Donal Nolan
Faculty officer role(s):
Vice Dean of the Faculty (Vice-Chair of the Law Board)
Biography
Donal Nolan is Professor of Private Law in the University of Oxford and Francis Reynolds and Clarendon Fellow and Tutor in Law at Worcester College, Oxford. He was educated at Brasenose College, Oxford (BA and BCL) and was previously a Lecturer in Law at King's College London. He has taught tort, contract, international trade law, restitution and commercial law, and has been a Visiting Professor in the University of Florida, the National University of Singapore, the University of Trento and Sichuan University. He is a Senior Fellow of the University of Melbourne, a founding member of the World Tort Law Society, and an elected member of the American Law Institute (ALI). He is also a member of the International Advisory Panel for the ALI's Restatement of the Law Fourth, Property, and a member of the editorial committee of the Modern Law Review.
Donal's research is focused primarily on the law of tort, and in particular on the law of negligence, the law of private nuisance and the interface between tort law and public law. He has also written on a range of topics in contract law, including offer and acceptance, estoppel and termination for breach of contract, and has an interest in the history of legal scholarship. Recent publications include: 'Damage to "Other Property": Exploring the Boundary Between Property Damage and Pure Economic Loss' in Peel and Probert (eds), Shaping the Law of Obligations: Essays in Honour of Professor Ewan McKendrick KC (OUP 2023); ‘Negligence and Autonomy’ [2022] Singapore Journal of Legal Studies 356; 'Scholars of Contract Law: Individuals and Themes' (with James Goudkamp) in Goudkamp and Nolan (eds), Scholars of Contract Law (Hart 2022); and 'Tort and Regulation' in Goudkamp, Lunney and McDonald (eds), Taking Law Seriously: Essays in Honour of Peter Cane (Hart 2022). A full list of his publications can be found on his personal website, and many of them can be accessed via Academia.edu and SSRN.
Donal is the author of Questions of Liability: Essays on the Law of Tort (Hart 2023) and a co-author of Lunney & Oliphant's Tort Law: Text and Materials (OUP, 7th edn, 2023), Contributory Negligence (OUP, 2nd edn, 2023), Winfield & Jolowicz on Tort (Sweet & Maxwell, 20th edn, 2020) and Contributory Negligence in the Twenty-First Century (OUP 2019). He is also a co-editor of Scholars of Contract Law (Hart 2022), Scholars of Tort Law (Hart 2019), Rights and Private Law (Hart 2012) and OSCOLA, the Oxford University Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities; and a contributor to Burrows (ed), Principles of the English Law of Obligations (OUP 2015), Oliphant (ed), The Law of Tort (LexisNexis Butterworths, 3rd edn, 2015) and Bridge (ed), Benjamin's Sale of Goods (Sweet & Maxwell, 12th edn, 2023).
Position Description
Professor of Private Law
Publications
NOLAN D, ‘Private Nuisance After Fearn v Tate Gallery’ [2025] Journal of Commonwealth Law
GOUDKAMP J and NOLAN D, ‘Robinson v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police’ [2023] Journal of Tort Law
NOLAN D, ‘Negligence and Autonomy’ [2022] Singapore Journal of Legal Studies
Nolan D, ‘Reining in vicarious liability’ (2020) 49(4) Industrial Law Journal 609
NOLAN D, ‘Assumption of Responsibility: Four Questions’ [2019] Current Legal Problems
Nolan D, ‘The Essence of Private Nuisance’ (2019) 10 Ben McFarlane and Sinéad Agnew (eds), Modern Studies in Property Law
Nolan D, ‘Tort and Public Law: Overlapping Categories?’ (2019) 135(Apr) Law Quarterly Review 272
Nolan D, ‘Strict Product Liability for Design Defects’ (2018) 134 Law Quarterly Review 176
Goudkamp J and Nolan D, ‘Contributory Negligence and Professional Negligence: An Empirical Perspective’ 161
Nolan D, ‘Rights, Damage and Loss’ (2017) 37(2) Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 255
Goudkamp J and nolan D, ‘Contributory Negligence on Appeal’ [2017] New Law Journal
Goudkamp J and nolan D, ‘Contributory Negligence on in the Court of Appeal: An Empirical Study’ [2017] Legal Studies
Nolan D, ‘The Duty of Care After *Robinson v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police*’ (2017) 9 The UK Supreme Court Yearbook 174
Goudkamp J and nolan D, ‘Contributory Negligence in Practice’ [2016] Inner Temple Yearbook
Goudkamp J and Nolan D, ‘Contributory Negligence in Practice’ (2016) 166(July) New Law Journal 11
Goudkamp J and Nolan D, ‘Contributory Negligence in the Twenty-First Century: An Empirical Study of First Instance Decisions’ [2016] The Modern Law Review
Nolan D, ‘Preventive Damages’ (2016) 132(Jan) The Law Quarterly Review 68
Nolan D, ‘Nuisance, Planning and Regulation: The Limits of Statutory Authority’
Clark T and Nolan D, ‘A Critique of Chester v Afshar’ (2014) 34(4) Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 659
Nolan D, ‘Horrifying Events and Their Consequences: Clarifying the Operation of the Alcock Criteria’ (2014) 30 Professional Negligence 175
Nolan D, ‘Damage in the English Law of Negligence’ (2013) 4(3) Journal of European Tort Law 259
Nolan D, ‘Damage in the English Law of Negligence’
Nolan D, ‘Varying the Standard of Care in Negligence’ (2013) 72(3) The Cambridge Law Journal 651
Nolan D, ‘Deconstructing the Duty of Care’ (2013) 129 The Law Quarterly Review 559
Nolan D, ‘The Liability of Financial Supervisory Authorities’ (2013) 4 Journal of European Tort Law 190
Nolan D, ‘The Liability of Financial Supervisory AuthoritiesI am grateful to Robert Dijkstra for his helpful comments on an earlier draft. The usual caveat applies.’ (2013) 4(2) Journal of European Tort Law 190
Nolan D, ‘Negligence and Human Rights Law: The Case for Separate Development’ (2013) 76(2) Modern Law Review 286
Nolan D, ‘The Fatal Accidents Act 1846’
Nolan D and Robertson A, ‘Rights and Private Law’
Nolan D, ‘’A Tort Against Land’: Private Nuisance as a Property Tort’
Nolan D, ‘The Liability of Public Authorities for Failing to Confer Benefits’
Nolan D, ‘Offer and Acceptance in the Electronic Age’
Bailey S and Nolan D, ‘THE PAGEv. SMITH SAGA: A TALE OF INAUSPICIOUS ORIGINS AND UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES’ (2010) 69(3) The Cambridge Law Journal 495
Nolan D, ‘Alcock v. Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police (1991)’
Nolan D, ‘Causation and the Goals of Tort Law’
Nolan D, ‘Hongkong Fir Shipping Co. Ltd. v. Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd., the Hongkong Fir (1961)’
Nolan D, ‘New Forms of Damage in Negligence’ (2007) 70(1) Modern Law Review 59
Nolan D, ‘Reforming Liability for Psychiatric Injury in Scotland: A Recipe for Uncertainty?’ (2005) 68(6) Modern Law Review 983
Nolan D, ‘The Distinctiveness of Rylands v Fletcher’
Nolan D, ‘Suing the State: Governmental Liability in Comparative Perspective’ (2004) 67(5) Modern Law Review 844
Nolan D, ‘Suing the State: Governmental Liability in Comparative Perspective’ (2004) 67(Sep) Modern Law Review 843
Nolan D, ‘Psychiatric Injury at the Crossroads’
Nolan D, ‘Risks and Wrongs: Remoteness of Damage in the House of Lords’
Nolan D, ‘Economic Duress and the Availability of a Reasonable Alternative’
Nolan D, ‘Negligence Liability for Suicides in Custody’
Nolan D, ‘Following in Their Footsteps: Equitable Estoppel in Australia and the United States’
GOUDKAMP J and NOLAN D, Contributory Negligence (OUP 2023)
GOUDKAMP J and NOLAN D, Contributory Negligence in the Twenty-First Century (2019)
GOUDKAMP J and NOLAN D, Contributory Negligence: Principles and Practice (2018)
Nolan D and Oliphant K, Tort Law: Text and Materials (OUP 2017)
PEEL W and GOUDKAMP J, Winfield & Jolowicz on Tort (Sweet & Maxwell 2014) 1
NOLAN D, ‘England and Wales and Scotland’ in M Martin-Casals, P Machnikowski and R Wright (eds.), The Common Core of European Private Law: Reasonable Conduct in European Tort Law (Cambridge University Press 2025)
NOLAN D, ‘England and Wales’ in B Winiger and others (eds.), Digest of European Tort Law Volume IV: Essential Cases on the Limits of Liability (De Gruyter 2024)
NOLAN D, ‘Against Strict Product Liability’ in D NOLAN (ed.), Questions of Liability (Hart Publishing 2023)
NOLAN D, ‘Damage to “Other Property”: Exploring the Boundary Between Property Damage and Pure Economic Loss’ in E Peel and R Probert (eds.), Shaping the Law of Obligations: Essays in Honour of Professor Ewan McKendrick KC (Oxford University Press 2023)
NOLAN D, ‘Chapters on Classification of Statements as to Goods, Terms as to Description and Quality Implied by the Sale of Goods Act, Remedies in Respect of Defects and Exemption Clauses’ in M Bridge (ed.), Benjamin’s Sale of Goods (12th edn) (Sweet & Maxwell 2023)
GOUDKAMP J and NOLAN D, ‘Scholars of Contract Law: Individuals and Themes’ in J GOUDKAMP and D NOLAN (eds.), Scholars of Contract Law (Hart Publishing 2022)
Nolan D, ‘Tort and Regulation’ in J Goudkamp, M Lunney and L McDonald (eds.), Taking Law Seriously: Essays in Honour of Peter Cane (Hart Publishing 2022)
Nolan D, ‘Injunctions’ in W Day and S Worthington (eds.), Challenging Private Law (Bloomsbury Publishing 2020)
Nolan D, ‘Chapters on Classification of Statements as to Goods, Terms as to Description and Quality Implied by the Sale of Goods Act, Remedies in Respect of Defects and Exemption Clauses’ in M Bridge (ed.), Benjamin’s Sale of Goods (11th edn) (Sweet & Maxwell 2020)
Nolan D, ‘Tort and Public Law: A Common Law Perspective’ in N Rosenvald and C Eduardo Pianovski Ruzyk (eds.), Novas Fronteiras da Responsabilidade Civil: Direito Comparado (Editora Foco 2020)
GOUDKAMP J and NOLAN D, ‘Pioneers, Consolidators and Iconoclasts: The Story of Tort Scholarship’, Scholars of Tort Law (2019)
Nolan D, ‘Sir Percy Winfield (1878-1953)’ in J Goudkamp and D Nolan (eds.), Scholars of Tort Law (Hart Publishing 2019)
NOLAN D, ‘The Essence of Private Nuisance’ in B MCFARLANE and S Agnew (eds.), Modern Studies in Property Law (Hart Publishing 2019)
Nolan D, ‘Nuisance’ in C Blanchard et al (ed.), Halsbury’s Laws of England (5th edn), vol. 78 (LexisNexis 2018)
Nolan D, ‘Chapters on Classification of Statements as to Goods, Terms as to Description and Quality Implied by the Sale of Goods Act, Remedies in Respect of Defects and Exemption Clauses’ in M Bridge (ed.), Benjamin’s Sale of Goods (10th edn) (Sweet & Maxwell 2017)
van Boom W and others, ‘Product Liability in Europe’ in H Koziol and others (eds.), Product Liability: Fundamental Questions in a Comparative Perspective (World Tort Law Society / De Gruyter 2017)
Nolan D, ‘A Public Law Tort: Understanding Misfeasance in Public Office’ in K Barker and others (eds.), Private Law and Power (Hart Publishing 2017)
Nolan D, ‘Chapters on Government Liability, Product Liability, Nuisance and Rylands v Fletcher and Fire’ in K Oliphant (ed.), The Law of Tort (3rd edn) (LexisNexis Butterworths 2015)
Nolan D and Davies J, ‘Torts and Equitable Wrongs’ in A Burrows (ed.), Principles of the English Law of Obligations (OUP 2015)
Nolan D and Davies J, ‘Torts and Equitable Wrongs’ in A Burrows (ed.), English Private Law (3rd edn) (OUP 2013)
Mullis A and Nolan D, ‘Tort’, All England Law Reports Annual Review 2012 (Butterworths LexisNexis 2013)
Mullis A and Nolan D, ‘Tort’, All England Law Reports Annual Review 2011 (Butterworths LexisNexis 2012)
Nolan D, ‘Nuisance’ in D Hoffman (ed.), The Impact of the UK Human Rights Act on Private Law (CUP 2011)
Nolan D and Mullis A, ‘Tort’, All England Law Reports Annual Review 2010 (LexisNexis Butterworths 2011)
Nolan D, ‘Strict Liability’ in C Sappideen and P Vines (eds.), Fleming’s The Law of Torts (Thomson Reuters (Professional) Australia 2011)
Nolan D, ‘The Principle of Rylands v Fletcher’ in C Sappideen and P Vines (eds.), Fleming’s The Law of Torts (Thomson Reuters (Professional) Australia 2011)
Nolan D and Mullis A, ‘Tort’, All England Law Reports Annual Review 2009 (LexisNexis Butterworths 2010)
Nolan D and Mullis A, ‘Tort’, All England Law Reports Annual Review 2008 (LexisNexis Butterworths 2009)
Nolan D and Mullis A, ‘Tort’, All England Law Reports Annual Review 2007 (LexisNexis Butterworths 2008)
Nolan D, ‘Chapters on Government Liability, Product Liability, Nuisance and Rylands v Fletcher and Fire’ in K Oliphant (ed.), The Law of Tort (2nd edn) (LexisNexis Butterworths 2007)
Nolan D and Mullis A, ‘Tort’, All England Law Reports Annual Review 2006 (LexisNexis Butterworths 2007)
Nolan D and Mullis A, ‘Tort’, All England Law Reports Annual Review 2005 (LexisNexis Butterworths 2006)
Nolan D and Mullis A, ‘Tort’, All England Law Reports Annual Review 2004 (Butterworths 2005)
Nolan D and Mullis A, ‘Tort’, All England Law Reports Annual Review 2003 (Butterworths 2004)
Nolan D and Mullis A, ‘Tort’, All England Law Reports Annual Review 2002 (Butterworths 2003)
Nolan D, ‘Chapters on Government Liability, Product Liability, Nuisance and Rylands v Fletcher and Fire’ in A Grubb (ed.), The Law of Tort (Butterworths 2002)
Nolan D and Mullis A, ‘Tort’, All England Law Reports Annual Review 2001 (Butterworths 2002)
Nolan D and Mullis A, ‘Tort’, All England Law Reports Annual Review 2000 (Butterworths 2001)
Nolan D and Mullis A, ‘Tort’, All England Law Reports Annual Review 1999 (Butterworths 2000)
Nolan D, ‘Making Sense of Proximate Cause’ (JOTWELL, 1 February 2022)
Nolan D, ‘Enterprise Liability and the Common Law’ (2022) 41(3) Industrial Law Journal 370 (review)
Nolan D, ‘A History of Tort Law 1900-1950’ (2015) 54 Irish Jurist 187 (review)
Nolan D, ‘Carriage of Goods by Sea, 2nd edn’ (2012) 128 Law Quarterly Review 469 (review)
Nolan D, ‘The Law of Electronic Commerce’ [2010] (4) Lloyd’s Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly 677 (review)
Nolan D, ‘Clerk and Lindsell on Torts (18th edn)’ (2001) 6 Construction and Engineering Law 48 (review)
Nolan D, ‘The Modern Law of Estoppel’ (2001) 15 Trust Law International 59 (review)
Nolan D and Plunkett J, ‘Keeping Negligence Simple’ (2022) 138(Apr) Law Quarterly Review 175 (case-note)
Nolan D, ‘Nuisance and Privacy’ (2021) 137(Jan) Law Quarterly Review 44713 (case-note)
Nolan D, ‘Revisiting the Liability of Public Authorities for Omissions’ (2014) 130(Jan) Law Quarterly Review 21 (case-note)