Dr. Joe Sampson

Assistant Professor

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Biography

Joe Sampson is an Assistant Professor at the University of Cambridge's Faculty of Law, focusing on legal history. He has a wide range of interests in comparative legal studies, particularly the contributions of civilian scholarship. His notable work includes a PhD dissertation that explored the influence of Thomist theology on notions of liability and wrongdoing in early modern natural law. Among his recent projects are investigations into John Cowell’s efforts to Romanize common law wrongs and the application of plague regulations in 1603. He supervises a variety of doctoral students engaged in legal historical topics and contributes to graduate supervision in the Faculty of History. Sampson's teaching includes a new LLM course designed for 2024-25 that examines foundational legal questions over 4,000 years across various legal systems, from ancient Mesopotamia to modern codification movements in Chile, Japan, and Germany. His academic journey includes a BA in Law and an MPhil in Medieval History from Trinity College, Cambridge, and a PhD supervised by Professor David Ibbetson. Sampson has published works such as 'Historical Foundations of Grotius's Analysis of Delict' (Brill, 2017), and he previously held a position as Associate Professor at Oxford's Magdalen College before returning to Trinity in October 2022.

Research Interests

Requirements for University of Cambridge

Master Program
Requirements
GPA Requirement
Required:3.7
IELTS
Listening
Required:7
Reading
Required:7
Writing
Required:7
Speaking
Required:7
Overall
Required:7.5
TOEFL
Listening
Required:25
Reading
Required:25
Writing
Required:25
Speaking
Required:25
Total
Required:110
Prerequisites
UK Bachelor's Degree with good Upper Second Class Honours or international equivalent Background in international relations, politics, law, economics, security or history is a definite asset
Application Checklist
  • Two academic references
  • Official transcripts
  • CV/Resume
  • Personal statement (approx 500 words)
  • Research proposal (1-2 pages/500 words)
  • Application fee (£50)
Specialization Notes

Standard postgraduate requirements for Department of Politics and International Studies (POLIS) and related humanities departments.