Peter Petkoff

Law Lecturer

Qualifications

LLM, MA Theol., PhD
Barrister (Sofia Bar)
Solicitor (England and Wales)
European Trade Mark Attorney
Industrial Property Representative

Dr Peter Petkoff has studied law and theology in Sofia, Leeds, Oxford and Rome and his research interests are in the area of law and religion, EC Law, Intellectual Property and Comparative and International Law. His academic appointments include working on research projects at Oxford University (European Company Law and Arms Exports), Exeter University (Comparative European Family Law) and Bristol University (Changing Nature of Religious Rights Under International Law), a visiting fellowship at the Stephan Kuttner Institute of Medieval Canon Law and the Leopold-Wenger-Institute for Legal History at Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich and teaching positions at Bristol, Oxford and Buckingham. He has taught EU Law, International law and Intellectual Property, Canon law and Islamic Law. Dr Petkoff is a honorary fellow of the Centre for the Study of Law and Religion at the University of Bristol, a Fellow of the Centre for Christianity and Culture at Regent’s Park College, Oxford, a Secretary of the Oxford Society for Law and Religion and a convener of the Oxford Colloquium for Law and Religion,  a board member of the academic think-tank‘Focus on Freedom of Religion or Belief’ which studies the dynamics of freedom of religion or belief discourse within the context of the international institutions. Dr Petkoff is also a board member of the research network ‘Church, Law and Society of the Middle Ages’ and a convener of Eastern Canon Law panels at the International Medieval Congress at Leeds. He is currently engaged in research projects which study the coexistence of civic and religious legal systems on national, regional and international level and the formation of Christian, Jewish and Islamic legal harmonisations in the twelfth and the thirteenth centuries.

I convene of the Intellectual Property Law PG Certificate programme.

Teaching

European Union Law
Intellectual Property Law
International Human Rights

Research Interests

Law and religion
Canon Law
EC Law
Intellectual Property
Comparative and International Law

Research Areas

Comparative law
European Union law
Intellectual property
International trade law
Legal history
Legal theory and jurisprudence
Media law
Public international law
Religion and the law

Research Groups

CIPL Centre for International and Public Law
IPIMRC Intellectual Property, Internet Media Research Centre
LRRG Law and Religion Research Group

External Activities

• Visiting lecturer – Stefan Kuttner Centre for Medieval Canon Law, Leopold Wenger Institute for Legal History, LMU Munich
• Visiting scholar – Schtiftung Maximilianeum
• Research Fellow – centre for Christianity and Culture, regent’s Parks College, Oxford
• Research Fellow – Bristol University School of Law
• Review Editor - Editor of Religion, State and Society
• Review Editor – Journal of Islamic State Practices in International Law
• Editor – Oxford Journal for Law and Religion
• Member of the Board of Directors for Focus on Freedom of Religion or Belief Think Tank
• Member of the Board of Directors of CLASMA (Church, Law and Society in the Middle Ages)

Publications

Journal Papers

(2008) Evans, M. and Petkoff, P., A separation of convenience? The concept of neutrality in the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights, Religion, State and Society 36 (3) : 205- 223

(2008) Petkoff, P., Facilitating freedom of religion or belief: A deskbook edited by Tore Lindholm, W. Cole Durham Jr and Bahia G. Tahzib-Lie. Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff, 2004, 1018 pp, Religion, State and Society 36 (3) : 331- 333

(2008) Petkoff, P., Freedom of religion in European constitutional and international case law by Rena´ta Uitz. Strasbourg: Council of Europe Publishing, 2007, 180 pp., ISBN: 9-789-2871-6201-4, Religion, State and Society 36 (3) : 329- 330

(2008) Petkoff, P., Freedom of religion or belief in the jurisprudence of the Bulgarian Constitutional Court, Religion, State and Society 36 (3) : 225- 250

(2008) Petkoff, P., Law and religion in post-communist Europe (Law and Religion Studies 1) edited by Silvio Ferrari, W. Cole Durham Jr and Elizabeth A. Sewell. Leuven: Peeters, 2003, 427 pp, Religion, State and Society 36 (3) : 330- 331

(2008) Petkoff, P., Laws on religion and the state in post-communist Europe (Law and Religion Studies 2) edited by W. Cole Durham Jr and Silvio Ferrari. Leuven: Peeters, 2004. 328 pp, Religion, State and Society 36 (3) : 330- 331

(2008) Petkoff, P., Religion and Law: An Introduction by Peter W Edge Ashgate, 2006, 168 pp., ISBN: Hardback 978-0-7546-3047-0, Paperback 978-0-7546-3048-7, Ecclesiastical Law Journal 10 (1) : 121- 123

(2008) Petkoff, P., Religion and Law: An Introduction by Peter W. Edge. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006, 168 pp., ISBN: Hardback 0-7546-3047-1, Paperback 0-7546-3048-X, Religion, State and Society 36 (3) : 327- 329

(2007) Petkoff, P., Legal perspectives and religious perspectives of religious rights under international law in the Vatican concordats (1963-2004), Law and Justice 158 30-

(2005) Petkoff, P., Church-state relations under the Bulgarian Denominations Act 2002: Religious pluralism and established Church, Religion, State and Society 33 (4) : 315- 337

(2005) Petkoff, P., Church-state relations under the Bulgarian denominations act 2002: religious pluralism and established church and the impact of other models of law on religion, Religion, State and Society 33 (4) : 315- 337

Book Chapters

(Forthcoming) Petkoff, P., Heresy and orthodoxy in Theodore Balsamon’s canonical commentaries – Exploring the synthesis of Roman and Canon law strategies of the Byzantine Canon Law in the twelfth century. In: New Directions in Heresy and Orthodoxy: Selected papers from the International Medieval Congress, July 2009. Brepols

(2010) Petkoff, P., Religious symbols between forum internum and forum externum. In: Ferrari, S. and Cristofori, R. eds. Law and Religion in the 21st century: Relations between States and Religious Communities. Surrey, UK : Ashgate 297- 304

(2003) Petkoff, P., The law on religion in Bulgaria in the light of European integration. In: Sutton, J. and van den Bercken, WP. eds. Orthodox Christianity and Contemporary Europe: Selected papers of the international conference held at the University of Leeds, England, in June 2001. Leuven, Belgium : Peeters Publishing 485- 502

Books

(2010) Petkoff, P., Law and religion in Bulgaria. Kluwer