Representations of Science and Natural Theology in Palgrave's Legal and Institutional Historical Projects

Abstract

Francis Cohen was born in London in 1788. He was educated at home and was articled as a clerk to a London solicitor's firm in 1803. He remained there, rising to the position of managing clerk, until 1822 when he took chambers in the King's Bench Walk, Temple. In 1827 he was called to the bar at the Middle Temple, and for several years engaged in pedigree cases before the House of Lords. While a solicitor, and then while at the bar, Cohen was interested in literary and antiquarian studies; and around 1814, he began contributing to the 'Quarterly Review' and the 'Edinburgh Review' on such topics. He converted to Anglican Christianity before his marriage to Elizabeth Turner in 1823. Cohen also changed his surname to "Palgrave", close to the time of his marriage. This paper will consider the connections made between legal history and: natural theology, in Palgrave's 'Truth and Fictions of the Middle Ages: the Merchant and the Friar' (1837); and, natural science and empirical methods, in his correspondence with the Royal Society of London in 1835 and 1840, and with the Statistical Society of London in 1836, 1843 and 1859. The paper will focus on the significance of Palgrave's work in terms of his interest in science, in particular the compilation and analysis of statistical data, evidencing his empirical, innovative approach and concern for a model of progress as a way of describing an historical process or sequence, although not necessarily in a determined or teleological sense.