An elegant legal education: the studies of Charles Binning, a Scottish pupil of Cornelis van Eck

Baston, K. G. and Cairns, J. W. (2015) An elegant legal education: the studies of Charles Binning, a Scottish pupil of Cornelis van Eck. Tijdschrift voor Rechtsgeschiedenis: Legal History Review, 83(1-2), pp. 179-201. (doi: 10.1163/15718190-08312p09)

Abstract

This article considers the influence of legal education based on the Dutch tradition of legal humanism on a Scottish student of the late seventeenth-century. An annotated textbook retained by Charles Binning contains notes from his studies with the Utrecht professor Cornelis van Eck and provides evidence for Van Eck’s teaching practices. Their education abroad equipped Scottish legal students for the professional, intellectual and cultural lives they would lead when they returned home. Exposure to the ideas contained in the books they studied and their relationships with the Continental learned gave Scottish scholars admission into the international Republic of Letters. This had significance for the development of the Scottish Enlightenment.

• Item Type: Articles (Other)
• Keywords: Scottish law students, humanism, Cornelis van Eck, Charles Binning, Principia juris civilis, legal textbooks, book collecting, witchcraft, Scottish legal profession.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Baston, Dr Karen
• Authors: Baston, K. G., and Cairns, J. W.
• College/School: University Services > Library and Collection Services > Library
• Journal Name: Tijdschrift voor Rechtsgeschiedenis: Legal History Review
• Publisher: Brill
• ISSN: 0040-7585
• ISSN (Online): 1571-8190
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2015 Koninklijke Brill NV
• First Published: First published in Tijdschrift voor Rechtsgeschiedenis: Legal History Review 83(1-2): 179-201
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy