The Downing Professorship of the Laws of England is one of the senior

professorships Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a 'person who professes'. Professors ...

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

. The chair was founded in 1800 in pursuance of the will of Sir George Downing, the founder of

Downing College, Cambridge Downing College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge and currently has around 950 students. Founded in 1800, it was the only college to be added to the university between 1596 and 1869, and is often described as the oldest of ...

. The professorship was originally attached solely to Downing College (although the Professor undertook University activities). In the early 20th Century, for financial reasons, this professorship, together with the Downing Professor of Medicine, was severed from the College. The original electors of the chair were the

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...

, the

Archbishop of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers the ...

, and the masters of the colleges of Clare, St John's and Downing. In 1788 Edward Christian, brother of

Fletcher Christian Fletcher Christian (25 September 1764 – 20 September 1793) was an English sailor who led the mutiny on the ''Bounty'' in 1789, during which he seized command of the Royal Navy vessel from Lieutenant William Bligh. In 1787, Christian was ap ...

, was appointed to the post prior to its official creation 12 years later. The chair is currently vacant following the departure of Lionel Smith in 2024.

Downing professors

# Edward Christian (1788/1800) # Thomas Starkie (1823) # Andrew Amos (1849) # William Lloyd Birkbeck (1860) #

Frederic William Maitland Frederic William Maitland (28 May 1850 – ) was an English historian and jurist who is regarded as the modern father of English legal history. From 1884 until his death in 1906, he was reader in English law, then Downing Professor of the Laws ...

(1888) # Courtney Stanhope Kenny (1907) # Harold Dexter Hazeltine (1919) # Emlyn Capel Stewart Wade (1945) # Sir William Ivor Jennings (1962) # Richard Meredith Jackson (1966) #

Stanley Alexander de Smith Stanley Alexander de Smith FBA (27 March 1922 – 12 February 1974) was an English academic lawyer and author. Biography De Smith was born in London and educated at Southend High School and St Catharine's College, Cambridge (BA 1942, MA 1 ...

(1970) # Gareth Hywel Jones (1975) # Sir John Hamilton Baker (1998) # Dame Sarah Elizabeth Worthington (2011) # Lionel Smith (2022)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Professor of the Laws of England, Downing, Cambridge Laws of England, Downing School of the Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Cambridge English law 1800 establishments in England Laws of England, Downing, Cambridge