Justine K Collins

Dr Justine K Collins is the USAWA Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Law at SOAS University of London. She is a legal historian specializing in the intersection of law and society, particularly within colonial slavery laws of the Atlantic World, with her doctoral research conducted at Goethe University Frankfurt in conjunction with the Max Planck Institute for European Legal History and Legal Theory.

Her educational background includes:

• Dr Jur, Law from Goethe University, Germany
• MA (Dual Degree) in Global Politics & Law from Sheffield University, UK and International Comparative Law and ASEAN Politics from Doshisha University, Japan
• LLM in International Financial Law from the University of Manchester, UK
• PGCe in Commercial Law from Bristol
• LLB in Law from Manchester, UK

Dr Collins' research examines how legal frameworks were instrumental in constructing racial hierarchies and enforcing slavery across colonial contexts. Her scholarship employs comparative legal analysis to trace the development and transmission of legal concepts throughout the Atlantic World, with particular focus on British Caribbean slavery codes. She investigates the relationship between societal norms and formal legal structures, revealing how legislation actively shaped racial identities and social organization during the colonial period.

Her publication pattern reveals a methodical exploration of colonial slavery laws, progressing from foundational studies of legal transplants to increasingly nuanced examinations of gender dimensions and racial identity formation. Her 2023 article on racial identity legislation demonstrates her capacity to connect specific legal mechanisms with broader social processes, while her 2021 publications show sophisticated comparative analysis of slavery codes across different colonial contexts.

Dr Collins is actively engaged in the research project 'Indigenous colonial slavery and regulation in the English Atlantic World' and contributes to SOAS School of Law's 'Carceral Policy, Policing and Race project,' demonstrating her commitment to connecting historical legal analysis with contemporary issues of racial justice and systemic inequality in modern legal systems.