The conference will focus on developments in neuroscience, and in particular the ability of neuroscientific technologies to probe the depths of mind and brain, and have growing significance for law. Amongst the topics discussed will be to what degree should neuroscientific evidence be admissible in courts and for what purposes? If it is accepted that actions are the result not of conscious choice but rather the work of synapses and neuronal events, can it ever be said that anyone is responsible for their actions?

Such questions are fundamental to criminal law and to the very idea of punishment. Cognitive theory may also bear upon contractual issues such as the proper extent of freedom of contract, or the appropriate weight to be given to issues such as error.

The conference will explore these and other conundrums in a professionally and academically integrated setting. In addition it will discuss, and mark the recent publication of, Minds, Brains and Law, by Professor Dennis Patterson (Swansea) and Professor Michael Pardo (University of Alabama): a book considered likely to ‘profoundly affect the current perception of the relation between law and neuroscience’ (Peter Hacker, St John's College, Oxford).