Professor Jordan English

Background

I began my legal education in Australia where I completed a Bachelor of Laws (Hons I, Medal) and a Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting) at the University of Queensland. After graduation, I worked as a Judicial Associate to Justice James Edelman on the High Court of Australia and then as a solicitor in Commercial Litigation at King & Wood Mallesons. I then came to Oxford, where I completed my Bachelor of Civil Law (Distinction) and my DPhil in Law at Magdalen College. Before rejoining Magdalen in 2024, I had been a Supernumerary Teaching Fellow in Law at St John’s College, Oxford (2021–2024) and a Stipendiary Lecturer in Law at St Hilda’s College (2020–2021). 

Teaching

My college teaching covers Land Law and A Roman Introduction to Private Law, but I have also taught Trusts, Contract Law, and Tort. For the Faculty, I lecture in Contract Law and teach Commercial Remedies and Restitution of Unjust Enrichment on the BCL/MJur.

Research

I conduct research across a broad range of private law subjects, but with a particular emphasis on contract law and property law (including equitable interests). I have written a monograph on contract law, Discharge of Contractual Obligations (Oxford University Press, 2025) and co-wrote The Law of Tracing (Federation Press, 2021). While my main work is on private law, I also have an interest in civil confiscation laws that straddle the civil-criminal law divide and to this end, I have recently co-published Federal Proceeds of Crime Law (Thomson Reuters, 2024), which deals with the federal confiscation regime in Australia.

Publications

Books:

• Discharge of Contractual Obligations (Oxford University Press, 2025) (forthcoming).
• Federal Proceeds of Crime Law (Thomson Reuters, 2024) (with S. Hickey and S. Bronitt).
• The Law of Tracing (Federation Press, 2021) (with M.J. Hafeez-Baig).

– Cited in Blue Mirror Pty Ltd v Tan & Tan Australia Pty Ltd (in liq) [2024] NSWCA 253 at [29].

– Cited in RnD Funding Pty Ltd v Roncane Pty Ltd [2023] FCAFC 28 at [76], [87], [91], [103], [106].

– Cited in ED & F Man Capital Markets Ltd v Come Harvest Holdings Ltd [2022] EWHC 229 (Comm) at [667].

Articles:

• ‘Employment Contracts, Conditions, and The Relationship of Employment’ (2024) 140 Law Quarterly Review 521.
• ‘Dispositions of Subsisting Equitable Interests and s 53(1)(c) of the Law of Property Act 1925’ [2024] The Conveyancer and Property Lawyer 140 (with J. Atmaz Al-Sibaie).
• ‘The Nature of Promissory Conditions’ (2021) 137 Law Quarterly Review 630.

– Cited in Allianz Australia Insurance Limited v Delor Vue Apartments CTS 39788 [2022] HCA 38 at [43].

• Common Law Tracing: The Emperor’s New Clothes?’ (2018) 12 Journal of Equity 260 (with M.J. Hafeez-Baig).

Book Chapters:

‘Substantial Performance in Employment Contracts’ in A. Bogg and P. Davies, Private Law Perspectives on the Contract of Employment (Hart Publishing, 2025) (forthcoming).

Case Notes:

• ‘The Principle in Mackay v Dick’ (2025) 141 Law Quarterly Review (forthcoming).
• ‘Deeds, Rescission, and Restitution’ (2023) 139 Law Quarterly Review 363.
• ‘Tracing, Mixing, and Innocent Claimants’ (2021) 84 Modern Law Review 593 (with M.J. Hafeez-Baig).
• ‘Recovery of Upkeep Costs, Claims for Loss of Autonomy and Loss of Genetic Affinity: Fertile Ground for Development in Australia?’ (2018) 41 Melbourne University Law Review 1360 (with M.J. Hafeez-Baig).
• ‘The Liability of Search Engine Operators in Defamation: Issues Relating to Publication and Qualified Privilege’ (2017) 24 Torts Law Journal 218 (with M.J. Hafeez-Baig).
• ‘Re-thinking the Requirement for a “Recognisable Psychiatric Illness” in the Law of Negligence’ (2017) 25 Tort Law Review 92 (with M.J. Hafeez-Baig).
• ‘An Inconsistency in the Canadian Law of Adverse Possession?’ (2017) 17 Oxford University Commonwealth Law Journal 290 (with M.J. Hafeez-Baig).
• ‘Disclosure of Trust Information: Discretionary or Principle-Based Jurisdiction?’ (2017) 23 Trusts & Trustees 829 (with M.J. Hafeez-Baig).
• ‘Arbitration and Abuse of Process: Michael Wilson & Partners Ltd v Sinclair [2017] EWCA Civ 3’ (2017) 36 Civil Justice Quarterly 281 (with M.J. Hafeez-Baig).
• ‘Claims Relating to Possession of a Ship: Wilmington Trust Company (Trustee) v The Ship “Houston” [2016] FCA 1349’ (2017) 42 University of Western Australia Law Review 128 (with M.J. Hafeez-Baig).
• ‘Liability of Search Engine Providers in Defamation’ (2017) 24 Torts Law Journal 83 (with M.J. Hafeez-Baig).
• ‘The Supreme Court Rectifies a Wrong Turn in Canadian Law’ (2017) 17 Oxford University Commonwealth Law Journal 144 (with M.J. Hafeez-Baig).
• ‘“Lack of Consent” as an Unjust Factor’ [2017] Lloyd’s Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly 176 (with M.J. Hafeez-Baig).

Book Reviews:

• ‘The Laws of Restitution’ [2024] Lloyd’s Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly 354 (with J. Al-Sibaie).
• ‘Review of C Mitchell, Vanishing Contract Law: Common Law in the Age of Contracts’ (2023) 86 Modern Law Review 1298.