The North Carolina Law Review hosts "Celebrating 800 Years of Magna Carta," a symposium to explore the history, mythology and future of the English peace treaty charter document of 1215. The symposium will be held at the Kenan Center at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School on Friday, Oct. 2, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Students, alumni, faculty, staff and the public are invited to attend.
The symposium will bring together scholars and practitioners who are working at the intersection of the disciplines of constitutional law, religious freedom, property law, and criminal law. Against the backdrop of a culture debating the reach of the U.S. Constitution, panelists will create room for nuanced dialogue regarding the future of Constitutional interpretation with an emphasis on the history of the document.
UNC School of Law professors Alfred Brophy, William Marshall and John V. Orth are the faculty chairs of the conference.
The symposium will begin with panel sessions discussing the history and mythical perspectives of the Magna Carta. After lunch, U.S. District Court Judge Jed S. Rakoff of the Southern District of New York will give the keynote address. The afternoon session will explore the future as viewed through the lens of the Magna Carta. The full schedule and registration information is available at http://www.nclawreview.org/symposium/.
“We are delighted to have some of the world’s most distinguished scholars of English and American legal history coming together to talk with one of our nation’s most revered judges and one of our nation’s best litigators to celebrate and discuss a foundational document to that most important topic: the rule of law,” says Brophy. “This will be a terrific celebration of Magna Carta’s history, how it has been used as a symbol and a guide for those seeking liberty, and the unfinished business of expanding the protections of the rule of law in the United States.”
The symposium will be live streamed and recorded for subsequent webcast and available through the journal's website. The symposium is generously supported by the American Constitution Society and UNC Graduate and Professional Student Federation.
-September 22, 2015