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Email

cff1000@cam.ac.uk

Faculty Contact Details

Room: F14

Tel: (01223) 330065

College Contact Details

Tel: (01223) 339100

Affiliated Lecturer

B.Sc., LL.B. (Natal), LL.B., Ph.D. (Cantab.); Barrister (Inner Temple);

Interests

Public law: judicial review; the judiciary. Private international law: theory and comparative studies. Roman-Dutch law: especially suretyship and private international law.  Civil Liberties.

CV / Biography

SSRN Author Page

Professor Christopher Forsyth was Sir David Williams Professor of Public Law in the University of Cambridge and is Honorary Professor of Law in the University of Stellenbosch.  He is an Honorary Member of the Advisory Board of the Faculty of Law of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is an Academic Bencher of the Inner Temple and a barrister (practising from 4-5 Gray’s Inn Square).

He is the author with the late Sir William Wade QC of Administrative Law (OUP, 11th ed, 2014) a standard work relied on and regularly cited as authoritative by students, scholars and judges across the common law world.

He is also the author of  Private International Law (Juta & Co, 5th ed, 2012), an authoritative  standard textbook on the Roman‑Dutch conflict of laws for students and practitioners; it is regularly relied upon by the courts in Roman-Dutch jurisdictions across Southern Africa.

Professor Forsyth has been and is involved in working with or advising governments over constitutional developments (including judicial review)  in several (mostly Commonwealth) countries.  He has also been involved in training civil servants in good decision-making in several jurisdictions. (For instance, on behalf of HMG he taught “Administrative Law and the Civil Service” on three courses held at the Civil Service College to train civil servants for the reformed South Africa.) 

He has given invited evidence to many Law Commissions and Select Committee in several jurisdictions.  Most noteworthy was his employment by the Government of Malawi as Technical Adviser on Constitutional Reform to the Law Commission of Malawi during July and September 1998. This involved inter alia drafting the Constitutional Report of the Law Commission and the drafting two Constitutional Amendment Bills. 

Professor Forsyth is also a part-time judge, sitting as a Recorder in the Crown Court and as a Deputy High Court Judge in the Administrative Court.

He is the author of many books and articles (about 100) some of which are listed below.

Publications

 

Books

Caney's The Law of Suretyship in South Africa (with J T Pretorius) (eds) (Juta & Co, 2016) 6th Edition

Co-Author/s:
J T Pretorius
Publisher:
ISBN 13:
978-0 7021 8456 7
Published Mar 2016

Conflict of Laws Textbook (ed) (Holbourn Law Tutors, 2016) 5th Edition

Publisher:
ISBN:
0 7510 0274 7
Published Mar 2016

In Danger for their Talents: A study of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of South African from 1950-80 (ed) (Juta & Co, 2016)

Publisher:
ISBN:
0 7021 1608 4
Published Mar 2016

Human Rights: The Cape Town Conference Proceedings pf the First International Conference on Human Rights in South Africa 22-26 January 1979 (with J E Schiller) (eds) (Juta & Co, 2016)

Co-Author/s:
J E Schiller
Publisher:
ISBN:
0702119183
Published Mar 2016

Private International Law (Juta, 2012) 5th Edition

Publisher:
ISBN 13:
9780702194221
Published Mar 2012

The Culture of Judicial Independence (with Shimon Shereet) (eds) (Brill, 2011)

Co-Author/s:
Shimon Shereet
Publisher:
ISBN 13:
9789004188334
Published Dec 2011

Effective Judicial Review (A Cornerstone of Good Governance) (with Mark Elliott, Swati Jhaveri, Michael Ramsden, Anne Scully Hill) (eds) (OUP, 2010)

Co-Author/s:
Mark Elliott, Swati Jhaveri, Michael Ramsden, Anne Scully Hill
ISBN:
0199581053
ISBN 13:
978-0199581054
Published Mar 2010

Administrative Law (with Sir William Wade) (eds) (OUP, 2009) 11th Edition

Co-Author/s:
Sir William Wade
ISBN:
0199219737
ISBN 13:
978-0199219735
Published Jun 2009

Judicial Review and the Constitution (ed) (Hart Publishing, 2000)

Publisher:
ISBN:
1841131059
ISBN 13:
9781841131054
Published May 2000

The Golden Metwand and the Crooked Cord (Essays in Honour of Sir William Wade QC) (with Ivan Hare) (eds) (OUP, 1998)

Co-Author/s:
Ivan Hare
ISBN:
0198264690
ISBN 13:
978-0198264699
Published Feb 1998