Statutes

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

¹ See Rashdall: The Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages (Second Edn OUP 1936); History of the University of Oxford, Vol. 1, Chap. 1 (Southern) and Chap.    2 (Hackett) (OUP 1984); and Cobban: The Medieval Universities (Methuen 1975), Chap. V.1.

² Hackett, loc. cit., p. 47.

³ Hackett, loc. cit., p. 51.

⁴ Hackett, loc. cit., pp. 56 and 82-7.

⁵ Statuta antiqua universitatis oxoniensis: ed. Strickland Gibson (OUP 1931), p. xx and pp. 283-5.

⁶ Stickland Gibson, op. cit., p. lxxiv and pp. 350-1.

⁷ Hackett, loc. cit., p. 94.

⁸ See the definition in Picarda: Law and Practice Relating to Charities (Second Edn Butterworths 1995), p. 379.

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 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.

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.

⁹ Strickland Gibson, op. cit.

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 the grant by Charles I of the Great Charter of 3 March 1636. This charter enlarged the University's legal privileges, and the jurisdiction of the Chancellor's Court in both civil and criminal matters at the expense of the courts of common law, and reinforced the rights and privileges of the University Press.

The text of the Code, after a gestation period of five years, was finally settled by Laud himself and presented to the King who ratified it by Royal Letters of Confirmation on 3 June 1636.¹¹ The political purpose of this document is clear, but its legal effect was more debatable. The operative part states that the King 'accepts approves ratifies and confirms' the Code. It directs the heads of colleges to give their written assent to the Code on the day of its presentation to and promulgation by Convocation and requires all the Masters and Scholars of the University to swear their allegiance to it within six months of that event. It was formally adopted on 22 June.¹²

The Code incorporated three statutes previously sent by the King to Convocation under the royal signet - the so-called Statuta Carolina, or Royal Statutes - which concerned among other things the appointment of Proctors and the establishment of the Hebdomadal Board. On the other hand it did not codify all the earlier statutes, some of which were unaffected by it. The provisions of the Code which dealt with Convocation's law-making powers, taken with the Royal Letters of Confirmation, gave rise to the question whether the University had retained any power, and if so what, to alter or annul its existing statutes - the Code generally, the three Royal Statutes in particular, or any of the others - or to make new statutes. Counsels' opinion delivered in 1759¹³ brushes aside the legal effect of the Letters of Confirmation and is a robust statement of the University's continuing legal independence.

'... we think that the King has no power vested in him by his prerogative, or otherwise, to give laws or Statutes to the University after its original Act of Incorporation, without their acceptance, assent, or confirmation. And we also think, that it was not in the power of the University to delegate their right of making perfect By-Laws or Statutes to any subject, or even to the King: and that no Statutes, made by such delegation, would be valid without the assent or confirmation of the Convocation. It is that which we think gives vitam et modum to every Statute, and as it was not in the power of the University itself to enact any Statutes which should remain unalterable or unrepealable, so we think it could not delegate a power to any subject or to the Crown, to enact or make any laws that should not be repealable without the consent of such subject or his heirs, or such King or his successors; and though powers have in some instances been actually delegated by the University to the Crown, to give them Statutes for their government, and the Crown has accordingly so done, and such Statutes have been confirmed by Royal authority, yet even such Statutes so made and so confirmed cannot (we think), abrogate the legislative power necessarily inherent in, and incident to the University ...'

Blackstone gave advice to the same effect.¹⁴

Not surprisingly Convocation was prepared to act on that advice, but the issue was revived when, in response to a controversial election to the Regius Professorship of Divinity in 1836, Convocation purported to annul those parts of the Laudian Code which gave the professor jurisdiction over preachers. The University obtained legal opinions to the effect that the University's power to override the Code was limited by the provisions of the Code itself, on the ingenious ground among others that the Letters of Confirmation should be construed as a new charter. This advice was not followed, but the issue was again debated with the University Commissioners of 1850, who recommended that the University should petition the Crown for the removal of any fetter on the University's powers which the Code and the Letters of Confirmation might have imposed. Full power of dealing with the Code was granted by Royal Licence on 10 July 1854¹⁵ with the exception of the Royal Statute which constituted the Hebdomadal Board. Licence was also given to repeal and alter any other statutes without further licence or authority. The document is silent on the power to make new statutes outside the scope of the Code, which must have been implicitly accepted.

For all practical purposes therefore, before the work of the University Commissioners in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the powers of the University now corresponded with the description given by Counsel in 1759, with the possible exception of the statute relating to the Hebdomadal Board.

¹⁰ For an account of the enactment of the Laudian Code and the events which brought it about see: C. L. Shadwell's Preface to The Laudian Code of Statutes (ed. Griffiths) (OUP 1888) ('LCS') and History of the University of Oxford, Vol. IV Chap. 4 (Fincham) (OUP 1997).

¹¹ Reproduced in LCS, pp. 294-6.

¹² The document bearing the signature of the heads of the colleges and halls is reproduced in LCS after p. xxiii.

¹³ The opinion of John Morton and R. Wilbraham quoted in full in the Preface to LCS, pp. xvi-xviii.

¹⁴ Preface to LCS, p. xviii.

¹⁵ Preface to LCS, pp. xxv-xxvii.

From the nineteenth century onwards the University's power to make its own statutes has been reduced. A Royal Commission appointed in 1850 proposed a long list of reforms for the University including major changes to its constitution and the internal balance of power. It perceived that the influence of the University, represented by the professors and the Regent Masters in Congregation, had virtually evaporated, and that the real power base at the centre consisted of Laud's Hebdomadal Board, comprising all the heads of house, and Convocation. In consequence the colleges, now far more generously endowed than the University, had become in large measure autonomous, secretive, and unsupervised institutions enjoying a degree of privilege and control over their assets which was inimical to academic and social progress.

Lord Curzon¹⁶ described the situation at Oxford in 1852 in these terms: 'The first Commission found the Fellows a powerful body of nearly 550 strong, appointed by favour from a narrowly restricted class, drawing large but irregular stipends, all unmarried and in Holy Orders, holding office for life, and mostly living away from Oxford.'

The Oxford University Act 1854 was passed to give effect to the Commission's main recommendations. A new statutory Commission was appointed to exercise its powers until 1 January 1857 (or 1858 if necessary).¹⁷ Subsequent provisions of the Act then imposed new constitutional arrangements directly upon the University by the force of the Act itself. The Hebdomadal Board was abolished and replaced by a new elected Hebdomadal Council.¹⁸ Detailed provisions were made for the membership of the new Council and the mode of election.¹⁹ The Council was empowered to make rules for the regulation of its own proceedings.²⁰ Subject to the supervision of the Council, the Vice-Chancellor was required to draw up a new register of members of Congregation, the composition of which was specified in detail by the Act.²¹ Statutes promulgated by the Hebdomadal Council were to be laid before Congregation for debate;²² but Convocation remained the supreme law-making body.²³

In order to widen access to the University to individuals who could not for a variety of reasons gain admission to a college or existing hall, power was given to the Vice-Chancellor to license members of Convocation to open their residences as private halls;²⁴ and the University was given the right to make statutes for private halls.²⁵

The colleges were empowered to alter and amend their statutes subject to the Commissioners' approval.²⁶ The intention was that the colleges should modernise themselves, but if they failed to do so the Commissioners could make statutes for them.²⁷ The University had the same powers as the colleges in relation to halls and private halls, with the same default powers reserved to the Commissioners.²⁸ Statutes made under these provisions were to be published in the London Gazette and laid before Parliament. Objections could be made and would be considered by the Privy Council.²⁹

The Act also gave the University power to alter trusts or directions affecting gifts or endowments of more than fifty years' standing, with the consent of the Commissioners and the Privy Council.³⁰

The University and the colleges were entitled to repeal or alter any statute made under the Act in the same manner as they could amend any other statute;³¹ but statutes made by the Commissioners could not be repealed or altered except with the approval of the Privy Council.³² The University was also authorised to alter the sections of the Act itself which provided for the constitution, powers, and proceedings of the Hebdomadal Council and Congregation, subject again to the Privy Council's consent.³³

Commissioners for Cambridge worked on parallel lines. Their report produced the Cambridge University Act 1856.

Gladstone's Universities Tests Act 1871 abolished any requirement imposed at Oxford, Cambridge, or Durham that, before taking a degree (other than in divinity) or exercising any right or privilege or taking up any lay office or appointment, a person should make a declaration of religious faith or affiliation. The process of reform was then continued by the appointment of new Royal Commissioners in 1872, with specific terms of reference and powers to investigate and report upon the financial resources of Oxford and Cambridge and their colleges. The report of the 1872 Commissioners, published in 1874, resulted in the passing of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge Act 1877.

Unlike the 1854 Act, the 1877 Act did not directly impose new laws on the Universities or their colleges. The Act was an enabling and procedural Act, empowering Commissioners appointed under the Act to make statutes for the Universities and colleges as they thought fit in accordance with a statutory procedure. As before, this power included the right to alter trusts of more than fifty years' standing.³⁴ Section 16 of the Act set out an extensive list of objects for which university statutes could be made, including the setting up of a scheme requiring colleges to make contributions to a common fund 'for University purposes'. Statutes made by the Commissioners were again required to be submitted to the Privy Council for approval, and after that to be laid before Parliament.³⁵ The 1854 Act was not repealed, but section 51 of the 1877 Act provided that statutes duly made by the Commissioners should take effect 'notwithstanding any instrument of foundation or any Act of Parliament ...' or other instrument or document. The substantive sections of the 1854 Act would accordingly remain in force until overridden by new Commissioners' statutes. The Universities and the colleges retained the power to alter statutes made by the Commissioners, but no alteration would be effective unless approved by the Privy Council.³⁶

Neither of these two Acts abolished the University's inherent power to make statutes for itself, or to amend or annul those statutes. To the extent that existing statutes were inconsistent with Commissioners' statutes (or the provisions of the 1854 Act) they were ineffective; and Privy Council approval was required whenever the University wished to pass new legislation which would have some effect on the laws imposed by Parliament or the Commissioners. Otherwise the University's right to govern its own internal affairs was unimpaired. One important example of purely internal legislation was the creation of the faculties and the General Board of the Faculties in 1910.

¹⁶ Principles and Methods of University Reform (OUP 1909), p. 93.

¹⁷ Act of 1854, ss I and II.

¹⁸ Section V.

¹⁹ Ss VI–XIII and XXI.

²⁰ Section XV.

²¹ Ss XIV-XVI.

²² Ss XVII-XX.

²³ Section XXII.

²⁴ Ss XXV and XXVI.

²⁵ Section XXVII.

²⁶ Section XXVIII.

²⁷ Section XXIX.

²⁸ Section XXXVII.

²⁹ Ss XXXV-XXXVII.

³⁰ Ss XXX, XXXV, and XXXVI.

³¹ Section XXXIX.

³² Section XL.

³³ Ibid.

³⁴ Act of 1877, s. 13.

³⁵ Ss 45-50.

³⁶ Section 55.

Royal Commissioners were again appointed in 1919 and reported in 1922. The Oxford Committee was chaired by Asquith. Their deliberations resulted in the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge Act 1923, which remains in force. This Act follows the model of the 1877 Act, and incorporates many of its provisions, as set out in the Schedule. Commissioners were again appointed to make statutes and regulations for each University and its colleges and halls,³⁷ and they were directed in particular to 'have regard to the need of facilitating the admission of poorer students to the Universities and colleges'.³⁸ The power to make statutes altering trusts was again confirmed, the time bar being increased from fifty to sixty years.³⁹

Section 7 of the 1923 Act is concerned with the power of the Universities and colleges to alter or make statutes after the cesser of the Commissioners. Under section 7 (1) statutes made by the Commissioners or any other authority which affects the University may be altered by the University by a further statute made under the Act. If the statute affects a college, the college's consent must be obtained. The procedures applicable to the making of a statute by the Commissioners must be followed: section 7 (3). These include the submission of the proposed statute to the Privy Council for approval.

Until 1969, when the statutes were revised in the light of the recommendations of the Franks Commission, the form and sequence of the statutes continued to follow as faithfully as it could the Laudian Code. The older statutes, which were untouched by the 1854 Act or the Commissioners, continued to be published in Latin. The Commissioners' statutes, as amended from time to time, now commonly called 'King-in-Council' statutes, and the University's own modern statutes, were interposed where appropriate and published in English.

³⁷ Act of 1923, s. 6 (1).

³⁸ Section 6 (2).

³⁹ Section 8 (1).

The practice of enacting subordinate legislation, below the level of statutes, for more detailed administrative matters is also of high antiquity. When Convocation, meeting less frequently, possessed the primary statute-making power, it was understandable that it should delegate to Congregation a power to make subordinate rules and regulations for the more detailed implementation of law and policy. There is evidence of an ordinance passed by Congregation alone as early as 1278.⁴⁰ The 1854 Act recognised this practice by giving to the Hebdomadal Council and to Congregation the power to make rules for the regulation of their own proceedings.⁴¹

In more modern times the Hebdomadal Council and (after 1 October 2000) the Council have enjoyed a general power to make, amend, and repeal subordinate legislation not inconsistent with the statutes, and to authorise any other body or person to do so. Decrees and regulations, which include the voluminous decrees and regulations relating to examinations, came to exceed by a very considerable amount the volume of the University's statutes.

⁴⁰ Strickland Gibson, op. cit., p. xxiii.

⁴¹ Ss XV and XVI.

In 1964 the University appointed a Commission under the chairmanship of Sir Oliver (later Lord) Franks to carry out a comprehensive review of the University in the light of the Government's Robbins Report and to make recommendations for reform. Its report was published in 1966 and included a number of significant recommendations for reform of the statutes.

By the time of Franks the jurisdiction of Convocation over statutes had been reduced but not entirely abolished. The 1923 Act Commissioners had left Convocation with the following functions: electing the Chancellor; electing persons for presentation to benefices in the gift of the University; conferring degrees by diploma and honorary degrees; and approving letters from the University to the sovereign and certain other bodies. With regard to statutes, under the then Title X, SectionI, clause 6 statutes accepted by Congregation by votes of less than two-thirds of the members present and voting were required to be submitted to Convocation; and there was a corresponding provision concerning the passing of decrees under Title X, SectionI, clause 7. Convocation was also obliged to perform such further duties as might be assigned to it by the University Statutes.

The Franks Commission recommended that Congregation alone should have the power to make statutes or to amend or repeal them. It also drew up a new set of statutes, for the first time entirely in English, in a new sequence which finally dispensed with the order devised by Archbishop Laud. Its report recognised⁴² the established distinction between 'Queen-in-Council' statutes and others, but suggested that, since the majority of its proposed new statutes covered matters which had been dealt with in Commissioners' statutes in the past, the new code in its entirety should be sent to the Privy Council for approval.

The University adopted virtually the whole of the code recommended by Franks. Only the provisions relating to student discipline remained unreformed. The University did not however adopt the suggestion that all the statutes should be brought within the jurisdiction of the Privy Council. Correspondence passed between the then Secretary for Administration, on behalf of the University, and Sir Godfrey Agnew, Clerk to the Privy Council, between November 1966 and January 1967 as a result of which it was possible to identify by agreement the statutes in the new code which should be treated as 'Queen-in-Council' statutes and those which should not. The correspondence thus acknowledged the University's continuing right to pass, amend, and repeal some of its statutes without the need to obtain Privy Council approval. In the process of categorisation regard was had not only to the history of statute-making by Commissioners but also the necessity to ensure that the Privy Council continued to oversee important matters and the desirability so far as possible to relieve the Privy Council of the task of scrutinising matters of less importance.

The new statutes came into force in 1969. After more than 700 years Convocation was finally deprived of all jurisdiction over statutes, its role being limited to the historic role of electing the Chancellor, and performing such other duties as Congregation might decide. The only other duty assigned to Convocation since that date is the election of the Professor of Poetry.

⁴² Report of the Commission of Inquiry, p. 307.

Commissioners were appointed under the Education Reform Act 1988 to make statutes for all the Universities in England and Wales concerning the tenure of office and dismissal of academic staff, the procedures to be followed in cases of ill-health, and the handling of staff grievances. The statute made for Oxford by the 1988 Act Commissioners has been re-enacted within Statute XII in these statutes. It cannot be altered without the consent of the Privy Council under the terms of the 1988 Act. It is therefore properly described as a 'King-in-Council' statute, although it does not derive that status from the 1923 Act. Unlike other Commissioners' statutes it also requires the University to make by-laws on matters of detailed implementation.

In 1997-8 a Commission under the chairmanship of the then Vice-Chancellor, Sir Peter North, which had been appointed by the University to carry out a review of the organisation, management, and financing of the University, and to recommend reform where appropriate, submitted its report. A Joint Working Party on Governance, established by the University and the colleges under the chairmanship of Sir Peter's successor, Dr (later Sir) Colin Lucas, to consider the North Report, then promoted important changes to the University's internal structures which came into force on 1 October 2000. The main changes were: the merger of the University's two principal governing committees - the Hebdomadal Council and the General Board of the Faculties - into a single exclusive Council, subject to the overriding sovereignty of Congregation; the inclusion in the new Council of members who were not members of Congregation; the delegation of much of the central business of the University to four main committees, each chaired by the Vice-Chancellor or a Pro-Vice-Chancellor; the arrangement of the faculties, sub-faculties, and departments into five new academic divisions with overall responsibility for their activities and funding; the appointment of a permanent head of each division, who would automatically be a member of Council; and statutory representation of the colleges on each of these bodies.

The North Commission also noted that the statutes and subordinate legislation of the University again needed substantial revision. The statutes themselves had become burdened with unnecessary detail, and the whole needed to be set out in a more accessible and comprehensible form.

The current Statutes and Regulations were prepared by a working party chaired by the then Principal of St Hugh's College, Mr Derek Wood, QC, appointed to implement the Commission's recommendations. The opportunity was taken to include within the statutes some basic constitutional provisions normally found in a charter (for example Statute I, sections 1-4 and Statute II) and to bring the University's disciplinary and dispute-resolution procedures in line with current legal practice (Statutes XI and XVII).

For the first time in its history the University repealed the whole of its existing legislation and replaced it with an entirely new code. The Statutes were approved by Congregation on 11 December 2001. The 'Queen-in-Council'* Statutes were then approved by Her Majesty in Council on 17 April 2002. The subordinate legislation (previously split between decrees and regulations) was substantially and progressively revised and recast as Regulations in a new form intended to make them easier to identify and understand and to allow further revision and replacement to be carried out more efficiently.

The new code came into force on 1 October 2002.

* Since the accession of King Charles III to the throne, these are referred to as 'King-in-Council' statutes.

1. The Bodleian Libraries and the major museums and scientific collections of the University constitute a national and international scholarly resource, and the bodies responsible to Council for these institutions shall ensure that they are maintained as such and shall advise Council as necessary on the University's care and management of them.

2. The libraries and information services provided by the University and administered as provided by sections 3 and 4 shall collectively be called the Bodleian Libraries.

3. There shall be a body of Curators of the University Libraries which shall be responsible, under Council, for the safe keeping, preservation, orderly administration, finance, and general policy of the libraries within, and the services provided by, the Bodleian Libraries.

4. The membership, functions, and powers of the Curators of the University Libraries shall be laid down by Council by regulation.

5. There shall be the following major museums and scientific collections of the University:

(1) Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology;

(2) Oxford Botanic Garden and Arboretum;

(3) History of Science Museum;

(4) Oxford University Museum of Natural History;

(5) Pitt Rivers Museum.

6. There shall be a Gardens, Libraries and Museums (GLAM) Board which shall advise Council as appropriate on any matters connected with the University's museums and scientific collections.

7. There shall be a body of Visitors of the Ashmolean Museum which shall be responsible to Council through the GLAM Board, in accordance with any policies and structures set by that Board, for the safe keeping, preservation, orderly administration, finance and general policy of the museum.

8. There shall be a body of Visitors of the Oxford Botanic Garden and Arboretum which shall be responsible to Council through the GLAM Board, in accordance with any policies and structures set by that Board, for the safe keeping, preservation, orderly administration, finance, and general policy of the garden.

9. There shall be a body of Visitors of the History of Science Museum which shall be responsible to Council through the GLAM Board, in accordance with any policies and structures set by that Board, for the safe keeping, preservation, orderly administration, finance and general policy of the Museum.

10. There shall be a body of Visitors of the Oxford Museum of Natural History which shall be responsible to Council through the GLAM Board, in accordance with any policies and structures set by that Board, for the safe keeping, preservation, orderly administration, finance and general policy of the museum.

11. There shall be a body of Visitors of the Pitt Rivers Museum which shall be responsible to Council through the GLAM Board, in accordance with any policies and structures set by that Board, for the safe keeping, preservation, orderly administration, finance and general policy of the museum.

12. The membership, functions, and powers of the bodies referred to in sections 5–11 of this statute shall be laid down by Council by regulation.

13. There shall be in the University as a department of the University the Oxford University Press.

14. In the statutes and regulations it is called 'the Press'.

15. The function of the Press is to further the University's objects by publishing in any medium anywhere in the world.

16. (1) The affairs of the Press shall, on behalf of Congregation, be in the charge of a body known as 'the Delegacy of the Oxford University Press'.

(2) The members of the Delegacy are called 'the Delegates'.

17. (1) The Delegates shall establish and maintain a Finance Committee of the Press.

(2) The Finance Committee under the general authority of the Delegates shall direct and manage the business, assets, and finances of the Press.

(3) The membership of the Finance Committee, the period of office of members, and the conditions governing their appointment or reappointment shall be determined by Council by regulation.

(4) The Finance Committee may set up such subcommittees from time to time as it thinks fit.

18. The following shall be the Delegates:

(1) the Vice-Chancellor;

(2), (3) the Proctors;

(4) the Assessor;

(5) the Chairman of the Finance Committee of the Press if not already a Delegate when elected as chairman;

(6) – (22) seventeen members of Congregation appointed by Council.

19. (1) An appointed Delegate shall hold office for five years, except that in the case of a vacancy arising in the course of an academic year the appointment shall be for five years together with the remainder of that academic year.

(2) An appointed Delegate shall then be eligible for reappointment for a second period of five years.

(3) Exceptionally any Delegate may be reappointed for a third period of five years, subject to confirmation by resolution of Council.

(4) The Chairman of the Finance Committee may be reappointed for up to three periods of five years from his or her first appointment as a Delegate, subject to confirmation by resolution of Council.

20. Council shall, in making appointments, bear in mind the need to ensure that the composition of the Delegacy as a whole is such as to cover the main branches of academic studies and at the same time to provide a sufficiency of persons competent in matters of organisation and finance.

21. Council may determine by regulation that if an appointed Delegate has attended fewer than a prescribed number of meetings in any academic year, his or her membership of the Delegacy shall end at the close of that year.

22. The Delegates shall appoint a Secretary to the Delegates, also known as Chief Executive of the Press, and a Finance Director.

23. (1) The Delegates may from time to time delegate to any other body or person responsibility for any matter for which responsibility has been laid on them and may delegate such powers as they consider necessary for the discharge of this responsibility.

(2) Any delegation made under sub-section (1) above may be withdrawn (either generally or in respect of a specific item) at any time, and the Delegates shall not be relieved of their general responsibility for any matter which they may have delegated.

(3) Any body to which or person to whom the Delegates have delegated responsibility and powers under sub-section (2) above may, unless the Delegates otherwise determine, sub-delegate them to another body or person.

24. Subject to the provisions of this statute the Delegates or any person authorised by them under the statutes and regulations may do all things permitted by law which are necessary or desirable in the conduct of the affairs of the Press including:

(1) purchasing, retaining, selling, or transferring stocks, funds, shares, or other securities;

(2) borrowing money for the purposes of the Press and making the income of the Press or any property standing to its account security for any loans;

(3) setting up incorporated or unincorporated branches of the Press anywhere in the world;

(4) employing persons for service in the Press and determining the conditions as to salary, pensions, and otherwise on which they may be employed.

25. (1) The Delegates shall cause the accounts of the Press to be drawn up and submitted to them.

(2) The Delegates shall then submit the accounts to Council in accordance with regulations made by Council.

Related regulations

Bodleian Libraries: Council Regulations 44 of 2002

Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology: Council Regulations 2 of 2019

Oxford Botanic Garden and Arboretum: Council Regulations 6 of 2019

Oxford University Museum of Natural History: Council Regulations 3 of 2019

Pitt Rivers Museum: Council Regulations 4 of 2019

History of Science Museum: Council Regulations 5 of 2019

Delegates of the Oxford University Press: Council Regulations 20 of 2002

Definitions

1. (1) In this statute unless the context otherwise requires the following words and expressions shall have the following meanings:

(a) for the purposes of this statute and of any regulations made under this statute, the phrase:

(i) ‘member of the University’ or ‘student member’ means any individual so defined under the provisions of Statute II;

(ii) ‘student member’ means, in addition any other individual who, though not a member or student member under the provisions of Statute II, is a candidate for any University examination;

(iii) ‘student member’ means, in addition, any other individual who, though not a student member under the provisions of Statute II, is a student at the University and has a contract with the University which requires them to abide by this Statute; or

(iv) ‘member of the University’ or ‘student member’ means, in addition any individual who was defined as such under (i), (ii) or (iii) either (a) at the beginning of disciplinary proceedings and against whom disciplinary proceedings are ongoing or (b) at a time when the alleged breach of the provisions of section 5 or 6 of this statute occurred.

(b) ‘ban’ means withdraw the right of access to specified land, buildings, facilities or services of the University for a fixed period or pending the fulfilment of certain conditions;

(c) ‘college’ means any college, society, or Permanent Private Hall recognised by or established under Statute V;

(d) ‘expel’ means deprive a member permanently of their membership of the University, or, in relation to a student member who is not a member of the University, permanently withdraw them from their course;

(e) ‘suspend’ means withdraw the right of access to all of the land, buildings and facilities of the University including teaching, examinations and all related academic services for a fixed or indeterminate period or until the fulfilment of specified conditions either as a penalty imposed following a disciplinary investigation or where action is taken as a precautionary measure pending further investigation, or where access is otherwise withdrawn under the Statutes or Regulations for non-disciplinary reasons. Unless a Proctor, the Student Disciplinary Panel or the Student Appeal Panel otherwise orders, a student member who is suspended under this statute shall not for so long as the suspension is in force be entitled to enter or participate in any university examination for the award of any degree, diploma, certificate or prize or other award of the University or any qualifying examination for entry into such examination;

(f) ‘examination’ includes the submission and assessment of a thesis, dissertation, essay, practical work or other coursework and any other exercise, including in the case of graduate student members transfer and confirmation of status exercises, which is not undertaken in formal examination conditions that counts towards or constitutes the work for a degree or other academic award;

(g) “in a university context” means any of the following:

(i) on university or college premises;

(ii) in the course of university activity within or outside Oxford whether academic, sporting, social, cultural, or other.

Code of Discipline

2. The University shall only take disciplinary action in relation to conduct which occurs in a university context, except as set out in section 5 (2) (j) below or, exceptionally, as otherwise indicated in the Student Disciplinary Procedures as defined in section 10 (3) below.

3. Any decision under this Statute must be in accordance with the values and expectations set out in the University’s Code of Practice on Freedom of Speech.

4. Any decision relating to whether speech (in any form) breaches the Code of Discipline must be determined on the basis of an objective assessment of the content of the speech as well as on the basis of the perception of the recipient.

5. (1) Members of the University and student members shall:

(a) comply with all requirements, orders and duties imposed upon them by a statute or regulation of the University, or any rules, procedures or policies made thereunder;

(b) comply with any reasonable instruction given by an officer or an employee or agent of the University or of any college or any person authorised to act on their behalf;

(c) comply with the provisions of the University’s code of practice in relation to freedom of speech as issued by Council at any given time;

(d) comply with the provisions of the University’s code of practice in relation to academic integrity in research at any given time;

(e) comply with the provisions of the University’s regulations relating to the use of the libraries or the information and communications technology facilities of the University at any given time;

(f) in relation to student members only, and in relation to Specified Criminal Offences only, promptly inform the Proctors in writing if they have been arrested by the police and released under investigation (with or without restrictions), been charged, face trial or a hearing or been sentenced and whether in the UK or abroad where the behaviour in question is also an offence under English law.

(2) No member of the University or student member shall (or shall attempt to):

(a) disrupt or obstruct any of the teaching or study or research or the administrative, sporting, social, cultural, or other activities of the University, or of its members, or its officers, employees and agents, including by disrupting or obstructing the lawful exercise of freedom of speech by any of those persons or by visiting speakers. However, it shall not be a disciplinary breach to engage in protests permitted by the Proctors under the Code of Practice on Freedom of Speech;

(b) deface, damage, or destroy any property of the University or any college or any other person or knowingly misappropriate such property, including by its unauthorised occupation;

(c) engage in action which is likely to cause injury or to impair safety;

(d) engage in violent, indecent, disorderly, degrading, humiliating, or threatening behaviour or language or in any harassment, bullying, or sexual misconduct towards any other person, or mistreat any animal;

(e) engage in dishonest behaviour, including by forging or falsifying any document, (a) which causes any person loss or harm, or (b) in relation to the University, the holding of any university office, or any application for any university membership, office or position or any student place at the university (in which case such dishonesty shall be understood to be continuing throughout the period when they hold that membership, office, position or student place);

(f) create or provide directly or indirectly for a candidate or candidates in any examination of this University or elsewhere material that constitutes a model or draft intended to meet substantially or wholly the requirements of any exercise in that examination, and which, in part or in whole, could be submitted without attribution by an examination candidate in order to meet or to attempt to meet the requirements of the examination;

(g) possess, use, offer, sell, or give to any person items (including drugs and weapons), the possession, use, or provision of which is illegal;

(h) engage in any academic misconduct;

(i) fail to comply with the requirements in the Regulations of the Rules Committee relating to behaviour after examinations; or,

(j) be convicted of a Specified Criminal Offence anywhere in the world while a student member, except where the behaviour in question is not an offence under English law.

(3) (a) “Harassment” has the meaning given in section 26 of the Equality Act 2010 and section 1 of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 (in its entirety, and as interpreted by section 7 of the Act).

(b) “Bullying” has the meaning set out in the University’s Harassment Policy at any given time.

(4) A member of the University or student member commits “sexual misconduct” if they engage in any unwanted conduct of a sexual nature. Conduct is “unwanted” if it is not consented to and if the relevant member does not have a reasonable belief that consent has been given.

(5) A student member commits “academic misconduct” if they fail to comply with the following requirements as regards a candidate for examination:

(a) No candidate shall cheat or act dishonestly, or attempt to do so, in any way, whether before, during or after an examination, so as to obtain or seek to obtain an unfair advantage in an examination. Examples include unauthorised use of artificial intelligence;

(b) Candidates shall submit their own work for examination. No candidate shall plagiarise by presenting work from another source as their own, or by incorporating work or ideas from another source into their own work without full acknowledgement. Examples of this practice include: verbatim quotation, cutting and pasting from the internet, and paraphrasing without clear acknowledgement; collusion; misleading citation; failure to acknowledge assistance; and unacknowledged use of material written by professional agencies or other persons, or material generated by artificial intelligence;

(c) Unless specifically permitted by the Special Subject Regulations for the examination concerned, no candidate shall commit autoplagiarism, ie submit to the examiners any work which they have previously submitted partially or in full for examination at this University or elsewhere. Work published previously in a peer-reviewed journal or similar may be cited, provided the candidate references it clearly and ensures that any wording, ideas or other material copied, paraphrased or drawn from it is made clear in the work being examined. However, where that publication includes material already submitted for examination, use of that previously examined material will constitute auto-plagiarism;

(d) No candidate shall take, or attempt to take, into an examination any unauthorised material (including revision notes), item or device, nor use or attempt to use such material, item or device;

(e) No candidate shall copy from the script of another candidate or in any other way dishonestly receive help from another person in an examination;

(f) No candidate may communicate with any person other than an invigilator during an examination;

(g) No candidate may leave or re-enter an examination room unless permitted by an invigilator;

(h) No candidate shall enter an examination room more than thirty minutes after an examination has started except with the permission of the Proctors or an invigilator;

(i) No candidate shall, unless permitted by the Proctors or an invigilator, leave an examination room within thirty minutes of the beginning of an examination; or within thirty minutes of the time at which it is due to end;

(j) No candidates may use paper in an in-person examination except that which is provided for them;

(k) Candidates must hand back to an invigilator all the paper provided for writing their answers, including paper used for rough drafts and paper which has not been used. No paper may be removed from the examination room other than the question-paper for the examination that has just been completed.

(6) A “Specified Criminal Offence” is a criminal offence in respect of which a custodial sentence (whether immediate or suspended) could be imposed for committing the criminal offence in question, in accordance with the law of the place in which the criminal offence was committed.

6. No member of the University or student member shall incite or conspire with any other individual to engage in any of the conduct prohibited under this Part.

Regulations

7. (1) A person or body having charge of any land or building of the University, or of any facilities or services provided by or on behalf of the University, may, subject to the statutes and regulations, make regulations governing the use of that land or building or of those facilities or services.

(2) If regulations proposed to be made under this section are submitted to the Proctors and the Proctors are satisfied that they;

(a) relate to minor matters, governing the detailed management of the land, building, facilities, or services concerned, and

(b) are to be published in such a way as reasonably to bring them to the notice of the users of the land, building, facilities, or services concerned,

the regulations in question shall have immediate effect on publication, and shall bind all users of the land, building, facilities, or services to which they refer to the extent provided in them.

8. (1) Council shall establish and maintain a Rules Committee for the purpose of making regulations not inconsistent with the statutes governing the conduct of student members except in relation to the regulations relating to the academic dress of student members or conduct in examinations.

(2) The Rules Committee shall keep all regulations made by it under review and may amend or repeal those regulations as it thinks fit.

(3) The constitution and further powers and duties of the Rules Committee shall be set out by Council by regulation.

(4) The Proctors may, if they consider the matter urgent, make regulations relating to the conduct of student members which are not inconsistent with the statutes and regulations.

(5) Any regulations made by the Proctors under this section shall be published forthwith in the University Gazette and shall have immediate effect on publication, save where it is necessary or appropriate for regulations to be introduced at shorter notice, in which case such regulations may be published on the University's website and will have immediate effect on such publication.

(6) Any exercise of this power shall be reported at once to the Rules Committee, and the regulations shall lapse unless the Rules Committee confirms them by a regulation, in the same or substantially the same terms, made and published in the University Gazette within three weeks of Full Term from the day the regulations were made by the Proctors.

(7) If the regulations are not confirmed, they shall none the less have effect from the time at which they were published until the time the Rules Committee decides not to confirm them, or until they lapse, whichever is the earlier.

Disciplinary panels and Appeal Court of the University

9. There shall be two Panels and one Court as follows:

(1) The Student Disciplinary Panel;

(2) the Student Appeal Panel;

(3) the Appeal Court.

10. (1) Council shall publish a document entitled “Student Disciplinary Procedure (Non-Academic Cases)” (the “Non-Academic Disciplinary Procedure”) which shall specify the procedure under which a Proctor, the Student Disciplinary Panel and/or the Student Appeal Panel shall hear and determine referrals of student members who are alleged to have breached section 5 or 6 of this statute, save where section 10(2) applies. The Non-Academic Disciplinary Procedure may set out requirements and procedures for any matter arising from this statute.

(2) Council shall publish a document entitled “Student Disciplinary Procedure (Academic Cases)” (the “Academic Disciplinary Procedure”) which shall specify the procedure under which a Proctor, the Student Disciplinary Panel and/or the Student Appeal Panel shall hear and determine referrals of student members who are alleged to have committed Academic Misconduct. The Academic Disciplinary Procedure may set out requirements and procedures for any matter arising from this statute.

(3) The Non-Academic Disciplinary Procedure and the Academic Disciplinary Procedure shall be referred to collectively as the “Student Disciplinary Procedures”.

(4) The Student Disciplinary Procedures may set out criteria for determining whether a matter should be addressed under the Non-Academic Disciplinary Procedure or the Academic Disciplinary Procedure, and for any other matter concerning the relationship between the Non-Academic Disciplinary Procedure and the Academic Disciplinary Procedure. Each of the Non-Academic Disciplinary Procedure and the Academic Disciplinary Procedure may incorporate parts of the other by reference.

11. It shall be the responsibility of a Proctor to consider any alleged breach of section 5 or 6 of this statute by a student member, according to the provisions of the Student Disciplinary Procedures, which may include the Proctor determining the matter, a Proctors’ Disciplinary Hearing or referring the matter to the Student Disciplinary Panel.

12. The Student Disciplinary Procedures shall specify the powers and penalties available to each decisionmaker when determining allegations of breaches of the Code of Discipline, i.e. a Proctor, a Proctor’s Disciplinary Hearing, the Student Disciplinary Panel, and Student Appeal Panel. Such powers and penalties, which shall be specified in the Disciplinary Student Procedures, shall in appropriate cases include the power to ban, expel or suspend the student member, amongst other penalties.

13. The Student Disciplinary Procedures shall set out requirements and procedures in respect of the members of the Student Disciplinary Panel and Student Appeal Panel, including their appointment and removal.

14. The Student Disciplinary Procedures shall set out requirements and procedures for the investigation of matters which could form the subject of a referral under section 11 of this statute. A Proctor, and persons designated by the Proctor, shall have the power to summon any member of the University or student member to assist them in any such investigation.

15. In all cases a Proctor, a Proctor’s Disciplinary Hearing, the Student Disciplinary Panel, and Student Appeal Panel shall have power to determine any question concerning the interpretation and application of the University’s statutes or regulations, and in accordance with the Student Disciplinary Procedures, to hear evidence.

16. (1) The Appeal Court shall consist of five individuals appointed by the High Steward who are not members of the University and each of whom is:

(a) a Lord or Lady of Appeal, a Lord or Lady Justice of Appeal, or a Justice of the High Court of Justice; or

(b) an individual who has held such an appointment and is retired; or

(c) a King's Counsel of not less than six years’ standing.

(2) The individual appointed shall serve for three years and may be reappointed.

(3) A sitting of the Appeal Court shall be sufficiently constituted by one of its members sitting alone.

17. (1) The function of the Appeal Court shall be to hear and determine, in accordance with procedure set out in regulations made under section 19 of this statute:

(a) appeals against a decision of the Visitatorial Board under section 34 of statute XII to recommend dismissal;

(b) any appeal against a decision reached by a tribunal under Part G of Statute XII;

(c) appeals from the Vice-Chancellor against a decision on a dispute over the interpretation or application of a statute or regulation made under section 5 of Statute XVII;

(d) other appeals which are designated to be made to the Appeal Court in regulations made by Council.

(2) In relation to appeals made under Part H of Statute XII the Appeal Court shall have the powers laid down in that Part.

(3) (a) In relation to all other appeals the Appeal Court shall have full power to determine any question of law and of fact, and, in exceptional circumstances only, to hear evidence.

(b) The Court may quash or confirm the decision appealed against, or make any order in substitution for it which the tribunal whose order is being appealed could have made.

18. (1) The Appeal Court may, if it thinks it is in the interests of justice and fairness to do so, sit with no more than two assessors who are members of Congregation appointed by the High Steward and who have knowledge and experience of the practice and procedures of the University relevant to the issues raised in the appeal.

(2) The assessor or assessors shall assist and advise the Court on matters of practice and procedure relevant to the appeal but shall not be party to the Court’s decision.

19. (1) Further rules relating to the constitution, powers, duties, and procedures relating to the Proctors (including at a Proctor's Disciplinary Hearing), the Student Disciplinary Panel, the Student Appeal Panel, and the Appeal Court, and the powers, duties, and procedures of the Proctors in relation to matters covered by this statute, may be set out by Council by regulation or in the Student Disciplinary Procedures.

(2) Any rules made under sub section (1) above shall comply with the principles of natural justice.

The Proctors

20. The Proctors shall take such steps as they consider necessary to prevent any breach of sections 5 and 6 of this statute.

21. If a Proctor or any member of the university staff who is authorised by the Proctor for the purposes of this section has reasonable grounds for believing that a student member has committed a breach of the Regulations of the Rules Committee relating to behaviour after examinations they may impose a fine on that student member (called “an immediate fine”) on becoming aware of the breach in question. The Student Disciplinary Procedures shall set out the procedure to be followed in the imposition of immediate fines, the amount of the fine, and a student member’s right of appeal from an immediate fine to the Student Disciplinary Panel.

22. If a Proctor has reasonable grounds to believe that a breach of section 5 or 6 of this statute has been committed by a student member who is also a member of the University’s staff and/or is a person to whom Statute XII applies, they shall before deciding to proceed under section 11 of this statute consult with appropriate stakeholders including the University’s human resources function in order to decide whether the matter should be referred under the appropriate staff process, which will normally be a referral to the relevant Head of Department.

23. If a Proctor has reasonable grounds for believing that a breach of section 5 or 6 has been committed by a member of the University who is not a student member they shall, if they consider it appropriate to proceed, refer the matter to the Registrar.

24. If a matter is referred to the Registrar under section 23 of this statute against a member who is not an individual to whom Statute XII applies, the Registrar shall refer the matter to Council, the member’s college, or such other body or committee within or outside the University as the Registrar considers appropriate.

25. (1) The Proctors shall have the power to impose “precautionary measures” on any student member or members where there are reasonable grounds for the imposition of such measures, in accordance with the Student Disciplinary Procedures. Any precautionary measure which relates to college premises or facilities shall be subject to endorsement by the relevant college.

(2) A period of suspension imposed by a college upon one of its members as a precautionary measure or as a penalty shall apply also to university premises and facilities subject to endorsement by a Proctor, at which point it shall be treated as a precautionary measure imposed under section 25 (1).

(3) The senior responsible owner and/or head of department in charge of any land or building of the University, or of any facilities or services provided by or on behalf of the University, if they have reasonable grounds to believe that a student member who has the use of or access to the land, building, facilities, or services in question has caused or is likely or threatens to cause damage to property or harm to other users, may as a precautionary measure pending action under the Student Disciplinary Procedures, ban that student member from the land, building, facilities, or services in question for up to twenty one days.

26. A student member shall have the power to appeal to the Student Disciplinary Panel in respect of any precautionary measure imposed pursuant to section 25.

27. (1) If the Student Disciplinary Panel, the Student Appeal Panel, or a Proctor in the course of proceedings or an investigation under this statute has or have reasonable grounds for believing that a student member is suffering from a serious problem arising from ill health which impedes or is likely to impede their ability to have their conduct fairly considered under the relevant disciplinary procedure the Panel concerned or the Proctor shall refer the student to the University’s Fitness to Study Panel in accordance with the procedures set out in Part B of Statute XIII.

(2) Until a determination of the case under Part B of Statute XIII all further proceedings under this Part of this statute shall be adjourned.

28. (1) If a person or body having charge of any land or building of the University (where applicable this will be the relevant senior responsible owner or head of department), or of any facilities or services provided by or on behalf of the University has reasonable grounds to believe that a member of University staff, or a member of Congregation (but not a person who is only a student member) who has the use of or access to the land, building, facilities, or services in question has caused or is likely or threatens to cause damage to property or harm to other users, that person or body may immediately make a complaint under the provisions of this section.

(2) Where the conduct of the individual concerned gives rise to a need for immediate action, the person or body referred to in sub-section (1) above may ban the member of University staff or member of Congregation concerned from the use of or access to the land, building, facilities or services in question forthwith pending further proceedings under this section, such a ban not to exceed twenty-one days.

(3) A complaint against a member of University staff or a member of Congregation shall be made to the Registrar who shall consider the complaint expeditiously:

(a) in the case of a member of University staff the Registrar will refer this matter for further consideration in accordance with the relevant disciplinary procedure;

(b) in the case of other members of Congregation the Registrar shall refer the matter to the Vice-Chancellor for determination;

(c) the Vice-Chancellor shall consider any matter referred to them by the Registrar under sub-section (3) (b) and may appoint another suitably qualified person or persons to act in their place; and

(d) the procedure to be adopted under sub-section (3) (b) shall be determined by the person or persons considering the matter, giving due regard to the principles of natural justice.

(4) If the person referred to in sub-section (1) above is the Registrar, the functions assigned to the Registrar under sub-section (3) shall be performed by the Vice-Chancellor.

29. (1) If a member of University staff believes that an individual who is not a member of University staff or a member of Congregation or a student member who has the use of or access to any land or building of the University, or of any facilities or services provided by or on behalf of the University has caused or is likely or threatens to cause damage to property or inconvenience or distress to other users, that member of University staff may make a complaint under the provisions of this section.

(2) Where the decision-maker (as defined in sub-section (4) below) considers that the conduct of the individual concerned means that there is a significant and imminent risk of damage to property or distress or inconvenience to other users they may ban the individual concerned from the use of or access to the land, building, facilities or services for up to 42 days pending proceedings under this section.

(3) The use of or access to University land, buildings, facilities or services by an individual who is not a member of University staff, or a member of Congregation or a student member is granted as a privilege.

(4) The complaint shall be made to a decision maker who shall be:

(a) the relevant Head of Department, or equivalent; or

(b) the Registrar where (a) does not apply.

(5) The decision-maker shall consider the complaint expeditiously and may appoint another suitably qualified person to act in his or her place.

(6) The decision-maker shall determine the procedure to be adopted and shall have the power to impose penalties including, but not limited to, a temporary or permanent ban from the use of or access to the land, building, facilities or services in question.

(7) If the member of University staff making the complaint is the decision-maker, the functions assigned to the decision-maker under sub-sections (2), (4), (5) and (6) shall be performed by the Vice-Chancellor.

30. The Proctors shall at the end of Hilary Term in each year make a report to Congregation giving the number and kinds of offences dealt with during the year by them and the Panels, and giving the number and kinds of penalty imposed.

31. For the avoidance of doubt it is declared that:

(1) Disciplinary action may only be brought in relation to an alleged breach or breaches of the version of the Code of Conduct in this statute (or other Statutes, Regulations, rules, procedures or policies made under them) in force at the time of the alleged breach;

(2) in other respects, the version of this statute and of the Student Disciplinary Procedures (or any previous procedures) which will apply in determining the procedures to be followed and the powers of the Proctors, Student Disciplinary Panel and Student Appeal Panel, will be those in force at the time when the formal report of the conduct was made to the Proctors.

Related regulations

• Use of the Facilities of the Bodleian Libraries: Libraries Curators Regulations 1 of 2014

• Use of Information Technology Facilities: IT Regulations 1 of 2002

• Constitution, Duties, and Powers of the Rules Committee: Council Regulations 42 of 2002

• Activities and Conduct of Student Members: Rules Committee Regulations 1 of 2017

• Candidates in Examinations (Disciplinary): 

• Candidates in Examinations (Administrative): Proctors’ Regulations 1 of 2005

• Disciplinary Investigations by the Proctors under Statute XI: 

• Student Disciplinary Panel: 

• Fines imposed under Statute XI: 

• Student Appeal Panel: 

• Appeals to the Appeal Court: Council Regulations 5 of 2006

• Academic Conduct Appeal Panel: 

1. No official of the University or any other person employed by the University or working in or in connection with any department of or under the control of the University shall have authority, except with the express consent of Council and subject to sections 2-5 of this statute:

(1) to offer any person employment as a member of the University's academic-related or support staff, or to sign letters of appointment for such academic-related and support staff;

(2) to dismiss such support staff; or

(3) to dismiss such academic-related staff in circumstances other than those which fall within the provisions of Parts B-E of Statute XII.

2. Any offer of employment shall be on the appropriate terms and conditions of employment for the category of staff concerned.

3. Any dismissal shall have complied with the appropriate procedures for the dismissal of the member of staff concerned.

4. No consent given by Council under the provisions of sections 1-3 above shall be operative until a copy of the resolution of Council, certified by the Registrar, has been delivered to the official or other person concerned.

5. Council may delegate its powers under sections 1-4 above to its People Committee, or to the chair or to an officer or officers of that committee, as it may deem appropriate and on such conditions as it may lay down; and a consent signed by the chair of the People Committee or by a designated officer shall have the same effect as a certified resolution of Council.

6. The numbers of persons employed by the University, their conditions of service, and their method of appointment shall be determined from time to time by Council, subject to sections 7-14 of this statute and to the other provisions of the statutes and regulations.

7. The three main categories of academic staff shall be:

(1) professors;

(2) readers; and

(3) associate professors or lecturers.

8. Those lecturers who were appointed to the post of university lecturer, CUF lecturer or faculty lecturer prior to 1 January 2014 shall be eligible to use the title of associate professor but the provisions relating to lecturers and, where relevant, those particular provisions relating to university lecturers, CUF lecturers and faculty lecturers, shall continue to apply to any such persons for so long as they remain in that post.

9. The holders of all academic posts shall be paid under standard arrangements to be determined from time to time by Council, except that this shall not prevent the payment of additional emoluments, which may be pensionable:

(1) in the form of such allowances in respect of administrative responsibilities as may be prescribed by regulation; or

(2) in the form of awards in recognition of academic distinction or contribution to academic work of the University in accordance with arrangements to be determined from time to time by Council.

10. Arrangements shall be made by Council under which all professors, readers, lecturers, and holders of other posts approved for this purpose by Council shall be entitled to apply for one term of leave for every six terms of service.

11. Every holder of a professorship or readership, or of any other post approved for this purpose by regulation, and every holder of a lecturership who has been appointed to that lecturership until retirement age, shall be entitled to hold a fellowship in a college or society, except that the offer of a fellowship to any person who is entitled under this statute, or to any person who would become so entitled on reappointment to the retirement age, shall satisfy any obligation of the University in respect of that person's entitlement to hold a fellowship.

12. (1) Every professorship shall be allocated from time to time by Council to a college or society, and the successive holders of that professorship shall be fellows of that college or society.

(2) The college or society of allocation shall have the right to have two representatives on the board of electors for the professorship.

13. (1) All persons employed by the University shall be subject either to the Universities Superannuation Scheme, or (if they are not eligible to become members of that scheme) to either a pension scheme established by the University or a pension scheme in which the University has made arrangements for specified categories of staff to participate, and shall be entitled to the benefits of any arrangement for the supplementation of superannuation benefits that may be applicable to universities generally.

(2) Council shall determine in any cases of doubt, but having regard to the practice of universities generally, and the rules of the Universities Superannuation Scheme, the pension scheme to which a person shall belong.

(3) Council shall exempt from the need to be subject to a pension scheme any person who is excluded from membership of the appropriate pension scheme by virtue of age or who is already in receipt of pension from one of the pension schemes or who submits a written request for exemption.

(4) Council may exclude any person from membership of a pension scheme if he or she is subject to an alternative pension scheme approved by Council.

14. (1) Every employee of the University who holds the post of Statutory Professor or Associate Professor, or a post on, or assessed as equivalent to, grade RSIV, other than the Professor of Poetry, employed visiting professors and the holder of a professorship to which a canonry is annexed who is exempt from membership of the appropriate pension scheme referred to in section 12 of this statute, shall normally retire from employment not later than the 30th September immediately preceding their 70th birthday.

(2) Council may make arrangements to provide for the continued employment of employees, for a limited period and in special circumstances, as described in the EJRA policies and procedures (as amended from time to time by Council on the recommendation of People Committee).

15. (1) Any employee of the University who is not within section 3 (1) (a) or (b) of Statute XII shall, in the event of dismissal in a case in which the dismissal arises from disciplinary action, have a right of appeal to a panel consisting of two members of the People Committee of Council appointed by the chair of that committee (or their deputy) and one member of Council, not being a member of the People Committee, appointed by the Vice-Chancellor.

(2) Pending the outcome of any appeal, the employee will be regarded as suspended without pay.

(3) On the hearing of an appeal, the panel may confirm or revoke the dismissal or may make such order as it may think just, and Council shall pay the appellant the sum, if any, ordered by the panel to be paid to them.

Related links

Employment of University Staff: Council Regulations 3 of 2004

Granting of Sabbatical Leave and Dispensation from Prescribed Duties: Council Regulations 4 of 2004

Holding of Outside Appointments and the Conduct of Outside Work: Council Regulations 5 of 2004

Academic and Other Posts: Council Regulations 24 of 2002

Staff Employment Review Panel and University Appeal Panel: Council Regulations 1 of 2017

Redundancy Panel: Council Regulations 2 of 2017

Regulations for constituting Panels convened under Statute XII Parts B, D and H: Council Regulations 3 of 2017

Regulations for the Review Panel: Council Regulations 4 of 2017

Part A: College Contributions Scheme

Part B: Oxford College Contributions Fund

Part C: College Accounts

General

1. Unless it is bound by the terms of an express trust in relation to any particular property, the University as a civil corporation

(1) holds all property belonging to it not on charitable trusts but as beneficial owner; and

(2) has all the powers of a natural person to manage, deal with, and dispose of its property, including the power to invest, borrow, and charge its property as security, as it thinks fit.

2. At its discretion, Council shall arrange for the investment of all funds, endowments, and capital money of the University which are not required for immediate use upon such securities, shares, stocks, funds, or other investments (including land) in any part of the world, and whether involving liability or not, as in its absolute discretion it shall think fit.

3. (1) Except in the cases referred to in sub-section (2) below, the powers conferred by section 2 of this statute shall extend to the investment (including the variation of the investment) of the funds of any specific trust administered or to be administered by or for purposes connected with the University.

(2) When less than sixty years have elapsed since the instrument creating a trust came into operation, the powers conferred by section 2 of this statute may not be exercised in the following circumstances:

(a) if the terms of that trust expressly provide to the contrary; or

(b) in the case of a trust of which the University is not sole trustee, without the consent of the trustees or governing body of that trust.

Sites and buildings

4. No allocation for University purposes of a site the area of which exceeds 1,000 square metres, or of a building the overall floor area of which exceeds 600 square metres, shall be made unless approved by resolution of Congregation under section 1 of Statute IV.

(1) That approximately 1,821 sqm net usable area within the Global Health Building be allocated to the Nuffield Department of Medicine Operations (NDM Ops), for a non-time-limited period following practical completion (currently anticipated May 2026); and

(2) That approximately 980 sqm net usable area within the Global Health Building be allocated to the Nuffield Department of Population Health, for a non-time-limited period following practical completion. 

5. (1) The University claims ownership of all intellectual property specified in section 6 of this statute which is devised, made, or created:

(a) by persons employed by the University in the course of their employment;

(b) by student members only in the circumstances specified in sub-section (3) below;

(c) by other persons engaged in study or research in the University who, as a condition of their being granted access to the University's premises or facilities, have agreed in writing that this Part shall apply to them; and

(d) by persons engaged by the University under contracts for services during the course of or incidentally to that engagement.

(2) The University's rights under sub-section (1) above in relation to any particular piece of intellectual property may be waived or modified by agreement in writing with the person concerned.

(3) The University does not claim ownership of any intellectual property which is devised, made, or created by University student members, unless that intellectual property was devised, made or created:

(a) jointly with anyone else subject to section 5 of this Part of Statute XVI;

(b) using University facilities or equipment (unless the terms of access for the facility or equipment provide otherwise);

(c) in circumstances where that intellectual property is subject to obligations (including obligations imposed by contracts or grants) that the University owes to a third party;

(d) using funding received from the University (unless the terms of that funding provide otherwise); or

(e) in the circumstances specified in Section 5(1)(a), (c) or (d) of this Part of Statute XVI.

6. The intellectual property of which ownership is claimed under section 5 (1) of this statute comprises:

(1) works generated by computer hardware or software owned or operated by the University;

(2) works created with the aid of university facilities including (by way of example only) films, videos, photographs, multimedia works, typographic arrangements, and field and laboratory notebooks;

(3) patentable and non-patentable inventions;

(4) registered and unregistered designs, plant varieties, and topographies;

(5) university-commissioned works not within (1), (2), (3), or (4);

(6) databases, computer software, firmware, courseware, and related material not within (1), (2), (3), (4), or (5), but only if they may reasonably be considered to possess commercial potential; and

(7) know-how and information associated with the above.

7. The University will not assert any claim to the ownership of copyright in:

(1) artistic works not listed in sub-section (2) of section 6 of this statute, books, articles, plays, lyrics, scores, or lectures, apart from those specifically commissioned by the University;

(2) audio or visual aids to the giving of lectures;

(3) student theses, exercises and answers to tests and examinations save to the extent that they contain intellectual property claimed by the University under subsection (6) of section 6 of this statute; or

(4) computer-related works other than those specified in section 6 of this statute.

8. For the purpose of sections 6 and 7 of this statute, 'commissioned works' are works which the University has specifically employed or requested the person concerned to produce, whether in return for special payment or not. 'Commissioned works' explicitly exclude (i) lectures delivered by Associate Professors, Departmental Lecturers and the holders of University Chairs in fulfilment of obligations in their contracts of employment and (ii) works commissioned by the University Press in the course of its publishing business (save as may be separately agreed between the University Press and the person concerned).

9. (1) The University operates an Open Access Publications Policy which promotes making peer-reviewed research outputs available on an open access basis to increase their availability and use by others. Pursuant to the Open Access Publications Policy, those persons covered by the circumstances in section[s] 5 (1) (a)[, (c) and (d)] automatically and in advance grant to the University a non-exclusive, irrevocable, worldwide, sublicensable licence of the copyright which they own in certain peer-reviewed research outputs, to make those outputs publicly available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence, or alternative licence terms if requested, provided that such licence complies with any applicable funder requirements. The peer-reviewed research outputs licensed by those persons to the University are: articles, reviews and conference papers, which are accepted for final publication in a journal, conference proceeding or publishing platform.

(2) Those persons to whom section 9 (1) applies shall, upon request by the University, take any steps and/or sign any documents necessary in order to give effect to the licence set out in Section 9 (1).

(3) Sections 9 (1) and 9 (2) of this statute do not apply to student members of the University, even if the criteria set out in section 5 (3) of this statute are met, and/or if any of the circumstances set out in sections 5 (1) (a), (c) or (d) apply to student members.

10. Council may make regulations:

(1) defining the classes of persons or naming individuals to whom section 5 (1) (c) of this statute shall apply;

(2) requiring student members and such other persons as may be specified in regulations to sign any documents necessary in order to give effect to the claim made by the University in this Part and to waive any rights in respect of the subject-matter of the claim which may be conferred on them by Chapter IV of Part 1 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988; and

(3) generally for the purposes of this Part.

11. This Part shall apply to all intellectual property devised, made, or created on or after 1 October 2000 and is subject to the provisions of the Patents Act 1977.

11. The Vice-Chancellor and the Registrar shall each have, and may delegate in writing, authority generally to sign contracts for the University.

12. (1) Council may by regulation give to classes of persons or individuals the authority to sign contracts for the University to the extent and in respect of the subject-matter specified in regulations.

(2) The authority given under sub-section (1) above may itself be delegated in writing, but no such delegation shall be operative until a copy of the instrument recording the delegation has been delivered to the Registrar.

13. The Seal of the University shall not be affixed to any document except by the Vice-Chancellor, the Registrar, or an officer or employee of the University deputed by the Registrar for this purpose (either generally or in relation to particular transactions).

14. (1) Except as stated in this statute and in sections 24 and 25 of Statute VIII (University Press), no officer of the University, or any other person employed by the University or working in or in connection with any department or body within or under the control of the University, shall have authority to make any representations on behalf of the University or to enter into any contract on behalf of the University, except with the express consent of Council.

(2) No such consent given by Council shall be operative until a copy of the resolution of Council, certified by the Registrar, has been delivered to such officer or other person.

15. (1) The Registrar shall keep a register of all delegations under this Part; and of all documents to which the Seal has been affixed.

(2) The Registrar shall on request from any member of Council open the register for inspection by that member.

(Sections 16-20 are 'King-in-Council' statutes – see section 2 (3) of Statute IV.)

16. (1) The University holds the property which is subject to the trusts set out in the Schedule to these statutes or in regulations made by Council to be known as the University's Trust Regulations, and any other trusts which may from time to time be added to the Schedule and those regulations, as trustee.

(2) Subject to any specific provision relating to those trusts, the University shall have the management of all the property comprised in them.

(3) The Schedule or the University's Trust Regulations as the case may be shall:

(a) set out the terms on which the funds subject to each trust are held; and

(b) specify those terms which may be amended by Congregation, those which may be amended by further regulation of Council, and those which may only be amended under the provisions of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge Act, 1923.

(4) The administration of each of the trusts and the application of its income shall be the responsibility of the board of management or other body specified in the Part of the Schedule or in the University's Trust Regulations relating to that trust, or, if none is specified, as shall be determined by Council.

17. The investment of trust property shall be subject to the provisions of such scheme as may from time to time be approved by Her Majesty in Council under the provisions of section 2 of the Universities and Colleges (Trusts) Act 1943, and the fund established under any such scheme shall be known as the Oxford Endowment Fund.

18. (1) Any proposal for amending, repealing, or adding to the provisions which govern the trusts listed in the Schedule shall be treated as a legislative proposal under the provisions of Statute IV and the associated regulations.

(2) Any such proposal approved by Congregation shall come into effect only if and when it has subsequently been approved by Her Majesty in Council, except to any extent that Congregation is empowered by the provisions in the Schedule which govern the trust concerned to make such amendment, repeal, or addition on its own authority.

19. (1) Any proposal for amending, repealing, or adding to the provisions which govern the main objects of any of the trusts listed in the University's Trust Regulations shall be treated as a legislative proposal under the provisions of Statute IV and the associated regulations and shall come into effect only if and when it has been approved both by Congregation and subsequently by Her Majesty in Council.

(2) Any amendment to, repeal of, or addition to any of the other provisions which govern any of the trusts listed in the University's Trust Regulations shall be made by Council by regulation under sections 15-20 of Statute VI.

20. Any surplus income of any trust in any year may, in the absence of provision to the contrary under specific provisions relating to individual trusts, and at the discretion of the board of management or other body responsible for the administration of that trust:

(1) be used in that year for the benefit of the division, faculty, sub-faculty, or department within whose area of responsibility the administration of the trust falls under section 16 (4) above; or

(2) be placed on reserve for expenditure in the subsequent year as if it were income of that subsequent year.

Related regulations

Financial Regulations: Council Regulations 1 of 2010

Administration of the University's Intellectual Property Policy: Council Regulations 7 of 2002

Trusts: Council Regulations 25 of 2002