The H.L.A. Hart Memorial Lecture

The Radical Duke: Universal Suffrage and the Modernization of Constitutional Monarchy

Abstract

The “radical Duke,” Charles Lennox, 3rd Duke of Richmond, introduced a bill for universal manhood suffrage in the House of Lords in June 1780. The bill emerged from a philosophical and practical effort to solve a constitutional puzzle created in Britain by the growing work of colonial administration and the pressures of the American Revolution. The story of how Richmond, a close collaborator of Edmund Burke and radicals like Thomas Paine in the 1760s and 1770s, developed this proposal is an essentially unknown but important part of British constitutional history and the history of theory and practice of representation. Richmond achieved the technical innovations needed to make modern representation possible. This lecture will introduce these important contributions and unpack their significance for constitutional theory.

The 40th Anniversary of the distinguished HLA Hart Memorial Lecture in honour of H.L.A Hart (1907-1992) will be given on May 12th, 2026 by Professor Danielle Allen, the James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University. The HLA Hart Memorial Lecture series is funded by the Tanner Lectures on Human Values in honour of Hart, who became Professor of Jurisprudence in 1952 and was the author of the highly influential book, The Concept of Law. The lecture will be followed by a Q&A session. The lecture -- and only the lecture -- will be live-streamed and recorded for future use.

The lecture will be held at 5pm in the College Chapel, Main Quad, University College on Tuesday 12 May 2026. The lecture will be followed by drinks at 6.15 pm.

We would be grateful if you could contact Manuela Williams (masters.pa@univ.ox.ac.uk) by Monday April 13 to let her know whether you plan to attend the lecture and, if so, whether you have any mobility requirements.

The H.L.A. Hart Lecture in Jurisprudence and Moral Philosophy

1985: Richard Wollheim, 'Crime, Punishment, and Pale Criminality'
1986: John Rawls, 'The Idea of an Overlapping Consensus'
1987: Bernard Williams, 'Voluntary Acts and Responsible Agents'
1988: Quentin Skinner, 'The Idea of the State' (unpublished)
1989: William J. Brennan Jr, 'Why Have a Bill of Rights?'
1990: T.M. Scanlon, 'The Aims and Authority of Moral Theory'
1991: Joel Feinberg, 'In Defence of Moral Rights'
1992: Tony Honoré, 'The Dependence of Morality On Law'

The H.L.A. Hart Memorial Lecture

1993: Neil MacCormick, 'The Concept of Law and "The Concept of Law"'

1994: Philippa Foot, 'Does Moral Subjectivism Rest on a Mistake?'

1995: Morton Horwitz, 'Why is Anglo-American Jurisprudence Unhistorical?'

1996: Thomas Nagel, 'Justice and Nature'

1997: R.A. Duff, 'Law, Language, and Community: Some Preconditions of Criminal Liability'

1998: Stephen Breyer, 'The Work of an American Constitutional Judge' (published as 'Judicial Review')

1999: Luciano Violante, 'The Fight against Corruption and Organised Crime under the Rule of Law'

2000: Johan Steyn, 'Pepper v Hart: A Re-examination'

2001: Ronald Dworkin, 'Hart's Postscript and the Character of Political Philosophy'

2002: Sir John Laws, 'Beyond Rights'

2003: Richard A. Epstein, 'The Not So Minimum Content of Natural Law'

2004: David Wiggins, 'Objectivity in Ethics: Two Difficulties, Two Responses'

2005: Owen M. Fiss, 'The War Against Terrorism and the Rule of Law'

2006: Jules L. Coleman, 'The Internal Point of View' (published as 'Beyond the Separability Thesis')

2007: Morris J. Fish, 'An Eye for an Eye: Proportionality as a Moral Principle of Punishment'

2008: Samuel Issacharoff, 'Political Safeguards in Democracies at War'

2009: Joseph Raz, 'Responsibility and the Negligence Standard'

2010: Amartya Sen, 'Rights and Responsibility' (published as 'Rights, Laws, and Language')

2011: John Finnis, 'Equality and Differences'

2012: Christine Korsgaard, 'Kantian Ethics, Animals, and the Law'

2013: Will Kymlicka, 'Animals and the Frontiers of Citizenship' (published version with Sue Donaldson)

2014: Samuel Scheffler, 'Distributive Justice, the Basic Structure, and the Place of Private Law'

2015: Nicola Lacey, 'Responsibility Without Consciousness'

2016: Margaret Jane Radin, 'Contract Law in the Information Society'

2017: Frederick Schauer, 'The Perils of Panglossian Constitutionalism'

2018: Philip Pettit, 'Primary Rules as Social Norms: A Genealogy’

2019: Rae Langton, 'Reimagining Free Speech'

2020: Due to the corona virus pandemic, the Hart Lecture was moved to 2021

2021: Due to the corona virus pandemic, the Hart Lecture has been postponed to 2022

2022: Sally Haslanger, 'Social Justice, Culture, and Law'

2023: Jeremy Waldron, 'The Crisis of Judicial Review'

2024: Anita L. Allen, 'Unconditional Love: Some Implications for the Law'

2025: Elizabeth Anderson, 'The Forgotten History of Utilitarianism'

2026: (40th Anniversary Lecture) Danielle Allen, May 12, 2026 "The Radical Duke: Universal Suffrage and the Modernization of Constitutional Monarchy"

2027: Josh Cohen, May 27, 2027