A top academic at the University of Aberdeen will help to bridge a 50-year gap between the University and Sri Lanka when he leads an international delegation to the Southern Asian island in January 2005.
Professor Roderick Paisley, Professor of Commercial Property Law, will travel to the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo on Sunday 2 January, 2005, accompanied by three fellow legal academics from Aberdeen – Professor David Carey Miller, Professor Cornelius G van der Merwe, and Mrs Margaret Ross, to hold a series of events with the aim of updating Sri Lankan legal professionals on 21st century Scots Law.
The trip has been organised jointly by Professor Paisley and his counterparts at the University of Edinburgh, including Professor George Gretton, Mrs Elspeth Reid, and Professor Hector MacQueen, who will join the Aberdeen team to deliver keynote speeches on Scots law.
The Scottish team will travel to Sri Lanka for 10 days where they will meet with the country’s leading legal experts to deliver a range of presentations in various fields, including property law, human rights, and dispute resolution distribution.
The conference will also welcome legal academics from the USA and Germany who will make the journey to Colombo from Tulane University in Louisiana, and from the Max Planck Institute of Private Law in Hamburg.
One important justification for next month’s trip is the fact that Scots law and Sri Lankan law are very similar. The law in some North American states, such as Louisiana, Florida and California, also share many similarities with these legal systems.
The forthcoming trip will see three legal systems working together for the first time and will mark a milestone event for the University of Aberdeen.
Any previous form of interaction between the University and the legal sector of Sri Lanka was in the 1950s when the late Professor T. B. Smith, a renowned Scottish law expert who taught at Aberdeen, established contact with Sri Lankan lawyers. His efforts provided a valuable source of knowledge and information for his fellow legal professionals.
Professor Paisley is keen to continue the work that Professor Smith began and is delighted to be travelling to Sri Lanka with a selection of legal books, ranging from the 18th to the 21st century, which have been donated by a variety of companies within Scotland’s legal sector.
He said: “I have been astonished by the support from some of Scotland’s biggest legal firms who have donated a series of the most up-to-date law books for this trip - most of which cost upwards of £200. I am very grateful to these companies for their generosity.
“The books will be extremely useful for the Sri Lankan lawyers as they are very interested in the Scots legal system. This trip will unite three of the world’s legal systems and enable us to compare our work and experience over the years.
“Professor T.B. Smith established a valuable connection with Sri Lanka during his time as a Professor in Aberdeen. He was a man with a definite continuing legacy and I am delighted to be able to commemorate his memory in this way.”
Professor Paisley and his colleagues will travel to Sri Lanka on Monday, 2 January, 2005, until Wednesday 12, January, 2005.