Dr Iain Field

Senior Lecturer

TC Beirne School of Law

+61 7 344 31329

i.field@uq.edu.au

Researcher biography

Iain is a Senior Lecturer in the TC Beirne School of Law and an Honorary Associate Professor at Bond University. His primary research and teaching interests lie in the area of tort law, with an emphasis on defences and damages. Iain's most recent work focusses on claimant accountability and consent in tort law, the nature of the compensatory principle, the relationship between remedial rules and rules of liability, and (more broadly) the intersection of public and private law and statutory interventions. Iain's earlier work examined statutory good faith protections in tort law and their connection with underlying theories of vicarious liability, and bereavement damages.

Iain's work has been accepted for publication in leading law journals, including the Cambridge Law Journal, Modern Law Review, Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, Melbourne University Law Review, University of New South Wales Law Journal and Sydney Law Review. He has also co-authored articles with senior members of the judiciary and the academy and presented at both domestic and international legal conferences.

Iain was the recipient of a 2022 Australian Legal Research Award, in the category Article/Chapter (General), for his article 'The Problem with Provocation in Trespass' (Modern Law Review). He also recieved the 2017 Faculty of Law Emerging Research Excellence Award (Bond) for his work on Good Faith Defences.

Iain was also awarded the 2018 Law Students' Association Teaching Award (Bond) and the 2015 Stanley Shaw Bond Prize for Teaching Excellence (Bond).

Iain is an editor of the University of Queensland Law Journal and editorial board member of the Torts Law Journal. He was the general editor of the Bond Law Review from 2015–2019.

Publications

Book Chapter (1)

Journal Articles (17)

Conference Papers (5)

Seminar Papers (3)

Book Chapter

Field, Iain (2023). Rookes v Barnard (1964): ‘Going Off the Lines’. Landmark cases in the law of punitive damages. (pp. 49-74) edited by James Goudkamp and Eleni Katsampouka. Oxford, United Kingdom: Bloomsbury Publishing.

Journal Articles

Dietrich, Joachim and Field, Iain (2025). ‘Consent’ and Trespass to the Person: Denial of Liability or Defence? (forthcoming). Melbourne University Law Review.

Fell, Andrew and Field, Iain (2024). The actual loss illusion. The Cambridge Law Journal, 83 (2), 1-33. doi: 10.1017/S0008197324000230

Field, Iain (2023). Contributory negligence in the twenty-first century, by James Goudkamp and Donal Nolan. Journal of Professional Negligence, 38 (1), 58-62.

Field, Iain (2020). The problem with provocation in trespass. Modern Law Review, 84 (2) 1468-2230.12582, 297-333. doi: 10.1111/1468-2230.12582

Dietrich, Joachim and Field, Iain (2019). Statute and Theories of Vicarious Liability. Melbourne University Law Review, 43 (2), 515-557.

Field, Iain D. (2018). Contributory negligence and the rule of avoidable losses. Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, 38 (3), 475-499. doi: 10.1093/OJLS/GQY007

Dietrich, Joachim and Field, Iain (2017). The 'reasonable tort victim': Contributory negligence, standard of care and the 'equivalence theory'. Melbourne University Law Review, 41 (2), 602-646.

Field, Iain (2017). A good faith challenge to the taxonomy of tort law defences. University of New South Wales Law Journal, 40 (2), 537-565.

Field, Iain (2016). Good faith defences in tort law. Sydney Law Review, 38 (2), 147-178.

Field, Iain (2016). Good faith protections and public sector liability. Torts Law Journal, 23 (3), 210-229.

Field, I. (2015). Welcome to the New Bond Law Review. Bond Law Review, 27 (1), 1-4.

Field, Iain (2014). In mourning of bereavement damages. Torts Law Journal, 22, 95-125.

Field, Iain and Keyzer, Patrick (2011). Preface: The evolving roles of Attorneys-General and Solicitors-General. Bond Law Review, 23 (2), iii-vi.

Field, Iain (2011). Crime fighters and border guards: The Scottish law officers in comparative perspective. Bond Law Review, 23 (2), 26-47.

Steytler, Chris and Field, Iain (2011). The 'institutional integrity' principle: Where are we now, and where are we headed?. University of Western Australia Law Review, 35 (2), 227-264.

Field, Iain (2011). Judicial mediation, the judicial process and Ch III of the Constitution. Australasian Dispute Resolution Journal, 22 (2), 72-83.

Field, Iain (2010). A comment on costs in Constitutional cases. Bond Law Review, 22 (3), 104-110.

Conference Papers

Field, Iain (2024). Variation on a (Bad) Theme: An Australian Perspective on the Fearn Decision. From Victoria Park to Tate Gallery, Cave Hill, Barbados, 23-24 February 2024.

Dietrich, Joachim and Field, Iain (2019). Statute and theories of vicarious liability. Colloquium on Intersections in Private Law, University of Sydney Law School, Sydney, Australia, 16-17 August 2019.

Field, Iain (2019). Partial defences in trespass. Colloquium on Intersections in Private Law, University of Sydney Law School, Sydney, Australia, 16-17 August 2019.

Field, Iain (2016). Good faith defences and public sector liability. Protecting Business and Economic Interests: Contemporary Issues in Tort Law, Supreme Court, Singapore, 18-19 August 2016.

Field, Iain (2010). A comment on costs in constitutional cases. Access to Constitutional Justice Conference, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia, 4 June 2010.

Seminar Papers

Field, Iain (2024). Uncommon and Unordinary: The Implications of the Fearn Decision for the Australian Law of Nuisance. Australian Centre for Private Law, The University of Queensland.

Field, Iain (2022). Rookes v Barnard (1964): 'Going off the Lines'. Landmark Cases in the Law of Punitive Damages. Faculty of Law, University of Oxford, University of Oxford.

Fell, Andrew and Field, Iain (2021). The compensatory principle: restitutio in integrum or restitutio rationalis?. TC Beirne School of Law, UQ.

Areas of research

Law of Obligations

Private Law Theory

Torts