PS Atiyah: An Academic Autobiography
By (Author) Professor PS Atiyah
Edited by James Goudkamp
Edinburgh University Press
Edinburgh University Press
12th May 2026
United Kingdom
General
Non Fiction
Comparative law
Private or civil law: general
Law of torts, damages and compensation
Legal profession / practice of law: general
Legal history
Contract law
Hardback
240
Width 156mm, Height 234mm
PS Atiyah (19312018) was one of the world's great legal scholars of the twentieth century and formerly Professor of English Law at the University of Oxford. He made immense contributions to, in particular, the law of contract and the law of torts.
Atiyah's principal works include The Rise and Fall of Freedom of Contract, The Sale of Goods, An Introduction to the Law of Contract, Pragmatism and Theory in English Law, The Damages Lottery, Form and Substance in Anglo-American Law and Accidents, Compensation and the Law.
His work is of enduring relevance. His autobiography sheds light on his research and on the state of the academy in the second half of the previous century.
This is not only a personal account of the peripatetic and often conflict-filled career of an outstanding academic lawyer of the twentieth century, who spanned the globe from Africa and Australia to Britain and the USA; it also paints a vivid picture of a multi-cultural wartime upbringing in Khartoum, Beirut and England, amidst an extraordinary family.--Hector L MacQueen, University of Edinburgh
This volume is a rare gift: a page-turning memoir from one of the greatest minds of the twentieth century common law. We hear from both the brilliant, original, iconoclastic lawyer, and the outsider, the humane individual whose experiences in Africa, the UK, the US and Australia formed an extraordinary and inspirational life.--Jane Stapleton, University of Cambridge
PS Atiyah QC (hon) FBA (1931-2018) was a leading legal scholar of the 20th century and formerly Professor of English Law at the University of Oxford. He made immense contributions in particular to the law of contract and the law of torts but also to commercial law, comparative law, legal history, legal institutions and the role of courts/judiciary. Atiyah's principal works include The Rise and Fall of Freedom of Contract, The Sale of Goods, An Introduction to the Law of Contract, Pragmatism and Theory in English Law, The Damages Lottery, Form and Substance in Anglo-American Law and Accidents, Compensation and the Law, each of which made a major mark on the law. James Goudkamp is Professor of the Law of Obligations at the University of Oxford and Fellow of Keble College, Oxford