Jonathan Garton

Professor

Director of Academic Practice

Charities; Equity & Trusts; Legal History

School of Law
S2.22, Social Sciences Building
University of Warwick
Coventry CV4 7AL
United Kingdom

024 761 51754
Term 2 Office Hours: Thursdays 2-3 and Fridays 12-1

Scholarship

My main research interests are in the law of trusts, particularly charities, and legal history. My books include The Regulation of Organised Civil Society (Hart 2009), Public Benefit in Charity Law (OUP 2013) and Moffat's Trusts Law (7th ed, CUP 2020), and some recent publications include "Property Disputes about Leper Houses, Pest Houses and Fever Hospitals" (with Charles Mitchell) in Emily Gordon, Charles Mitchell and Ian Williams (eds), Epidemics and the Law from Plague to Present (Hart 2025) and "Charitable Trusts and Public Foundations" in Mark Bennett et al (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Trust Laws (OUP 2025).

My forthcoming work includes "Jones v Williams (1767): The First Definition of Charity" in Rebecca Fry and John Picton (eds), Landmark Cases in Charity Law (Hart 2026) and a monograph on commercial trusts for Edward Elgar’s Principles of Commercial Law series.

Bio Publications Teaching Impact

Policy

I have advised various UK public bodies, including the Charity Commission, the Cabinet Office, and the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit, and in 2012-13 I was Special Adviser to the Public Administration Select Committee. My research has been cited by numerous bodies including the Council of Europe, the New Zealand Supreme Court and the Australian Parliament.

Research Supervision

I welcome enquiries from prospective PhD students in any of my research areas. Please ensure that you have a research proposal which corresponds with the University of Warwick School of Law requirements.

Some current and previous topics supervised include:

The role of CSOs in the democratisation of Ethiopia
Community organisations in England and Ukraine
Nonprofits in Italy and the UK
Corporate governance of co-operatives
Gain-based remedies for wrongdoing
Fiduciary duties and ESG investing