WELCOME
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‘Legal and Judicial Legacies of Empire’ This is the topic of the next Conference to be held on Tuesday 17 June 2014 from 10.15am-6.30pm at The Chancellor’s Hall, Senate House, University of London, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU
This is the successor Conference to the one held on 20 May 2013 which had the title The Legacy of Empire. It is likely to be the final one in the series of Witness Seminars which began in 2001.
All the speakers are prominent legal and judicial people with expert professional knowledge and experience of the effects of past British rule on so much of the modern world. Some are coming from the Caribbean, Africa and Malaysia, while others based in Britain have connections overseas in Ghana, Zambia, India, Hong Kong and elsewhere. The opening address will be given by Lord Igor Judge, former Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales.
The Conference is held in conjunction with the Commonwealth Magistrates’ and Judges’ Association, the Commonwealth Legal Education Association, the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies and the Institute of Commonwealth Studies of the University of London. It deserves the attendance of OSPA members interested in the enduring impact of our colonial rule on the peoples and nations concerned. Sponsorship funding has been provided by the leading international law firm Stephenson Harwood, the Commonwealth Secretariat Legal and Constitutional Affairs Division, and the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies.
This will be an important Conference whose proceedings will add to the public record of the consequences across the world of the period of colonial rule in which OSPA members served.
Please come if you can to hear the presentations and perhaps contribute to the discussions. You can register for the event with the Institute online at:
http://www.events.sas.ac.uk/icws/events/list
The special rate charge for OSPA members, to pay for the lunch and other refreshments is £10. If you cannot register in advance you will still be admitted at the door on the day.
Conference on Legal and Judicial Legacies of EmpireTuesday 17 June 2014 Chancellor’s Hall, Senate House, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU
Provisional programme
10.15-10.45 Registration; tea/coffee
10.45-10.55 Welcome by Professor Philip Murphy (Director, ICwS) and Lord Goodlad (President of OSPA)
10.55 Keynote speaker Chairman: Professor Philip Murphy Speaker: The Rt Hon The Lord Judge, PC, QC (former Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales)
11.30-1.00 Session One: The application of English law and other legal systems in the Empire and after Independence Chairman: Dr Peter Slinn (Vice-President, Commonwealth Legal Education Association) Speakers: 1. Professor Emeritus Simon Roberts (LSE) 2. Professor John Hatchard (University of Buckingham and the Open University, Vice-President of CLEA) 3. Dr Haji Mohd Na’im Mokhtar (Malaysia Sharia judge) 4. Michael Thomas, CMG, QC (Attorney-General, Hong Kong 1983-88)
1.00-2.00 Lunch
2.00-3.00 Session Two: The Evolution of Courts Chairman: Patricia McKellar (Joint General Secretary, CLEA, Assistant Director, Laws Programme, University of London) Speakers: 1. Judge Timothy Workman, CBE (former Senior District Judge for England & Wales) 2. The Hon Madame Justice Desiree Bernard (former Chief Justice of Guyana; former Judge of Caribbean Court of Justice) 3. The Hon Mahapela Lehohla (former Chief Justice of Lesotho)
3.00-3.45 Session Three: The Dark Side of the Moon; the Legacy of old Laws Chairman: Dr. Karen Brewer (Secretary-General, Commonwealth Magistrates’ and Judges’ Association) Speakers: 1. Dr Chaloka Beyani (LSE) 2. Jonathan Cooper, OBE (Barrister, Doughty Street Chambers; Chief Executive, Human Dignity Trust)
3.45-4.15 Tea break
4.15-5.15 Session Four: Human Rights and the New Common Law of the Commonwealth Chairman: Soli Sorabjee AM (former Indian Attorney-General) Speakers: 1. Professor William Twining FBA, QC (Emeritus Quain Professor of Jurisprudence, UCL) 2. Kirsty Brimelow, QC (Chair of the Bar Human Rights Committee) (tbc) 3. James Guthrie, QC
5.15-5.45 Round up and Conclusions Chairman: Charles Cullimore, CMG (Chairman of OSPA)
5.45 Closing thanks by Professor Murphy
5.45-6.30 Reception
Sponsors: Stephenson Harwood IALS (Institute of Advanced Legal Studies) Commonwealth Secretariat - Legal & Constitutional Affairs Division
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About OSPA
The OVERSEAS SERVICE PENSIONERS’ ASSOCIATION (OSPA) was founded in 1960 in order to protect the pension rights of members of the Colonial Service (since 1954 properly called Her Majesty’s Overseas Civil Service – HMOCS), who worked for the governments of the former British colonial territories, ultimately under the former Colonial Office in London. OSPA now also represents people who served the governments of Southern Rhodesia, the Central African Federation and the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, which were not administered by HMOCS. Widows are also included.
HMOCS included members of the Colonial Audit Service and Queen Elizabeth's Colonial Nursing Service which had previously been distinct from the regular colonial services.The pensions issues have now mostly been resolved, though some are still live, and others may yet arise. OSPA now focuses more on spreading a better understanding of what the Colonial Service/HMOCS was, who its members were, what they did, why and how they did it, and to what effect. More generally, what was their life like. This applies to the other overseas territories too. OSPA believes that this information ought to be out on public record, in many different ways, so that people today and those of tomorrow can know about and have access to first-hand evidence of how the colonial territories were governed and developed during the colonial phase of the 20th century, especially after 1945. Membership
Membership of OSPA is open to all former HMOCS officers and their widows, and other Overseas Service people. Non-pensioners, and anyone having a personal or professional interest in the work or activities of the Colonial Service, or just in colonial life and times generally, may become Associate members, and these are a growing number. To see membership rules and other details click here
There are over 3,000 members, of whom a quarter live outside Britain. They include widows, and wives. There are many more former HMOCS personnel (and widows) who do not belong, perhaps because they are not aware of OSPA's purposes and the nature and scope of what it now does. They are invited to join now!
Pensions Issues
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Zimbabwe Public Service Pensions
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Central African Federation Pensions
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Hong Kong Pensions
Publications
I Remember it Well: Fifty Years of Colonial Service Personal Reminiscences
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OSPA’s Golden Jubilee in 2010 was
marked by the publication of a book I Remember it Well
edited by OSPA’s Secretary, David Le Breton. Over seventy
contributions make up this collection of memoirs from members who
served the Crown in colonial territories around the globe both
before and after World War II. They write about their personal
lives, their first tour, travel, work and leisure
activities. |
P>The book can be ordered from: Librario Publishing Ltd, Brough House, Milton Brodie, Kinloss, Morayshire, Scotland IV36 2UA. Tel: 01343 850178 or order online at www.librario.com
ISBN 978 190677 518 6
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PRESIDENT OF
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