Milton, Droit(s)
& Liberté(s)
8e Congrès International Milton 7-11 juin 2005
CHJDH, Grenoble
UNIVERSITY OF GRENOBLE 2
IMS 8 Call for papers
... MILTON, RIGHTS AND LIBERTIES ...
The theme originally agreed upon, "Milton and human rights", has been rephrased as "Milton, rights and liberties".
The perspective we suggest is the passage from an age when the main objective of government was to establish rules for the life and well-being of the body politic to an era when people became increasingly aware of deep changes in the structures of society.
From the fall of the Roman Empire up to the 13th century, nobody paid much attention to the rights of man. We owe the emergence of a new idea of rights to the struggle against the arbitrary power of absolute monarchy between the Magna Carta (1215) and the Petition of Right (1628). The defence of rights and liberties arose much earlier and was more intense in Great Britain than elsewhere. Rights and liberties were defended most prominently by John Locke at the end of the XVIIth century and this defence was extended in America in the War of Independence (1776-1783). It reached a climax in the Declaration of Human and Citizen Rights during the French Revolution in 1789.
What status does Milton lend to rights in his works?
What is his conception of law and justice? What is his idea of liberty? On what documents and principles does he base the rights and liberties he defends? What kind of liberties does he claim? What heritage has he left us?
This main theme is not intended to exclude other topics. The organisers would welcome suggestions for sessions on other themes. Indeed, papers on any aspect of Milton studies will be welcomed, and will be grouped with similar papers to generate themed sessions
Please send an abstract of your proposal (250 words) before June 30, 2004
by e-mail: ims8@upmf-grenoble.fr or by snail mail:
Centre Historique & Juridique des Droits de l’Homme IMS 8
Faculté de Droit
73, rue des Universités - Domaine universitaire BP 47
38040 GRENOBLE Cedex 9 FRANCE
