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. 

I obtained my LLB Hons, LLM and PhD at the University of Edinburgh. Outside of academia, I am a member of the children's panel for Aberdeen City.

External Memberships

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy 

Trustee of the Stair Society 

Associate Member of the Society of Advocates in 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. 

My recent published articles have concerned duties of good faith, third party rights and remedies for breach in contract law, as well as the protection of privacy in delict/tort. I am currently working on a historical study of payments by Scottish courts in solatium (for pain, suffering and hurt feelings) and a comparison of the English and Scottish approaches to unequal bargains.

Funding and Grants

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).