Recent Publications

The Judgment of the Provinces: The Roman Empire and the Origins of Law and Society

Ari Z. Bryen

Ari Z. Bryen, Cambridge University Press (March 2026) Roman law is justly famous, but what was its relationship to governing an empire? In this book, Ari Z. Bryen argues that law, as the learned practice that we know today, emerged from the challenge of governing a diverse and fractious set of imperial subjects. Read More

Reluctant Abolitionists: Britain and the End of the Colonial Death Penalty

James M. Campbell

James M. Campbell, Cambridge University Press (February 2026) Britain abolished the death penalty for murder in 1965, but many of Britain’s last colonies retained capital murder laws until the 1990s. In this book, James M. Campbell presents the first history of the death sentences imposed under British colonial rule in the late twentieth century; the decision-making processes that determined if condemned prisoners lived or died; and the diverse paths to death penalty abolition across the empire. Read More