Peter Cane Prize 2026

Submissions open on Monday 1 December 2025, at 12:00 (GMT). The problem for 2026 is published below. The deadline for submissions is Sunday 1 February 2026, closing at 23:59 (GMT), with the Prize Giving Day occurring on the 16th of March 2026. 

Submissions for this year are collected through the entry form linked below and the Peter Cane Prize email address (open from 10th December). It is essential that all elements are answered to the best of your abilities and that submissions are submitted as a single PDF document. All other formats will not be considered. Students must complete both the form and email their answers to be considered for this competition.

Peter Cane Legal Reasoning Prize Entry Form. 

Peter Cane Legal Reasoning Prize 2026 Problem. 89.6 KB PDF

Guidance for submission is as follows...

  • All applicants must currently be studying at a school in the United Kingdom.
  • The competition is open to everyone in Year 12 and 13 (i.e. the penultimate or final year of school).
  • A student may enter the competition once regardless of which year they enter. You cannot submit an entry this year if you have submitted an entry in previous years.
  • Answers should be written in response to the question outlined on this year's prompt sheet.
  • Answers should be no more than 1,500 words long, inclusive of all titles, subtitles, references, and footnotes. (Please note that a separate bibliography is not necessary in cases where the candidate's footnotes are sufficiently detailed.)
  • Ideally, all answers should be submitted in size 12 font, formatted with 1.5 line spacing.
  • Candidates may refer only to the materials identified in the question prompt. References to paragraphs in the judgment must take the following form: (Case Name, [#]). In citing legislation, candidates can use any citation style that they prefer, but should remain consistent throughout. Information on the University's own form of legal citation can be found here.
  • Candidates may discuss the material of their answers with colleagues and teachers, but all submitted work must be their own.
  • Use of generative AI is prohibited. Where generative AI is utilised, the candidate’s school will be notified.

Sample answers can be accessed below as examples of highly regarded work from previous years. Additionally, a short video of useful guidance is also available here.

Peter Cane Prize 2025

The Peter Cane Prize Giving Day took place on Tuesday 18th March 2025. We welcomed 9 attendees who had received 'Highly Commended' certificates for their work to the College, as well as our runners-up, Chloe Wong and Marcus Perkin, and our winner, Esmee Cadogan. 

Congratulations to Esmee, Marcus, and Chloe! And many thanks to all those who participated and sent in their work.

This year's prize had a record number of entries at 146 of which 13 were selected as 'Highly Commended'. We are very happy to see the popularity of the Peter Cane Prize grow year on year, and offer our true congratulations to all of those who took the time to answer this year's problem. 

The History of the Peter Cane Prize

The prize was launched in 2017 and seeks to promote engagement with the ideas and reasoning behind law and legal studies, and particular to encourage those from all backgrounds and walks of life to apply to engage with the academic study of law. The prize is named after the distinguished lawyer, Professor Peter Cane, an internationally acclaimed scholar of legal theory, obligations and public law, and Corpus’ first dedicated law fellow. Each year, the final shortlisted candidates are invited to attend an afternoon event hosted by Corpus Christi, with legal workshops and an award ceremony. The Prize is open to all Year 12 and Year 13 students (or equivalent). You can see the sample question and the sample answers:

Sample answer 1
Sample answer 2
Sample answer 3

If you have questions about the Peter Cane Law Prize, please contact the Outreach Team at admissions.office@ccc.ox.ac.uk