In Person | Two Claims about the Nature of Constitutional Law

John Austin Seminars - Two Claims about the Nature of Constitutional Law

Speaker: Thomas Adams, Associate Professor of Law, St Catherine's College, Oxford 

Chair: George Letsas, Professor of the Philosophy of Law, UCL Laws 

About the Seminar:

Legal theorists have long been interested in questions of constitutional interpretation, but there is very little philosophical work on the nature of constitutional law. For example, what is its subject matter? What identifies a norm as a norm of constitutional law? Drawing on the work of the late John Gardner I defend two claims. First, that constitutional law has as its object bodies whose authority is original or inherent. Second, that the function of constitutional law is to regulate the exercise of power by such bodies.

About the Speaker: 

Tom is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law as well as a Tutorial Fellow at St Catherine's College, Oxford. He works in the philosophy of law, with special interest in questions relating to social ontology, as well as on theoretical aspects of constitutional and administrative law. 

Book your ticket here

Upcoming dates in the John Austin Seminars: 

17 February 2025 - Lorraine Daston (Chicago) 
24 February 2025 – Daniella Dover (Oxford) 
10 March 2025 - David Enoch (Oxford) 
12 May 2025 – Elise Woodard (KCL)