Corpus Christi welcomes Cardiff Professor as Visiting Research Scholar

Professor Norman Doe has been elected by the governing body of Corpus Christi College Oxford as a Visiting Research Scholar for the autumn term in 2015. Professor Doe will be carrying out research for a book, The Legal Architecture of English Cathedrals, a project to be undertaken with the support of the Cardiff University Research Leave Fellowship Scheme for 2015-2016.

Of his appointment Professor Doe said, “I am delighted to have been elected to this position and am very grateful to Corpus Christi College for the opportunity to carry out this research.

Each Anglican cathedral in England is an icon of cultural heritage and identity, a key setting for continuing religiosity, and a seat of national spirituality in transition. In 2011 there were 11 million visitors to English cathedrals. A cathedral is also a regulated space. This project will provide the first systematic description of the law of the Church of England on cathedrals, domestic laws of each of the 42 cathedrals, and relevant State law and common law.

A key theoretical theme of my research is the cathedral as a normative space where the regulatory regime shapes and is shaped by architecture. A practical theme is lessons learnt from experiences of law with a view to its improvement.”