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9 - Trans-Atlantic Connections

The Many Networks and the Enduring Legacy of J. P. Benjamin

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 August 2020

By
Catharine MacMillan
Edited by
Michael Lobban  and
Ian Williams
Michael Lobban
Affiliation:
London School of Economics and Political Science
Ian Williams
Affiliation:
University College London
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Summary

That legal ideas emerge and expand through networks and connections is ably demonstrated in the life of J. P. Benjamin (1811-1884). Born to parents who migrated throughout the Atlantic world, Benjamin had a varied career as a lawyer, legislator, and plantation owner in Louisiana before becoming a United States senator, Supreme Court attorney, and Confederate States cabinet member. As a self-described ‘political exile’, he then became the acknowledged leader of the English Bar. This extraordinary career was possible because Benjamin’s personality facilitated the creation and development of networks which facilitated the spread of his legal knowledge. As a Louisianan and an American, he brought to the United Kingdom and its Empire a very different form of legal knowledge than then existed at the Bar. The networks of knowledge, people, and institutions he made had a lasting impact upon the development of law in the United Kingdom and the British Empire.

Keywords

LouisianaAtlanticConfederacysalepersonal networkslegal professionlegal transplants
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Networks and Connections in Legal History , pp. 210 - 232
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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