Professor Hart is the Chair of the Department of History and Hudson Professor. He is also the author of a study of law in seventeenth-century England titled The Rule of Law, 1603-1660: Crowns, Courts and Judges and Justice upon Petition: The House of Lords and the Reformation of Justice, 1621-1675. He has two essays forthcoming, including one exploring parliamentary culture during the English civil war and is currently researching a a dual biography of Sir John Finch and Sir Thomas Baines that will cover the years 1620-1670. The study will examine the friendship between Finch, a diplomat and ambassador, and Baines, trained as a physician and Finch's longtime companion both in England and abroad. Given the prominence of both men but especially Finch, the study will involve diplomatic, legal, and economic history but also the world of intense homosocial, perhaps homosexual relationships. Professor Hart offers a variety of courses in English, Irish, Scottish, and European history. He received his Ph.D. from Cambridge University.
James S. Hart, Jr.
