Thursday 14 February 2019 11:06am
Otago alumnus Professor Jeremy Waldron, after whom Otago's new Chair of Jurisprudence has been named.
The Faculty of Law has established a new Chair of Jurisprudence, named after International scholar and Otago alumnus Professor Jeremy Waldron.
The new Jeremy Waldron Chair of Jurisprudence is only possible through the agreement of Professor Waldron with an initiative to support the establishment of a chair for the teaching and research of jurisprudence and legal philosophy. Jurisprudence is a core paper of the Otago Bachelor of Laws (LLB) and is seen as essential to producing law graduates with a strong philosophical understanding of the role of law in a just and civil society.
University Chancellor, Dr Royden Somerville QC, says that despite the subject no longer being a requirement mandated by the New Zealand Council of Legal Education, the initiative, from Otago graduate and former Otago law lecturer Noel Carroll, ensures the teaching and study of jurisprudence remains a pillar in Otago law students’ education and development.
“Noel’s collaboration with the former Dean of the Faculty Professor Mark Henaghan led to the establishment of the chair and is greatly appreciated,” Dr Somerville says.
“The three have strong links. They go back to the 1970s in the Law Faculty when Noel was a lecturer, and Jeremy and Mark were both students of law at Otago.”
At last year's signing of the Deed to enable the new Chair (from left) University Chancellor Dr Royden Somerville QC, former Otago law lecturer Noel Carroll and former Law Dean Professor Mark Henaghan.
Both Otago’s Dean of Law Professor Jessica Palmer and Dr Somerville see the naming of the position in honour of Professor Waldron as significant in its own right. Professor Waldron is an eminent graduate of the University. In 2005 the University recognised his outstanding scholarship in law and philosophy by awarding him an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. Professor Waldron was profiled in Otago Magazine, see Issue 44.
“The naming of the Chair after an international scholar of such high standing brings considerable prestige to it,” Dr Somerville says.
Professor Palmer says Professor Waldron is a world-renowned legal scholar, and still regularly visits Otago to speak to students and staff and the Faculty is enormously grateful.
“It is fitting that this Chair acknowledges both the enormous contribution he has made to legal philosophy and that Otago was where he began.
“Many of our older graduates benefitted from Noel’s years of teaching while he was in practice, and our future students will now also benefit from this gesture ensuring that jurisprudence will always be an important aspect of the Otago law experience."
Vice-Chancellor Professor Harlene Hayne says the establishment of the new Chair will further enhance the reputation of Otago’s Law Faculty, and the calibre of graduates it produces.
The Chair will likely be a professor or associate professor who will teach and research in jurisprudence and be a permanent academic member of the Faculty. Recruitment for the Chair via an international search is expected to occur in the latter half of the year.