By Lesley Dingle and Daniel Bates
Professor Sir John Hamilton Baker
Biography
- 1944: Born 10th April, Sheffield
- 1949-55: Trinity Road Primary School, Chelmsford
- 1955-1962: King Edward VI Grammar School Chelmsford
Degrees
- 1965: LL.B. London (1st class)
- 1968: Ph.D. London
- 1971: M.A. Cantab.
- 1984: LL.D. Cantab.
- 1992: Hon. LL.D. Chicago
Professional Qualifications
- 1966: Barrister, Inner Temple
- 1978: adm. ad eundem gradum, Gray’s Inn
University College London
- 1962-65: LLB
- 1965-67: Assistant Lecturer Law
- 1967-71: Lecturer Law
Cambridge
- 1971-73: Librarian, Squire Law Library
- 1971 - Fellow St Catharine’s College (Professorial 1988, Emeritus 2011, Honorary 2012)
- 1971: MA Cantab
- 1973-83: University Lecturer Law
- 1980-81: Junior Proctor
- 1983-88: Reader in English Legal History
- 1988-98: Professor English Legal History
- 1990-92: Chairman, Faculty of Law
- 1998-2011: Downing Professor of Laws of England
- 2011: Retired
Visiting Teaching & Research posts
- 1973-78: Lecturer in Legal History, Inns of Court School of Law
- 1979: Professor, Department of Law, European University Institute, Florence, March
- 1982: Lecturer, Harvard Law School Fall
- 1983: Mellon Senior Research Fellow, Huntington Library, San Marino, California
- 1984: Ford Special Lecturer, University of Oxford
- 1985-c. 2000: Instructor, University of Richmond Summer Program, Cambridge
- 1987: Professor, Yale Law School, Fall
- 1988-2002: Visiting Professor, NYU School of Law
- 1992: Visiting Professor, City University, London
- 1995: Visiting Fellow, All Souls College, Oxford, 1 Jan. to 30 June
- 2003-2008, 2010: Senior Golieb (Research) Fellow, NYU School of Law
Awards & Honours
- 1965: Andrews Medal and Prize (UCL)
- 1975: Yorke Prize (Cambridge)
- 1980: Fellow Royal Historical Society
- 1984: LLD,Cantab
- 1984: Fellow British Academy
- 1985: Ames Medal and Prize (Harvard)
- 1988: Hon Bencher Inner Temple
- 1991: Fellow, University College London, (redesignated Honorary Fellow c. 2012 on the discontinuance of ordinary fellowships)
- 1992: Hon. LL.D. Chicago
- 1996: Q.C., honoris causa
- 1997: Honorary Fellow, Society for Advanced Legal Studies
- 2001: Honorary Foreign Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- 2003: Knight Bachelor
- 2003: Honorary Member, Society for Legal Scholars
- 2008: Gold Medal, Irish Society for Legal History
- 2013: Sutherland Prize, American Society for Legal History
- 2013: Honorary Bencher, Gray’s Inn
Editorial Positions
- 1972-: Editor, English Legal Manuscripts Project (microfiche)
- 1978, 1984: Member of Publications Committee, Advisory Council on Public Records
- 1981-2011: Literary Director, Selden Society (with D.E.C. Yale, 1981-91)
- 1987-: General editor, Cambridge Studies in English Legal History
- 1988-: General editor, Oxford History of the Laws of England
- 1998-2004: Associate Editor, New Dictionary of National Biography; with title of Research Associate, 2000.