Statutes of the University of Oxford, 2015-16 2016-17
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Statutes of the University of Oxford, 2015-16 2016-17 TABLE OF CONTENTS The most up-to-date versions of the University Statutes (and the Regulations) may be found online at: http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/statutes. Preface ........................................................................................................................................i Statutes .....................................................................................................................................1 I: Preliminary ............................................................................................................................1 II: Membership of the University .............................................................................................3 III: Convocation ........................................................................................................................7 IV: Congregation .......................................................................................................................9 V: Colleges, Societies and Permanent Private Halls ..............................................................13 VI: Council...............................................................................................................................15 VII: Divisions, Faculties, Sub-faculties, Departments, and the Department for Continuing Education ................................................................................................................................23 VIII: Libraries, Museums and Scientific Collections, and the University Press ....................27 IX: Officers of the University .................................................................................................31 X: Degrees, Diplomas and Certificates ...................................................................................37 XI: University Discipline.........................................................................................................39 XII: Academic Staff and the Visitatorial Board .....................................................................57 XIII: Student Members: Other Provisions ..............................................................................91 XIV: Employment of Academic and Support Staff by the University ....................................95 XV: College Contributions Scheme and College Accounts ...................................................99 XVI: Property, Contracts and Trusts ....................................................................................101 XVII: Resolution of Disputes over the Interpretation or Application of Statutes and Regulations ...........................................................................................................................107 Schedule ................................................................................................................................109 PREFACE CONSTITUTION AND STATUTE-MAKING POWERS OF THE UNIVERSITY 1. Legal status of the University The University of Oxford is a lay corporation first established at common law by custom or prescription and later formally incorporated by statute. It has no founder and no charter. The early history of the University1 shows that it evolved from a group of Masters and students residing in Oxford in the latter part of the twelfth century. The academic society which they collectively brought into life paralleled similar associations at other centres of learning in Europe, notably Bologna and Paris. The term originally used throughout Europe to describe such a society was studium generale. The purpose of the studia generalia was to provide instruction in the seven liberal arts - grammar, logic, and rhetoric (the trivium) and arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music (the quadrivium). Graduates in arts could embark upon a higher course of study leading to degrees in law, medicine, or theology. In 1214 the body of Masters and Scholars at Oxford was placed under the jurisdiction of a Chancellor, to be appointed by the Bishop of Lincoln. The office was created under the terms of an award of the papal legate, Nicholas Cardinal Bishop of Tusculum, made in settlement of a dispute with the townspeople over the hanging of two students in 1209 for complicity in murder. This incident had resulted in the closure of the schools and the summary departure of the scholars in protest, some of whom went on to establish a studium in Cambridge. Later in the century it became the practice for the Bishop of Lincoln to confirm in office the Chancellor elected by the Oxford Masters themselves. After 1214 the Chancellor, Masters, and Scholars of Oxford quickly gained recognition as a corporate body distinct from the individuals who were its members. The word universitas, which at the time meant any body of persons having a distinct purpose and legal status, was first applied to the Masters at Oxford in 12162 and within the next two decades was applied to the body of Chancellor, Masters, and Scholars collectively in grants of royal and papal legal privileges. The enactment of statutes began not later than 1230; a Common Chest was established by 1240; and the use of the Common Seal was firmly established by 1276.3 Proctors and Bedels were established in office at the beginning of the thirteenth century,4 although the University had to wait until 1448 for the office of Registrar,5 and the post of Vice-Chancellor was not fully established until 1549.6 The earliest recorded depiction of the coat of arms is 1412-17. Its use had become official by 1429.7 The first buildings owned by the University were Congregation House and the Divinity School, with Duke Humfrey’s Library. The establishment of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge may be contrasted with the foundation of their colleges. All the colleges are founded by charter. With the exception of the more modern foundations they are eleemosynary corporations, that is to say they were established and endowed for the perpetual distribution of the bounty of the founder and were frequently charged with the duty of saying masses or prayers for the founder and his or her kin.8 2. Act of incorporation After more than three centuries, Oxford and Cambridge Universities were formally incorporated in 1571 by statute. The Act for the Incorporation of Both Universities is a short Act containing a preamble and seven sections. The principal intention of the Act, stated in the i preamble, is ‘that the ancient Privileges Liberties and Franchises of either of the said Universities herebefore granted ratified and confirmed by the Queen’s Highness and her most noble Progenitors may be had in greater Estimation and be of greater Force and Strength ...’ Section 1 enacts that the Chancellor, Masters, and Scholars of Oxford shall be incorporated and have perpetual succession in fact, deed, and name ‘by the Name of the Chancellor Masters and Scholars of the University of Oxford’. The University is to be known by that name, is to have a Common Seal, and may sue and be sued accordingly. Corresponding provision is made for the University of Cambridge. Although the Act did not create the Universities it stands as the highest legal confirmation of their corporate status. 3. Early statutes At common law a corporation has the power to enact rules for the regulation of its internal affairs including procedures for the creation of new rules and the repeal or amendment of existing ones. These rules are of course subject to and may be overridden by the general law of the land. In its first 400 years Oxford University exercised its rule-making power in full measure.9 The early statutes recognised the Congregation of the Regent Masters, that is those teaching and resident in Oxford, as the principal governing body of the University for most purposes. They provided for the summoning of Congregation, the procedure to be followed at meetings, and the taking of votes. A great Congregation, or Convocation, of Non-regent and Regent Masters was established as the University’s supreme governing body, meeting from time to time. Convocation, not Congregation, exercised the power to make, amend, and annul statutes. The officers of the University were provided for and the manner of their election. Statutes were made governing admission to degrees, the giving of lectures, student discipline, academic dress, the administration of the Chancellor’s Court, and many other matters. 4. The Laudian Code During the sixteenth century it was recognised that the statutes had fallen into an unco-ordinated if not chaotic state. No single authoritative version existed, various copies being in the hands of different university officers. Attempts were made during that century and in the reign of James I to revise them and give them a more coherent shape. The accession of Charles I in March 1625 and the election of Archbishop Laud as Chancellor of the University in April 1630 finally produced a comprehensive and accessible code of statutes which was to govern the University for the next 200 years.10 King Charles and the Archbishop were as much concerned with the need to control religious divisions inside the University, and student indiscipline, as they were with the unsatisfactory state of the statutes themselves. The Laudian Code was preceded by the creation in 1631 of the Hebdomadal Board, the weekly meeting of the Vice-Chancellor and college heads to discuss university business, designed by Laud to dilute the influence of Congregation and Convocation, and by