Mark Godfrey

Mark Godfrey is Professor of Legal History at the University of Glasgow's School of Law, where he has taught since 2002. He holds a PhD in private law and legal history from the University of Edinburgh and is a qualified solicitor. His academic journey includes positions as Tutor at the University of Edinburgh (1993-1999), Lecturer at the University of Aberdeen (1999-2002), and Lecturer in Scots Law at Glasgow before his promotion to a personal chair in legal history in 2012. He has held significant visiting positions including a six-month research fellowship at the Max Planck Institute for European Legal History (2006) and a visiting professorship at J W Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main (2012).

Professor Godfrey's research focuses on Scottish legal history, particularly the history of central justice and dispute settlement in the medieval and early modern periods. His work is grounded in extensive archival research into late medieval court records, especially the unpublished manuscript records of acts and decreets of the Court of Session, Scottish Parliament and King's Council between 1470 and 1540. He has published extensively on the origins and development of the Court of Session and the foundation of the College of Justice in 1532.

His scholarly output reveals a consistent focus on Scottish legal institutions, particularly the Court of Session and College of Justice, with significant contributions to understanding judicial processes, dispute resolution mechanisms, and the evolution of legal authority in sixteenth-century Scotland. His work demonstrates strong interdisciplinary connections between legal history, political history, and social history, often examining how law functioned within broader societal contexts.

• Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (FRHistS)
• Editor of The Journal of Legal History (2011-2015)
• Literary Director of the Stair Society (since 2016)
• Book Reviews Editor of The Edinburgh Law Review (2008-2012)
• Recipient of Gerda Henkel Foundation research grant (2013)

Professor Godfrey has been actively involved in the academic community through editorial roles, conference organization (including the 21st British Legal History Conference in 2013), and service on numerous scholarly societies including the Scottish Record Society, Stair Society, and Society for Scottish Medieval and Renaissance Studies. His research has been supported by prestigious grants including a £29,529 award from the Gerda Henkel Foundation for a three-year collaborative project on "The Comparative History of Central Courts in Europe and the Americas" and funding from Johan Wolfgang Goethe University for research on conflict resolution in early modern Scotland.