Bristol has always been strong in private law. Former and current members of staff have served as Law Commissioners, been responsible for editing the leading practitioner texts on Contract, Tort and Succession, and edited the leading journals in property law and unjust enrichment. The School is also home to the Common Law World Review, which is edited by Professor Keith Stanton and Professor David Clarke (general editors).
Professor Keith Stanton has co-authored Professional Negligence (3rd ed, 1998), and led the team responsible for the ground-breaking Statutory Torts (2003). Keith Stanton, Professor Paula Giliker and Professor Ken Oliphant have each authored or co-authored textbooks on the Law of Tort: the most recent publications being Lunney and Oliphant, Tort Law: Text and Materials (4th ed., 2010) and Giliker and Beckwith, Tort (4th ed., 2011). Paula Giliker has recently published a leading comparative text on vicarious liability: Vicarious liability in tort: A comparative perspective (CUP, 2010). Keith Stanton serves on the Editorial Board of the Tort Law Review, Paula Giliker on the Editorial Board of the International and Comparative Law Quarterly, whilst Ken Oliphant is UK correspondent for the Torts Law Journal and general editor of The Law of Tort (Butterworths Common Law Series) to which Paula Giliker contributes. Ken Oliphant is currently on extended leave and working as Director of the Institute for European Tort Law in the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna.
Tort law is also taught by Dr Eric Descheemaeker, author of The Division of Wrongs (OUP, 2009) and Dr Judy Laing, who has written widely in the field. Dr Laing’s monograph, Care or Custody? Mentally Disordered Offenders in the Criminal Justice System (OUP, 1999) was awarded a prestigious SLS prize for Outstanding Legal Scholarship by a Younger Scholar in 2000.
Emeritus Professor Michael Furmston is responsible for the leading student text Cheshire, Fifoot & Furmston’s Law of Contract (15th ed, 2006), joint author/editor of Beale, Bishop & Furmston’s Contract: Cases and Materials (5th ed, 2008) and General Editor of The Law of Contract (3rd ed, 2007) (Butterworths Common Law Series). He lectures and writes widely on Contract and Commercial Law, but has a particular interest in Construction Law. Professor Francis Rose, whose primary work is now in the field of Maritime Law, also has a general interest in the area of Contract Law. The Law of Contract is also a particular specialisation of Professor Gerard McMeel, author of The Construction of Contracts: Interpretation, Implication and Rectification (2007); and of Professor Paula Giliker, author of the comparative work, Pre-Contractual Liability in English and French Law (2002) and editor of Re-examining Contract and Unjust Enrichment (2007).
The School of Law has a substantial concentration of expertise in teaching and research in the Law of Restitution, a subject taught at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. The Society of Legal Scholar’s Restitution Section was instituted by Professor Francis Rose. Francis Rose is also the founder editor of the Restitution Law Review, the leading journal dedicated to the subject. Professor Gerard McMeel is editor of the English Law section of the journal, and author of Casebook on Restitution (1996) and The Modern Law of Restitution (2000). Eric Descheemaeker is also engaged in research in this area.
There is much activity within the broader area of Property and Trusts. Professor Dave Cowan is an active researcher in Housing Law, with particular reference to its Socio-Legal dimension. Chris Willmore focuses on planning and environmental issues. The School of Law has also long had a specialisation in the Law of Succession, with publications by Professor Roger Kerridge (Parry and Kerridge: The Law of Succession (12th ed, 2009) – the leading student text). In addition, Professor David Clarke, now a Pro-Vice-Chancellor, has led publication on the law of commonhold. He is now General Editor of the standard practitioner work, Clarke on Commonhold: Law, Practice and Precedents (Looseleaf, 2004).