His Majesty The King has approved the appointment of Professor Wim Decock, of the Universities of Louvain and Liège, as the new Regius Professor of Civil Law at the University of Oxford. He will take up the post on 1 October 2026 and succeeds Professor Wolfgang Ernst.
Professor Wim Decock
Founded in the 1540s by King Henry VIII, the Regius Professorship of Civil Law at Oxford is one of the oldest of its kind. Professor Decock will be the 29th Regius Professor and will also be a fellow of All Souls College, Oxford.
Professor John Armour, Dean of Oxford’s Faculty of Law, said: ‘We are greatly looking forward to welcoming Wim as the new Regius Professor of Civil Law in the Faculty. This chair is one of the most prestigious in the University, and Wim’s appointment reflects his exceptional scholarship in this area. I’d also like to thank Wolfgang Ernst for his enormous contributions since joining us as Regius Professor in 2015.’
Professor Wim Decock said: ‘I am both delighted and humbled to join the extraordinary community of scholars and students at Oxford’s Faculty of Law.
‘For centuries, the Regius Chair in Civil Law has fostered a rich dialogue between jurists from continental Europe and the Anglo-Saxon world. Its location at All Souls College is especially meaningful to me: the college was founded as a place for the study of Roman law, canon law, and theology, whose interaction lies at the heart of my research. The opportunity to work alongside such exceptional colleagues across law, the humanities, and the social sciences is truly a dream come true.’
Professor Irene Tracey, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford, added: ‘I am delighted that Professor Wim Decock is to join Oxford in this historic and prestigious role. His scholarship exemplifies the curiosity, depth, and international outlook that define Oxford at its best. I look forward to seeing the contribution he will make to our academic community and more broadly the profession internationally in the years ahead. I welcome him and wish him every success.’
Professor Decock is a leading scholar of Roman Law and its reception, particularly in the early modern period. His thesis on the theological origins of contract law has won several prizes, including the HM Leibnitz-Prize 2014 by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the Michael Novak Award 2017. In 2020, he was awarded the VWS-Prize by the Royal Flemish Academy for his book on the early modern foundations of the economics of meritocracy. He has held visiting fellowships and professorships across Europe and at Harvard Law School and serves as a co-director of the International School of Ius Commune in Erice, Sicily. In 2021, he was elected associate member of the Royal Academy of Overseas Sciences in Brussels. In 2022, he was the recipient of a Max Planck-Humboldt medal.
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