Oxford 2025

Our moot court adventure began, as most moot courts will, with the four of us checking in for our flight to London. Together with our professor who already knew the local transportation network to some degree we made our way to Oxford. The city that hosted the International Roman Law Moot Court 2025. In Oxford itself, each of us a pair were given rooms in St. Catherines College, where we would spend the next few sometimes even sleepless nights.

For our first day there wasn’t really much to do except to finally meet the teams from the other eight universities participating in the moot court at dinner. Through this and other dinners, lunches and breakfasts we had ample opportunity to learn more about our colleagues’ different backgrounds and also about the excellent cuisine Oxford had to offer.

As for the first day of mooting, colleagues turned to friendly rivals as we started to get to the mooting part of the trip. The rules and schedule of the event were explained to us with great clarity thoroughness so that we could jump straight into our first match ups.

Four our first day in general we had to contend with two other teams for four rounds each. First up was the team for the defendants against the team of the plaintiffs from the University of Trier. Argumentative volleys were exchanged with much nervousness during which the judges, three in total for the preliminaries, tried to catch each advocate off guard with their tough questions. After each individual round the duo for the plaintiff and the duo representing the defendant would anxiously await the feedback of the judges produced during their time deliberating their evaluation away from prying eyes and ears of us students.

Naturally interspersed between these intense bouts of legal discussion and contest, were coffee breaks and a great dinner in the overwhelmingly beautiful and old halls of the Christchurch College. During these often all too brief downtimes professors, judges and students could mingle fiercely discuss the preceding pleadings and performances
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The whole process continued on the second day until the results of the preliminary rounds were announced at lunch. Those teams that didn’t advance to the semi-finals could still fill their evening with tours provided by Christchurch college through their picture gallery or campus, while the advancing teams studiously prepared for the next day’s semi-finals.

The semi-finals each were held in some of the most beautiful libraries and spaces Oxford and it‘s colleges could offer. At a college a bit outside of the city centre, presenting itself as a cozy country club to visitors, dinner, as lunchtime the day before served to announce who would proceed to the next day’s finals and semi-finals.

The grand stage for the finals would be provided by the illustrious All Souls College and its library in which now, at this stage of the completion expanded judge panel of 5 judges, including a supreme court judge, would preside over the final showdown of the moot court between the team from Liege and the team from Oxford. The results of which were announced over dinner at the dinner hall of All Souls College. The winners and all those having participated in the moot court then exchanged their glasses of fine wine with kegs of beer to celebrate themselves in the pubs and streets of Oxford.

With the last day, still tired from the celebrations, we finally got to tour different colleges with Oxford students and take in all the sights of this wonderful little town. Not having had enough of Britain our group also extended its stay on the island to visit London on our own time before finally making our way back home.