Research focus

Adolfo Giuliani has a combined interest in legal history and legal theory. In legal history his work focuses on late-medieval and early-modern European continental law with particular reference to jurisdiction, and has published on presumption, interpretation, judicial discretion, legal reasoning, sources of law and others.

In legal theory he is particularly interested in the 20th century-philosophical concern with jurisdiction fuelled by Freirechtsschule and the various versions of anti-formalism of the period 1930-60.

His current research is focused on the relationship between legal history and legal theory and explores how legal historiography has reflected changing paradigms of law. This project (Tentatively entitled “Three paradigms of law: Savigny, Kantorowicz and Glenn”) examines the evolution of legal historiography in the 19th and 20th century (for a first assessment see here) up to the recent discussions on Patrick Glenn’s idea of law as tradition.

His most recent research (InfoLaw) examines how different technological environments have had an impact on legal evolution.

Background

Adolfo Giuliani earned a PhD in legal history from Cambridge University with a dissertation on 16th c. theory of presumptions (2007). His background is in law (Italian laurea cum laude) and political theory/intellectual history (MSc LSE 2000 and MPhil Cambridge 2001). He also received a PhD in EU private law (Macerata 2013).