The Stair Society’s Annual General Meeting will be held in the
Mackenzie Building, Old Assembly Close, Edinburgh on Saturday 18 November 2023 by courtesy of the Faculty of Advocates.
For members, the business part of the meeting will take place
from 10:30 to 11:00am, after which tea and coffee will be served
prior to the Annual Lecture.
At 11:30am Professor Catharine MacMillan will give the Annual
Lecture. Her title is Making the Imperial Tribunal more truly
imperial in its constitution: the Judicial Committee of the Privy
Council and colonial judges.
Professor MacMillan is Professor of Private Law at the Dickson
Poon School of Law at King’s College London, an Honorary
Professor at Edinburgh Law School, and Immediate Past
President of the Society of Legal Scholars. Her topic explores an
area of law which has not had a great deal of attention, namely
the functioning of the Judicial Committee as an imperial court,
and, in particular, the composition of that tribunal and the
inclusion of Dominion and colonial judges. The title of the
lecture is a nod to Lord Rosebery’s description of the Judicial
Committee Amendment Act of 1895. The lecture will reflect
new archival research.
The lecture is not restricted to members of the Society, but non
members wishing to attend are asked to advise the Secretary and
Treasurer in advance of their intention to attend.