Law

Roman law has been studied in Oxford since 1149 and, as the foundation of Western legal civilisation, remains a core component of the Faculty’s teaching and research.

The revival of Roman law scholarship in Western Europe began with the rediscovery of Justinian’s Digest in northern Italy c. 1070. The immense value of this text, a 50-volume compilation of the very best in Roman juristic thought and debate, was immediately appreciated, and focused study of the Digest spread quickly. The Lombard Roger Vacarius brought the university study of Roman law to Oxford in around 1149.

Faculties of Civil Law and of Canon Law existed in Oxford until King Henry VIII’s suppression of canon law in the 1530s. This left Roman civil law as the only legal science studied in the University until the eighteenth century. In the 1540s, Henry VIII established the Regius Professorship of Civil Law, one of the oldest professorships in the University. Distinguished past holders of this Chair include Alberico Gentili (1587–1608) and, in modern times, Francis de Zulueta, David Daube, Tony Honoré, Peter Birks and Boudewijn Sirks.

Roman Law will be offered in Hilary Term only in 2025/26.

 

For more information on the course, please visit the  Law Faculty website.

 

The syllabus comprises the general principles of the law governing enforceable agreements. It is not concerned with special rules governing specific types of contracts, such as sale, carriage or employment, except where these are significant for the general principles. The principal topics normally discussed are: (a) the rules relating to the formation of agreements and to certain further requirements which must be satisfied to make agreements legally enforceable; (b) the contents of a contract and the rules governing the validity of terms which exclude or restrict liability and unfair terms in consumer contracts; (c) the nature and effects in a contractual context of mistake, misrepresentation, duress and undue influence; (d) the general principle that right and duties arising under a contract can only be enforced by and against the parties to it and its main exceptions; (e) performance and breach, including the right to terminate for failure in performance and the effects of wrongful repudiation; (f) supervening events as a ground of discharge under the doctrine of frustration; (g) remedies for breach of contract by way of damages, action for the agreed sum, specific performance and injunction. (h) the basis of contractual liability.

 

This option is offered in Trinity Term 2025/26. Further information on this course can be found on the Law Faculty website.