Peter Birks

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Peter Brian Herrenden Birks (born October 3, 1941 , † July 6, 2004 ) was a British lawyer .

Alongside Robert Goff and Gareth Jones, he is seen as the catalyst for the growing interest in English restitution and is also considered one of the most important English law professors in the 20th century.

Career

The son of a general practitioner attended the Grammar School of Chislehurst and Sidcup ( Kent ) from 1957 after a year in Repton and a childhood in India .

Birks studied at Trinity College of the University of Oxford . After graduating from Oxford, he briefly taught in the United States in 1966 . The following year he received his Master of Laws from University College London, where he also accepted his first academic position in 1966. From 1971 to 1981 he was a fellow at Brasenose College and also taught at University College London. From 1981 to 1987 he taught at the University of Edinburgh , from 1985 with his own chair. In 1988 he took a chair at the University of Southampton . In 1989 he became Regius Professor of Civil Law at Oxford, a position he held until his death. He was an Oxbrige Fellow of All Souls College at the University of Oxford. Birks owes his reputation to visiting professorships at the Australian National University (1989), Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen (1994 to 1996), the University of Texas (2001) and the University of Leiden (2003). The 1992 University of Western Australia and 1999 Victoria University of Wellington lecture series , both on tort law, have been published as books.

In the last ten years of his life, Birks relied not only on the sources of Roman law , but increasingly also on German sources, which he admired for their detailed clarity.

Birks was the first editor of the book " English Private Law " , in which he tries to summarize and rationalize the entire scope of English private law in order to rearrange his convinced claim to order and characteristics of the legal discipline, which he previously considered too eclectic and viewed inconsistently. He also wrote " An Introduction To The Law Of Restitution " and " Unjust Enrichment " , and 142 articles in legal journals.

In the real legal case Woolwich Building Society v Inland Revenue Commissioners , Lord Judge Robert Goff followed Birk's legal opinion and described the argument as "powerfull". In particular, a precedent was set in which wrongly levied taxes had to be refunded.

Birks died on July 6, 2004 at the age of 62 of cancer . He left behind his third wife, Jackie, whom he married in 1984, their son, a daughter from their first marriage, and a daughter and a son from their second marriage. One of his daughters is the model Laura Bailey .

Services

Birks reorganized the English law on damages. This part of law, which deals with how to correct unjust enrichment of individuals, was, in his opinion, the last area of ​​law that had escaped rationalization by the authors since the 19th century. It was subordinate to contract and foundation law in parts and in parts . Although Birks said he was in the "slipstream" of Goff and Jones, he concentrated on the organization and the development of the fundamental principles. The task is described as difficult because the law on damages is usually recognized very late as a fundamental subject and at the same time affects many other areas that are already fixed in doctrines and regulations.

Together with Grant McLeod, Birks produced a new translation for the Institutiones Iustiniani , which has since become a standard work in England. His efforts at systematic categorization resulted in the development of the Oxford Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities (OSCOLA), the standard work for the citation of legal texts in the United Kingdom.

Honors

In 1993 he was made an Honorary Fellow of University College London, in 1994 his undergraduate university, Trinity College, Oxford, made him an Honorary Fellow, and he became a member of the Academy of European Private Lawyers. In 1989 Birks became a member of the British Academy . The University of Oxford awarded him the Doctor of Civil Law (DCL) in 1991 and the University of Edinburgh the Doctor of Law in the same year . In 1995 he became an honorary crown attorney . In 2001 he became a foreign member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences . In 2002/03 he served as President of the Society of Legal Scholars . He has taught throughout the Commonwealth and in Europe. A commemorative publication in honor of Birks by Andrew Burrows and Alan Rodger was published posthumously in 2006 ; Mapping the Law - Essays in Memory of Peter Birks .

Birks held honorary doctorates from the University of Regensburg (1996), De Montfort University in Leicester (1999) and Radboud University Nijmegen (2002).

Publications (selection)

Books
  • An Introduction to the Law of Restitution. 1988
  • Unjust enrichment. Clarendon, 2004
  • English Private Law. Oxford University Press, 2000
items

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Jack Beatson: Obituary: Peter Birks. Brilliant and prolific academic lawyer who brought the law of restitution up to date. In: The Guardian . July 16, 2004, accessed May 20, 2014.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s William Swadling Obituaries July 09, 2004 Peter Birks ; Retrieved May 20, 2014.
  3. ↑ http://forums.thefashionspot.com/showpost.php?p=866614&postcount=99
  4. ^ Faculty of Law, University of Oxford, OSCOLA, 4th Edition ; Retrieved May 20, 2014.
  5. ↑ Andrew Burrows, Alan Rodger (Ed.): Mapping the Law - Essays in Memory of Peter Birks. Oxford University Press, 2006 (commemorative publication in honor of Peter Birk).
  6. ^ Peter Birks on the list of honorary doctorates on the website of the University of Regensburg, 1996; accessed on May 27, 2014.
  7. ↑ Announcements of the honors 1999 ( Memento of the original dated May 28, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the website of De Montfort University, Leicester; accessed on May 27, 2014.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.dmu.ac.uk
  8. ↑ Eredoctoraten van de Radboud Universiteit  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the Radboud University Nijmegen website; accessed on May 27, 2014. @1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.ru.nl  

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Birks, Peter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Birks, Peter Brian Herrenden (full name); Birks, PB; Birks, PBH; Birks, Peter B .; Birks, Peter BH
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English lawyer and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH October 3, 1941
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH July 6, 2004