Dr Jonathan Ainslie

Biography

I have been a lecturer in private law at the University of Aberdeen since February 2022. I am the Co-Director, with Dr JP Fassnidge, of the Centre for Scots Law and the Principal Investigator of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Death and Law: Interdisciplinary Explorations project. I am the senior personal tutor for the School of Law. With Dr Alice Krzanich, I will be one of the co-organisers of the British Legal History Conference in July 2028. 

External Memberships

Fellow, Advance HE

Trustee of the Stair Society 

Associate Member of the Society of Advocates in Aberdeen

Member of the Society of Legal Scholars

Member of the Children's Panel, City of Aberdeen

Research Overview

My research interests relate broadly to the influence of the Roman (or Civil law) tradition in Scots private law. I am particularly interested in the impact of Roman-Dutch juristic ideas on the development of Scots law during the 17th-18th centuries. 

In recent years I have published articles on duties of good faith in contract, third party rights in contract, the remedy of retention for breach of contract and intrusion of privacy in the law of delict. My current focus is on the historical development of damages in solatium (for pain, suffering or hurt feelings) in Scots law. 

As part of the Death & Law: Interdisciplinary Explorations group, I focus on the personality (as opposed to patrimonial) aspects of death in Scots private law. This includes a wide variety of issues, such as damages in solatium for family members after a wrongful death, the law of sepulchres and the protection of human remains prior to burial via the actio iniuriarum. 

Funding and Grants

Clark Foundation Grant for a Scottish Universities Roman Law Moot (2022)

Scottish Universities Law Institute Early Career Fellowship (2023) 

Aberdeen Humanities Fund Grant (Principal Investigator) (2025) 

Royal Society of Edinburgh Research Collaboration Grant (Principal Investigator) (2026) 

Teaching Responsibilities

I teach across a wide range of private law courses in all four years of the LLB programme, including both Scots and English private law courses. I am currently the course coordinator for LS2031 Law of Property, LS2537 Tort in Comparative Context and LS453K Property Law (Honours).