Congratulations to Magdalen College Tutorial Fellow and Associate Professor of Law, Jordan English, who has been awarded the 2025 SLS Peter Birks First Prize for Outstanding Early Career Scholarship for his new book, Discharge of Contractual Obligations (OUP 2025).
The Society of Legal Scholars (SLS) awards the prestigious annual prize for outstanding books by early career legal academics. The judges lauded Professor English’s book as “a superb example of traditional doctrinal private scholarship at its best, arguing for a common understanding of three areas of contract law, usually treated as distinct.”
“This is a real honour,” Jordan said. “I am super grateful to the judges, my mentors, and friends, who have all engaged with my work.”
Discharge of Contractual Obligations provides an innovative account of modern contract law, challenging orthodox understandings of when parties are released from their duties. The book demonstrates how the distinct doctrines of breach, frustration, and common mistake can all be understood through a single, once-dominant “failure of condition” model. Jordan’s book charts a pragmatic course for rectifying several practical issues in contemporary contract law.
Huge congratulations are in order for this great achievement.