Edinburgh-Cambridge Roman Law Moot
Your blogger continues to catch up on news missed for a variety of reasons.
It is worth noting that the Centre for Legal History launched the Cambridge-Edinburgh Roman Law Moot, in collaboration with the Faculty of Law at the University of Cambridge, with an inaugural moot on Thursday 10th September 2020.
The Cambridge-Edinburgh Roman Law Moot offers students an exciting new forum for intellectual and social exchange at the heart of the Western legal tradition. With the participation of the University of Edinburgh Mooting Society and the Cambridge University Law Society, the Moot pitted teams of four undergraduates from each University against one another to argue a dispute in Roman private law set in the reign of the Emperor Justinian the Great (527–565 CE).
The libellus for the inaugural Moot involved claims of damnum iniuria (loss and damage to property) and iniuria (outrage), with associated subtleties connected with the law of property and burial.
The Cambridge team comprised Ellie Ripley, Brendan Low, William Gelley, and Christopher Symes, while Edinburgh was represented by Jordan Smith, Michaela Shackleton, Jamie Perriam, and Kate McIntosh. If Cambridge emerged victorious, Ms McIntosh won a Best Oralist Award for her argument on the actio iniuriarum while Mr Gelley won a Best Oralist Award for his argument on the actio damni iniuriae. The moot was organised by Dr Benjamin Spagnolo at Cambridge and Jonathan Ainslie at Edinburgh.
It is anticipated that the Moot will take place annually in the autumn, alternately hosted in Edinburgh and Cambridge. It is hoped that future competitions will be held in person and a perpetual trophy will be presented at a dinner for all participants at the conclusion of the Moot, together with a Præmium Optimi Oratoris sive Best Oralist Award.
