Lawyers’ Empire: Legal Professions and Cultural Authority, 1780-1950

by W. Wesley Pue

Approaching the legal profession through the lens of cultural history, Wes Pue explores the social roles that lawyers imagined for themselves in England and its empire from the late eighteenth to the mid-twentieth century. Each chapter focuses on a moment when lawyers sought to reshape their profession while at the same time imagining they were shaping nation and empire in the process. As an exploration of the relationship between legal professionals and liberalism, this book draws attention to recurrent tensions that have arisen as lawyers sought to assure their own economic well-being while simultaneously advancing the causes of liberty, cultural authority, stability, and continuity.

516 pages, Hardcover

Published July 1, 2016