Professor Maksymilian Del Mar, BA LLB (Qld), PhD (Edinburgh), PhD (Lausanne), Solicitor (Qld)Professor of Legal Theory and Legal HumanitiesEmail: m.delmar@qmul.ac.ukRoom Number: Mile EndProfileTeachingResearchPublicationsSupervisionPublic EngagementProfileMaksymilian Del Mar is Professor of Legal Theory and Legal Humanities in the Department of Law. His research interests focus on the theoretical and historical intersections of law, rhetoric, philosophy, and literature. Within philosophy, he has particular interests in the philosophy of mind, especially imagination and emotion, and their social dimensions. At the moment, his work is focused on the history and historiography of legal philosophy, with special attention to the Scottish tradition (esp. David Hume, Adam Smith, and Neil MacCormick). Professor Del Mar studied philosophy, literature, and law at the University of Queensland, Australia (BA Hons / LLB Hons); legal philosophy at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland (PhD); and philosophy of the social sciences at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland (PhD). He arrived at Queen Mary in 2011. Professor Del Mar serves as an Editor of the Law-in-Context series at Cambridge University Press, which is a long-standing series committed to contextual legal pedagogy and to theorising law in context. Recent activity includes: Delivering the Inaugural Annual Lecture of the UK Association for Legal and Social Philosophy (the UK IVR) on ‘Reading Neil MacCormick’. Responding to comments in a symposium on Artefacts of Legal Inquiry: The Value of Imagination in Adjudication (2020) in the Netherlands Journal of Legal Philosophy; and Publishing on the relevance of the history of rhetoric to theorising legal reasoning in Law & Literature and the Oxford Journal of Legal Studies Undergraduate Teaching LAW6021 Jurisprudence and Legal Theory, Semester 1 and 2 Legal Reasoning in a Global Context, Semester 1 Law, Knowledge, Power: Past and Present, Semester 2 Postgraduate Teaching SOLM179 Common Law Reasoning SOLM180 Visual Jurisprudence SOLM183 Historical Jurisprudence ResearchCurrent research At present, Professor Del Mar is focused on completing Neil MacCormick: The Character of a Philosopher. The project has been generously funded by the Leverhulme Trust and the British Academy and includesa website, containing a timeline, full bibliography, and audio and video resources. Past research Professor Del Mar has broad research interests in legal theory and legal humanities. These have included interests in: Legal reasoning; Historiography and methodology of legal theory; and Global and transnational legal theory. With respect to the first interest, Professor Del Mar has a special interest in the theoretical and historical relations between the imagination, the emotions, and the body in the practice of legal reasoning. He has published Artefacts of Legal Inquiry: The Value of Imagination in Adjudication (500pp, Hart, 2020), which develops an account of the importance of imagination for common law reasoning. The book draws on a range of theoretical traditions, including rhetoric, the cognitive humanities, and the philosophy of mind. Other work has included papers on exemplarity and narrativity, on the rhetorical tradition of declamation, and on emotion experiments. Recently published work has focused on the relevance of the history of rhetoric for theorising legal reasoning, including examining the relation between the history of rhetoric and emotion, and enthymising as an art of rhetorical narrative-making. Also recent is a chapter on ‘Kinesic Intelligence in Common Law Reasoning’ for a collection on Kinesic Intelligence Across the Humanities edited by Guillemette Bolens. A strand of this work has focused on legal pedagogy, especially the role and value of the arts in legal education, including papers on educating the legal imagination, and on drawing on the visual and dramatic arts to teach case law. Related editorial work has included: The Moral Imagination and the Legal Life (Ashgate, 2013, with Zenon Bankowski); The Arts and the Legal Academy (Ashgate, 2013, with Zenon Bankowski and Paul Maharg); Legal Fictions in Theory and Practice (Springer, 2015, with William Twining); and Virtue, Emotion and Imagination in Law and Legal Reasoning (Hart, 2020, with Amalia Amaya). With respect to the second interest, Professor Del Mar is especially interested in investigating the emotional and aesthetic aspects of legal philosophy, as well as taking seriously its geographical dimensions. He has a long-standing interest in Scottish jurisprudence, especially David Hume, Adam Smith, and Neil MacCormick. He recently delivered the 2022 Inaugural UK IVR Annual Lecture named in honour of Neil MacCormick (recording is available). Other work has included papers on Adam Smith (with a particular focus on imagination and reasoning), on the role of images in the writing of legal theory, and the fact-value problem. Methodologically, much of the research here has been examining the possibility of a generative relationship between the history and philosophy of law, e.g., ‘Philosophical Analysis and Historical Inquiry’ (in the Oxford Handbook of Legal History, 2018). Related editorial work includes: Law as Institutional Normative Order (Routledge, 2009, with Zenon Bankowski); New Waves in Philosophy of Law (Palgrave, 2011); The Anxiety of the Jurist (Ashgate, 2013, with Claudio Michelon); Law in Theory and History (Hart, 2016, with Michael Lobban); and The Oxford Handbook of Law and Humanities, 2020, with Simon Stern and Bernadette Meyler). With respect to the third interest, Professor Del Mar has been especially interested in theorising legal reasoning under conditions of pluralism, examining the role and value of metaphors in international law (in particular, in the contexts of customary international law), thinking about the importance of global history for jurisprudence, and reflecting on transnational authority. The work on MacCormick is also relevant here, given the importance of his institutional theory of law for transnational legal theory. Related editorial work includes: Authority in Transnational Legal Theory (Edward Elgar, 2016, with Roger Cotterrell).PublicationsDownload Professor Maks Del Mar's full CV [PDF 219KB] Legal Reasoning (Imagination, Emotion, Narrative, Pedagogy) Contextual Legal Pedagogy, co-edited with Kenneth Armstrong and Sally Sheldon, (2022) International Journal of Law in Context 365-460 Artefacts of Legal Inquiry: The Value of Imagination in Adjudication (Hart / Bloomsbury, 2020) Virtue, Emotion and Imagination in Legal Reasoning , co-edited with Amalia Amaya, Hart Publishing, 2020 ‘ The Confluence of Rhetoric and Emotion: How the History of Rhetoric Illuminates the Theoretical Importance of Emotion ‘(2022) Law & Literature1-29 ‘Enthymising‘ (2022) Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, Advance Articles ‘Emotion Experiments in Legal Thought ‘(2018) 5(2) CAL: Critical Analysis of Law , Special Issue on ‘New Literary Analysis of Law’ ‘Common Virtue and the Perspectival Imagination: Adam Smith and Common Law Reasoning ‘, (2018) 9(1) Jurisprudence 58-70 ‘Legal Reasoning in Pluralist Jurisprudence: The Practice of the Relational Imagination ‘, in Andrew Halpin and Nicole Roughan (eds.), In Pursuit of Pluralist Jurisprudence , Cambridge University Press, 40-63 ‘Metaphor in International Law: Language, Imagination and Normative Inquiry ‘(2017) 86(2) Nordic Journal of International Law (Special Issue on ‘Language and International Law) 170-195 ‘Imagining by Feeling: A Case for Compassion in Legal Reasoning ‘(2017) 13(2) International Journal of Law in Context 143-157 ‘Learning How to Read a Case: Resources and Activities from the Visual and Dramatic Arts ‘, in B. von Klink and B. de Vries (eds.), Academic Learning in Law: Theoretical Positions, Teaching Experiments and Learning Experiences , Edward Elgar, 2016, 244-266 Legal Fictions in Theory and Practice , co-edited with William Twining, Springer, 2015 ‘Legal Fictions and Legal Change in the Common Law Tradition ‘, in Del Mar and Twining (eds.), Legal Fictions in Theory and Practice, Springer , 2015, 225-254 ‘The Forward-Looking Requirement of Formal Justice: Neil MacCormick on Consequential Reasoning ‘(2015) 6(3) Jurisprudence 429-50 ‘Exemplarity and Narrativity in the Common Law Tradition ‘(2013) 25(3) Law & Literature 390- 427 The Moral Imagination and the Legal Life: Beyond Text in Legal Education , co-edited with Zenon Bankowski, Ashgate, 2013 The Arts and the Legal Academy: Beyond Text in Legal Education , co-edited with Zenon Bankowski and Paul Maharg, Ashgate, 2013 ‘The Education of Attention and Encounter in the Legal Academy ‘, in Bankowski and Del Mar (eds.), The Moral Imagination and the Legal Life: Beyond Text in Legal Education , Ashgate, 2013, 33-63 ‘Legal Understanding and the Affective Imagination ‘, in Caroline Maughan and Paul Maharg (eds.), Affect and Legal Education , Surrey: Ashgate, 2011, 177-193 ‘Beyond Text in Legal Education: Art, Ethics and the Carnegie Report ‘(2010) 56 Loyola Law Review 101-144 Historical Jurisprudence and the Methodology of Legal Theory ‘The Declamatory Tradition of Normative Inquiry: Towards an Aesthetic History of Legal and Political Thought ‘(2020) 2 Jus Cogens: A Critical Journal of Philosophy of Law and Politics Online First ‘Global Historical Jurisprudence: Relating Law and Power in a Global Context ‘, in Jorge Zamora (ed.), Jurisprudence in a Globalised World , Edward Elgar, 2020, 100-126 ‘Philosophical Analysis and Historical Inquiry: Theorising Normativity, Law and Legal Thought ‘, in Markus Dubber and Christopher Tomlins (eds.), Oxford Handbook of Legal Historical Research , Oxford University Press, 2018, 3-22 Law in Theory and History: New Essays on a Neglected Dialogue , co-edited with Michael Lobban, Hart Publishing, 2016 ‘Beyond Universality and Particularity, Necessity and Contingency: On Collaboration between Legal Theory and Legal History ‘, in Del Mar and Lobban (eds.), Law in Theory and History , 2016, 22-38 ‘Modelling Law Diachronically: Temporal Variability in Legal Theory ‘, in Del Mar and Lobban (eds.), Law in Theory and History: New Essays on a Neglected Dialogue , Hart, 2016, 108-126 ‘Thinking in Images in Legal Theory ‘, in Del Mar and Michelon (eds.), The Anxiety of the Jurist: Legality, Exchange and Judgement , Ashgate, 2013, 43-67 ‘Relational Jurisprudence: Vulnerability between Fact and Value ‘(2012) 2 Law and Method 63-81 ‘The Smithian Categorical Imperative: How MacCormick Smithified Kant ‘(2012) 98(2) Archiv für Rechts- und Sozialphilosophie 233-254 ‘The Works of Neil MacCormick: A Complete Bibliography and a Bibliographical Essay on Scottish Themes ‘, in Neil Walker (ed.), MacCormick’s Scotland , Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2012, 25-69 ‘What Does History Matter to Legal Epistemology? ‘, (2011) 5 Journal of the Philosophy of History 383-405 New Waves in Philosophy of Law , Palgrave Macmillan, 2011 Law as Institutional Normative Order , co-edited with Zenon Bankowski, Ashgate, 2009 Global and Transnational Legal Theory Authority in Transnational Legal Theory: Theorising Across Disciplinary Borders , co-edited with Roger Cotterrell, Edward Elgar, 2016 ‘Legal Reasoning in Pluralist Jurisprudence: The Practice of the Relational Imagination ‘, in Andrew Halpin and Nicole Roughan (eds.), In Pursuit of Pluralist Jurisprudence , Cambridge University Press, 40-63 ‘Imaginaries of Authority: Towards an Archaeology of Disagreement ‘, for Cotterrell and Del Mar (eds.), Authority in Transnational Legal Theory , 2016, 220-251 ‘Beyond the State in and of Legal Theory ‘, in Sean Donlan and Lukas Heckendorn-Urscheler (eds.), Concepts of Law: Comparative, Jurisprudential, and Social Science Perspectives , Ashgate, 2014, 19-41 ‘Legality as Relative Institutionalisation: MacCormick’s Diffusionism and Transnational Legal Theory ‘(2014) 5(2) Transnational Legal Theory 177-217 ‘The Moral Quality of Work in International Economic Institutions: Resisting Complacency ‘, with Oche Onazi (2008) 4(4) International Journal of Law in Context 337-372 ‘System Values and Understanding Legal Language ‘(2008) 21(1) Leiden Journal of International Law 29-61 SupervisionProfessor Del Mar welcomes proposals for supervision in legal theory and legal humanities. He is willing to consider any proposal in these fields, but is likely to be most helpful as a supervisor if the proposal falls within his main areas of research. Proposals in the following broad areas would be especially welcome: The theory and history of common law reasoning, especially its links to aesthetics, rhetoric, and poetics. Relations between law and cultural theory and history (including literature and the visual arts). The history and historiography of legal philosophy, and the importance of, and prospects for, historical jurisprudence. The theory and history of law in a global context. The tradition of Scottish jurisprudence, especially in and since the 18th century. Professor Del Mar is currently supervising: Luiza Tavares da Motta, Tense and Tensions between Law, Literature and Temporality, with Dr Tanzil Chowdhury, Law, 2021- Gabrielle Schwarzmann, Trauma, Pain and Shame: Recovering the Experiences of Non-Elite Women in Late Medieval English Legal Culture, with Professor Miri Rubin, 2021- Recently completed students: Ms Adela Halo, Ending the French Revolution: Germaine de Staël and the Birth of Liberalism in France, with Gareth Stedman-Jones, Schools of Law and History, 2015-2020 Public Engagement Founding Director and Member of the Centre for Law and Society in a Global Context (CLSGC) Associate Academic Fellow of the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple Member of the Advisory Committee of the Centre for the History of Political Thought, Queen Mary University of London Co-Convenor, International Network for Transnational Legal and Political Theory Member of the Committee of the Centre for the History of Emotions, Queen Mary University of London Related newsSymposium published on Professor Maks Del Mar’s Artefacts of Legal Inquiry 4 January 2023 Queen Mary expert co-edits special issue on ‘Contextual Legal Pedagogy’ 25 November 2022 Professor Maks Del Mar joins the Editorial Board of Law & Literature 23 June 2022 Maks Del Mar’s book, Artefacts of Legal Inquiry, wins the IVR’s Commendation for Excellence 22 June 2022 Professor Maks Del Mar to deliver Inaugural UK IVR MacCormick Lecture 20 January 2022 Australasian Society of Legal Philosophy holds Symposium on Maks Del Mar’s Artefacts of Legal Inquiry 12 November 2021 Scholarly Blog on Imagination hosts a Symposium on Professor Del Mar’s book 10 May 2021 Two Queen Mary PhD students win prestigious LAHP studentships 2 June 2020 Professor Maksymilian Del Mar awarded British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship 18 May 2020 New book explores the role of imagination in legal reasoning 9 April 2020 Professor Maksymilian Del Mar publishes monograph on imagination in legal reasoning 26 February 2020 Professor Maks Del Mar publishes collection on Virtue, Emotion and Imagination in Law and Legal Reasoning 6 February 2020 Prof. Maks Del Mar co-edits The Oxford Handbook of Law and Humanities 8 January 2020 Prof. Maksymilian Del Mar to visit the Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto as a Distinguished Visitor 8 November 2019 Prof. Maksymilian Del Mar to speak in Berlin at Multiple Legalities conference 8 November 2019 Dr Del Mar joins Editorial Board of Jus Cogens 25 February 2019 How can digital technologies help us to improve the way we communicate? 21 December 2018 Dr Maks Del Mar to speak at conference on Law and Poetics in Cambridge 1 May 2018 Dr Maks Del Mar joins the International Editorial Board of the International Journal of Law in Context. 8 February 2018 Dr Maks Del Mar becomes Co-Editor of the Law in Context series at Cambridge University Press 1 November 2017 Dr Maks Del Mar to deliver lecture in Salzburg 24 October 2017 Dr Maks Del Mar gives seminar at the Aesthetics Research Centre 24 October 2017 Dr Maks Del Mar to deliver Keynote Lecture at Joint Conference of the Netherlands Association of Legal Philosophy and the Netherlands Association of the Sociology of Law 13 October 2017 Dr Maks Del Mar speaks in Paris in honour of Geoffrey Samuel 7 December 2016 Centre for Law and Society in a Global Context holds first International Dialogue with Erasmus Law School 1 November 2016 Dr Maks Del Mar delivers Inner Temple lecture on Legal Reasoning in the Common Law Tradition 21 October 2016 Dr Maks Del Mar to lecture in Poland 21 October 2016 New book published: 'Law in Theory and History: New Essays on a Neglected Dialogue' co-edited by Dr Maks Del Mar and Professor Michael Lobban 18 October 2016 New book published: 'Authority in Transnational Legal Theory: Theorising Across Disciplines' co-edited by Professor Roger Cotterrell and Dr Maks Del Mar 4 October 2016 Dr Maks Del Mar to lecture in Colombia and Mexico 10 May 2016 First Year PhD Student Dan Davison-Vecchione accepted on summer school program at Cornell University 11 April 2016 Dr Maks Del Mar speaks on legal fictions at Oxford 15 March 2016 Dr Maks Del Mar and Professor Amalia Amaya win British Academy / Newton Grant 9 February 2016 Dr Del Mar to speak on Neil MacCormick at St. Andrews 17 September 2015 Roger Cotterrell and Maks Del Mar convene a workshop in Washington for The International Association of Legal and Social Philosophy (IVR) 5 August 2015 Dr Del Mar speaks on Legal Theory in Singapore and Harvard 23 June 2015 Dr Maks Del Mar published collection on 'Legal Fictions in Theory and Practice' 18 March 2015 Dr Del Mar presents two papers on Neil MacCormick in Edinburgh 4 March 2015 Professor Cotterrell and Dr Del Mar present at conference for the launch of the National University of Singapore Centre for Legal Theory 19 February 2015 QMUL publishes archive dedicated to life and works of Professor Sir Neil MacCormick 30 October 2014 Dr Del Mar edits new three-volume series on Contemporary Legal Theory 12 September 2014 Roger Cotterrell and Maks Del Mar to present on Transnational Authority in Paris 12 August 2014 Dr Del Mar invited to speak to the Legal Theory Group of the National University of Singapore 31 July 2014 Dr Maksymilian Del Mar invited to speak at Harvard Law School 17 July 2014 Dr Del Mar to present on legal reasoning at UCL 7 May 2014 Dr Del Mar to Chair Agora on International Law and Linguistics 28 March 2014 Dr Del Mar to speak on legal reasoning in Edinburgh 26 March 2014 Law PhD students benefit as Queen Mary joins the Association of Transnational Law Schools 19 March 2014 Dr Del Mar invited to speak on MacCormick in London and Cambridge 6 March 2014 Dr Maks Del Mar invited to join two editorial boards 22 January 2014