Law School

Dr Robert Mullins

Senior Lecturer
TC Beirne School of Law
Affiliate of Australian Centre for Private Law
Australian Centre for Private Law
+61 7 334 67229
W256 Forgan Smith Building, St Lucia campus.
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Researcher biography

Robert Mullins holds a BPhil in Philosophy and a DPhil in Law from the University of Oxford. His research expertise is in legal philosophy and the theory of legal reasoning. Much of Robert's published work investigates the implications of different accounts of the meaning and use of deontic language developed by logicians and linguists for the understanding of legal rights, obligations, and authority relations. His most recent work focuses on logics of common law reasoning developed by scholars in Artificial Intelligence and Law.

Dr Mullins currently serves as Reviews Editor of the peer-reviewed professional journal, Law and Philosophy. He is an Associate Member of the ARC Centre for Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society.

Featured projects Duration
Rights in Private Law Reasoning
The University of Queensland
 2016–2017
Rights in Artificial Intelligence
The University of Queensland
 2016–2017

Publications

Book Chapter (1)
Journal Articles (14)
Conference Papers (2)
Research Report (1)
Thesis (1)

Book Chapter

Mullins, Rob (2022). Lesser evils, mere permissions and justifying reasons in law. New essays on the nature of legal reasoning. (pp. 259-280) edited by Mark McBride and James Penner. Oxford, United Kingdom: Hart Publishing. doi: 10.5040/9781509937684.ch-012

Journal Articles

Mullins, Robert (2023). Book review: Dickson, Julie. Elucidating Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022. Pp 208. $110.00 (cloth).. Ethics, 134 (1), 127-131. doi: 10.1086/725817
Mullins, Robert (2022). Two factor-based models of precedential constraint: a comparison and proposal. Artificial Intelligence and Law, 31 (4), 1-36. doi: 10.1007/s10506-022-09335-6
Mullins, Robert (2022). Presupposing legal authority. Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, 42 (2), 411-437. doi: 10.1093/ojls/gqab038
Mullins, Robert (2021). Formalizing reasons, oughts, and requirements. Ergo, 7 (22), 568-599. doi: 10.3998/ergo.1119
Mullins, Robert (2020). Book review: Arthur Ripstein, Private Wrongs, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2016, 313 pp, hb $49.95. Modern Law Review, 83 (5), 1104-1108. doi: 10.1111/1468-2230.12526
Mullins, Robert (2020). Protected reasons and precedential constraint—erratum. Legal Theory, 26 (1), 1-2. doi: 10.1017/s1352325220000166
Mullins, Robert (2020). Protected reasons and precedential constraint. Legal Theory, 26 (1), 1-22. doi: 10.1017/s1352325220000075
Mullins, Robert (2020). Moral conflict and the logic of rights. Philosophical Studies, 177 (3), 633-651. doi: 10.1007/s11098-018-1197-1
Mullins, Robert (2019). Rights, roles and interests. Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy, 16 (2), 95-115. doi: 10.26556/jesp.v16i2.398
Bigwood, Rick and Mullins, Rob (2018). Teaching Contract Vitiation in Australia: New Challenges in Subject Design. Bond Law Review, 30 (2), 185-216. doi: 10.53300/001c.6797
Mullins, Robert (2018). Detachment and deontic language in Law. Law and Philosophy, 37 (4), 1-34. doi: 10.1007/s10982-017-9313-5
Mullins, Robert (2018). Legal positivism and deontic detachment. Ratio Juris, 31 (1), 4-8. doi: 10.1111/raju.12191
Mullins, Robert (2017). Children’s rights and parents’ rights. Jurisprudence: an international journal of legal and political thought, 8 (3), 1-10. doi: 10.1080/20403313.2017.1380902
Mullins, Robert (2015). Police misconduct in Queensland: a public wrong. University of Queensland Law Journal, 34 (2), 287-299.

Conference Papers

Governatori, Guido and Mullins, Robert (2019). Deontic closure and conflict in legal reasoning. 32nd International Conference on Legal Knowledge and Information Systems (JURIX 2019), Madrid, Spain, 11-13 December 2019. Amsterdam, Netherlands: IOS Press. doi: 10.3233/FAIA190322
Mullins, Robert (2016). Rights in default logic. 13th International Conference, DEON 2016, Bayreuth, Germany, 18-21 July 2016. London, United Kingdom: College Publications.

Research Report

Weatherall, Kimberlee, Bednarz, Zofia, Bello y Villarino, Jose-Miguel, Burgess, Jean, Cellard, Loup, Cohen, Tegan, Fraser, Henry, Goldenfein, Jake, Graham, Timothy, Haines, Fiona, Henman, Paul, Ilyushina, Nataliya, Kennedy, Jenny, Leach Scully, Jackie, Leeftink, Dennis, Maitra, Suvradip, Matulionyte, Rita, McCosker, Anthony, Mullins, Robert, Nabben, Kelsie, Parker, Christine, Phan, Thao, Salim, Flora, Snoswell, Aaron, Thomas, Julian, Trezise, Melanie, Young, Libby and Zeng, Jacky (2023). Safe and Responsible AI in Australia Discussion Paper: ADM+S Submission. Canberra, ACT Australia: Department of Industry, Science and Resources. doi: 10.25916/catx-q405

Thesis

Mullins, Robert (2016). Relational Norms. PhD Thesis, University of Oxford, University of Oxford.

Areas of research

Law of Obligations
Law, Science and Technology
Legal Theory and Jurisprudence
Private Law Theory