Claire Palley
Claire Palley, OBE | |
|---|---|
| Born | 17 February 1931 |
| Education | Durban Girls' College |
| Alma mater | |
| Awards | OBE |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Constitutional and human rights law |
| Institutions | |
Claire Dorothea Taylor Palley, OBE (born 17 February 1931) is a South African academic and lawyer who specialises in constitutional and human rights law. She was the first woman to hold a Chair in Law at a United Kingdom university when she was appointed at Queen's University Belfast in 1970.[1][2]
Life[edit]
Pulley was born in South Africa in 1931. She attended Durban Girls' College before she went on to study at the University of Cape Town and after graduating took up a post as a lecturer in the Law School. She lived with her then husband Ahrn Palley for a while in Southern Rhodesia. The Palleys moved to Rhodesia in the belief that it would offer a more liberal political regime than the apartheid system which then existed in South Africa.[3] From 1962-1970 Ahrn Palley was Rhodesia's only Independent MP representing the predominantly black constituency of Highfield.[3] As an authority on constitutional and human rights law, Claire was Constitutional Adviser to the African National Council at the constitutional talks on Rhodesia held in Geneva in 1976.[4]
Her books cover international relations and contemporary history, as seen from the standpoint of a constitutional, international and human rights lawyer,[5] minority rights [6]
Her pioneering appointment as the first British woman law professor in 1970 at Queen's University Belfast[3] was initially overlooked. It was not until the appointment of Gillian White at Manchester in 1975 (the second woman to become a law professor in the United Kingdom) that Claire Palley's appointment was mentioned in The Times.[1]
She was later Professor of Law and Master of Darwin College, University of Kent from 1973 to 1984 and became Principal of St Anne's College, Oxford in 1984. A hall of residence at St Anne's is named for her.[7]
In 1997 she was received an OBE for services to human rights.[3]
Selected publications[edit]
- Constitutional Law and Minorities (Minority Rights Group, 1978)
- The United Kingdom and Human Rights (The Hamlyn Trust, 1991)
- An International Relations Debacle: The UN Secretary-General's Mission of Good Offices in Cyprus 1999-2004 (Hart Publishing, 2005)
References[edit]
- ^ a b Cownie, Fiona (2015). "The United Kingdom's First Woman Law Professor: An Archerian Analysis". Journal of Law and Society. 42 (1): 127–149. doi:10.1111/j.1467-6478.2015.00701.x. S2CID 143524241.
- ^ "Claire Palley – Women's Legal Landmarks". womenslegallandmarks.com. 8 August 2017. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
- ^ a b c d "Claire Palley, the U.K.'s first female Law Professor | First 100 Years". first100years.org.uk. 24 April 2018. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
- ^ "Records of Professor Claire Palley - Archives Hub". archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
- ^ Palley, Claire (2005). An International relations debacle : the UN secretary-general's mission of good offices in Cyprus, 1999-2004. Oxford: Hart Pub. ISBN 1-84113-578-X. OCLC 60538091.
- ^ Palley, Claire (1978). Constitutional law and minorities. Minority Rights Group. London. ISBN 0-903114-49-6. OCLC 1107166123.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ "Claire Palley". St Anne's College, Oxford. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
External links[edit]
- Portraits of Claire Palley at the National Portrait Gallery, London
- Papers of Professor Claire Palley
- Claire Palley (1984-91)] at the Wayback Machine (archived 2015-06-18) St Anne's College, Oxford
- Palley, Claire Dorothea Taylor (b 1931) nee Swait, The National Archives
- about her contribution to human rights
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
- 1931 births
- Living people
- 20th-century South African lawyers
- Academics of Queen's University Belfast
- Academics of the University of Kent
- Alumni of the University of London
- British Jews
- British legal scholars
- Members of the Middle Temple
- Principals of St Anne's College, Oxford
- South African emigrants to Rhodesia
- South African emigrants to the United Kingdom
- South African Jews
- South African Officers of the Order of the British Empire
- South African people of English-Jewish descent
- South African women lawyers
- University of Cape Town alumni
- Women legal scholars
- 20th-century South African women lawyers
- South African women academics