Three Liberty Trees

What was the tree of liberty? This paper takes Boston’s ‘sacred elm’ as a point of departure for exploring debates about the rights of man in late eighteenth-century England. The liberty tree is shown to be a revealing metaphor for the rights of man, with important literal resonance as well.

Susan Marks is Professor of Law at the London School of Economics. Her research is concerned with international law and human rights. She is the author of The Riddle of All Constitutions, International Human Rights Lexicon (co-authored with Andrew Clapham), and A False Tree of Liberty (forthcoming), and edited International Law on the Left.

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The PIL Discussion Group hosts a weekly speaker event and light lunch and is a key focal point for PIL@Oxford. Topics involve contemporary and challenging issues in international law. Speakers include distinguished international law practitioners, academics, and legal advisers from around the world.
 
The group typically meets each Thursday during Oxford terms in The Old Library, All Souls College, with lunch commencing at 12:30. The speaker will commence at 12:45 and speak for about forty minutes, allowing about twenty five minutes for questions and discussion. The meeting should conclude before 2:00. Practitioners, academics and students from within and outside the University of Oxford are all welcome. No RSVP is necessary. Join the PIL Email List to receive information about the PIL Discussion Group meetings, as well as other PIL@Oxford news.
 
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Convenors of the Oxford Public International Law Discussion Group are Sachintha Dias Mudalige and Eirini Fasia.
 
The discussion group's meetings are part of the programme of the British Branch of the International Law Association and are supported by the Law Faculty and Oxford University Press.