Her Majesty the Queen has appointed James Peter Chalmers to the Regius Chair of Law in the University of Glasgow.

James Chalmers was formerly Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Edinburgh, having previously taught at the University of Aberdeen. He is currently Editor of the Edinburgh Law Review, a member of the Criminal Courts Rules Council and the Criminal Law Committee of the Law Society of Scotland, and a trustee of HIV Scotland, Scotland’s national HIV policy charity. He attended Inverurie Academy, in Aberdeenshire, and is a graduate of the University of Aberdeen and the Tulane University of Louisiana.

Professor Chalmers said: “I am honoured to have been appointed to this Chair, particularly given the Tercentenary of its founding next year, and hope that I can live up to the standard set by its distinguished former holders.”

Anton Muscatelli, the Principal and Vice Chancellor of the University said: “The University of Glasgow is delighted to welcome Professor Chalmers to the University of Glasgow and the Regius Chair of Law.  I have no doubt that his considerable  gifts and abilities will more than enhance the reputation of this prestigious chair and that he will make an exceptional contribution to the School of Law.”

Professor Chalmers researches primarily in the area of criminal law, and is the author or co-author of a number of leading texts including The New Law of Sexual Offences in Scotland, Legal Responses to HIV and AIDS and Criminal Defences and Pleas in Bar of Trial (with Fiona Leverick). In 2011, he was named as one of the founding members of the Young Academy of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

The Chair is one of 13 Regius Professorships at Glasgow - The University of Glasgow has the highest number of Regius Professors in the British Isles – positions created by the monarchy at the UK’s ancient universities – and was founded in December 1713. The first holder, William Forbes, was appointed in 1714. It has been held since by a long list of distinguished legal scholars, including John Millar, William Gloag, David Walker and the most recent holder, Joseph Thomson. The University of Glasgow will celebrate the Tercentenary of the Chair in 2013.

A Royal Warrant approving the appointment of Professor Chalmers was signed by the Queen and Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond.

Glasgow has the highest number of Regius Professors in the British Isles; the other universities in the UK which have Regius Chairs are Aberdeen, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Oxford and St Andrews, as well as Dublin in the Republic of Ireland.

 

Find out more

• Professor James Chalmers
• School of Law, College of Social Science

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For more information, contact Cara.macdowall@glasgow.ac.uk 0141 330 3683 or M: 07875203387

First published: 1 October 2012