Peter Birks – författare

This collection of essays, contributed by friends and colleagues of Barry Nicholas, is a Festschrift to mark the occasion of his 70th birthday, and it is also an important contribution to the study of a specific area of Roman Law.Barry Nicholas is one of the leading comparatists and Roman lawyers of his day. For many years All Souls Reader in Roman Law, and then Professor of Comparative Law in the University of Oxford, he retires this year after more than 10 years as Principal of Brasenose College.

The author has taken the opportunity presented by the production of this new paperback edition to revise parts of the text and add a substantial postscript which brings the text up to date. This important work was hailed by scholars worldwide as the most significant recent work on restitution, and a landmark in the development of our understanding of this difficult subject. Students and scholars of common and civil law will welcome this paperback which brings the work to a wider readership.`The book amply repays close attention...both for its wealth of detail and for its perspicuous organisational principles'.Ethics `This is an impressive and challenging book that will be read and debated by legal scholars for some years'.Social Sciences

The 'Frontiers of Liability' is the title of a series of high-level seminars held in All Souls College, Oxford during 1993 and 1994. Drawing together top academics, practitioners and judges, these seminars have sought to identify current trends in English law and have provided a forum for experts to give their assessment of how the law will develop in the future. The papers produced for the first four seminars were reproduced in volume 1 of 'Frontiers of Liability'. The next four seminars and the comments made by the distinguished rapporteurs are reproduced in this volume. These essays will be of interest to anyone concerned with international sales, the law of contract, tort and restitution, and equity and trusts.

The legal difficuties arising out of the growing number of `money-laundering' cases reaching the courts are the subject of a burgeoning literature. Certainly there is much debate among practitioners, judges, and academics as to what the civil courts can do to assist plaintiffs seeking to recover funds in the UK and overseas. This collection of essays, the first on the subject, throws important fresh light on the solutions offered by the common law and equity, and considers the judicial reasoning in recent landmark cases.

When potential litigants first approach a lawyer they are generally interested in finding out one thing only: are they likely to be able to win damages ior any other kind of remedy and what kind of quantum of damages are they likely to receive? It becomes the lawyer's main task to try to argue for a remedy and to persuade the court that the plaintiff has a good cause of action. Textbooks about contract and tort frequently treat damages and other remedies as an afterthought when in fact it is the issue of remedies which is a constant and ever present consideration for the plaintiff and his or her lawyer. This new book, containing contributions from many of the UK's leading specialists, brings to the fore a range of issues which are of topical interest to litigators and to teachers of law. In some instances the isues are currently the subject of reform proposals and these essays usefully highlight the principal issues facing the reformers and the objections which have been raised by those opposed to reform. In addition four of the essays tackle a strand of tort law which is of rapidly growing importance - the area of professional negligence. The contributors are among the best known writers in this field and their essays combine practical and academic perspectives which usefully highlight contemporary trends in professional negligence litigation.The first chapter in the book also offers a unique and controversial overview of tort law in the UK by Professor Patrick Atiyah who argues for a complete rethink of the system of personal injuries litigation in the UK, starting with its abolition and replacement by a vastly expanded system of private insurance.

This is an important book which explores the classification of obligations. This is a very topical subject since the professions only started requiring Obligations in the compulsory core as recently as October 1995. It is fitting that it is examined here by contributors who are among the best-known writers in this field. The contributions include A New 'Seascape' for Obligations: Reclassification on the Basis of Measure of Damages by Jane Stapleton; Basic Obligations by James Penner; and an essay by Peter Birks himself entitled, Definition and Division: A Meditation on Institutes. These essays combine practical and academic perspectives which usefully highlight contemporary trends in the law of obligations. The book will be a valuable addition to the libraries of all teachers involved in this area of law.

The Roman Law of Obligations presents a series of lectures delivered by the late Peter Birks as an introductory course in Roman law. Discovered in complete manuscript form following his death, the lectures are published here for the first time.The lectures present a clear conceptual map of the Roman law of obligations, guiding readers through the institutional structure of contract, delict, quasi-contract, and quasi-delict. They introduce readers to the terminology needed to understand the foundations of Roman law, and the conceptual framework of the law of obligations that left an enduring legacy on European private law.The lectures offer an invaluable introduction to Roman private law for those coming to the subject for the first time. They will also make stimulating reading for academics and lawyers interested in Roman law, European legal history, and the lasting influence of Roman law on modern private law.

These essays by distinguished contributors to mark Professor Honore's 65th birthday explore the patterns of thought peculiar to lawyers, the forces which form the legal mind, its concepts, methods, and preoccupations.

Fourth in the popular and well-regarded SPTL seminar series, this is an important book which explores the concepts of privacy and loyalty in the law of obligations. Privacy and fiduciary obligations are two very topical subjects, and it is fitting that they are examined here by contributors who are among the best known writers in this field. The contributions include Privacy as a Constitutional Right and Value by Eric Barendt; Comparative Rights of Privacy of Public Figures by Basil Markesinis and Nico Nolte; and Constructive Fiduciaries? by Lionel Smith. These essays combine practical and academic perspectives which usefully highlight contemporary trends in the law of obligations. In addition to the essays, there is an extended Editor's Introduction by Peter Birks, a recognized expert in this field. This book will be a very valuable addition to the libraries of all practitioners and teachers involved in this area of law.

Compiled in honour of Bernard Rudden, this is a book of essays in comparative law centering on the contribution which comparative analysis can make to the core subjects of private law, namely property and obligations. The essays are contributed by leading academics from all over the world, all of whom owe an intellectual debt to the honorand.

This new edition of Unjust Enrichment by the editor of the Clarendon Law Series, is a fully updated, clear and concise account of the law of unjust enrichment. It attempts to move away from the use of obscure terminology inherited from the past. This text is the first book to insist on the switch from restitution to unjust enrichment, from response to event. It organises modern law around five simple questions: Was the defendant enriched? If so, was it at the claimant's expense? If so, was it unjust? The fourth question is then what kind of right the claimant has, and the fifth is whether the defendant has any defences. This second edition was revised and updated by Peter Birks before his death from cancer on 6 July 2004 at the age of 62. It represents the final thinking of the world's leading authority on the subject.

This is the first comprehensive review of the extent of remedies and impact of contractual agreements on restitution claims for void, unenforceable, and discharged contracts.

Recent leading cases have demonstrated the urgent need to modernize the learning on breach of trust,which has lagged behind the flourishing scholarship on the creation of trusts. Since breach of trust or fiduciary duty occupies the centre of the legal stage, it comes as a surprise that, although one or two novelists have chosen 'Breach of Trust' as the title to their book, no lawyer has so far thought it necessary to produce a specialized work on the subject. To fill the gap, this book, written by a team of leading trust lawyers from a number of common law jurisdictions, investigates all the principal aspects of the subject. The nature of the trustee's duties and of the liability for breach is closely examined, and all available defences and excuses are reviewed. Two substantial chapters consider the consequences of assisting a breach or receiving trust property from a trustee acting in breach. The book closes with a critical overview of the entire topic.CONTENTS: 1 Robert Chambers 'Liability for Breach'; 2 Joshua Getzler 'The Duty of Care'; 3 Edwin Simpson 'The Conflict of Interest'; 4 David Fox 'Overreaching'; 5 Lionel Smith 'Property Transferred in Breach'; 6 Charles Mitchell 'Assistance'; 7 Peter Birks 'Receipt'; 8 James Penner 'Exemption clauses'; 9 John Lowry and Rod Edmunds 'Honest and Reasonable Breach'; 10 Jennifer Payne 'Consent'; 11 William Swadling 'Limitation'; 12 Gary Watt 'Laches, Estoppel and Election'; 13 David Hayton 'An Overview'.