Professor Justice (Ret.) Courtney Ashton Abel will reflect on Race & Law in the context of Empire & its on-going influence on modern Guyana.

AGENDA

3.00 pm --- Doors Open

3.30 pm --- Programme Begins: Welcome & Introduction by Juanita Cox // Talk by Professor Justice (Ret.) Courtney Ashton Abel

4.15 pm --- Q&A hosted by Tom Kharran

5.00 pm --- Event ends followed by light refreshments

ABSTRACT

What can a family household, a colonial courtroom, and a Victorian legal theory reveal about the making of modern Guyana?

This lecture begins in British Guiana in the 1880s with Scotsman Sir David Patrick Chalmers, Chief Justice of the colony; his wife Janet Alice (nee Lorimer) and her wider family; and Joanna Herbert, a Black Guianese nursemaid who travelled with the family to Scotland.

Sir David's story opens a wider inquiry into the relationship between the Scottish jurist and international legal theorist James Lorimer , and the colonial world in which his son-in-law administered justice. Lorimer developed a hierarchy of peoples based on ideas of civilisation, political capacity, and legal recognition. What happens when such ideas move from books and lecture rooms into institutions, administration, and law?

The lecture explores slavery, emancipation, indentureship, race, land, political authority, and the movement of people, letters, and ideas between British Guiana and Scotland. It also asks what Joanna’s presence reveals about the tension between racial ideology and the complexity of human relationships.

The discussion then turns to modern Guyana. Independence transformed political authority, but did every structure created by colonialism disappear? What does it mean for Guyanese people to become fuller authors of their own legal, political, and economic future?

This is an invitation to think critically about race, jurisprudence, empire, and the unfinished work of freedom.

SPEAKER'S BIO:

Professor Justice (Ret.) Courtney Ashton Abel is a Guyanese-born jurist, British barrister, and Anguilla Belonger whose distinguished career spans multiple legal systems across the United Kingdom, Anguilla, the Eastern Caribbean, and Belize. Called to the Bar of England and Wales by the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple in 1980, where he now serves as an Overseas Bencher, he practised law for over three decades before his judicial appointment.

He founded and led major law firms in Anguilla and St. Kitts, appearing as lead counsel in complex civil and commercial cases up to the Privy Council. A former President of the OECS Bar Association and the Organisation of Commonwealth Caribbean Bar Associations, he has long championed professional development and regional legal unity.

Appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court of Belize in 2012, he served with distinction until 2020, spearheading court-connected mediation and arbitration reforms. Now Professor of Law at the University of Guyana, he lectures in Jurisprudence, Constitutional and Administrative Law, and Indigenous and Customary Law, while researching Caribbean legal thought and post-colonial jurisprudence. His career exemplifies a lifelong commitment to legal innovation, institutional reform, and the development of a distinct Caribbean jurisprudence.

Tom Kharran is Guyana born veteran London criminal defence lawyer with more than five decades of courtroom experience. Admitted as a barrister in 1970 and later as a solicitor in 1981, he has built a distinguished career representing clients in complex and high‑stakes criminal matters. A Higher Court Advocate at EBR Attridge LLP, he appears in all criminal courts, handling cases brought by the Metropolitan Police, HMRC, the National Crime Agency, and other investigative bodies. Known for meticulous preparation, strong advocacy, and loyal client following, Kharran provides 24‑hour legal advice and has acted in several notable and high‑profile cases.

Who was James Lorimer (1818–1890)?

James Lorimer was a Scottish jurist, political philosopher, and Regius Professor of Public Law at the University of Edinburgh. Educated in Perth, Edinburgh, Berlin, Bonn, and Geneva, he became a leading advocate of natural law, opposing the rising legal positivism of his era. His major works, The Institutes of Law (1872) and The Institutes of the Law of Nations (1883–84), shaped nineteenth‑century debates on sovereignty, recognition, and international order. Lorimer’s worldview divided humanity into “civilised,” “barbarous,” and “savage” peoples, a racial hierarchy that profoundly influenced his legal thought.

The Venue: LONDON SCOTTISH HOUSE (https://www.scotsinlondon.org/blog/spotlight-on-london-scottish-house)

London Scottish House is an apt venue, reflecting Scotland’s historic links to empire. It mirrors the intellectual and personal journeys of Lorimer, Chalmers, and Joanna Herbert, whose ideas and lives moved between Scotland and British Guiana, shaping the legal and racial legacies explored in this event.

Directions:

This venue is easil

Description supplied by the event organiser.