ND Program on Private Law launches new series on private law theory

The Notre Dame Program on Private Law and the Rutgers Institute for Law and Philosophy co-hosted a workshop to launch Oxford Studies in Private Law Theory in August at the University of Notre Dame’s London Global Gateway. Oxford Studies in Private Law Theory is a new biennial series of volumes to be published by Oxford University Press.

The series is edited by Paul Miller, associate dean for international and graduate programs at Notre Dame Law School, and John Oberdiek, professor of law at Rutgers Law.

Oxford Studies in Private Law Theory showcases the very best current work in private law theory. It publishes original papers by leading scholars working in all areas of private law and employing a variety of methodologies. The series includes work of legal philosophy, economic theory, conceptual analysis, and intellectual history.

The workshop and forthcoming volume feature the following papers:

• Shyam Balganesh, University of Pennsylvania Law School, “The Private Law Basis of Intellectual Property and the Role of Redressive Autonomy”
• Mindy Chen-Wishart, University of Oxford, and Victoria Dixon, University of Oxford, “Good Faith in English Contract Law: A Taxonomy”
• Larissa Katz, University of Toronto Faculty of Law, “Ownership and Offices: The Building Blocks of the Legal Order”
• Leslie Kendrick, University of Virginia Law School, “Culpability and Negligence”
• Ben McFarlane, University College London, and Andreas Televantos, University of Oxford, “Third Party Effects in Private Law: Form and Function”
• Kenneth Simons, University of California, Irvine, “The Hegemony of the Reasonable Person in Anglo-American Tort Law”
• Charlie Webb, London School of Economics - Department of Law, “Duties and Damages”
• Katrina Wyman, New York University School of Law, “Rethinking Property Through the Lens of Intangibles”

Also participating were the Law School’s Jeffrey Pojanowski and several members of the series’ Advisory Board: Molly Brady (Harvard Law School); Hanoch Dagan (Tel Aviv University Faculty of Law); John Goldberg (Harvard Law School); Matthew Harding (Melbourne Law School); and Irit Samet (Kings College London).

The first volume of Oxford Studies in Private Law Theory will be published in summer or fall of 2020.

“John Oberdiek and I were absolutely delighted with the workshop and quality of the papers and discussions over them,” said Miller. “The inaugural volume will be first rate and we are truly grateful for the contributions of our authors and Advisory Board members.” Miller also lauded the venue and London Global Gateway team as instrumental to the success of the series launch.

Plans are already underway for the second volume and workshop, which will be hosted in 2021 by Rutgers and an international collaborating institution to be named.