Benedict Coxon

Career Development Fellow, Hertford College

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Hertford College

Catte Street
Oxford OX1 3BW

Email

Biography

Benedict undertook undergraduate studies in Law at The University of Adelaide and an Associateship (Judicial Assistantship) at the Federal Court of Australia before his election as Rhodes Scholar for South Australia and subsequent doctoral studies at Magdalen College, Oxford.  He returns to Oxford after a period in legal practice in London.  He has held visiting academic appointments at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies and The University of Western Australia.

Publications

Recent additions

  • B Coxon, 'Submission on the Human Rights Bill 2018, Clause 48' (2018) Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee, Parliament of Queensland
    This submission addresses a single question arising from the Human Rights Bill 2018, which is the scope given to courts by cl 48 of the Bill in striving to achieve interpretations of legislation compatible with human rights.
  • B Coxon, 'Human Rights at Common Law: Two Interpretive Principles' (2014) Statute Law Review 35
    DOI: doi:10.1093/slr/hmt023
    This essay explores the nature and status of two common law principles concerned with the protection of human rights: the ‘principle of legality’ (legislation can only abrogate certain common law rights expressly or by necessary implication) and the ‘treaty presumption’ (legislation is to be interpreted in accordance with the Crown’s obligations under international treaties). The survey of these principles covers the law in England and Wales, Australia, and New Zealand. In each of these countries, human rights legislation applies, which contains an interpretive rule similar to the common law principles. This essay demonstrates that, despite such statutory rules, the common law principles continue to be relevant to varying degrees in the different countries under consideration. In so doing, a useful summary of the issues surrounding the application of the principles is provided, including consideration of whether ambiguity is required to be found before the principles can come into play and the sort of statutory language that is required to rebut the presumptions that they create. The essay concludes by raising the possibility that Australia and New Zealand are departing from English law in this area.
    ISBN: 1464-3863

All publications

Other (1)

B Coxon, 'Submission on the Human Rights Bill 2018, Clause 48' (2018) Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee, Parliament of Queensland
This submission addresses a single question arising from the Human Rights Bill 2018, which is the scope given to courts by cl 48 of the Bill in striving to achieve interpretations of legislation compatible with human rights.

Journal Article (2)

B Coxon, 'Human Rights at Common Law: Two Interpretive Principles' (2014) Statute Law Review 35
DOI: doi:10.1093/slr/hmt023
This essay explores the nature and status of two common law principles concerned with the protection of human rights: the ‘principle of legality’ (legislation can only abrogate certain common law rights expressly or by necessary implication) and the ‘treaty presumption’ (legislation is to be interpreted in accordance with the Crown’s obligations under international treaties). The survey of these principles covers the law in England and Wales, Australia, and New Zealand. In each of these countries, human rights legislation applies, which contains an interpretive rule similar to the common law principles. This essay demonstrates that, despite such statutory rules, the common law principles continue to be relevant to varying degrees in the different countries under consideration. In so doing, a useful summary of the issues surrounding the application of the principles is provided, including consideration of whether ambiguity is required to be found before the principles can come into play and the sort of statutory language that is required to rebut the presumptions that they create. The essay concludes by raising the possibility that Australia and New Zealand are departing from English law in this area.
ISBN: 1464-3863

Research Interests

Benedict’s primary area of research is statutory interpretation. His work covers related public law issues and extends to comparative public law, with a focus on Commonwealth countries.

Options taught

Administrative Law, Constitutional Law (Mods)

Research projects