Professor of Law and Legal Philosophy in the University of Oxford and Professor of Law in the University of Notre Dame. He is also Visiting Professor of Law, Jurisprudence and Moral Philosophy in the Institute in Melbourne. He was born and educated in Adelaide, graduating LLB at the University of Adelaide in 1961. As Rhodes Scholar for South Australia in 1962 he went on to University College, Oxford and was awarded his D.Phil in 1965. He has been a lecturer in Law and Legal Philosophy there ever since, as well as a Member of the Philosophy sub-Faculty since 1984. He is a Governor of the Linacre Centre for Healthcare Ethics in London and a Fellow of the British Academy.

He has served on the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace (1990-95), the International Theological Commission (1986-95) and the Pontifical Academy for Life (since 2001). With Germain Grisez and Joseph Boyle he is credited with the revival of natural law ethics in the secular academy. His published works include “Natural Law and Natural Rights” (1980), “Fundamentals of Ethics” (1983), “Moral Absolutes: Tradition, Revision and Truth” (1991) and “Aquinas: Moral, Political, and Legal Theory” (1998).