‘Doing’ Legal History in Refugee Law: A Snapshot of Bangladesh’s Engagement with Non-Refoulement

Abstract

Abstract This article advocates for the adoption of legal history in the study of refugee law and associated legal scholarship. It begins by illustrating the meaning and value of legal history by sifting through the texts introducing the inaugural issues of some of the world’s most reputed legal history journals. It asks what makes a good legal historian and highlights the impossibility of attaining total objectivity when producing historical work. The article then sheds light on archival research and oral history as essential tools for doing legal history but cautions against being swayed by arrogant claims that the application of such empiricist and contextualist methods produces impartial legal history. Finally, the article demonstrates the value of doing legal history in refugee law by offering a snapshot of Bangladesh’s engagement with non-refoulement in the late 1970s when mass displacements of the Rohingya people from Myanmar and Indian Muslims from India took place.