University Court

A university court is an administrative body of a university in the United Kingdom. In England's Oxbridge such a court carries out limited judicial functions; whereas in Scotland it is a university's supreme governing body, analogous to a board of directors or a board of trustees.

England

In the English universities of Oxford and Cambridge, courts of inferior jurisdiction, administering principles of justice originally founded on the canon and civil law, but later defined and limited by the common law.

At Oxford University, the judge of the chancellor's court is the vice-chancellor, who is his deputy or assessor; the court has had since 1244 civil jurisdiction, to the exclusion of the king's courts, in all matters and suits wherein a scholar or privileged person of the university is one of the parties, except in actions relating to freehold. It had also, from 1290 downwards, jurisdiction of all injuries and trespasses against the peace, mayhem and felony excepted, but since the Summary Jurisdiction Acts this is possibly no longer exercisable, but the chancellor, vice-chancellor and the vice-chancellor's deputy are justices of the peace for Oxford, Oxfordshire and Berkshire, where scholars are concerned, and exercise this jurisdiction under the Summary Jurisdiction Acts.

The criminal jurisdiction of Cambridge University in cases where any person not a member of the university is a party has ceased, and its jurisdiction over 'light women', which was founded on a charter and statute of Elizabeth, was taken away in 1894 by a private act of that year, when an earlier act dealing with them and applicable till then only to Oxford University, was extended to Cambridge University. Before 1891, women of 'light character', who had been convicted of consorting with or soliciting members of the university in statu pupillari, were detained in a house of correction called the spinning house, but in that year a conviction was held bad.^[1]

Scotland

The university courts were first established for the ancient universities by the Universities (Scotland) Act 1858 and they are responsible for the finances and administration of each university. Each university, subject to approval by the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, determines the constitution of its court, with members coming from within each university, the local community and beyond.

At an ancient university the court is chaired by the rector, who ranks third after the chancellor and vice-chancellor, is elected by all the matriculated students of each university. Members are also appointed by the general council, academic senate and local authority.

At more modern universities there is usually a chairman or convenor appointed along lines similar to a chairman of the board in a corporation or charity.

The president of the students' representative council is usually a member and lay members are co-opted onto the court.

See also

• Ancient university
• Ancient university governance in Scotland
• Proctor#Education

References

Universities in the United Kingdom England East Anglia Anglia Ruskin BPP University Campus Suffolk Cambridge East Anglia Norwich University of the Arts London University of London Birkbeck Courtauld Goldsmiths Heythrop Institute of Cancer Research King's London Business School LSE LSHTM Queen Mary Royal Academy of Music RCSSD Royal Holloway Royal Veterinary College St George's SOAS UCL Other BPP Brunel City East London Greenwich Imperial Kingston Law London Met London South Bank Middlesex Regent's University London Richmond, The American International University in London Royal College of Art Royal College of Music Roehampton St Mary's University University of the Arts London Westminster West London Midlands Aston BPP Birmingham Birmingham City Bishop Grosseteste Coventry De Montfort Derby Harper Adams Keele Law Leicester Lincoln Loughborough Newman Northampton Nottingham Nottingham Trent Staffordshire University College Birmingham Warwick Wolverhampton Worcester North Bolton BPP Bradford Central Lancashire Chester Cumbria Durham Edge Hill Huddersfield Hull Lancaster Law Leeds Leeds Beckett Leeds Trinity Liverpool Liverpool Hope Liverpool John Moores Manchester Manchester Metropolitan Newcastle Northumbria Salford Sheffield Sheffield Hallam Sunderland Teesside York York St. John South Arts Bournemouth Ashridge Bath Bath Spa Bedfordshire Bournemouth BPP Brighton Bristol Buckingham Buckinghamshire New Canterbury Christ Church Chichester Cranfield Creative Arts Essex Exeter Falmouth Gloucestershire Hertfordshire Kent Law Oxford Oxford Brookes Plymouth Portsmouth Reading Royal Agricultural University St Mark & St John Southampton Southampton Solent Surrey Sussex UWE Winchester Northern Ireland Queen's Ulster Scotland Aberdeen Abertay Dundee Dundee Edinburgh Edinburgh Napier Glasgow Glasgow Caledonian Heriot-Watt Highlands and Islands Queen Margaret Robert Gordon Royal Conservatoire of Scotland St Andrews Stirling Strathclyde University of the West of Scotland Wales Aberystwyth Bangor Cardiff Cardiff Metropolitan Glyndŵr South Wales Swansea Swansea Metropolitan UW Trinity Saint David Overseas territories American University of the Caribbean Bermuda College Cayman Islands Law School International College of the Cayman Islands Saint James School of Medicine St. Matthew's University University of Gibraltar University College of the Cayman Islands University of Science, Arts and Technology University of the West Indies Non−geographic Lambeth degrees Open University University of London International Programmes Related List by date of foundation (Third-oldest in England) List by endowment List by enrollment Colleges within universities Degree abbreviations National Union of Students Rankings Undergraduate degree classification UCAS HEFCE Category Commons List