Vinerian Scholarship

The Vinerian Scholarship is a scholarship given to the University of Oxford student who "gives the best performance in the examination for the degree of Bachelor of Civil Law". Currently, £2,500 is given to the winner of the scholarship, with an additional £950 awarded at the examiners' discretion to a (runner-up). The benefactor was Charles Viner.

The Vinerian Scholarship is the most prestigious law scholarship awarded by the University of Oxford. Past award holders have distinguished themselves in the judiciary, legal practice, academia, civil service and in other fields. The list of scholars includes four Law Lords (Lord Uthwatt, Lord Hoffmann, Lord Edmund-Davies and Lord Saville of Newdigate), and justices of the highest courts in Australia (Dyson Heydon and Patrick Keane), Canada (Ronald Martland) and South Africa (Edwin Cameron).Andrew Dickinson, "A Brief Modern History of the Vinerian Scholarship" (2015), p. 3

Vinerian scholars Past winners of the Vinerian Scholarship include:

Charles Abbott, 1st Baron Tenterden Sir Thomas Plumer, MR (1777), University College, Oxford John Taylor Coleridge (1812) Nassau William Senior (1813) Frederic Rogers, Baron Blachford (1834), Oriel College, Oxford Thomas Henry Haddan (1838),The Times (London, England), Wednesday, 27 October 1847; p. 3; Issue 19691. Christ Church, Oxford Richard Harington (1858), Christ Church, Oxford Robert Kenyon (1872), Christ Church, Oxford Sir William Cameron Gull, 2nd Baronet of Brook Street (1883), Christ Church, Oxford Henry Straus Quixano Henriques (1891), Worcester College, Oxford F. E. Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead (1896),The Times (London, England), Monday, 19 March 2007; p.52; Issue 68963. Wadham College, Oxford Owyn Murray (1897), Exeter College, Oxford Francis de Zulueta (1903), New College, Oxford Augustus Uthwatt, Baron Uthwatt (1904 joint),The Times (London, England), Monday, 25 April 1949; p.7; Issue 51364. University of Melbourne – Balliol College, Oxford Frederick Barrington-Ward (1904 joint), Hertford College, Oxford John Clifford Valentine Behan (1906), University of Melbourne – Hertford College, Oxford George Johnston (1909), Christ Church, Oxford Henry Angus (1914), Balliol College, Oxford Suspended for World War I (1916–1920) Harold Hanbury (1921), Brasenose College, Oxford Cyril Pearce Harvey (1923), Brasenose College, Oxford Lord Edmund-Davies (1929), King's College London – Exeter College, Oxford Change in statute to award scholarship on the basis of BCL examinations (1928) Ronald Martland (1931), University of Alberta – Hertford College, Oxford John Gabriel Starke (1934), University of Western Australia – Exeter College, Oxford Alan Brock Brown (1935), New College, Oxford (William) Reginald Verdon-Smith (1936),The Times (London, England), Thursday, 25 June 1992; p.17; Issue 64368. – Brasenose College, Oxford Norman Marsh (1937), – Pembroke College, Oxford Suspended for World War II (1940 – 1945) Zelman Cowen (1947 joint), Melbourne Law School – New College, Oxford Rex Welsh (1947 joint), University of the Witwatersrand – Oriel College, Oxford Tony Honoré (1948 joint), New College, Oxford William Lederman (1948 joint), University of Saskatchewan – Exeter College, Oxford Peter Carter (1949), Oriel College, Oxford Anthony Machin (1950), New College, Oxford Ian Brownlie (1952), Hertford College, Oxford Allan Gotlieb (1953), University of California, Berkeley – Christ Church, Oxford Laurence Libbert (1954), Magdalen College, Oxford Lennie Hoffmann, Baron Hoffmann (1957), University of Cape Town – The Queen's College, Oxford Brian Shaw (1958), University of Melbourne – Magdalen College, Oxford Colin Tapper (1959), Magdalen College, Oxford Mark Saville, Baron Saville of Newdigate (1960), Brasenose College, Oxford Robert Roy Stuart (1961), University of Alberta – Wadham College, Oxford Richard Buxton (1962), Exeter College, Oxford Jeffrey Hackney (1963), Wadham College, Oxford John Eekelaar (1965), King's College London – University College, Oxford John Dyson Heydon (1967), University College, Oxford – University College, Oxford Ross Alan Sundberg (1969), University of Melbourne – Magdalen College, Oxford Michael Hart (1970), Magdalen College, Oxford Mark Weinberg (1972), Monash University Faculty of Law, Wadham College, Oxford Kenneth Parker (1973), Exeter College, Oxford Paul Craig (1974), Worcester College, Oxford Hugh Collins (1975), Pembroke College, Oxford Peter Cane (1976), Sydney Law School – Magdalen College, Oxford Patrick Keane (1977), University of Queensland – Magdalen College, Oxford Stephen Moriarty (1978), Brasenose College, Oxford Michael Hoyle (1979), University of Melbourne – Magdalen College, Oxford Mary Stokes (1980), Brasenose College, Oxford Edwin Cameron (1982), University of Stellenbosch – Keble College, Oxford Norman O'Bryan (1983), Melbourne Law School – Wadham College, Oxford Edward Braham (1984), Worcester College, Oxford Craig Orr (1985), Downing College, Cambridge – University College, Oxford Timothy Pitt-Payne (1986 joint), Worcester College, Oxford John Gardner (1987), New College, Oxford – New College, Oxford Graham Virgo (1988), Downing College, Cambridge – Christ Church, Oxford Paul Nicholls (1990), University of Sheffield – Worcester College, Oxford Andrew Palmer (1992), Monash University – St John's College, Oxford Andrew Bell (1993), Sydney Law School – Magdalen College, Oxford Andrew Dickinson (1994), St Edmund Hall, Oxford Jeremy Kirk (1996), Australian National University – Magdalen College, Oxford Ann Buckingham (1997), Victoria University of Wellington Henry Forbes Smith (1998 joint), University of Otago – Merton College, Oxford Angus Johnston (1999), Brasenose College, Oxford – Brasenose College, Oxford Stephen Free (2000), Australian National University – Magdalen College, Oxford Burton Ong (2001), National University of Singapore – Merton College, Oxford David Murray (2002), Christ Church, Oxford – Christ Church, Oxford Ben Allgrove (2003), University of Adelaide – Magdalen College, Oxford Tamsyn Allen (2004), Magdalen College, Oxford Andrew Scott (2005 joint), St John's College, Oxford Marc Brown (2005 joint), Mansfield College, Oxford Paul Adams (2006), St Catherine's College, Oxford – St Catherine's College, Oxford Imran Afzal (2007), Merton College, Oxford – Merton College, Oxford Natasha Bennett (2008), Trinity College, Cambridge – Merton College, Oxford Michael Bolding (2009), MMU – Lincoln College, Oxford Frederick Wilmot-Smith (2010), Christ's College, Cambridge – Balliol College, Oxford Niranjan Venkatesan (2011), National Law School of India University – Magdalen College, Oxford Naomi Oreb (2012), Sydney Law School – Magdalen College, Oxford Ajay Ratan (2013), Downing College, Cambridge – Trinity College, Oxford James Ruddell (2014), University of Auckland – Merton College, Oxford Owen Lloyd (2015), Merton College, Oxford – Merton College, Oxford Marlena Valles (2016), The University of Edinburgh – Jesus College, Oxford Tristan Cummings (2017), Merton College, Oxford – Merton College, Oxford Christopher Stackpoole (2018), Queensland University of Technology – Merton College, Oxford Chen Chen (2019 joint), Magdalen College, Oxford – Merton College, Oxford Luca Moretti (2019 joint), University of Sydney – Christ Church, Oxford Alyssa Glass (2020), University of Sydney – Magdalen College, Oxford Edward Mordaunt (2021), St Cross College, Oxford Ruben Robertson (2022), University of Sydney – Magdalen College, Oxford Louis Triggs (2023), King's College London – St Hilda's College, Oxford Marcel Delaney (2024), Australian National University – Wadham College, Oxford Jake Emerson (2025), Magdalen College, Oxford

Vinerian proxime accessit award holders

Chloe Carpenter (2000 joint), King's College London – Brasenose College, Oxford Catherine Button (2000 joint), University of Melbourne – Magdalen College, Oxford Zachary Douglas (2001 joint), University of Melbourne – Lincoln College, Oxford Aaron Baker (2001 joint), Saint Louis University – St Peter's College, Oxford Mario Mendez (2002), Queen Mary University of London – St Catherine's College, Oxford Benjamin Doyle (2003), University of Adelaide – Magdalen College, Oxford Peter Halford (2004), Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford Rupert Allen (2006), Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge – Merton College, Oxford Matthias Kuscher (2007), Clare College, Cambridge – Merton College, Oxford Patrick Hayden (2008), Magdalen College, Oxford Henry Philips (2009), Worcester College, Oxford Catherine Fleming (2010), University College, Oxford Alice Irving (2011), University of Otago – Merton College, Oxford Colm O'Grady (2013), London School of Economics – Pembroke College, Oxford Jack Williams (2014), St Catharine's College, Cambridge – Hertford College, Oxford Anthony Wicks (2015), University of Otago – St Cross College, Oxford Daniel Fletcher (2016), University of Sydney – Magdalen College, Oxford Man Hin Chan (2017 joint), Oriel College, Oxford Sinziana Hennig (2017 joint), University of Toronto – St Catherine's College, Oxford Cheng Xun Cyrus Chua (2018), Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge – Corpus Christi College, Oxford Joshua Underwood (2019 joint), University of Queensland – St Edmund Hall, Oxford Ashpen Rajah (2019 joint), Downing College, Cambridge – Trinity College, Oxford Alice Zhou (2020 joint), University of Sydney – Christ Church, Oxford Elizabeth Huang (2020 joint), Trinity College, Cambridge – Magdalen College, Oxford Tiffany Tang (2021), Magdalene College, Cambridge – Magdalen College, Oxford Maxwell Davie (2022), Monash University – Mansfield College, Oxford Jonathan Hell (2023), University College London – Regent's Park College, Oxford Dane Luo (2024), University of Sydney – Wadham College, Oxford Samuel Goldberg (2025 joint), University of Sydney – Magdalen College, Oxford Tristan Taylor (2025 joint), University of Western Australia – St John's College, Oxford

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