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David Foster

@david-foster.bsky.social

Associate Professor, UCL Laws. Legal History, Trusts & Property Law

1,452 Followers  |  1,129 Following  |  35 Posts  |  Joined: 14.08.2024  |  2.482

Latest posts by david-foster.bsky.social on Bluesky

Frightening face carved into a turnip to place a candle in

"In 1943 the National Museum of Ireland received a turnip lantern from a schoolteacher, Rois Ní Braonáin who was teaching near Fintown, Co. Donegal. She stated that it was the type that was always made in that locality around 1900. This plaster-cast model was created and painted by the museum artist, Eileen Barnes.

Candles were placed inside the turnips and they were used to frighten people on the night of 31 October. The pumpkin that is prevalent today is an American development of this Irish tradition." https://www.museum.ie/en-IE/Collections-Research/Collection/Top-things-to-see-in-the-Irish-Folklife-Collection/Artefact/Ghost-turnip/b202e8ea-0728-4b3d-b0f1-82660fe45ce9

Frightening face carved into a turnip to place a candle in "In 1943 the National Museum of Ireland received a turnip lantern from a schoolteacher, Rois Ní Braonáin who was teaching near Fintown, Co. Donegal. She stated that it was the type that was always made in that locality around 1900. This plaster-cast model was created and painted by the museum artist, Eileen Barnes. Candles were placed inside the turnips and they were used to frighten people on the night of 31 October. The pumpkin that is prevalent today is an American development of this Irish tradition." https://www.museum.ie/en-IE/Collections-Research/Collection/Top-things-to-see-in-the-Irish-Folklife-Collection/Artefact/Ghost-turnip/b202e8ea-0728-4b3d-b0f1-82660fe45ce9

Ghost turnip, Fintown, County Donegal, Ireland, c. 1900 (replica), National Museum of Ireland

15.10.2025 17:21 — 👍 482    🔁 138    💬 15    📌 94
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HE research ‘rarely informs administrators’ decisions’ Knowledge transfer should include the university itself, says thinktank after identifying disconnect between managers and those who study them

'While researchers typically publish in academic journals and books, the authors found, higher education managers are more likely to consult practice-oriented journals, newsletters, conference inputs and social media platforms such as LinkedIn.'

Physician, heal thyself.

14.10.2025 07:17 — 👍 39    🔁 17    💬 5    📌 7

Rochefoucauld v Boustead creates an exception to s 53(1)(b). But held this does not apply in self-declaration cases; Rochefoucauld is limited in its application to trusts by transfer (i.e. cases where property is transferred to a trustee on the basis it should be held for the beneficiary).

30.09.2025 17:27 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Falk LJ and Flaux C, however, dismissed the appeal. In the absence of signed writing, the courts are prevented by s 53(1)(b) from treating the trust as having existed from the date of declaration.

30.09.2025 17:27 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

Zacaroli LJ sticks to orthodox view that failure to comply with s53(1)(b) creates a valid, but unenforceable trust (and, as such, RSW is entitled to the land free of the trustee’s creditor’s claim).

30.09.2025 17:27 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

In the case, NIOC declares a trust in favour of RSW, but fails to comply with s 53(1)(b).
NIOC’s creditors get judgment against it and, a week after the judgment, NIOC transfers land to RSW absolutely.
The validity of transfer to RSW depends on whether the parol trust was itself valid.

30.09.2025 17:27 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

Trusts fans: CoA decision on LPA 1925, s53(1)(b) today:

www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWC...

30.09.2025 17:27 — 👍 5    🔁 3    💬 2    📌 0
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TIL that people actually did call each other 'varlet' in the past and also that 'loggerhead' was once an insult

30.09.2025 10:01 — 👍 21    🔁 4    💬 3    📌 0

👇🎯 These people will never stop trying to get rich by telling everyone they can learn & teach w/o doing the actual hard work of learning & teaching. They peddle fake alternatives to the hard daily grind of education because they're greedy & lazy. They're charlatans, & we should treat them as such.

07.06.2025 17:25 — 👍 350    🔁 112    💬 6    📌 8
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It is vital that #historyteacher s continue to make the case that history is an evolving discipline - as we apply new lenses, reconsider (or even discover) source material to derive new interpretations.

👏Quotes from William Doyle and David Andreas in recent @histassoc.bsky.social HA news.

16.09.2025 09:13 — 👍 7    🔁 2    💬 0    📌 0
Search results: "citizen and" | The National Archives The official archive of the UK government. Our vision is to lead and transform information management, guarantee the survival of today's information for tomorrow and bring history to life for everyone...

Interested in London trades in the 16th Century? Court of Requests proceedings in REQ 2 have you covered. One way to find a bunch of cases (over 500) is to search REQ 2 for "citizen and". discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/results/r?_a...

14.09.2025 18:28 — 👍 23    🔁 10    💬 0    📌 0
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Shakespeare family will found by historian - The National Archives Red sealing wax seal and string on 1642 parchment will of Thomas Nash

I found a cool Shakespeare document, but why was it missing in the first place? www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/news/s... [1/4]

23.08.2025 09:28 — 👍 133    🔁 52    💬 4    📌 10
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UKRI award rate halves in seven years as grant applications double - Research Professional News Trends across research councils prompt warning that system is “overstretched or broken”

Universtities forcing more and more dogs to dig up bones while the number of bones in the ground gets smaller each year.

www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...

11.08.2025 11:04 — 👍 4    🔁 3    💬 2    📌 0
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AHRC project sheds light on the life of 17th century memoirist Research into a manuscript discovered at Durham Cathedral has provided fresh insights on the life of writer and memoirist Alice Thornton thanks to AHRC funding.

ICYMI: AHRC project sheds light on the life of 17th century memoirist #AHRC #AcademicSky

07.08.2025 08:27 — 👍 15    🔁 9    💬 0    📌 0
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Woman’s memoirs give fascinating insight into life in 17th-century northern England Newly reunited manuscripts by Alice Thornton show how she navigated personal crises during tumultuous events such as the civil war

'Two of four autobiographical volumes were discovered by Cordelia Beattie, a history professor at the University of Edinburgh. One was handed by a descendant of Thornton to Beattie’s father in a pub in Ludlow, Shropshire, and the second was unearthed in the library of Durham Cathedral.'

04.08.2025 06:12 — 👍 85    🔁 27    💬 1    📌 0
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Appointment of Lord and Lady Justices of Appeal - Courts and Tribunals Judiciary Find out who the new appointees are and read their biographies

The King has approved the appointment of six Lord and Lady Justices of Appeal. He has been pleased to approve the appointments of Mrs Justice Cockerill, Mr Justice Dove, Mr Justice Foxton, Mrs Justice May, Mr Justice Miles and Mrs Justice Yip. www.judiciary.uk/appointments...

26.06.2025 17:23 — 👍 5    🔁 12    💬 2    📌 4

We went through all of this during Brexit

European Union law is a species of international law agreed between member states. It can't conflict with German law, or Hungarian law. Anymore than they can conflict with one another. They're separate systems.

/1

20.06.2025 16:54 — 👍 12    🔁 6    💬 3    📌 1

That MIT study should be the death knell of every "pivot to AI" strategy in education.

That MIT study should land immediately on the desk of every administrator that imposed AI upon their institution.

Yes, I am talking about my employer, the California State University system.

19.06.2025 09:55 — 👍 445    🔁 123    💬 4    📌 9

As a case in point, a certain crowd-funding publisher that went bust recently owed nearly £360k to HMRC in PAYE it had withheld from peoples' payslips but hadn't actually, you know, paid across to HMRC - there are a *lot* of SMEs and this adds up, even disregarding the umbrella scams going round.

20.06.2025 08:54 — 👍 19    🔁 8    💬 3    📌 1
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ChatGPT's Impact On Our Brains According to an MIT Study The study, from MIT Lab scholars, measured the brain activity of subjects writing SAT essays with and without ChatGPT.

Preliminary study on use of AI & its effects on critical thinking.

‘The group that wrote essays using ChatGPT all delivered extremely similar essays that lacked original thought, relying on the same expressions and ideas. Two English teachers who assessed the essays called them largely “soulless.”’

19.06.2025 07:49 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Revealed: Thousands of UK university students caught cheating using AI Guardian investigation finds almost 7,000 proven cases of cheating – and experts says these are tip of the iceberg

With the rise of Generative AI, a return to in-person assessment is the only way to protect the integrity of our degrees. Coursework still has a place, but only in conjunction with vivas/in person exams. Gen AI is a useful tool, but it's no substitute for learning how to think in the first place.

16.06.2025 12:34 — 👍 3    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0
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Lord Reed's recent speech on judges in an age of populism includes this passage on the high quality of MPs and an accurate summary of Judge John Deed

16.06.2025 09:37 — 👍 41    🔁 19    💬 7    📌 3
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IHR Tudor & Stuart seminar news: it's time for our annual call for papers! If you'd like to speak to us in the coming academic year, full details below. Get in touch with any questions or if you would like to be on our mailing list. Please RT.

12.06.2025 14:26 — 👍 14    🔁 17    💬 1    📌 2
Two woodcuts showing the trial of Charles I and a portrait of John Bradshaw. The text reads "New podcast – The judge who sentenced a King to death. John Bradshawe (1602-1659)"

Two woodcuts showing the trial of Charles I and a portrait of John Bradshaw. The text reads "New podcast – The judge who sentenced a King to death. John Bradshawe (1602-1659)"

Great new episode of The World Turned Upside Down on John Bradshaw, the judge who sentenced King Charles to death www.worldturnedupsidedown.co.uk/podcast/sent...

30.05.2025 08:58 — 👍 5    🔁 3    💬 0    📌 0
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10 Apr 1594: Sir Edward Coke appointed Attorney-General for #England & #Wales #otd

At the Walter Ralegh prosecution in 1618, he said: "Thou viper, thou hast an #English face but a #Spanish heart"

10.04.2025 16:06 — 👍 4    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0

I saw someone criticizing a very funny poster for making jokes instead of posting about politics, and I am reminded of a favorite line from E. B. White: We should strive not for balanced books but balanced libraries

06.04.2025 03:35 — 👍 8740    🔁 925    💬 31    📌 38
The Good Life title sequence but MONSTER Tom Good is shooting the duck dead.

The Good Life title sequence but MONSTER Tom Good is shooting the duck dead.

Just catching up on the Penelope Keith nonsense, gang.
I'm sure plenty of people have already pointed out that Richard Briers -portrayer of history's greatest monster, Tom Good- was *obviously* the assassin, but did he rope Margo in? Second shooter? Because that's that selfish fucker's M.O.

20.03.2025 10:09 — 👍 22    🔁 3    💬 4    📌 1

In AD410 emperor Honorius sent his letter to the Brittons telling them their cities had to look to their own defence: the notional end of Roman Britain. No doubt he assured everyone that this would help Make Rome Great Again.

19.03.2025 13:42 — 👍 8    🔁 4    💬 1    📌 0
Why the History of English Law has not been finished | The Cambridge Law Journal | Cambridge Core Why the History of English Law has not been finished - Volume 59 Issue 1

Reminds me of Sir John Baker: "Trying to glean law from the year books is like trying to learn the rules of chess or cricket merely by watching video-recorded highlights of matches. The reader soon senses that contemporaries must have known something he does not"
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

19.03.2025 09:42 — 👍 12    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

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