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Personal History

Jason is a lawyer and historian. He obtained his PhD in 2004 from the University of Melbourne. In 2004-05 he completed a post-doctoral teaching fellowship at Siena College (Albany NY).

Jason also has a BA/LLB from the University of Melbourne. He was admitted to practice in 1995, and has worked in various roles as a solicitor and para-legal from that time until he took up his current role as ARC Post-Doctoral Research Fellow.

Current Research

In his current position as ARC Post-Doctoral Fellow, Jason is working on a 3-year inter-disciplinary project funded by the Commonwealth Australian Research Council on law and history. The project explores conceptions and origins of individual and human rights in pre-modern Western Europe, focusing on twelfth- and thirteenth-century legal and theological sources.

Major Publications

Books
Law and Theology in Twelfth-Century England: The Works of Master Vacarius (c.1115/20-c.1200), Disputatio 10 (Turnout: Brepols, 2006).

Book Chapters
'Master Vacarius, Speroni, and Heresy: Law and Theology as Didactic Literature in the Twelfth Century', in What Nature Does Not Teach: Didactic Literature in the Medieval and Early-Modern Periods, ed. by J. Ruys, Disputatio 15 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2008), pp. 345-75.
'The Notion of Human Rights in the Twelfth Century: Tierney’s Thesis Reconsidered', in Rule Makers and Rule Breakers: Proceedings of a St. Michael's College Symposium ( 1-2 October 2004), St. Michael's College Series, vol. 8 (New York, Ottawa: Legas, 2006), ed. by Joseph Goering, Francesco Guardiani, and Giulio Silano, pp. 223-38.

Articles
'Synthesizing the Legal and Theological Thought of Master Vacarius', Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte Kanonistische Abteilung, 95 (2009), 48-77.
'Sacred Rules, Secular Revelations: The Conceptions of Rights in Pre-Modern Europe', Sortuz (Journal of Emergent Sociolegal Studies), 3.1 (forthcoming 2009).
'Law and Theology in Gilbert of Foliot's (c. 1105/10 1187/88) Correspondence', Haskins Society Journal 16 (2006): 77-94.
'"Christianised Reason"? Abelard, his Peers and their Jewish-Christian Dialogues', Melbourne Historical Journal 27 (1999): 50-68.

Articles and Book Chapters (in press)
'The Lombard, Bandinus, and Vacarius: Christological Nihilianism and the Anglo-Norman Realm', in Mind Matters: Studies on Medieval and Early Modern Intellectual History in Honor of Marcia Colish, ed. by Cary J. Nederman, Nancy Van Deusen, and Ann Matter, Disputatio 21 (Turnhout: Brepols, forthcoming 2009).
'Communities of Learning in Law and Theology: The Later Letters of Peter of Blois (1125x30-1212)', in Communities of Learning: Networks and the Shaping of Intellectual Identity in Europe 1100-1500 ed. by Constant J. Mews and John N. Crossley, Europa Sacra 9 (Turnhout: Brepols, forthcoming 2010).
'Bartholomew of Exeter's Penitential: Some Original Observations on his Personal dicta', Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Congress of Medieval Canon Law. Budapest-Esztergom 3-9 August, 2008, ed. Sz. Anzelm Szuromi and Peter Landau, Monumenta Iuris Canonici, Series C, Subsidia Bd. 14 (Vatican City: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, forthcoming 2010).

Articles and Book Chapters (in progress)
'Communities of Learning in Law and Theology: the Later Letters of Peter of Blois (1125x30-1212)', chapter submitted for inclusion in a collection of conference papers on 'Communities of Learning, Religious Diversity, and the Written Record 1085-1453', following a conference 3-4 August 2006, Monash University, Australia, to be edited by John Crossley and Constant Mews.
'Lawyer-theologians in the Twelfth Century: Canon Law, Roman Law, and the Concept of ius sacrum', paper to be delivered and published as part of the proceedings of the Thirteenth International Congress of Medieval Canon Law, Esztergom-Budapest (Hungary), August 3-9, 2008.
'Vacarius (or Peter or Blois) and the Disciplines of Law and Theology', chapter in preparation for a proposed collection of essays on the twelfth-century European 'renaissance', to be edited by Elizabeth Freeman and Juanita Ruys.

Areas of Research & Supervision

Law and religion in the medieval period.

Teaching

At present, Jason lectures in the Law Faculty at Monash University. He also provides guest lectures in the Medieval Europe (HSY 1010) and Civil Celebrants (CVL 4030) courses. Jason taught sessionally in the History Department at the University of Melbourne between 1999 and 2004, and in 2004/5 at Siena College Albany, NY, USA.