John Keiran Barry Moylan Nicholas (1919–2002) was a British legal scholar. He was Professor of Comparative Law at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

from 1971 to 1978, and

Principal of Brasenose College, Oxford The head of Brasenose College, University of Oxford, is the principal. The current principal is John Bowers, who took up the appointment in October 2015. List of principals of Brasenose College References {{reflist Brasenose Principals ...

, from 1978 to 1989.

Early life

Nicholas was born on 6 July 1919 to Archibald John Nicholas and Rose (née Moylan). He was educated at

Downside School Downside School is a co-educational Catholic independent boarding and day school in the English public school tradition for pupils aged 11 to 18. It is located between Bath, Frome, Wells and Bruton, and is attached to Downside Abbey. Original ...

, a Catholic independent school in

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, England. He then

matriculated Matriculation is the formal process of entering a university, or of becoming eligible to enter by fulfilling certain academic requirements such as a matriculation examination. Australia In Australia, the term "matriculation" is seldom used now. ...

into Brasenose College, Oxford, where he was a scholar and studied classics: he achieved

first class honours The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variati ...

in '' Mods'' in 1939. Having taken a break from university to serve in the war, he returned to his college to study

Jurisprudence Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning a ...

: he graduated with a first class

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

(BA) degree in 1946.

Academic career

He began teaching at Brasenose College, Oxford, in 1946, and served as Principal of the college from 1978 to 1989. He gave up the position at the appointed age of 70, but he did not retire. He additionally served as All Souls

Reader A reader is a person who reads. It may also refer to: Computing and technology * Adobe Reader (now Adobe Acrobat), a PDF reader * Bible Reader for Palm, a discontinued PDA application * A card reader, for extracting data from various forms of ...

in Roman Law from 1949 to 1971, and Professor of Comparative Law at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

from 1971 to 1978.'NICHOLAS, (John Keiran) Barry (Moylan)',

Who Was Who ''Who's Who'' is a reference work. It is a book, and also a CD-ROM and a website, giving information on influential people from around the world. Published annually as a book since 1849, it lists people who influence British life, according to i ...

, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2016; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014; online edn, April 201
accessed 19 June 2017
/ref> Nicholas' '' An Introduction to Roman Law'' is a standard text in the study of

Roman law Roman law is the legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (c. 449 BC), to the '' Corpus Juris Civilis'' (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor Ju ...

. There is an obituary notice https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/sites/default/files/124p219.pdf by

Peter Birks Peter Brian Herrenden Birks (3 October 1941 – 6 July 2004) was the Regius Professor of Civil Law at the University of Oxford from 1989 until his death. He also became a Fellow of the British Academy in 1989, and an honorary Queen's counsel in ...

for the

British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars spa ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nicholas, Barry 1919 births 2002 deaths Fellows of Brasenose College, Oxford Principals of Brasenose College, Oxford Linklaters Professors of Comparative Law People educated at Downside School Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford