Recognition of Distinction Awards 2019: Congratulations to Professor Richard Ekins

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Date 15 October 2019

Many congratulations to Professor Richard Ekins, Tutorial Fellow in Law at St John’s, who has received the title of full Professor in the University of Oxford’s 2019 Recognition of Distinction Awards, and becomes Professor of Law and Constitutional Government.

Professor Richard EkinsRichard has been a Tutorial Fellow in Law at St John’s since 2012. His research interests lie in constitutional law and theory and in legal political philosophy. He is particularly interested in legislative authority, the practice of statutory interpretation, and the nature of the (democratic) state.  At St John’s he gives tutorials in administrative law, constitutional law and jurisprudence; his faculty teaching includes constitutional law, constitutional theory and jurisprudence.

He is author of the monograph The Nature of Legislative Intent (OUP, 2012) and co-author of Legislated Rights: Securing human rights through legislation (CUP, 2018).  His edited collections include The Rise and Fall of the European Constitution (Hart, 2019), Judicial Power and the Balance of Our Constitution (Policy Exchange, 2018), Judicial Power and the Left (Policy Exchange, 2017), Lord Sumption and the Limits of the Law (Hart Publishing, 2016), and Modern Challenges to the Rule of Law (LexisNexis, 2011).  Richard leads Policy Exchange’s Judicial Power project and contributes regularly to public discussion about the constitution and the courts.  His research has been relied upon by judges, officials and parliamentarians across the common law world, and in particular in the United Kingdom and New Zealand. With Professor Nick Barber (Trinity College), he leads the Programme for the Foundations of Law and Constitutional Government in the Faculty of Law. 

Recognition of Distinction Awards are assessed using three criteria:

  • an ongoing research record which is characterised by a significant influence on the field of study and is of a high order of excellence and of international standing, and the quality of which in terms of research distinction is at least equal to that expected of those appointed to full professorships at other leading international research universities.
  • a record of effective teaching for the University and for colleges, concomitant with the duties of the University post and the college fellowship, where one is held.
  • a record of involvement in University and/or college administration and demonstrable competence in such administration.