Leslie Green, Professor of the Philosophy of Law at Oxford University since 2006, has resigned his Chair effective the end of September. (He will continue with his part-time appointment at Queen's University in Canada.) With the untimely death of John Gardner in 2019,the filling of his prior Chair with a moral philosopher, Timothy Endicott's taking up the Vinerian Chair in English Law (which will focus his energies and supervision in administrative law, rather than jurisprudence), and now Green's departure, the senior ranks in jurisprudence will have been decimated. There still remain many very good younger legal philosophers at Oxford, but since the Professors have primary responsibility for supervision of graduate students, Green's retirement marks the end of an era, that began with H.L.A. Hart's appointment as Professor of Jurisprudence in 1952. Oxford is expected to fill Green's Chair, although I don't know how soon. I can count on one hand (with fingers to spare) the number of appointments that would suffice to sustain Oxford's leadership role in this field. Prospective students will want to watch this carefully.
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