The eighth Obligations Conference was held at Downing College Cambridge from 19 to 22 July 2016. Organised jointly by the Cambridge Private Law Centre and Melbourne Law School, the Conference provided an opportunity for over 170 academics, judges, practitioners and graduate students from around the world to come together to discuss issues relating to the law of obligations under the theme of ‘Revolutions in Private Law’.
Over three days, almost seventy papers were discussed, covering a wide range of issues in the law of obligations. Keynote lectures were delivered by Lord Carnwath of Notting Hill, SCJ; Professor Hector McQueen; Professor David Ibbetson; Professor Jenny Steele and Professor Hugh Collins. In addition, a panel session was held to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the publication of Goff and Jones on The Law of Restitution, with contributions from Sir Terence Etherton (then The Chancellor, now the Master of the Rolls), Amy Goymour, Professor Elise Bant, Professor Mitchell McInnes and Professor Helen Scott. The Honourable Michael Kirby AC CMG delivered the 2016 Cambridge Freshfields Lecture at the Cambridge Faculty of Law as part of the conference programme.
The Herbert Smith Freehills Formal Conference Dinner and special exhibition in the Wren Library was held at Trinity College, with Lord Robert Walker of Gestingthorpe as guest of honour and dinner speaker.
Selected essays from the conference will be published by Hart Publishing in early 2017 in Revolution and Evolution in Private Law, edited by the conference organisers.
The Ninth Obligations Conference will be held at the University of Melbourne in July 2018.