The late Peter Birks was Regius Professor of Civil Law at the University of Oxford, and Fellow of All Souls College. Widely renowned for his work on Roman law, the English law of obligations, and legal history, he was founder of the Clarendon Law Lectures, editor of the Clarendon Law Series, and editor of the Oxford English Law Series.
Eric Descheemaeker is a Reader in European private law at the University of Edinburgh. A former doctoral student of Peter Birks, he specializes in comparative private law and legal history. He is the author of The Division of Wrongs (OUP, 2009).