Boudewijn Sirks

Emeritus Regius Professor of Civil Law

All Souls College

Biography

Boudewijn Sirks studied Law at the University of Leiden (LLM), followed by studies in Theology and Philosophy at the University of Amsterdam. At the latter university obtained in 1984 a PhD in law.

After working in various positions at the law faculties of Utrecht, Amsterdam and Leiden, he was professor in Legal History and Private Law at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt from 1998 till 2006, after which he was Regius Professor of Civil law in Oxford and Fellow of All Souls College. He retired from that chair in 2014. Presently he is an Emeritus Fellow of All Souls College.

Sirks' research interests span Roman law, the law of Late Antiquity, and European private law. He is an editorial member of the Tijdschrift voor Rechtsgeschiedenis (Legal History Review). He was Visiting Scholar at the Columbia University, New York; Visiting Professor at the University of Kansas; and Visiting Professor at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (Santiago). He is a Corresponding Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Vice-President of the Accademia Romanistica Costantiniana. In 2021 he was awarded the DCL.

Publications

Journal Article (31)

Sirks B, ‘The colonate in the Later Roman empire’ (2022) 90(44593) Tijdschrift Voor Rechtsgeschiedenis 129

Sirks B, ‘The imperial policy against heretics of restricting succession in the fourth century AD, with an appendix on the Theodosian Code’ (2021) 89(89) Tijdschrift Voor Rechtsgeschiedenis 536

Sirks B, ‘Did the published Theodosian Code include obsolete constitutions?’ (2021) 89 Tijdschrift Voor Rechtsgeschiedenis 70

Sirks A, ‘Emanzipation as rite de passage’ (2020) 137(1) Zeitschrift Der Savigny-Stiftung Fur Rechtsgeschichte, Romanistische Abteilung 331

Sirks B, ‘Die Schriftheimat von Vat.Reg.Lat. 886 (Codex Theodosianus libri IX–XVI)’ (2020) 88(44593) Brill Publishers 42

Sirks B, ‘Common right and reason’ against Parliament and King’ (2020) 123-183 Divus Thomas 167

Sirks B, ‘Law and Administration in the Collectio Avellana’ (2020) 1 Tesserae Iuris 49

Sirks B, ‘Emancipazione come rite de passage’ (2019) 2019 Ravenna Capitale 177

Sirks B, ‘Die Bedeutung von in bonis in der actio Serviana’ (2019) 136 Zeitschrift Der Savigny-Stiftung Romanistische Abteilung 121

Sirks B, ‘Traces of legal business in the letters of Gregory the Great’ (2019) 2019 Ravenna Capitale 113

Sirks B, ‘The edition of the Twelve Tables in Roman Statutes’ (2017) 85 Tijdschrift Voor Rechtsgeschiedenis 65

Sirks B, ‘Chirographs: negotiable instruments?’ (2016) 133 Zeitschrift Der Savigny-Stiftung Rom. Abt. 265

Sirks A, ‘A note on the methodology of Seeck’s Regesten der Kaiser und Päpste’ (2014) 82(1-2) Tijdschrift Voor Rechtsgeschiedenis Revue D Histoire Du Droit The Legal History Review 45

Sirks A, ‘Causae adquirendi eius quod nostrum non sit (D. 41,2,3,21): "Justified possession’?’ (2014) 82(3-4) Tijdschrift Voor Rechtsgeschiedenis 209

Sirks B, ‘A note on the methodology in Seeck’s Regesten’ (2014) 82 Tijdschrift Voor Rechtsgeschiedenis 47

Sirks A, ‘Noxa caput sequitur’ (2013) 81(1-2) Tijdschrift Voor Rechtsgeschiedenis Revue D Histoire Du Droit The Legal History Review 81

Sirks B, ‘The parallel universes of Baker, Joblin and Julian: causation and law’ (2013) 17(1) Edinburgh Law Review 22Ã‚

Sirks B, ‘Reform and Legislation in the Roman Empire’ (2013) 125(2) Mélanges école française De Rome (MEFRA) 44836

Sirks A, ‘Furtum and manus / potestas’ (2013) 81(3-4) Tijdschrift Voor Rechtsgeschiedenis Revue D Histoire Du Droit The Legal History Review 465

Sirks A, ‘The Purpose of the Lex Fufia Caninia’ (2012) 129(1) Zeitschrift Der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte Romanistische Abteilung 549

Sirks B, ‘Did poverty lie at the origin of the Colonate?’ (2012) 36 Koinonia 133

Sirks B, ‘Das Dotalprivileg in den deutschen Gebieten im 19. Jahrhundert’ (2012) 129 Zeitschrift Der Savigny-Stiftung Rom. Abt. 522

Sirks A, ‘The slave who was slain twice: causality and the lex Aquilia (Iulian. 86 dig. D. 9,2,51)’ (2011) 79(3-4) Tijdschrift Voor Rechtsgeschiedenis Revue D Histoire Du Droit The Legal History Review 313

Sirks B, ‘Cornelis van Bijnkershoek as author and elegant jurist’ (2011) 79 Tijdschrift Voor Rechtsgeschiedenis 229

Sirks B, ‘Die Voraussetzungen und Methode von Seeck in seinen Regesten’ (2010) 78 Tijdschrift Voor Rechtsgeschiedenis. 395Ã‚

Sirks B, ‘Die Voraussetzungen und Methode von Seeck in seinen Regesten der Kaiser und Päpste (1919)’ (2010) 78(3-4) Tijdschrift Voor Rechtsgeschiedenis Revue D Histoire Du Droit The Legal History Review 395

Sirks B, ‘The delictual origin, penal nature and reipersecutory object of the actio damni iniuriae legis Aquiliae’ (2009) 77(3-4) Tijdschrift Voor Rechtsgeschiedenis Revue D Histoire Du Droit The Legal History Review 303

Sirks A, ‘The Colonate in Justinian’s Reign’ (2008) 98 The Journal of Roman Studies 120

Sirks B, ‘Laesio enormis again’ (2008) 54 Revue Internationale Des Droits De l’Antiquité 3e S. 461

Sirks A, ‘Legal science and law in Late Antiquity Gaul and Africa’ (2007) 75(1) Tijdschrift Voor Rechtsgeschiedenis Revue D Histoire Du Droit The Legal History Review 39

Sirks B, ‘The episcopalis audientia in Late Antiquity’ (2000) 65 Droit Et Cultures 80

Sirks B, Change of paradigm in contractus (B Sirks ed., Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2014) 133

Zwalve W and Sirks B, Grundzüge der europäischen Privatrechtsgeschichte. Einführung und Sachenrecht (Böhlau, Vienna 2012)

Sirks B, ‘Eine Flucht nach Rom? Über emigrierte jüdische Rechtshistoriker’ in T von Rahden and M Stolleis (eds.), Emanzipation und Recht. Zur Geschichte der Rechtswissenschaft und der jüdischen Gleichberechtigung (Klostermann 2021)

Sirks B, ‘Paelex, conubium and the lex Canuleia’ in G D’Angelo, M De Simone and M Varvaro (eds.), Scritti per il novantesimo compleanno di Matteo Marrone (G. Giapichelli Editore 2020)

Sirks B, ‘Principle and Practice in the Pacta Adiecta’ in B Spagnolo and J Sampson (eds.), Principle and Practice in Roman Law (Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 2020)

Sirks B, ‘Contrahere e contractus’ in F Milazzo (ed.), Scientia rerum e scientia iuris, relazioni del Convegno internazionale di diritto romano (Giuffrè 2019)

Sirks B, ‘Princeps legibus solutus’ in E Chevreaux, C Masi Doria and JM Rainer (eds.), Mélanges en honneur de Jean-Pierre Coriat (éditions Panthéon-Assas 2019)

Sirks B, ‘What did in bonis in the actio Serviana include?’ in H Dondorp / Martin Schermaier / Boudewijn Sirks (ed.), De rebus divinis et humanis (VandenHoeck&Ruprecht 2019)

Sirks B, ‘Ulpian D. 17,2,52,3: Gesellschaftsvertrag, aber auch Arbeits-, Kauf-, Verwahrungs- und Finanzierungsvertrag?’ in B Sirks and T Finkenauer (eds.), Interpretationes Iuris Antiqui, Dankesgabe für Shigeo Nishimura (Harrassowitz 2018)

Sirks B, ‘Tontines in the Dutch Republic and the Early Kingdom (1670–1869)’ in P Hellwege (ed.), The Past, Present, and Future of Tontines (Dunker und Humblot 2018)

Sirks B, ‘Geschichtliche Rechtswissenschaft damals und heute’ in C Baldus, C Hattenhauer and K Schroeder (eds.), Geschichtliche Rechtswissenschaft, 100 Jahre Heidelberger Institut (1918–2018) (Juristische Fakultät der Ruprechts-Karls-Universität Heidelberg 2018)

Sirks B, ‘Law, Commerce and Finance’ in A Bowman and A Wilson (eds.), Trade, Commerce, and the State in the Roman World (Oxford University Press 2017)

Sirks B, ‘L’aspetto fiscale del colonato dopo 438’, Ravenna Capitale (Maggioli Editore 2017)

Sirks B, ‘Zum Schadenersatzanspruch bei der Lex Aquilia anhand von D. 9,2,54 und 55 und eine Bemerkung zu D. 9,2,56’ in U.Manthe, S Nishimura and M Igimi (eds.), Aus der Werkstatt römischer Juristen. Vorträge der Europäisch-Ostasiatischen Tagung 2013 in Fukuoka (Dunker und Humblot 2016)

Sirks B, ‘Did Q. Mucius Scaevola introduce a broad concept of culpa in the lex Aquilia? Reflections on D. 9.2.31’ in I Di Piro (ed.), Scritti Alessandro Corbino (Libellulla 2016)

Sirks A, ‘Public Law’, The Cambridge Companion to Roman Law (Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2015)

Sirks A, ‘Delicts’, The Cambridge Companion to Roman Law (Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2015)

Sirks B, ‘Status and Rank in the Theodosian Code’ in A B. Kuhne (ed.), Social Social Status and Prestige in the Graeco-Roman World (Franz Steiner Verlag Stuttgart 2015)

Sirks B, ‘Gentili and the Tudor view on regal power’ in M Traversino (ed.), Verità e dissimulazione. L’infinito di Giordano Bruno tra caccia filosofica e riforma religiosa (Editrice Domenicana Italiana s.r.l., Napoli 2015)

Sirks B, ‘The Theodosian Project and the Lex Citandi’ in A Padoa Schioppa and D Mantovani (eds.), Interpretare il Digesto. Storia e metodi (IUSS Press, Pavia 2015)

Sirks B, ‘Das Recht der Soldatenkaiser’ in U Babusiaux and A Kolb (eds.), Das Recht der ’Soldatenkaiser’. Rechtliche Stabilität in Zeiten politischen Umbruchs? (De Gruyter, Berlin 2015)

Sirks B, ‘Gentili in the eyes of Bijnkershoek’ in D Panizza (ed.), Alberico Gentili, Giustizia, guerra, impero, Atti del convegno XIV Giornata Gentiliana San Ginesio, 24-25 settembre 2010 (Giuffre editore, Milano 2014)

Sirks B, ‘Mommsen und der Codex Theodosianus’ in I Fargnoli and S Rebenich (eds.), Theodor Mommsen und die Bedeutung des Römischen Rechts (Duncker und Humblot 2013)

Sirks B, ‘An inheritance lost and a fraudulent slave’ in A Burrows, D Johnston and R Zimmermann (eds.), Judge and Jurist, Essays in Memory of Lord Rodger of Earlsferry (Oxford University Press 2013)

Sirks B, ‘Mommsen und der Codex Theodosianus’ in I Fargnoli (ed.) (Dunker und Humblot 2013)

Sirks A, ‘The Supreme Court of Holland and Zeeland judging cases in the early eighteenth century’, Judges and Judging in the History of the Common Law and Civil Law (Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2012)

Sirks B, ‘Observations on the Theodosian Code: Where did the compilers take their texts from and what did they do with them?’ in S Crogiez-Pétrequin and P Jaillette (eds.), Société, économie et administration dans le Code Théodosien (Septentrion, Villeneuve d’Asque 2012)

Sirks B, ‘De gevolgen van de inlijving van Nederland bij het Franse Keizerrrijk in 1810 voor handel en nijverheid’ in AMJV Berkvens, J Hallebeek and AJB Sirks (eds.), Het Franse Nederland: de inlijving 1810–1813. De juridische en bestuurlijke gevolgen van de ’Réunion’ met Frankrijk (Verloren, Hilversum 2012)

Sirks B, ‘Strategies in Law and Justice in the 18th Century Dutch Republic’ in S Muller and S Zouridis (eds.), Law and Justice: A Strategic Perspective (Torkel Opsahl Academic EPublisher 2012)

Sirks B, ‘Einiges zum prekarischen Besitz’ in H Altmeppen, I Reichard and MJ Schermaier (eds.), Festschrift für Rolf Knütel zum 70. Geburtstag (C.F. Müller 2010)

Sirks B, ‘Een insana Doctorum controversia: de reservatoire clausule’ in H Dondorp e.a. (ed.), Ius Romanum – Ius Commune – Ius hodiernum. Studies in honour of Eltjo J.H. Schrage on the occasion of his 65th birthday (Scientia, Aalen 2010)

Sirks B and Hallebeek J, ‘Uit het Archief van de Raad van Justitie te Colombo: rechtsbedeling in Ceylon in de 18e eeuw’ in R van den Bergh (ed.), Libellus ad Thomasium. Essays in Roman Law, Roman-Dutch Law and Legal History in Honour of Philip J. Thomas (Fundamina 2010)

Sirks B, ‘Peira 45.11, a presumed succession pact, and the Peira as legal source’ (Jahrbuch der österreichischen Byzantinistik 2010)

Sirks B, ‘Het appèl tegen de veedief Verhoef uit het Schieland (1740)’ in C Coppens and J Hallebeek (eds.), Fabrica Iuris (Gerard Noodt Instituut, Nijmegen 2009)

Sirks B, ‘The Senatus Consultum Claudianum in 438 and after in the west’ in K Muscheler (ed.), Römische Jurisprudenz — Dogmatik, Überlieferung, Rezeption. Festschrift für Detlef Liebs zum 75. Geburtstag (Dunkler & Humblot, Feiburger Rechtsgeschichtlicher Abhandlungen 2000)

Edited book (1)

Sirks B, Nova ratione. Change of paradigms in Roman law (Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2014) 133

Conference Paper (5)

Sirks A, ‘SOURCES OF COMMERCIAL LAW IN THE DUTCH REPUBLIC AND KINGDOM’ (2018)

Sirks A, ‘War Mühlenbruch ein Pandektist?’ (2017)

Sirks B, ‘Roman Law as Emancipatory and Social Instrument in the 19th Century’ (Thinking about Law. Essays for Tony Honoré 2011)

Sirks B, ‘Collective liability in fiscal matters in Late Antiquity?’ (Editrice Scientifiche, Napoli 2010)

Sirks B, ‘Contractus e contrahere’ (Atti del Convegno internazionale di diritto romano 2010 Copanello 2000)

Sirks A, ‘Could after the division of administration in 364 an emperor issue a law for the entire empire?’ (2021) 138(1) Zeitschrift Der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte Romanistische Abteilung 555 (review)

Sirks B, ‘K. Tuori, The empire of law’ (2019) 87(44593) Tijdschrift Voor Rechtsgeschiedenis 211 (review)

Sirks B, ‘The Oxford handbook of Roman law and society’ (2018) 86 Tijdschrift Voor Rechtsgeschiedenis 229 (review)

Sirks A, ‘Causae adquirendi eius quod nostrum non sit (D. 41,2,3,21): ‘rechtmäßiger Eigenbesitz’?’ (2014) 82(3-4) Tijdschrift Voor Rechtsgeschiedenis Revue D Histoire Du Droit The Legal History Review 209 (review)

Sirks B, ‘R.M. Frakes, Compiling the Collatio Legum Mosaicarum et Romanarum in Late Antiquity, Oxford 2011, ISBN 978–0–19–958940–1 [Oxford studies in Roman society and law 2]’ (2013) 81 Tijdschrift Voor Rechtsgeschiedenis 284 (review)

Sirks A, ‘The slave who was slain twice: Causality and the lex Aquilia (Iulian. 86 dig. D. 9,2,51)’ (2011) 79(3-4) Legal History Review 313 (review)

Sirks A, ‘Bijnkershoek over de ’quade conduites’ van Huibert Rosenboom, president van de Hoge Raad (1691 - 1722): Een bijdrage op grond van tot dusverre onuitgegeven teksten uit de observationes tumultuariae (als bijlage toegevoegd)’ (2008) 76(1-2) Tijdschrift Voor Rechtsgeschiedenis 49 (review)

Sirks, ‘Bijnkershoek over de ’quade conduites’ van Huibert Rosenboom, president van de Hoge Raad (1691–1722): Een bijdrage op grond van tot dusverre onuitgegeven teksten uit de Observationes tumultuariae (als bijlage toegevoegd)’ (2008) 76(1-2) Tijdschrift Voor Rechtsgeschiedenis Revue D Histoire Du Droit The Legal History Review 49 (review)

Sirks B, ‘L. Atzeri, Gesta senatus Romani de Theodosiano publicando. Il Codice Teodosiano e la sua diffusione ufficiale in Occidente, Berlin 2008’ (2008) 76 Tijdschrift Voor Rechtsgeschiedenis 251 (review)

Sirks A, ‘Legal science and law in Late Antiquity Gaul and Africa’ (2007) 75(1) Tijdschrift Voor Rechtsgeschiedenis 39 (review)

Sirks, ‘De Decisiën van Pieter Ockers (1628-1678)’ (2003) 71(1-2) Tijdschrift Voor Rechtsgeschiedenis Revue D Histoire Du Droit The Legal History Review 197 (review)

Sirks B, ‘Martin Avenarius, Der pseudo-ulpianische liber singularis regularum. Entstehung, Eigenart und Überlieferung einer hochklassischen Juristenschrift. Analyse, Neuedition und deutsche Übersetzung, Göttingen 2005’ [2000] Gnomon 325 (review)