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While Aphra Behn's early life remains a mystery, her time in London and her allegiances are very well-documented. The persona she crafted throughout her whole career, which interacted with her readers in her paratexts, has, however, never been fully considered. Investigating the allusions and comments she makes in her epistles and prefaces can help fill in the blanks of what is known about her as well as revisit older ideas. This study explores and identifies the references she made and the communicative strategies she used in her epistle to the reader printed with The Dutch Lover (1673) and what they mean in terms of the self she crafted as a woman writing and publishing in Restoration London. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prefaces to Sir Edward Coke's 17th-century reports have a valuable role to play in the development of modern historical jurisprudence. The prefaces contain a unique legal philosophy. The jurisprudence of the prefaces is historical in that its central consideration is the role of the past in present law. The works of Frederic Maitland and Paul Vinogradoff reveal the primary weaknesses within this jurisprudence: Coke's conflation of legal and historical logic, and his insular notions of legal culture. Vinogradoff's model for the study of legal patterns provides the means of remedying these flaws. Coke's continued role in contemporary legal systems demonstrates the complexity of the relationship between history and law. From the perspective of a historian, Coke's work has limited validity. However, in the legal sphere, he continues to possess authority. The different meanings Coke takes on as a historical and legal figure demonstrate two areas of tension between law and history: (1) ahistorical practice lies at the heart of the common law; and (2) legal change can require the manipulation or misapplication of history. Ultimately, the prefaces provide three principles which should guide modern historical jurisprudence: (1) the law should be conceived of as a customary system; (2) past law guides present and future law and can do so in a way which facilitates modernity and legal evolution; and (3) change within the law must be viewed as a temporal phenomenon. If augmented with the works of Maitland and Vinogradoff, the jurisprudence of the prefaces may be the solution to the dissonances within the historical study of law that Coke's career and legacy make so clear. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A foreword to "The Importance of Evolution to Understandings of Human Nature" is presented.

The text discusses the importance of state consent to international jurisdiction in the functioning of international law. It highlights how states have been restricting their consent to international courts and tribunals, often citing concerns about limited state sovereignty. The State Consent to International Jurisdiction (SCIJ) project conducted by researchers at the PluriCourts Centre analyzed how international law regulates state consent to jurisdiction and identified strategies to improve state accountability at the international level. The text also mentions two papers that were selected for publication in a mini-symposium, one focusing on the International Court of Justice's use of inherent jurisdiction and the other examining states' acceptance and compliance with human rights treaty obligations. The SCIJ project was funded by the Research Council of Norway and conducted from 2018 to 2022. [Extracted from the article]

"The Putin Predicament: Problems of Legitimacy and Succession in Russia" by Bo Petersson is a book that examines the legitimacy of Vladimir Putin's rule in Russia. The author argues that Putin's ability to maintain obedience from the Russian people without relying heavily on repression is a result of his strategic construction of legitimacy. This includes media manipulation, the invention of political myths, and the use of "othering" to marginalize opponents. The book also questions the relevance of discussing Putin's possible successor, as it is likely that he intends to stay in power as long as possible. Overall, the book provides a well-documented account of legitimation efforts in Russia, but raises the question of how unique these patterns are compared to other long-standing autocrats. [Extracted from the article]

The article reports that Nataliya Din-Kariuki demonstrated in N&Q how verses by Homer and Horace that appear on the frontispiece of Coryats Crudities were wittily chosen and adapted to communicate themes of the book as a whole and to create a ‘dialogue' between ancient and modern texts. Topics incldue examines to show how the three frontispiece epigraphs of another important seventeenth-century book, Thomas Randolph's Poems are integrated into a dialogue.

In some manuscripts, an astrological work titled Εἰσαγωγὴ εἰς τὴν Ἀποτελεσματικὴν τοῦ Πτολεμαίου is attributed to the philosopher Porphyry. The current scholarly consensus holds that chapters 1–45 are genuinely Porphyry's. In this article, this view is contested, and arguments are given that Εἰσαγωγή is in fact a late compilation of texts of various origin, few of which are to be soundly attributed to Porphyry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A foreword to the journal "The Way" is presented.