History of the Award
The French Group, Vivendi, has major business interests in the UK. It recognises that the development of Franco-British relations in the field of law is important and worthy of support. Its UK interests are represented by Vivendi UK which accordingly agreed, in July 1998, to give the total sum of £45,000 to the Franco-British Lawyers Society over a period of 5 years.
In 2003 another French Group Vinci (which owns Norwest Holst in the UK) agreed to renew the scheme by funding awards of £3300 a year for the years 2003 to 2005.
Criteria for the award
The gift is distributed by the Franco-British Lawyers Society to Academic Institutions that make, in the sole opinion of the Society on the advice of its expert committee, significant contributions to Franco-British legal relations. It is hoped that recipients would be academic members of the Society and actively associated with its activities and colloquia.
Organisation
The Society has formed an expert committee, known as the Academic Committee, under the chairmanship of its former President Michael Butcher, composed of:
- The Rt Hon the Lord Hope of Craighead, a Lord of Appeal, formerly senior judge in Scotland;
- Monsieur le Premier President Guy Canivet, the First President of the French Cour de Cassation; and
- Monsieur Aristide Lévi, Directeur du C.R.E.D.A de la Chambre de Commerce de Paris and Board Member of the Society.
The first award, of £15,000, was made in 1998 to the Centre for the Advanced Study of European and Comparative Law at Oxford. This supports the "Franco-British Lawyers' Society Associate in French Law" and enriches the Centre's French Law Library.
The second award, of £7,500 was made in 1999. It was divided into three parts: an award of £5,000 was made to Kingston University towards publication of a book in English on French Criminal Law ("French Criminal Law" by Catherine Elliott published May 2001 by Willan Publishing, e-mail: sales@yps.ymn.co.uk); £1,250 was given to Edinburgh University towards development of their website; and £1,250 was given to the University of East Anglia towards strengthening their French legal library.
The third award, of £7,500, was made in 2000. It was divided into four parts: an award of £1,500 was made to the University of Cambridge, Faculty of Law, to improve the Squire Law Library's holdings in French Law; £1,500 was given to the University of Central Lancashire for improvements in library provision in French law, language and culture; £2,000 was given to the University of Kent (Canterbury) towards a "FBLS" visiting professorship; and £2,500 was given to Kings College, London, of which £1,000 is towards the cost of bringing academics, lawyers and judges from France for lectures or seminars and £1,500 to provide additional funding for the association of former and current students of Pantheon and Kings.
The fourth award, of £7,500, was made in 2001. It was divided into five parts: £1,250 was given to the University of Bradford and Reading jointly towards the cost of publication of the papers of a conference on the role of the judge in France*; £1,250 was given to the University of Cambridge towards the cost of visits of French lawyers to lecture at Cambridge in the context of their joint degree course with the University of Paris II; £2,000 was given to the University of East Anglia towards bursaries for post-graduate studies by UEA students in France and French students at UEA; £1,500 was given to the University of Edinburgh towards further improvements in their “Legal Connexion” website promoting Franco-British legal relations; and £1,500 was given to the University of Newcastle towards the cost of purchase of French law books and bringing a French academic to lecture at Newcastle.
(* These were published in 2004 in the form of a book entitled “Justice on Trial / Justice en Question”
Edited by Pascale Feuillée-Kendall and Helen Trouille (publisher: Peter Lang AG, European Academic Publisher,Moosstrasse 1, PO Box 350, CH-2542, Pieterlen, Switzerland. Tel. 41(0) 32 376 1717; Fax 41(0) 32 376 1727; e.mail: info@peterlang.com; website http://www.peterlang.net)
The fifth award, of £7,500 was made in 2002. It was again divided into five parts: £3800 was given to the University of East Anglia towards further bursaries for post-graduate studies by UEA students in France and French students at UEA; £1000 was given to Kingston University towards funding legal translations into English of French material on medical law for a European Comparative Law Casebook on Medical Law; £1150 was given to the University of Manchester for the purchase of French law books; £500 was given to the University of Reading for the purchase of French law books; and £1050 was given to the University of Wales, Swansea to organise a collection of French law texts.
The total award of £3300 for the year 2004 was allocated as follows:
£500 was awarded to KING’S COLLEGE, LONDON, to fund for 5 years an annual prize of £100 for the best result in their French Civil Law examination paper. This prize has been named “The Blackburn Memorial Prize in French Civil Law” in honour of Bill Blackburn, former President of the Society and Chairman of its Academic Committee, who died in October 2003. The winner of the prize for 2004 was Victoria Sandland.
£1600 was awarded towards the publication of a Second Edition of a book on the French Legal System by Catherine Elliott and Catherine Vernon, with an enhanced emphasis on the history f the Code Civil as a source of French law and on the role of codification in France. The second edition is to be written by Catherine Elliott (formerly of Kinston University but now of City University). The award has accordingly been shared equally between the two Universities.
£1150 has been awarded to the University of Edinburgh towards acquisitions for its Law Library, in particular its subscription to the Encyclopédie Juridique
The total award of £3333 for the year 2005 was allocated as follows:
The sum of £2533 was awarded to the University of Leicester. Of this, £1000 was to fund two FBLS prizes of £100 each over a period of 5 years for the best finalist in law with French and for the best Anglo-French Double Degree second year performance. The remaining £1533 was for the development of the French law library and the reference library for the French Double Degree students.
The sum of £800 was awarded to the University of East Anglia at Norwich as a contribution towards their continuing Anglo-French post-graduate scholarship programme, with particular reference to the French law year abroad for UEA students.
Prix Universitaire Entente Cordiale et Jour-J Libération (Robertson-Horsington Memorial Prize)
Simon Horsington, a Board Member of the Society (and one of its founding members), has generously made a donation to establish this prize in 2004 to mark the centenary of the Entente Cordiale between France and the United Kingdom, and the 60th Anniversary of the Normandy landings and the liberation of France. It is also named in memory of two members of the British Army (46 Commando Royal Marines) who fought through Normandy for a Free France: Royal Marine H S Robertson (of Dundee, Scotland, killed in France 1944), and F W G Horsington (of Wells, Somerset, died 1988).
This donation is intended to fund an annual prize of at least £1,000 for the 10 years from 2004 to be awarded to academic Institutions or individuals in France making significant contributions to Franco-British legal relations, in accordance with the general objectives of the Society’s Academic Award scheme for institutions in the United Kingdom.
The first prize of 2 500 € was awarded in June 2006 to the Ecole des Avocats de la Région Rhône-Alpes in Lyon. It was to support a programme organiszed by the École with the College of Law in Birmigham under which students from the College spend a month in a cabinet d’avocats in Lyon and student from Lyon spend a month in a lawyers’ office in Birmingham. The award was a contribution towards the students’ travel and accommodation expenses.
It is hoped that this fund will be supplemented by further donations by other individuals and organizations interested in further Franco-British legal co-operation so that the amounts of annual prizes can be increased and the period over which they are awarded can be extended. Potential donors are invited to contact the Society’s Administrator Rosalie Jorda at:
Franco-British Lawyers Society
Victoria Chambers
16 – 18 Strutton Ground
London SW1P 2HP
Tel: 020 7222 3860
Fax: 020 7222 3870
e.mail: yfb31@dial.pipex.com