Preliminary

(This Statute is a 'Queen-in-Council' statute – see section 2 (2) of Statute IV.)

Approved with effect from 1 October 2002
(Supplement (1) to Gazette No. 4633, 9 October 2002)

Amended with effect from 10 February 2010 (Gazette, Vol. 140, p. 748, 18 March 2010) and 12 October 2011 (date of effect 1 January 2012; Gazette, Vol. 143, p. 98, 27 October 2011) and 15 May 2013 (Gazette, Vol. 143, p. 609, 30 May 2013)

1. The University of Oxford is a civil corporation established under common law which was formally incorporated by the Act for the Incorporation of Both Universities 1571 under the name of 'the Chancellor Masters and Scholars of the University of Oxford'.

2. In these statutes it is called 'the University'.

3. The principal objects of the University are the advancement of learning by teaching and research and its dissemination by every means.

4. The University has the power to do all things permitted by law which are necessary or desirable to promote its objects.

5. These statutes and all regulations made under them shall be interpreted in accordance with those objects and not in conflict with them.

6. In the interpretation of these statutes and all such regulations these additional rules apply unless the context otherwise requires:

(1) words in the singular include the plural and words in the plural include the singular;

(2) references to an Act of Parliament refer also to any statutory amendment, re-enactment, or replacement of it;

(3) 'committee' means any body set up by or under the authority of these statutes other than Convocation, Congregation, Council, a society or Permanent Private Hall, or a division, faculty, sub-faculty, or department;

(4) 'Conference of Colleges' means the voluntary association of the colleges, societies, and Permanent Private Halls which are referred to in Statute V, established by them for the purpose, among others, of appointing their representatives to Council, its committees, and other university bodies;

(5) 'Congregation' means the Congregation of the University referred to in Statute IV;

(6) 'Council' means the Council of the University referred to in Statute VI;

(7) 'division', 'faculty', 'sub-faculty', and 'department' mean a division, faculty, sub-faculty, or department referred to in Statute VII;

(8) 'membership' and 'member of the University' have the meanings given to them in Statute II;

(9) 'regulation' means a regulation made under these statutes by a person or body authorised to make it;

(10) 'statutes' and 'regulations' mean statutes and regulations of the University in force for the time being;

(11) unless otherwise specified, 'person' or 'member' means the resident holder of a teaching, research, or administrative post in the University or in any college, society, or Permanent Private Hall;

(12) 'external member' or 'external person' means a person who is not the resident holder of a teaching, research, or administrative post in the University or in any college, society, or Permanent Private Hall;

(13) 'ex officio' means by virtue of office, for example, a person serving on a committee by virtue of his or her office.

7. Disputes over the interpretation or application of any of these statutes or any regulation shall be decided in accordance with Statute XVII.