Membership Details and Application Form
About membership of the Society
The Stair Society was instituted in 1934 to encourage the study and to advance the knowledge of the history of Scots law. It is named after Scotland’s greatest jurist, James Dalrymple, 1st Viscount Stair, whose Institutions of the Law of Scotland, first published in 1681, were the foundation of modern Scots law.
The Society enjoys charitable status. It presently has over 500 members. Since 1936 it has published over 50 volumes, which between them now comprise a significant body of historical material, most of which is not otherwise readily available to lawyers or historians. The annual volume and occasional additional volumes are distributed free to members. A full list of the Society’s publications, with a note of the cost of those in print, is available on the Publications page of this website.
In furtherance of its objects the Society established a scholarship in 2001 with a view to funding a postgraduate student undertaking a PhD in an appropriate subject of legal history. The first scholar has completed her studies and a further award was made in 2006.
The Society’s members meet annually in November, when a talk is given by a distinguished scholar. In recent years the speakers have included Professor Gero Dolezalek, of the University of Leipzig, Professor Alan Watson, of the University of Georgia, USA, Professor Reinhard Zimmermann, of the Max Planck Institure, Hamburg, Professor J C Helmholz, of the University of Chicago, and Professor David Ibbetson, Regius Professor of Civil Law in the University of Cambridge. A full list of the annual lectures, dating back to 1965, can be seen on the Annual Lectures page of this website.
The Society actively encourages new members. Annual subscriptions are modest - £20 for individual members, £25 for institutions (including law firms) and £10 for students. To obtain an application form which may be filled in electonically and sent by email, contact the Secretary & Treasurer at stairsecretary@btinternet.com .
Alternatively, you can download a printable application form.
The Society has recently changed its year end from 31 December to 31 March. Subscription rates for the transitional 15 month period from 1 January 2008 to 31 March 2009 are as follows:
| UK Members | Overseas Members | |
| Individual members | £25 | £30 |
| Institutional members | £35 | £42 |
| Student members | £15 | Not applicable |
Note: Student membership is available to bona fide students, whether undergraduate or postgraduate, at universities and other institutions of higher education in the United Kingdom and will run for a period of three subscription years including the year of admission, regardless of the date of graduation. At the end of the three year period student members will automatically be offered full membership.
Rates are reviewed annually. In return members
receive the annual volume and may attend the Society's Annual General Meeting
and Lecture.
How to contact us
All enquiries about the Society should be directed in the first instance to:-
Thomas H Drysdale WS
Secretary & Treasurer
The Stair Society
6 The Glebe
Manse Road
Dirleton
East Lothian
EH39 5FB
Telephone 01620 850264
email stairsecretary@btinternet.com
.