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Professor Kit Barker
Professor

Kit Barker

Email: 
Phone: 
+61 7 334 67609

Overview

Background

Kit Barker joined the TC Beirne School of Law in 2006. He was educated at Exeter College, Oxford, where he graduated with first class honours (in 1988) and subsequently completed the BCL (with distinction) in 1991. He was admitted to the Middle Temple Inn of Court as a Harmsworth Scholar and to the Bar of England and Wales in 1990. He is interested in private law as a whole, but specialises in the law of torts and unjust enrichment law and the law's doctrine, philosophical foundations and remedies. More recently, his work has explored the interface between private law and public law and public policy, with a focus on the tortious liability of government, misfeasance in public office and the use of private enforcement techniques in public law. He is a former Associate Dean (Research) at the TC Beirne School of Law and an assistant editor of the Torts Law Journal. He is co-author of three books - Unjust Enrichment (3rd ed, Sydney, Lexis Nexis, Butterworths, 2024, 1st ed, 2008), The Law of Torts in Australia (5th ed, 2011, OUP) and Remedies: Commentary and Materials (Thomson, 2015). He is also an editor and contributor to six essay collections: Life and Death in Private Law (Oxford, Hart Publishing, 2024), Private Law: Key Encounters with Public Law (Cambridge University Press, 2013), The Law of Misstatements (Hart Publishing, 2015); Private Law and Power (Hart Publishing, 2017) ; Private Law in the Twenty-First Century (Hart Publishing, 2017); Apportionment in Private Law (Hart Publishing, 2018) and the Research Handbook on Unjust Enrichment and Restitution (Edward Elgar, 2020).

He is a fellow of the Australian Academy of Law and current director of the Australian Centre of Private Law at the TC Beirne School of Law.

Availability

Professor Kit Barker is:
Available for supervision

Qualifications

  • Bachelor of Arts, University of Oxford
  • Masters (Coursework), University of Oxford
  • Masters (Coursework) of Law, University of Oxford

Research interests

  • State Liability in Tort

    Civil liability of the state for for the tort of misfeasance in public office, false imprisonment and negligence in the execution of its public functions.

  • Philosophical Foundations of the Common Law

  • Defamation and Privacy

  • Private Law Remedies

  • Restitution and Unjust Enrichment

    The law and philosophical underpinnings of civil remedies for unjust enrichment.

  • Torts

Works

Search Professor Kit Barker’s works on UQ eSpace

111 works between 1993 and 2024

21 - 40 of 111 works

2020

Book Chapter

The evolution of unjust enrichment law: theory and practice

Bant, Elise , Barker, Kit and Degeling, Simone (2020). The evolution of unjust enrichment law: theory and practice. Research handbook on unjust enrichment and restitution. (pp. 2-27) edited by Elise Bant, Kit Barker and Simone Degeling. Cheltenham, United Kingdom: Edward Elgar. doi: 10.4337/9781788114264.00007

The evolution of unjust enrichment law: theory and practice

2020

Book

Remedies: commentary and materials

Normann Witzleb, Elise Bant, Simone Degeling and Kit Barker (2020). Remedies: commentary and materials. 7th ed. Sydney: Thomson Reuters.

Remedies: commentary and materials

2019

Conference Publication

Unjust Enrichment in Australia

Barker, Kit (2019). Unjust Enrichment in Australia. Current Legal Issues Seminar Series, Brisbane, Australia, 13 June 2019.

Unjust Enrichment in Australia

2019

Book Chapter

Apportionment in private law: nothing, all, or something in between?

Barker, Kit (2019). Apportionment in private law: nothing, all, or something in between?. Apportionment in Private Law. (pp. 3-34) edited by Kit Barker and Ross Grantham. Oxford, United Kingdom: Hart Publishing.

Apportionment in private law: nothing, all, or something in between?

2019

Book Chapter

Form and substance: three observations on the state of debate

Barker, Kit (2019). Form and substance: three observations on the state of debate. Form and substance in the law of obligations. (pp. 433-443) edited by Andrew Robertson and James Goudkamp. Oxford, United Kingdom: Hart Publishing.

Form and substance: three observations on the state of debate

2019

Conference Publication

Unjust Enrichment - Implications for Legal Reasoning and Practice

Barker, Kit (2019). Unjust Enrichment - Implications for Legal Reasoning and Practice. King and Wood Mallesons Continuing Legal Education Programme, King and Wood Mallesons, Brisbane, 9 May 2019.

Unjust Enrichment - Implications for Legal Reasoning and Practice

2018

Book

Apportionment in private law

Kit Barker and Ross Grantham eds. (2018). Apportionment in private law. London, United Kingdom: Hart Publishing.

Apportionment in private law

2018

Book Chapter

Apportionment in private law: nothing, all, or something in between?

Barker, Kit (2018). Apportionment in private law: nothing, all, or something in between?. Apportionment in Private Law. (pp. 1-34) edited by Kit Barker and Ross Grantham. London, United Kingdom: Hart Publishing.

Apportionment in private law: nothing, all, or something in between?

2018

Journal Article

Restitution Regional Digest – Australia 2017-18

Barker, Kit and Walpole, Samuel (2018). Restitution Regional Digest – Australia 2017-18. Restitution Law Review, 26, 85-121.

Restitution Regional Digest – Australia 2017-18

2018

Journal Article

Private Law, Analytical Philosophy and the Modern Value of Wesley Newcomb Hohfeld: A Centennial Appraisal

Barker, Kit (2018). Private Law, Analytical Philosophy and the Modern Value of Wesley Newcomb Hohfeld: A Centennial Appraisal. Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, 38 (3), 585-612. doi: 10.1093/OJLS/GQY021

Private Law, Analytical Philosophy and the Modern Value of Wesley Newcomb Hohfeld: A Centennial Appraisal

2018

Journal Article

Modelling public and private enforcement: the rationality of hybridity

Barker, Kit (2018). Modelling public and private enforcement: the rationality of hybridity. University of Queensland Law Journal, 37 (1), 9-23.

Modelling public and private enforcement: the rationality of hybridity

2018

Book

Apportionment in Private Law

Kit Barker and Ross Grantham eds. (2018). Apportionment in Private Law. Oxford, United Kingdom: Hart Publishing.

Apportionment in Private Law

2018

Conference Publication

The very modern value of Wesley Newcomb Hohfeld: a centennial appraisal

Barker, Kit (2018). The very modern value of Wesley Newcomb Hohfeld: a centennial appraisal. Singapore Symposium in Legal Theory 2018, Singapore, Singapore, 5 February 2018.

The very modern value of Wesley Newcomb Hohfeld: a centennial appraisal

2017

Book Chapter

What Is a contractual defence (and does it matter)?

Barker, Kit (2017). What Is a contractual defence (and does it matter)?. Defences in Contract. (pp. 17-42) edited by Andrew Dyson, James Goudkamp and Frederick Wilmot-Smith. London, United Kingdom: Hart Publishing.

What Is a contractual defence (and does it matter)?

2017

Book Chapter

Private law as a complex system: agendas for the twenty-first century

Barker, Kit (2017). Private law as a complex system: agendas for the twenty-first century. Private law in the 21st century. (pp. 1-28) edited by Kit Barker, Karen Fairweather and Ross Grantham. London, United Kingdom: Hart Publishing.

Private law as a complex system: agendas for the twenty-first century

2017

Book

Private law in the 21st century

Kit Barker, Karen Fairweather and Ross Grantham eds. (2017). Private law in the 21st century. London, United Kingdom: Hart Publishing.

Private law in the 21st century

2017

Book Chapter

Public power, discretion and the duty of care

Barker, Kit (2017). Public power, discretion and the duty of care. Private law and power. (pp. 207-237) edited by Kit Barker, Simone Degeling, Karen Fairweather and Ross B. Grantham. Oxford, United Kingdom: Hart.

Public power, discretion and the duty of care

2017

Book Chapter

Private law as a complex system: agendas for the twenty-first century

Barker, Kit (2017). Private law as a complex system: agendas for the twenty-first century. Private law in the 21st century. (pp. 3-28) edited by Kit Barker, Karen Fairweather and Ross Grantham. Oxford, United Kingdom: Hart Publishing. doi: 10.5040/9781509908615.ch-001

Private law as a complex system: agendas for the twenty-first century

2017

Conference Publication

Causation and loss of chance: a commentary

Barker, Kit (2017). Causation and loss of chance: a commentary. Causation and Loss of Opportunity, Brisbane, Australia, 27 July 2017.

Causation and loss of chance: a commentary

2017

Book Chapter

What Is a contractual defence (and does it matter)?

Barker, Kit (2017). What Is a contractual defence (and does it matter)?. Defences in contract. (pp. 17-41) edited by Andrew Dyson, James Goudkamp and Frederick Wilmot-Smith. Portland, USA: Hart Publishing. doi: 10.5040/9781509902156.ch-002

What Is a contractual defence (and does it matter)?

Funding

Past funding

  • 2018 - 2019
    Foundations of the Common Law Library (ARC LIEF grant administered by The University of New South Wales)
    University of New South Wales
    Open grant

Supervision

Availability

Professor Kit Barker is:
Available for supervision

Before you email them, read our advice on how to contact a supervisor.

Available projects

  • The law and theory of unjust enrichment

    Potential topics available include:

    • Foundational theories of unjust enrichment
    • Remedies for unjust enrichment

    For further information contact Professor Kit Barker, e: k.barker@law.uq.edu.au

  • The modern law of torts

    Potential topics available include:

    • State Negligence
    • Liabilities for Pure Economic Loss
    • Misfeasance in Public Office and False Prosecution
    • Private actions for the Invasion of Privacy
    • Remedies for Defamation

    For further information contact Professor Kit Barker, e: k.barker@law.uq.edu.au.

  • Private Law Enforcement

    Potential topics available include:

    • Theories of Public and Private Enforcement
    • The role of the Bounty Hunter – past and present

    For further information contact Professor Kit Barker, e: k.barker@law.uq.edu.au

Supervision history

Completed supervision

Media

Enquiries

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