Professor Trevor Allan LLD, FBA will present his recent work on the topic 'Why the law is what it ought to be”. His associated paper on this theme was recently published in Jurisprudence, and is currently available online here.

The scheduling of this seminar for a later time than usual is due to the 10-hour time difference with the UK.

In this seminar, Professor Allan will present his thesis that the law is constituted by the requirements of justice for the political community in which it operates, so that a public conception of justice is substituted for conflicting private ones. He will argue that our legal obligations are precisely the moral obligations we owe as citizens, faithful to that community, and that we honour the demands of justice by our obedience to law – the law that obtains in virtue of adherence to the ideal of the rule of law.

Trevor Allan is Professor of Jurisprudence and Public Law at the University of Cambridge, and is a Fellow of Pembroke College. He is a leading figure in constitutional law, and has written widely on legality, legitimacy and sovereignty in the common law constitution. We are honoured to host him at the College of Law on this occasion.