Obligations Discussion Group
About the Group
The Obligations Discussion Group provides a forum for the discussion and exchange of ideas and research in all areas of private law, particularly the core areas of the law of obligations such as torts, contract, trusts and unjust enrichment.
The group is open to all faculty members and graduate students and meets regularly each term for lunchtime and evening meetings. The meetings usually comprise the presentation of a paper or work-in-progress from speakers both within and outside the faculty.
We welcome suggestions for topics and potential speakers.
Convenor: James Goudkamp
Senior members: Robert Stevens, Andrew Dyson
The work of the Obligations Discussion Group is made possible by the generosity of the following sponsors: 
Forthcoming Group Events
June 2013
Tuesday 4 June 2013 Week 7
- Contractus – Origin and Development of a Legal Term
- Speaker: Professor Boudewijn Sirks, All Souls
Corpus Christi College Rainolds Room at 12:45
Wednesday 12 June Week 8
- Tort Law Defences
- Speaker: Dr James Goudkamp , Balliol
Corpus Christi College Rainolds Room at 12:45
Previous Group Events
May 2013
Thursday 23 May 2013
- The Reynolds Privilege: Its Origins and Theoretical Significance
- Speaker: Dr Eric Descheemaeker , Edinburgh
Corpus Christi College Rainolds Room at 12:45
Monday 13 May
- Tort Liability: Assessing Claimants’ Conduct
- Speaker: Professor Richard Wright , Chicago-Kent
Corpus Christi College Rainolds Room at 12:45
February 2013
Thursday 14 February
- Remedies for Breach of Contract: A Comparative Analysis of the Protection of Performance
- Speaker: Dr Solene Rowan , London School of Economics
Corpus Christi College Rainolds Room at 12:45
Friday 8 February
- 'Fiduciary obligations: ensuring the loyal exercise of judgement'
- Speaker: Professor Lionel D. Smith, McGill University
Oxford Law Faculty SCR at 15:00
Wednesday 6 February
- Strict Liability in Private Law: Some Rule of Law Anxieties
- Speaker: Professor John Gardner , University College, Oxford
Corpus Christi College at 12:45
January 2013
Wednesday 23 January
- Distributive Justice and Constructive Trusts over Bribes
- Speaker: Dr Katy Barnett , University of Melbourne
Corpus Christi College at 12:45
Wednesday 16 January
- A Restatement of the English Law of Unjust Enrichment
- Speaker: Professor Andrew Burrows , All Souls College, Oxford
Corpus Christi College at 12:45
November 2012
Tuesday 27 November 2012
- ’There is No Breach Date Rule (…Or Trial Date Rule)’: Deconstructing Date of Assessment
- Corpus Christi College Rainold’s Room at 12:45
Monday 19 November
- We do this in the Criminal Law and that in the Law of Tort: A New Fusion Debate
- Speaker: Professor Graham Virgo , Downing College, Cambridge
Corpus Christi College Rainolds Room at 17:30
Thursday 8 November
- Proprietary Remedies: Principles, Priorities and Policy Conflicts
- Speaker: Sarah Worthington , Trinity College, Cambridge
Oxford Law Faculty SCR at 17:30
October 2012
Monday 29 October
- Fading of a Fragile Flower: Private Law in a Constitutional Vice
- Speaker: Professor David Partlett , Emory
Corpus Christi College Rainolds Room at 12:45
Tuesday 23 October
- Unjust Enrichment and the Freedom to Exchange Interest
- Speaker: Mr Eli Ball , Magdalen College
Corpus Christi College Rainolds Room at 12:45
June 2012
Monday 4 June
- Re-conceptualizing the Tort of Public Nuisance
- Speaker: Professor Jason Neyers, Western University Canada
Corpus Christi College Rainolds Room at 12:45
May 2012
Tuesday 29 May
- Reconsidering “Total” Failure
- Speaker: Fred Wilmot-Smith, All Souls, Oxford
Corpus Christi College Rainolds Room at 12:45
Monday 14 May
- Fiduciary Obligations
- Speaker: Professor Lionel Smith, McGill; All Souls, Oxford
Corpus Christi College Rainolds Room at 12:45
April 2012
Tuesday 24 April
- The Genesis of the Law Reform (Contributory Negligence) Act 1945
- Speaker: Professor Paul Mitchell, University College London
Balliol College Lecture Room 23 at 12:45
March 2012
Tuesday 6 March
- Thinking About Tort Law - Where Do We Go From Here?
- Speaker: Mr Nicholas McBride, Pembroke College, Cambridge
Corpus Christi College at 12:45
February 2012
Tuesday 21 February
- Avoided Loss in Damages for Torts and Breach of Contract
- Speaker: Mr Andrew Dyson , Corpus Christi College, Oxford
Corpus Christi College at 12:45
Tuesday 14 February
- Good Faith in Contract Law
- Speaker: The Hon Justice James Allsop , President, Court of Appeal of New South Wales
Corpus Christi College at 12:45
January 2012
Wednesday 18 January
- Panel Discussion on 'Rights and Private Law'
- Corpus Christi College Al Jaber Auditorium at 17:15
November 2011
Monday 21 November 2011
- Difficulties with Defective Building Litigation
- Speaker: Professor Stephen Todd, University of Canterbury (New Zealand), University of Nottingham
Corpus Christi College Rainolds Room at 12:45
Tuesday 15 November
- Void Contracts and Voidable Contracts: A Question of Relativity
- Speaker: Professor John Cartwright, University of Oxford
Corpus Christi College Rainolds Room at 12:45
Tuesday 1 November
- Fiduciary Duties
- Speaker: The Hon Justice James Edelman, Supreme Court of Western Australia
Oxford Law Faculty Law Board Room at 12:45
October 2011
Monday 31 October
- Unnecessary Causes
- Speaker: Professor Jane Stapleton
Corpus Christi College Rainolds Room at 12:30
Tuesday 25 October
- Reconceptualising Contract Law’s Expectation Principle
- Speaker: Mr David Winterton, University of Oxford
Corpus Christi College Rainolds Room at 12:45
Thursday 20 October
- Peter Birks and Comparative Law
- Speaker: Professor Lionel Smith, McGill University, Visiting Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford
Institute of European and Comparative Law Foyer at 12:30
June 2011
Tuesday 14 June
- The Buncefield Litigation
- Speaker: Mr Laurence Rabinowitz QC, One Essex Court
Jesus College Habbakuk Room at 18:00
Tuesday 7 June
- Causation and Transfers of Value in the Law of Unjust Enrichment
- Speaker: Professor Charles Mitchell (UCL) and Mr Stephen Watterson (LSE)
Jesus College Habakkuk Room at 12:45
May 2011
Tuesday 24 May
- Developments in Privacy and Defamation in New Zealand
- Speaker: Associate Professor Ursula Cheer , University of Canterbury
Oxford Law Faculty Seminar Room C at 13:00
Tuesday 17 May
- The New Obligational Theory of Trusts: McFarlane and Stevens on Equitable Rights
- Speaker: Professor James Penner , UCL
Oxford Law Faculty Law SCR at 12:45
Thursday 12 May
- 'Confusion in Contract Damages: Loss, Value, Presumptions and Proxies'
- Speaker: Mr Adam Kramer , Barrister, 3 Verulam Buildings
Jesus College Habakkuk Room at 18:00
Thursday 5 May
- Sienkiewicz and the Unknown Mechanism
- Speaker: Professor Jane Stapleton , Oxford, ANU, Texas
Oxford Law Faculty Seminar Room C at 12:45
March 2011
Tuesday 8 March
- Theft and Conversion
- Speaker: Ms Sarah Green, St Hilda's College, Oxford
Oxford Law Faculty Law Board Room at 12:45
February 2011
Tuesday 15 February
- Restatement (Third) of Restitution and Unjust Enrichment
- Speaker: Professor Andrew Kull (Boston University) and Professor Andrew Burrows (All Souls College, Oxford)
Oxford Media Production Unit, 5 Worcester Street, Oxford at 18:00
Thursday 10 February
- The Achilleas
- Speaker: Lord Hoffmann, House of Lords
Oxford Law Faculty Senior Common Room at 17:15
December 2010
Wednesday 1 December 2010
- ‘Damages and the Right to Performance: A Golden Victory or Not?’
- Speaker: Professor Robert Stevens, Professor of Commercial Law at UCL
Oxford Law Faculty SCR at 12:30
