Beyond the State . Krisch, N. (ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 353 - 375 (Global Law Series).

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter (peer-reviewed)peer-review

  • Open access

    Law, bureaucracy and the practice of government and rule

    Humfress, C., 31 Mar 2021, The Oxford World History of Empire. Bang, P., Bayly, C. & Scheidel, W. (eds.). Oxford: Oxford University Press, Vol. I. p. 266-287

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter (peer-reviewed)peer-review

  • Open access

    Natural law and casuistic reasoning in Roman jurisprudence

    Humfress, C., 19 Apr 2021, State and Nature: Studies in Ancient and Medieval Philosophy . Adamson, P. & Rapp, C. (eds.). Berlin: de Gruyter, p. 247-266 20 p.

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

  • Open access

    'Cherchez la femme!' Heresy and law in late antiquity

    Humfress, C., Jun 2020, The church and the law. McKitterick, R., Methuen, C. & Spicer, A. (eds.). Cambridge University Press, Vol. 56. p. 36-59 (Studies in Church History).

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

  • Open access

    A new legal cosmos: late Roman lawyers and the early medieval church

    Humfress, C., 9 Feb 2018, The medieval world. Linehan, P., Nelson, J. L. & Costambeys, M. (eds.). 2nd ed. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, 21 p. (Routledge worlds).

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

  • Open access

    Gift-giving and inheritance strategies in late Roman law and legal practice

    Humfress, C., 7 Jun 2017, Donations, inheritance and property in the Nordic and Western world from late Antiquity until today. Rønning, O-A., Møller Sigh, H. & Vogt, H. (eds.). Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, Vol. Abingdon. 19 p. (Routledge studies in cultural history).

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

  • Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity

    Humphries, M., Nicholson O., and team of 'subject editors', 2017, Oxford University Press.

    Research output: Other contribution

 

See more publications