Anthony Maurice Honoré, (30 March 1921 – 26 February 2019) was a British lawyer and jurist, known for his work on ownership, causation and

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 ...

.John Gardne
''Tony Honoré as Teacher and Mentor: A Personal Memoir''
; read 1 April 2014.

Biography

Honoré was born in London but was brought up in South Africa. He served in the South African Infantry during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

and was severely wounded in the Battle of Alamein. After the war he continued his studies at New College, Oxford, and he lived and taught in

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

for seventy years, including periods as a

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

of The Queen's College and then of New College.Profile o
Tony Honré
All Souls College website, Oxford; read 1 April 2014. Between 1971 and 1988 he was

Regius Professor of Civil Law at Oxford The Regius Chair of Civil Law, founded in the 1540s, is one of the oldest professorships at the University of Oxford. Foundation The Regius Chair of Civil Law at Oxford was founded by King Henry VIII, who established five such Regius Professors ...

and a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford;Profile o
Tony Honoré
University of Oxford website, read 1 April 2014.Daniel Visser and Max Loubser (2011)
Thinking about Law: Essays for Tony Honore
'; Siber Ink, Westlake (South Africa). read 1 April 2014. for nearly 30 years after retiring from his Chair, he taught seminars in Jurisprudence for the BCL jointly with John Gardner. Honoré was a close associate of

H. L. A. Hart Herbert Lionel Adolphus Hart (18 July 190719 December 1992), known simply as H. L. A. Hart, was an English legal philosopher. He was Professor of Jurisprudence (University of Oxford), Professor of Jurisprudence at Oxford University an ...

. They jointly wrote ''Causation in the Law'' (Oxford, 1st ed. 1959, 2nd 1985) in 1953-8 and Honoré had some influence on Hart's ''The Concept of Law'' (Oxford, 1st ed. 1961, 2nd 1994). A number of his philosophical papers are collected in ''Making Law Bind'' (Oxford, 1987) and ''Responsibility and Fault'' (Oxford, 1999) and his contributions to legal philosophy and Roman law, which range widely, include 16 books and more than a 100 articles published over six decades. Honoré was an honorary Q.C. and Bencher of Lincoln's Inn, a member of the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

and Bavarian Academies and of the International Academy of Comparative Law. In South Africa, his standing has been recognised by the award of honorary degrees from the Universities of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

Stellenbosch Stellenbosch (; )A Universal Pronounc ...

and

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

. When receiving this last degree, in 1990, he had the opportunity to give an address. He used this opportunity to point to the parallel between the extension of citizenship to all free people in the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...

, regardless of race, sex or religion, by

Caracalla Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (born Lucius Septimius Bassianus, 4 April 188 – 8 April 217), better known by his nickname "Caracalla" () was Roman emperor from 198 to 217. He was a member of the Severan dynasty, the elder son of Emperor S ...

in 211 AD, and the extension of citizenship to the whole of the South African population. This he foresaw would need an adjustment of the legal system, and he suggested a constitutional court to carry it through with a parallel to the composition of the

German Constitutional Court The Federal Constitutional Court (german: link=no, Bundesverfassungsgericht ; abbreviated: ) is the supreme constitutional court for the Federal Republic of Germany, established by the constitution or Basic Law () of Germany. Since its inc ...

. Nelson Mandela approved of this. It was put into practice in 1995, and has been a success. He delivered the

Hamlyn Lectures The Hamlyn Lectures are a series of public lectures in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland given annually on a legal topic. The lectures have been given every year since 1949. History The Hamlyn Trust was established in 1948 by the wil ...

(1982), the Blackstone and H. L. A. Hart lectures, the J. H. Gray lectures at

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

and the Maccabaean lecture in Jurisprudence at the British Academy. Three

Festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

en have been published in his honour. * Neil MacCormick and Peter Birks (eds., 1985) ''The Legal Mind: Essays for Tony Honoré'';Neil MacCormick and Peter Birks (Eds., 1985) ''The Legal Mind: Essays for Tony Honoré''; Claredons Press, Oxford. * Peter Cane and John Gardner (eds., 2001) ''Relating to Responsibility: Essays in Honor of Tony Honoré on his 80th Birthday''.Peter Cane and John Gardner (Eds., 2001) ''Relating to Responsibility: Essays in Honor of Tony Honoré on his 80th Birthday''; Oxford: Hart Publishing Co., * Daniel Visser and Max Loubser (eds., 2011) ''Thinking about Law: Essays for Tony Honore''; On 17 September 2004 he received

honorary citizenship Honorary citizenship is a status bestowed by a city or other government on a foreign or native individual whom it considers to be especially admirable or otherwise worthy of the distinction. The honour usually is symbolic and does not confer an ...

from the then mayor of

San Ginesio San Ginesio is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Macerata in the Italian region Marche, located about southwest of Ancona and about southwest of Macerata. As of December 31, 2004, it had a population of 3,872 and an area of .All de ...

, Pietro Enrico Parrucci.

List of publications

;Books * ''Gaius: a biography'' (Oxford, 1962) * ''Tribonian'' (London, 1978) * ''Sex Law in England'' (London: Duckworth, 1978) * ''Emperor and Lawyers: with a paligenesia of third-century imperial rescripts 193–305 AD'' (London, 1st ed. 1981; Oxford, 2nd ed. 1994) * ''Ulpian: pioneer of human rights'' (Oxford, 1st ed. 1982; 2nd ed. 2002) * ''The Quest for Security: Employees, Tenants, Wives'' (London: Stevens, 1982) * ''Causation in the Law'' (Oxford, 1st ed. 1959; 2nd 1985) – with

* ''Making Law Bind'' (Oxford, 1987) * ''Concordance to the Digest Jurists'' (Oxford: OMP, 1980) – with J. Menner * ''About Law: an introduction'' (Oxford, 1995) * ''Law in the Crisis of the Empire 379–455 AD: the Theodosian dynasty and its quaestors'' (Oxford, 1998) * ''Responsibility and Fault'' (Oxford, 1999) * ''Justinian's Digest: character and compilation'' (Oxford, 2010) ;Articles * "Responsibility and luck: the moral basis of strict liability" (1988) 104 ''Law Quarterly Review'' 530

References

External links

Tony Honoré 1921– 2019
Memorial notice from the Oxford Law faculty, by John Gardner. from 7 March 2019.
link

Tony Honoré (F, 1938) – RIP
Memorial from the

Diocesan College The Diocesan College (commonly known as Bishops) is a private, English medium, boarding and day high school for boys situated in the suburb of Rondebosch in Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. The school was established on ...

alumni network site from 26 February 2019.
Tony Honoré's web site
Includes several online papers and brief biographical details. {{DEFAULTSORT:Honore, Tony 1921 births 2019 deaths Philosophers of law Members of Lincoln's Inn Alumni of New College, Oxford Fellows of New College, Oxford Fellows of The Queen's College, Oxford Fellows of All Souls College, Oxford University of Cape Town alumni Regius Professors of Civil Law (University of Oxford) Honorary King's Counsel Fellows of the British Academy South African Army officers British expatriates in South Africa Academics of the University of Nottingham