The H.L.A. Hart Memorial Lecture | Oxford Law Faculty

The H.L.A. Hart Memorial Lecture is an annual lecture delivered in Oxford by a distinguished speaker. The lecture is named for H.L.A. Hart (1907-1992), who became Professor of Jurisprudence in Oxford in 1952 and was the author of the highly influential book The Concept of Law. The lecture takes place under the auspices of University College, Oxford, where Hart held his chair, and is supported by the Tanner Lectures Trust. Most of the Hart Lectures are published in the Oxford Journal of Legal Studies. More about H.L.A. Hart.

The H.L.A. Hart Lecture in Jurisprudence and Moral Philosophy

1985: Richard Wollheim, 'Crime, Punishment, and Pale Criminality'
1986: John Rawls, 'The Idea of an Overlapping Consensus'
1987: Bernard Williams, 'Voluntary Acts and Responsible Agents'
1988: Quentin Skinner, 'The Idea of the State' (unpublished)
1989: William J. Brennan Jr, 'Why Have a Bill of Rights?'
1990: T.M. Scanlon, 'The Aims and Authority of Moral Theory'
1991: Joel Feinberg, 'In Defence of Moral Rights'
1992: Tony Honoré, 'The Dependence of Morality On Law'

The H.L.A. Hart Memorial Lecture

1993: Neil MacCormick, 'The Concept of Law and "The Concept of Law"'

1994: Philippa Foot, 'Does Moral Subjectivism Rest on a Mistake?'

1995: Morton Horwitz, 'Why is Anglo-American Jurisprudence Unhistorical?'

1996: Thomas Nagel, 'Justice and Nature'

1997: R.A. Duff, 'Law, Language, and Community: Some Preconditions of Criminal Liability'

1998: Stephen Breyer, 'The Work of an American Constitutional Judge' (published as 'Judicial Review')

1999: Luciano Violante, 'The Fight against Corruption and Organised Crime under the Rule of Law'

2000: Johan Steyn, 'Pepper v Hart: A Re-examination'

2001: Ronald Dworkin, 'Hart's Postscript and the Character of Political Philosophy'

2002: Sir John Laws, 'Beyond Rights'

2003: Richard A. Epstein, 'The Not So Minimum Content of Natural Law'

2004: David Wiggins, 'Objectivity in Ethics: Two Difficulties, Two Responses'

2005: Owen M. Fiss, 'The War Against Terrorism and the Rule of Law'

2006: Jules L. Coleman, 'The Internal Point of View' (published as 'Beyond the Separability Thesis')

2007: Morris J. Fish, 'An Eye for an Eye: Proportionality as a Moral Principle of Punishment'

2008: Samuel Issacharoff, 'Political Safeguards in Democracies at War'

2009: Joseph Raz, 'Responsibility and the Negligence Standard'

2010: Amartya Sen, 'Rights and Responsibility' (published as 'Rights, Laws, and Language')

2011: John Finnis, 'Equality and Differences'

2012: Christine Korsgaard, 'Kantian Ethics, Animals, and the Law'

2013: Will Kymlicka, 'Animals and the Frontiers of Citizenship' (published version with Sue Donaldson)

2014: Samuel Scheffler, 'Distributive Justice, the Basic Structure, and the Place of Private Law'

2015: Nicola Lacey, 'Responsibility Without Consciousness'

2016: Margaret Jane Radin, 'Contract Law in the Information Society'

2017: Frederick Schauer, 'The Perils of Panglossian Constitutionalism'

2018: Philip Pettit, 'Primary Rules as Social Norms: A Genealogy’

2019: Rae Langton, 'Reimagining Free Speech'

2020: Due to the corona virus pandemic, the Hart Lecture was moved to 2021

2021: Due to the corona virus pandemic, the Hart Lecture has been postponed to 2022

2022: Sally Haslanger, 'Social Justice, Culture, and Law'

2023: Jeremy Waldron, TBD

2024: Anita Allen, TBD