Oxford Accepting Applications for Chichele Professorship of Public International Law

Here’s something you don’t see every day: Oxford University is seeking applicants for the Chichele Professorship of Public International Law. Oxford’s announcement begins as follows:

The Oxford Faculty of Law is a major centre for the study of international law. We aim to build Oxford’s role in the field, as international law becomes increasingly important and complex, and more closely involved with particular areas of domestic and transnational law.

The Chichele Professorship is at the centre of the University’s strength in international law. The Professorship, which is a position of senior leadership in the discipline, in Oxford and worldwide,will fall vacant upon the retirement of Professor Vaughan Lowe QC in September 2012.

Here’s the full list of previous holders of the chair (up to Vaughan Lowe, the current Chichele Professor):

Alberico Gentili, Regius Professor, 1587
Mountague Bernard, 1859- 1870
Thomas E. Holland, 1874-1910
Sir Henry Erle Richards, 1911-1922
James Leslie Brierly, 1922-1947
Sir Humphrey Waldock, 1947
D.P. O’Connell, 1972-1979
Ian Brownlie QC , 1980-1999

Gentili, Brierly, Waldock, Brownlie, Lowe… or, to sum up, many consider this the most storied chair in international law in the world.  Vaughan Lowe gave a succinct history of the professorship in his inaugural lecture. The application information is in this pdf. Good luck.

Hat tip to Don Anton for pointing this out. (and if you don’t read Don’s Weekly Digest of International Law, you should!)