Raymond Wacks

Educated at the University of the Witwatersrand, (B.A., LLB.); the London School of Economics (LL.M.); University College, Oxford (M.Litt.); and the University of London (PhD), his major areas of expertise are legal philosophy, and human rights, in particular the protection of privacy on which he is a leading international authority. In 1997 a higher doctorate in law (LL.D.) was conferred on him by the University of London for his publications on privacy and legal philosophy. His books have been translated into numerous languages including Arabic, Greek, Chinese, Indonesian, Italian, Portuguese, Turkish, Japanese, Thai, Korean, Slovene, and Georgian.

Professor Wacks' major works on privacy include: The Protection of Privacy published in 1980 by Sweet & Maxwell; Personal Information: Privacy and the Law, published in 1989 by Oxford University Press; Privacy, a two-volume collection of essays published in 1993 by Dartmouth, London and New York University Press; Privacy and Press Freedom published by Blackstone Press, London in 1995. In 2013 Privacy and Media Freedom was published, and in 2015 the second edition of Privacy: A Very Short Introduction appeared (both published by Oxford University Press). An Italian translation was published in 2016 by Monti & Ambrosini. In 2019 Protecting Personal Information: The Right to Privacy Reconsidered was published by Hart Publishing, co-authored by Andrea Monti. Wacks is a former chairman of the committee of the Law Reform Commission of Hong Kong that examined this subject, and was a member of the statutory Personal Data (Privacy) Advisory Committee.

The seventh edition of his Understanding Jurisprudence: An Introduction to Legal Theory will be published by Oxford University Press in 2026. The book has been translated into Chinese and Turkish. In 2006, Oxford University Press published his Philosophy of Law: A Very Short Introduction, the second edition of which appeared in 2014. In 2008, his second book in this series, Law: A Very Short Introduction was published; the third edition appeared in 2023.

In addition to publishing articles and books on these subjects, he has edited a number of collections of essays on various aspects of Hong Kong law, including Civil Liberties in Hong Kong, The Future of the Law in Hong Kong, The Law in Hong Kong 1969–1989, and Human Rights in Hong Kong (all published by Oxford University Press), Hong Kong, China, and 1997: Essays in Legal Theory, and The New Legal Order in Hong Kong published by Hong Kong University Press. A collection of his writings, Law, Morality, and the Private Domain was published by Hong Kong University Press in 2000. Wacks has also written numerous articles on aspects of Hong Kong's legal system, including questions raised by the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, especially the judicial function and the problems of legal continuity after 1997. He was for several years editor of the Hong Kong Law Journal, and presented the RTHK television and radio programme, The Week in Politics.

His novel, White Lies, set in the 1960s in South Africa, was published in November 2010.

• The Protection of Privacy, Modern Legal Studies (Sweet & Maxwell, 1980).
• Jurisprudence (Blackstone Press, 1987; second edition, 1990; third edition, 1993; fourth edition, 1995; fifth edition, 1999).
• Personal Information: Privacy and the Law (Oxford University Press, 1989). (Paperback edition, 1993).
• Privacy and Press Freedom (Blackstone Press, 1995).
• Data Privacy Law in Hong Kong (with M Berthold) (Sweet & Maxwell 1997, reprinted 2000).
• Hong Kong Data Privacy Law: Territorial Regulation in a Borderless World (with M Berthold) (Sweet & Maxwell, 2003).
• Law, Morality, and the Private Domain (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2000).
• Understanding Jurisprudence: An Introduction to Legal Theory (Oxford University Press, 2005, second edition, 2009; third edition, 2012; fourth edition, 2015; fifth edition, 2017; sixth edition, 2020, seventh edition, 2026).
• Philosophy of Law: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2006; second edition, 2014).
• Law: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2008, second edition, 2015, third edition, 2023).
• Privacy: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2010, second edition 2015).
• Privacy and Media Freedom (Oxford University Press, 2013).
• Justice: A Beginner's Guide (Oneworld Publications, 2017).
• Protecting Personal Information: The Right to Privacy Reconsidered (with Andrea Monti) (Bloomsbuty/Hart Publishing, 2019).
• COVID-19 and Public Policy in the Digital Age (with Andrea Monti) (Routledge, 2020).
• National Security in the New World Order: Government and the Technology of Information (with Andrea Monti) (Routledge, 2021).
• The Rule of Law Under Fire (Bloomsbury/Hart Publishing, 2021, second edition, 2026).
• Animal Lives Matter: The Continuing Quest for Justice (Routledge, 2024).

• Civil Liberties in Hong Kong (Oxford University Press, 1988).
• The Future of the Law in Hong Kong (Oxford University Press 1989).
• The Law in Hong Kong: 1969–1989 (Oxford University Press 1989).
• The Future of Legal Education and the Legal Profession in Hong Kong (Faculty of Law, University of Hong Kong, 1989).
• Hong Kong's Bill of Rights: Problems and Prospects (Faculty of Law, University of Hong Kong, 1990).
• Human Rights in Hong Kong (Oxford University Press, 1992).
• Police Powers in Hong Kong (Faculty of Law, University of Hong Kong, 1993).
• Hong Kong, China, and 1997: Essays in Legal Theory (Hong Kong University Press, 1993). Reprinted with corrections, 1994.
• Privacy (two volumes) The International Library of Essays in Law and Legal Theory (New York University Press, 1993). Volume I: The Concept of Privacy. Volume II: Privacy and the Law.
• The Right to Representation: Problems and Prospects (Faculty of Law, University of Hong Kong, 1994).
• The New Legal Order in Hong Kong (Hong Kong University Press, 1999).