jem44@cam.ac.uk
College Contact Details
Room: O4, Old Court
Tel: 38067
Professor of English Law
MA (Oxon) PhD (Cantab)
Interests
Contract, Tort, Constitutional Law, Legal Reasoning
Research centres and interest groups
CV / Biography
Fellow, Corpus Christi College. Barrister (Middle Temple).
Jonathan Morgan began his career as a lecturer in English Law at Warsaw University, and he maintains links with legal education in the region, as a trustee of the charity Juris Angliae Scientia Ltd and judge of the Central and Eastern European Mooting Competition.
He has been a Fellow of Corpus (where he had previously been a PhD student) since 2012. He was appointed to a personal chair as Professor of English Law in 2023, delivering his inaugural lecture on "Judges, Jurists and Style".
Selected publications
Books
Torts on Three Continents: Honouring Jane Stapleton (ed), 2024)
Co-editor(s):
Kylie Burns, Jodi Gardner, Sandy Steel
Publisher:
ISBN 13:
9780198889748
Great Debates in Tort Law, 2022)
Publisher:
ISBN 13:
9781509961351
Great Debates in Contract Law, 2020) 3rd Edition
Publisher:
ISBN 13:
9781352009989
Contract Law Minimalism: A Formalist Restatement of Commercial Contract Law, 2013)
Hepple and Matthews' Tort: Cases and Materials (ed), 2008) 6th Edition
Co-editor(s):
Martin Matthews and Colm O'Cinneide
Publisher:
ISBN:
978-0-19-920384-0
Hepple and Matthews' Tort Law: Cases and Materials (with David Howarth, Martin Matthews, Janet O'Sullivan, Stelios Tofaris, Bob Hepple), 2015) 7th Edition
Publisher:
ISBN 13:
9781849465557
Great Debates in Contract Law, 2015) 2nd Edition
Publisher:
Link:
ISBN 13:
978-1137481597
Great Debates in Contract Law, 2012)
Publisher:
ISBN 13:
9780230292901
Articles
'Certainty, Good Faith and ‘Reasonable Endeavours’: Reflections on MUR Shipping' (2025) 2 Contract & Commercial LR 135-154
Citation:
(2025) 2 Contract & Commercial LR 135-154
Published: Jan 2025
'Equality at the contract-tort boundary: levelling up or levelling down?' (2022) 38 Prof Neg 135-161
Citation:
(2022) 38 Prof Neg 135-161
Published: Oct 2022
'IRAL's missing remedy: Compensation for unlawfulness' U.K. Const. L. Blog (12th October 2021)
Citation:
U.K. Const. L. Blog (12th October 2021)
Published: Oct 2021
'In Praise of Flexibility: Clause 1 of the Judicial Review and Courts Bill 2021' U.K. Const. L. Blog (23rd Sept. 2021)
Citation:
U.K. Const. L. Blog (23rd Sept. 2021)
Published: Sep 2021
'Covid-19 and False Imprisonment' U.K. Const. L. Blog (3rd Nov. 2020)
Citation:
U.K. Const. L. Blog (3rd Nov. 2020)
Published: Nov 2020
'"O Lord make me pure--But not yet": Granting time for the amendment of unlawful legislation' (2019) 135 LQR 585
Citation:
(2019) 135 LQR 585
Published: Oct 2019
'Nonfeasance and the end of policy? Reflections on the revolution in public authority liability' (2019) 35 Prof Neg 32-53
Citation:
(2019) 35 Prof Neg 32-53
Published: Feb 2019
'Common mistake in contract: Rare success and common misapprehensions' [2018] CLJ 559-569
Citation:
[2018] CLJ 559-569
Published: Nov 2018
'Abolishing personal injuries law? A response to Lord Sumption' (2018) 34 Prof Neg 122-142
Citation:
(2018) 34 Prof Neg 122-142
Published: Sep 2018
'Contracting for self-denial: on enforcing "no oral modification" clauses ' [2017] CLJ 589-615
Citation:
[2017] CLJ 589-615
Published: Nov 2017
'Law, Politics and the Independence of the Judiciary in the United Kingdom: Reflections on the “Brexit litigation”' (2016) 25 Commonwealth Lawyer 7-12
Citation:
(2016) 25 Commonwealth Lawyer 7-12
Published: Feb 2017
'A Brexit general election?' (2016) UK Constitutional Law Blog
Citation:
(2016) UK Constitutional Law Blog
Published: Jul 2016
'On the intractability of the human rights debate' (2016) Judicial Power Project
Citation:
(2016) Judicial Power Project
Published: Apr 2016
'Vicarious liability for independent contractors?' (2015) 31 Prof Neg 235-258
Citation:
(2015) 31 Prof Neg 235-258
Published: Dec 2015
'Smuggling mitigation into White & Carter v McGregor: Time to come clean?' [2015] LMCLQ 575-594
Citation:
[2015] LMCLQ 575-594
Published: Nov 2015
'Liability for Independent Contractors in Contract and Tort: Duties to Ensure that Care is Taken' [2015] CLJ 109–139
Citation:
[2015] CLJ 109–139
Published: Mar 2015
'Strict Liability for Police Nonfeasance? The Kinghan Report on the Riot (Damages) Act 1886' (2014) 77 MLR 434-459
Citation:
(2014) 77 MLR 434-459
Published: May 2014
'A mare's nest? The Jockey Club and judicial review of sports governing bodies' (2012) 12 Legal Information Management 102
Citation:
(2012) 12 Legal Information Management 102
Published: Mar 2012
'Policy reasoning in tort law: The courts, the Law Commission and the critics' (2009) 125 LQR 215
Citation:
(2009) 125 LQR 215
Published: Apr 2009
'Against judicial review of discretionary contractual powers' [2008] LMCLQ 230
Citation:
[2008] LMCLQ 230
Published: May 2008
'The rise and fall of the general duty of care' (2006) 22 Prof Neg 206
Citation:
(2006) 22 Prof Neg 206
Published: Dec 2006
'Tort, insurance and incoherence' (2004) 67 MLR 384
Citation:
(2004) 67 MLR 384
Published: Mar 2004
'Privacy, confidence and horizontal effect' [2003] CLJ 444
Citation:
[2003] CLJ 444
Published: Jan 2003
'Law's British Empire' (2002) 22 OJLS 729
Citation:
(2002) 22 OJLS 729
Published: Oct 2002
'Questioning the True Effect of the Human Rights Act' [2002] Legal Studies 259
Citation:
[2002] Legal Studies 259
Published: Jun 2002
'Nuisance and the unruly tenant' [2001] CLJ 382
Citation:
[2001] CLJ 382
Published: Jul 2001
Book Chapters
"Tort as a Tool of Government Policy: Section 38 of the Building Act 1984: Sleeping Beauty Awakes?" in Matthew Bell, Susan Bright, Ben McFarlane and Andrew Robertson (ed(s)), Private Law and Building Safety, 2025)
Publisher:
Published Jul 2025
" Judges, Jurists and Style" in Joe Sampson and Stelios Tofaris (ed(s)), Essays in Law and History for David Ibbetson: Querella, 2024), pp. 371-390
Publisher:
Pages:
371-390
ISBN 13:
9781509970650
Published Nov 2024
"Compensation as ‘Conditional Licence’ for Harmful Activities: An Exploration" in K Burns, J Gardner, J Morgan, S Steel (ed(s)), Torts on Three Continents: Honouring Jane Stapleton, 2024), pp. 283-310
Publisher:
Pages:
283-310
ISBN 13:
9780198889748
Link
Published Sep 2024
"The British Politics of Medical Negligence Reform: ‘Protecting Our NHS’ from Claims in Tort" in J Gardner, A Goymour, J O'Sullivan, S Worthington (ed(s)), Politics, Policy and Private Law Volume I: Tort, Property and Equity, 2024), pp. 63-86
"Professor Ian Roderick Macneil (1929–2010)" in James Goudkamp and Donal Nolan (ed(s)), Scholars of Contract Law, 2022), pp. 295-330
Publisher:
Pages:
295-330
ISBN 13:
9781509938469
Published Dec 2022
"Compulsion, Choice and Statutory Intervention in Contract: Implied Terms of Quality in Sale of Goods" in TT Arvind and Jenny Steele (ed(s)), Contract Law and the Legislature, 2020), pp. 163-192
Publisher:
Pages:
163-192
ISBN 13:
9781509926121
Published Sep 2020
"Opting for ‘Documentary Fundamentalism’ : Respecting Party Choice for Entire Agreement and Non-Reliance Clauses" in Paul S Davies & Magda Raczynska (ed(s)), Contents of Commercial Contracts: Terms Affecting Freedoms, 2020), pp. 239-266
"Contract law as regulation: Relational and formalist approaches" in Andrew Johnston and Lorraine Talbolt (ed(s)), Great Debates in Commercial and Corporate Law, 2020), pp. 1-20
"Contract Damages as Default Rules" in David Campbell and Roger Halson (ed(s)), Research Handbook on Remedies in Private Law, 2019), pp. 476-493
"Bargain" in Warren Swain and David Campbell (ed(s)), Reimagining Contract Law Pedagogy: A New Agenda for Teaching, 2019), pp. 22-41
"On the Nature and Function of Remedies for Breach of Contract" in Sarah Worthington and Graham Virgo (ed(s)), Commercial Remedies: Resolving Controversies, 2017), pp. 23-45
Publisher:
Pages:
23-45
ISBN 13:
9781107171329
Published Sep 2017
"In defence of Baird Textiles: A sceptical view of relational contract law" in David Campbell, Linda Mulcahy and Sally Wheeler (ed(s)), Changing Concepts of Contract: Essays in Honour of Ian Macneil, 2013), pp. 166-192
"The right of withdrawal" (with Reiner Schulze) in Gerhard Dannemann and Stefan Vogenauer (ed(s)), The Common European Sales Law in Context: Interactions with English and German Law, 2013)
Publisher:
ISBN 13:
978-0-19-967890-7
Published Mar 2013
"Reflections on reforming punitive damages in English law" in Lotte Meurkens and Emily Nordin (ed(s)), The Power of Punitive Damages: Is Europe Missing Out?, 2012)
"Causation, politics and law: The English--and Scottish--asbestos saga" in Richard Goldberg (ed(s)), Perspectives on Causation, 2011)
"Amateur Operatics: The Realization of Parliamentary Protection of Civil Liberties" in Tom Campbell, KD Ewing and Adam Tomkins (ed(s)), The Legal Protection of Human Rights: Sceptical Essays, 2011)
"Technological change and the development of liability for fault in England and Wales" in Miquel Martin-Casals (ed(s)), The Development of Liability in Relation to Technological Change, 2010)
"Central Government in English Common Law; Constitutional Law in English Common Law; Parliament" in Stanley N Katz (ed(s)), Oxford International Encyclopedia of Legal History, 2009)
"Liability insurance" in Peter Cane and Joanne Conaghan (ed(s)), New Oxford Companion to Law, 2008)
"Torts and Technology" in Roger Brownsword, Eloise Scotford, and Karen Yeung (ed(s)), The Oxford Handbook of Law, Regulation, and Technology, 2017)
Publisher:
ISBN 13:
9780199680832
Link
Published Jul 2017
Book Reviews
Review of "The Collaborative Constitution" by Aileen Kavanagh [2025] CLJ 209-213
Published Mar 2025
Review of "Private Law in Context" by Marc Loth (2024) 140 LQR 160-163
Published Dec 2023
Review of Sceptical Perspectives on the Changing Constitution of the United Kingdom edited by Richard Johnson and Yuan Yi Zhu (2023) 139 LQR 686
Published Oct 2023
Review of: Vicarious Liability: Critique and Reform by Anthony Gray, and of Reconceptualising Strict Liability for the Tort of Another by Christine Beuermann (2021) 137 LQR 347-352
Published Apr 2021
Review of Trials of the State: Law and the Decline of Politics by Lord Sumption (2020) 136 LQR 340-343
Published Apr 2020
Review of Sanctity of Contracts in a Secular Age: Equity, Fairness and Enrichment by Stephen Waddams (2020) 136 LQR 169-173
Published Jan 2020
Review of A Company's Right to Damages for Non-Pecuniary Loss by Vanessa Wilcox (2019) 135 LQR 172-175
Published Jan 2019
Review of The Dignity of Commerce; Markets and the Moral Foundations of Contract Law by Nathan B Oman (2018) 134 LQR 677-680
Published Oct 2018
Review of Lord Sumption and the Limits of Law, edited by NW Barber, Richard Ekins and Paul Yowell (2018) 134 LQR 160-164
Published Dec 2017
Review of Entick v Carrington: 250 Years of the Rule of Law, edited by Adam Tomkins and Paul Scott (2017) 133 LQR 529-533
Published Jul 2017
Review of A History of Tort Law 1900-1950 by Paul Mitchell (2016) 132 LQR 688
Published Oct 2016
Review of Leading Cases in Song by Stephen Todd (2015) 131 LQR 166
Published Jan 2015
Review of Tort Law and the Legislature: Common Law, Statute and the Dynamics of Legal Change edited by TT Arvind and Jenny Steele (2013) 129 LQR 640
Published Oct 2013
Review of Mistake and Non-Disclosure of Fact by Hugh Beale (2013) 129 LQR 458
Published Jul 2013
Review of Networks as Connected Contracts by Gunther Teubner (translated by Michelle Everson), edited with an introduction by Hugh Collins (2012) 128 LQR 472
Published Apr 2012
Review of Bonfire of the Liberties: New Labour, Human Rights, and the Rule of Law by KD Ewing (2011) 127 LQR 316
Published Apr 2011
Review of Emerging Issues in Tort Law edited by Jason Neyers et al (2009) 125 LQR 181
Published Jan 2009
Review of The Making of the Modern Law of Defamation by Paul Mitchell (2006) 122 LQR 691
Published Oct 2006
Review of A History of Water Rights at Common Law by Joshua Getzler (2005) 26 Journal of Legal History 216
Published Jul 2005
Review of Public Law in a Multi-Layered Constitution edited by Nicholas Bamforth and Peter Leyland [2004] CLJ 244
Published Mar 2004
Review of Private Property and Abuse of Rights in Victorian England by Michael Taggart (2003) 119 LQR 531
Published Oct 2003
Case Notes
"Principles, accidents and exceptions: Psychiatric injury in tort (note of Paul v Wolverhampton [2024] UKSC 1)" [2024] CLJ 214 - 217
"A riddle wrapped in an enigma: Assumption of responsibility, again (note of HXA v Surrey CC [2022] EWCA Civ 1196)" [2022] CLJ 449-452
Published: Nov 2022
"Maintaining the elegant facade of the acts-omissions distinction (note of Tindall v Chief Constable of Thames Valley [2022] EWCA Civ 25)" [2022] CLJ 245-248
"The thin end of the wedge: Morality, contract law and lawful act duress (Times Travel v Pakistan International Airlines [2021] UKSC 40)" [2022] CLJ 17-20
Published: May 2022
"Frustration and the pandemic" (2021) 137 LQR 563-568
Published: Oct 2021
"Pseudo-codification of the public-interest defence in defamation (Serafin v Malkiewicz [2020] UKSC 23)" [2020] CLJ 398-401
Published: Nov 2020
"(Net) curtains for modern architecture? Privacy, nuisance and human rights (Fearn v Tate Gallery [2019] EWHC 246 (Ch))" [2019] CLJ 273-276
"Novely in negligence: Policy reasoning survives (James-Bowen v MPC [2018] UKSC 40)" [2019] CLJ 15-18
Published: Mar 2019
"The outer limits of 'personal injury' (Dryden v Johnson Matthey plc [2018] UKSC 18)" [2018] CLJ 461-464
"Parallel lines that never meet: Tort and the ECHR again (DSD v Metropolitan Police Commissioner [2018] UKSC 11)" [2018] CLJ 244-248
"Repudiatory breach: Inability, election and discharge (MSC v Cottonex [2016] EWCA Civ 789)" [2017] CLJ 11
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0008197317000162
Published: Mar 2017
"The Penalty Clause Doctrine: Unloveable but Untouchable (Beavis v ParkingEye; Cavendish Square v El Makdessi)" [2016] CLJ 11-14
Published: Mar 2016
"Reinterpreting the reinterpretation of the reinterpretation of Fairchild (IEG v Zurich Insurance)" [2015] CLJ 395
Published: Nov 2015
"Tumultuous controversy: Police liability for rioting (Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance v Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime (CA))" [2015] CLJ 398
Published: Nov 2015
"Resisting judicial review of discretionary contractual powers (Braganza v BP Shipping Ltd)" [2015] LMCLQ 483
Published: Nov 2015
"Mitigation and the date for assessment of damages in sales of land (Hooper v. Oates [2013] EWCA Civ 91)" (2013) 29 Jo Prof Neg 125
Published: Jun 2013
"Negligence: Into Battle (Smith v. MoD [2012] EWCA 1365)" [2013] CLJ 14-17
Published: Mar 2013
"Manslaughter as a "vicissitude of life" (Gray v. Thames Trains)" [2009] CLJ 503
Published: Nov 2009
"Causation and the compulsive gambler (note of Calvert v. William Hill)" [2009] CLJ 268
Published: Jul 2009
"Note of The Golden Victory, House of Lords" [2007] CLJ 263
Published: Jul 2007
"Note of Re Pleural Plaques Litigation, Court of Appeal" [2006] CLJ 269
Published: Jul 2006
"Note of Douglas v. Hello! (No. 2), Court of Appeal" [2005] CLJ 549
Published: Nov 2005
"Note of Jackson v. Royal Bank of Scotland, House of Lords" [2005] CLJ 285
Published: Jul 2005
"Note of Gregg v. Scott, House of Lords" [2005] LMCLQ 281
Published: May 2005
"Slowing the expansion of public authorities' liability (note of Gorringe v. Calderdale MBC)" (2005) 121 LQR 43
Published: Jan 2005
"Privacy in the House of Lords, again (note of Campbell v. MGN)" (2004) 120 LQR 563
Published: Oct 2004
"Privacy torts: out with the old, out with the new (note of Wainwright v. Home Office, House of Lords)" (2004) 120 LQR 393
Published: Jul 2004
"Lost causes in the House of Lords (note of Fairchild v. Glenhaven Funeral Services)" (2003) 66 MLR 277
Published: May 2003
"Jus suum cuique (note of Vellino v. Chief Constable of Manchester, Court of Appeal)" (2002) 118 LQR 527
Published: Oct 2002
"Nuisance, property and human rights (note of Marcic v. Thames Water Utilities, QBD)" (2002) 118 LQR 27
Published: Jan 2002
Reports
"Oral evidence to Public Bill Committee: Judicial Review and Courts Bill" (, Nov 2021)
Link to report
Published: Nov 2021
"Written evidence to Public Bill Committee: Judicial Review and Courts Bill" (House of Commons, Nov 2021) JRCB12
Reference Number:
JRCB12
Body / Institution:
House of Commons
Link to report
Published: Nov 2021
"Oral evidence to Public Bill Committee: Overseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill" (, Oct 2020)
Published: Oct 2020
"Written evidence to Public Bill Committee: Overseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill" (, Oct 2020)
Link to report
Published: Oct 2020
"Derogation from the ECHR in armed conflict: Submission to the Joint Committee on Human Rights" (, Apr 2017)
Published: Apr 2017
"Clearing the Fog of Law: Saving our armed forces from defeat by judicial diktat" (Policy Exchange, Mar 2015)
Body / Institution:
Policy Exchange
Link to report
Published: Mar 2015
"Military Negligence: Reforming Tort Liability after Smith v. Ministry of Defence" (Evidence to House of Commons Defence Committe, 12th Report for Session 2013-4, UK Armed Forces Personnel and the Legal Framework for Future Operations, Apr 2014) HC 931
Reference Number:
HC 931
Body / Institution:
Evidence to House of Commons Defence Committe, 12th Report for Session 2013-4, UK Armed Forces Personnel and the Legal Framework for Future Operations
Published: Apr 2014
""Military Casualties: Alternatives to Tort Compensation" (Evidence to House of Commons Defence Committee inquiry, Jan 2014)" (, Jan 2014)
Published: Jan 2014
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