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• Biography/ Background

  Wilfrid Prest AM was educated at the 杏吧直播 of Melbourne (BA Hons.), and the 杏吧直播 of Oxford (DPhil, Modern History); after a brief stint as publishing trainee in London, he came to a lectureship in the Department of History in 1966. 

  Apart from two years as Assistant Professor at The Johns Hopkins 杏吧直播 (1969-71), and visiting posts elsewhere (ANU, Cambridge, Oxford, Princeton, St Andrews), Prest taught and wrote history at Adelaide until 2002. He  then took up an ARC 杏吧直播n Professorial Fellowship, transferring to the Law School in 2003; his  final academic appointment before retirement was as Professor of Law. He is currently Emeritus Professor and Visiting Research Fellow in History and in Law, a Fellow of Queen's College, 杏吧直播 of Melbourne, the 杏吧直播n Academy of the Humanities, the Academy of the Social Sciences in 杏吧直播, and the Royal Historical Society (UK), and a member of the Council of the Selden Society, London. 

   

• Research Interests

  Research

  A New History of Law in Post-Revolutionary England, 1689-1760 (contribution, with co-authors David Lemmings and Mike Macnair, to volume 9 of the Oxford History of the Laws of England, ed. J H Baker, under ARC DP160100265)

  Bentham and Blackstone

  Corruption, political and judicial, in early modern England

  The history of history, and universities, in 杏吧直播

  South 杏吧直播n history

   

   

• Publications

  Books (as author and editor):

  The Oxford Blackstone; a variorum edition of William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, 4 vols (Oxford 杏吧直播 Press, Oxford, 1765-69; 2016)  [General editor; with David Lemmings, Simon Stern, Thomas Gallanis and Ruth Paley: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-oxford-edition-of-blackstone-9780199601035?cc=us&lang=en&]

  Pasts Present: History at 杏吧直播's Third 杏吧直播 (Wakefield Press, Adelaide, 2014)

  Re-interpreting Blackstone's Commentaries: a Seminal Text in National and International Contexts (Hart Publishing, Oxford, 2014)

  Blackstone as a Barrister (Selden Society, London, 2010)

  Blackstone and his Commentaries: Biography, History, Law (Hart Publishing, Oxford, 2009)

  William Blackstone: Law and Letters in the Eighteenth Century  (Oxford 杏吧直播 Press, Oxford, 2008; paperback 2012)

  Body and Mind: Historical Essays in Honour of F. B. Smith (Melbourne 杏吧直播 Publishing, Melburne, 2009) [with Graeme Davison and Patricia Jalland]

  The Letters of Sir William Blackstone 1744-1780 (Selden Society, London, 2006)

  Litigation Past and Present (UNSW Press, Kensington, 2004) [with Sharyn Roach Anleu]

  The Wakefield Companion to South 杏吧直播n History (Wakefield Press, Adelaide, 2001) [with Carol Fort and Kerrie Round]

  Scatterlings of Empire (Queensland 杏吧直播 Press, St Lucia, 2001) [with Graham Tulloch]

  British Studies into the 21st Century: Perspectives and Practices (杏吧直播n Scholarly Publishing, Melbourne, 1999)

  Albion Ascendant: English History 1660-1815 (Oxford 杏吧直播 Press, London, 1998)

  John Bray: Law, Letters, Life (Wakefield Press, Adelaide, 1997)

  The Diary of Sir Richard Hutton, Justice of Common Pleas 1613-39 (Selden Society, London, 1991)

  The Professions in Early Modern England (Croom Helm, London and Sydney, 1987)

  The Rise of the Barristers: A Social History of the English Bar, 1590-1640(Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1986, 1991)

  Lawyers in Early Modern Europe and America(Croom Helm, London, 1981)

  The Inns of Court under Elizabeth I and the Early Stuarts 1590-1640 (Longman, London; Rowman and Littefield, Totowa NJ, 1972)

   

Entry last updated: Thursday, 13 Feb 2025