Professor Rosemary Auchmuty
Responsibilities
Module convenor for the Property Law Project and member of the Land Law and Gender and Law teams
Areas of Interest
Research groups / Centres
Publications
2020
- Rackley, E. and Auchmuty, R. (2020) The case for feminist legal history. Oxford Journal of Legal Studies. ISSN 0143-6503 (In Press)
- Auchmuty, R. (2020) Feminist responses to same sex relationship recognition. In: Ashford, C. and Maine, A. (eds.) Research Handbook on Gender, Sexuality and the Law. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, pp. 163-179. ISBN 9781788111140
- Auchmuty, R. and Rackley, E. (2020) Feminist legal biography: a model for all legal life stories. Journal of Legal History, 41 (2). pp. 186-211. ISSN 1744-0564 doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/01440365.2020.1783604
2019
- Rackley, E. and Auchmuty, R. (2019) Introduction. In: Women’s Legal Landmarks: Celebrating the History of Women and Law in the UK and Ireland. Hart Publishing, Oxford, pp. 1-21. ISBN 9781782259770
- Auchmuty, R. (2019) Married Women (Restraint Upon Anticipation) Act 1949. In: Rackley, E. and Auchmuty, R. (eds.) Women’s Legal Landmarks: Celebrating the History of Women and Law in the UK and Ireland. Hart Publishing, Oxford, pp. 241-247. ISBN 9781782259794
- Auchmuty, R. (2019) The Slave, Grace (1827). In: Rackley, E. and Auchmuty, R. (eds.) Women’s Legal Landmarks: Celebrating the History of Women and Law in the UK and Ireland. Hart Publishing, Oxford, pp. 47-53. ISBN 9781782259794
- Auchmuty, R. (2019) Williams & Glyn’s Bank v Boland (1980). In: Rackley, E. and Auchmuty, R. (eds.) Women’s Legal Landmarks: Celebrating the History of Women and Law in the UK and Ireland. Hart Publishing, Oxford, pp. 357-362. ISBN 9781782259794
- Rackley, E. and Auchmuty, R., eds. (2019) Women’s legal landmarks: celebrating the history of women and law in the UK and Ireland. Hart Publishing, Oxford, pp704. ISBN 9781782259770
2018
- Auchmuty, R., ed. (2018) Great debates in gender and law. Red Globe Press, London, pp244. ISBN 9781137610997
- Auchmuty, R. (2018) Introduction. In: Auchmuty, R. (ed.) Great Debates in Gender and Law. Red Globe Press, London. ISBN 9781137610997
- Auchmuty, R. (2018) Legal history. In: Auchmuty, R. (ed.) Great Debates in Gender and Law. Red Globe Press, London, pp. 173-183. ISBN 9781137610997
- Auchmuty, R. (2018) Sexuality. In: Auchmuty, R. (ed.) Great Debates in Gender and Law. Red Globe Press, London, pp. 199-210. ISBN 9781137610997
2016
- Auchmuty, R. (2016) The limits of marriage protection: in defence of property law. Oñati Socio-Legal Series, 6 (6). pp. 1196-1224. ISSN 2079-5971
- Auchmuty, R. (2016) The experience of civil partnership dissolution: not 'just like divorce'. Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, 38 (2). pp. 152-174. ISSN 1469-9621 doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/09649069.2016.1156884
- Auchmuty, R. (2016) The limits of marriage protection in property allocation when a relationship ends. Child and Family Law Quarterly, 28 (4). pp. 303-324. ISSN 1358-8184
2015
- Auchmuty, R. (2015) Dissolution or disillusion: the unravelling of civil partnerships. In: Barker, N. and Monk, D. (eds.) From civil partnership to same-sex marriage: interdisciplinary reflections. Routledge, London, pp. 199-219. ISBN 9781138797536
- Auchmuty, R. (2015) Feminist approaches to sexuality and law scholarship. Legal Information Management, 15 (1). pp. 4-7. ISSN 1472-6696 doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1472669615000055
- Auchmuty, R. (2015) Recovering lost lives: researching women in legal history. Journal of Law and Society, 42 (1). pp. 34-52. ISSN 0263-323X doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6478.2015.00697.x
2013
- Auchmuty, R. (2013) Marriage and civil partnership: law's role, feminism's response. In: Davies, M. and Munro, V. (eds.) The Ashgate Research Companion to Feminist Legal Theory. Ashgate, Farnham, pp. 285-302. ISBN 9781409418597
2012
- Auchmuty, R. (2012) Law and the power of feminism: how marriage lost its power to oppress women. Feminist Legal Studies, 20 (2). pp. 71-87. ISSN 0966-3622 doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10691-012-9197-6
- Auchmuty, R. (2012) Land law and equity and trust. In: Hunter, C. (ed.) Integrating soci-legal studies into the law curriculum. Palgrave Macmillan socio-legal studies . Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, pp. 69-103. ISBN 9780230304482
2011
- Auchmuty, R. (2011) Whatever happened to Miss Bebb? Bebb v The Law Society and women’s legal history. Legal Studies: The Journal of the Society of Legal Scholars, 31 (2). pp. 175-343. ISSN 1748-121X doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-121X.2010.00180.x
2010
- Auchmuty, R. (2010) Feminists as stakeholders in the law school. In: Cownie, F. (ed.) Stakeholders in the Law School. Hart Publishing, Oxford, pp. 35-64. ISBN 9781841137216
- Auchmuty, R. (2010) Judgment: Royal Bank of Scotland Plc v Etridge (No 2). In: Hunter, R., McGlynn, C. and Rackley, E. (eds.) Feminist judgments: from theory to practice. Hart Publishing, Oxford, UK, pp. 155-169. ISBN 9781849460538
2008
- Auchmuty, R. (2008) Early women law students at Cambridge and Oxford. Journal of Legal History, 29 (1). pp. 63-97. ISSN 0144-0365 doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/01440360801903588
- Auchmuty, R. (2008) Lesbian. In: Cane, P. and Conaghan, J. (eds.) The New Oxford Companion to Law. Oxford University Press, Oxford, p. 728. ISBN 9780199290543
- Auchmuty, R. (2008) What's so special about marriage? The impact of Wilkinson v Kitzinger. Child & Family Law Quarterly, 20 (4). pp. 479-98. ISSN 1358-8184
- Auchmuty, R. (2008) Women Lawyers, Distinguished. In: Cane, P. and Conaghan, J. (eds.) The New Oxford Companion to Law. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 1256-1257. ISBN 9780199290543
- Auchmuty, R. (2008) The married women's property acts: Equality was not the issue. In: Hunter, R. (ed.) Rethinking Equality Projects in Law: Feminist Challenges. Oxford: Hart . ISBN 9781841138404
- Auchmuty, R. (2008) A world of women: Growing up in the girl's school story. 2nd edition. Bettany Press, London. ISBN 9780955297366
2007
- Auchmuty, R. (2007) 'Girls' school stories: the critical response. Children's Literature Review, 128. ISSN 0362-4145
- Auchmuty, R. (2007) The woman law student and the girls' college novel. Canadian Journal of Women and the Law, 19. pp. 37-72. ISSN 0832-8781 doi: https://doi.org/10.1353/jwl.2008.0020
Further Publications:
- Using feminist judgments in the property law classroom' (2012) 42 The Law Teacher 227-238.
- 'Bebb, Gwyneth Marjory' (2011) Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, www.oxforddnb.com.
- 'Beyond Couples? Burden v the United Kingdom (2008)' (2009) 17 Feminist Legal Studies 205-218.
- 'Out of the Shadows: Feminist silence and liberal law' (2007) in Carl Stychin and Vanessa Munro eds. Sexuality and the Law: Feminist Engagements. London: Routledge.
- 'Unfair Shares for Women: The rhetoric of equality and the reality of inequality' (2007) in Anne Bottomley and Hilary Lim eds. Feminist Perspectives on Land Law. London: Glass House Press.
- 'The Rhetoric of Equality and the Problem of Heterosexuality' (2005) in Linda Mulcahy and Sally Wheeler eds. Feminist Perspectives on Contract. London: Glass House Press.
- 'Same-Sex Marriage Revived: Feminist critique and legal strategy' (2004) 14 Feminism & Psychology 101-26. Reprinted in Leslie J. Moran ed. Sexuality and Identity. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006, a volume in the International Library of Essays in Law and Society, general editor Austin Sarat.
- 'Not Just a Good Children's Story: A tribute to adverse possession' (2004) 63 Conveyancer 293-307.
- 'When Equality is Not Equity: Homosexual inclusion in undue influence law' (2003) 11 Feminist Legal Studies 163-90.
- 'Agenda for a Feminist Legal Curriculum' (2003) 23 Legal Studies 377-401.
- 'Men Behaving Badly: An analysis of undue influence cases' (2002) 11 Social and Legal Studies 257-82.
- 'The Fiction of Equity' (2001) in Susan Scott-Hunt and Hilary Lim eds. Feminist Perspectives on Equity and Trusts. London: Cavendish.
Qualifications
BA (ANU, 1971), PhD (ANU, 1975), Dip.Ed. (Wollongong, 1977), LLB (CNAA, 1989), LLM (UCL, 1991), FHEA (2007), FRSA (2012)
Biographical Details
A pioneer of women's studies and feminist legal studies in higher education in Britain, Rosemary (Australian by upbringing) has been professor of Law at the University of Reading since 2007. She is a member of the Law, Justice and Society grouping, with a particular interest in the Legal History and Gender and Law sub-groups. She is currently joint lead for the forthcoming Law REF submission and teaches Land Law and Gender and Law. She was a Visiting Professor from 2000 to 2015 at the University of Paris-Ouest Nanterre La Defense, France, teaching Land Law and Trusts. She was a member of the national sub-panel for Law in the 2014 REF.
A former Director of Teaching and Learning in the Law School and early Fellow of the HEA, she has always engaged with educational issues, and her edited textbook, Great Debates in Gender and Law, appeared in 2018. Her research interests include feminist approaches to property law, marriage, sexuality and legal history, about which she has written a number of articles as well as several entries for the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004). In 2018 she completed, with Erika Rackley and 90+ contributors, a major project leading to a 300,000-word edited collection called Women's Legal Landmarks: Celebrating the history of women and law, commemorating the centenary of women's admission to the legal profession in 1919, as well as an interactive website.
Prior to moving into law she wrote widely in the areas of women's history and children's literature, including three books: Australia's Daughters (Sydney: Methuen, 1978), A World of Girls: the Appeal of the Girls' School Story (London: The Women's Press, 1992, 2nd ed. 2004) and A World of Women: growing up in the girls' school story (London: The Women's Press,1999, 2nd ed. 2008). She co-edited the 2-volume Encyclopaedia of School Stories (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2000), wrote several entries for the Oxford Encyclopedia of Children's Literature (2006) and provided the programme note for a musical called Crush!, based loosely in the school-story tradition, which premiered in September 2015.
In 2017 a play based on her Legal Studies article 'Whatever happened to Miss Bebb?' was performed in London; written by Alex Giles, and entitled 'The Disappearance of Miss Bebb', it featured a cast of West End actors and senior judges including Lady Hale. Proceeds went to the Kalisha Trust, which helps poorer law students get their professional training. Another performance took place in Birmingham in 2018, and in 2019, the centenary year, Reading students and staff performed it in our Minghella Theatre as part of our '100 Years of Women's Voices' programme - where Rosemary was pleased to play the part that Lady Hale had played.
During invited visits to Australia in 2017 and 2018 she spoke the Australian National University, the University of Newcastle (New South Wales) and the University of Melbourne, and was keynote speaker in November 2018 at a conference celebrating the first year of Marriage Equality in Australia. She was guest speaker on International Women's Day at the University of Palermo, Buenos Aires, in 2018.
In 2018 Rosemary completed a four-year term as Chair of the ISA Research Committee on Sociology of Law's Working Group on Comparative Study of Legal Professions, an international body of legal scholars working together on research into legal education and the legal professions, for which she organized two conferences in Andorra and programmes of speakers in Portugal, Brazil and Canada. She contributed to (and is co-editing) one of its current projects, an international collection on Gender and Careers in the Legal Academy. She is also a member (and former executive committee member) of both the Society of Legal Scholars and the Socio-Legal Studies Association and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
With a colleague from the Sorbonne, Rosemary had organised a conference on Feminism, Law and Citizenship, to take place in Paris in June 2020, when the advent of Covid-19 forced its postponement. It is hoped that the conference will take place in 2021, with Lady Hale as plenary speaker.