Rita Anne Rollins Professor of Law
Areas of Specialization
Contract Law; Economic Analysis of Law; Jurisprudence; Law and Religion; Legal History
Representative Professional Activities and Achievements
Joined the faculty in 2006. He earned his J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School, where he served on the Articles Committee of the Harvard Law Review and as an editor of the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy. He graduated from Brigham Young University, where he was a Benson Scholar, and, prior to law school, worked on the staff of Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. After law school, he clerked for the Honorable Morris Shepard Arnold of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and worked as a litigation associate in the Washington, DC office of Sidley Austin, LLP.
Nathan Oman's work focuses on contracts, the philosophy of private law, and law and religion. He joined the faculty in 2006. Prior to becoming a professor, he was a litigation associate in the Washington DC office of Sidley Austin LLP and clerked for Judge Morris Shepard Arnold on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
Publications from 2026
Levers of Default: Can the President Unilaterally Alter the Terms of the National Debt?, Lev E. Breydo and Nathan B. Oman
(174 University of Pennsylvania Law Review Online 60-86 (2026))Publications from 2025
Restructuring Ruritania: Bankruptcy, Sovereign Debt, and the Equity Receivership, Nathan B. Oman
(67 Arizona Law Review 109-147 (2025))Publications from 2022
Nomos, Narrative, and Nephi: Legal Interpretation in the Book of Mormon, Nathan B. Oman
(11 British Journal of American Legal Studies 297-322 (2022))Salt, Smurthwaite, and Smith: The Origins of the Modern Legal Identity of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Nathan B. Oman
(48 Journal of Mormon History 92-122 (2022))Publications from 2021
Civil Disobedience in Latter-day Saint Thought, Nathan B. Oman
(60 BYU Studies Quarterly, no. 3, at 229-240 (2021))The Temptation of Cosmic Private Law Theory, Nathan B. Oman
(66 American Journal of Jurisprudence 395-408 (2021))Publications from 2019
Contract Law and the Liberalism of Fear, Nathan B. Oman
(20 Theoretical Inquiries in Law 381-410 (2019))Temple, Talmud, and Sacrament: Some Christian Thoughts on Halakhah, Nathan B. Oman
(64 Villanova Law Review 743-756 (2019))Publications from 2018
Beyond Gift and Bargain: Some Suggestions for Increasing Kidney Exchanges, Nathan B. Oman
(81 Law and Contemporary Problems 37-66 (2018))Commerce, Religion, and the Rule of Law, Nathan B. Oman
(6 Journal of Law, Religion and State 213-235 (2018))The Best and Worst of Contracts Decisions: An Anthology, Nathan B. Oman, Daniel Barnhizer, Scott J. Burnham, Charles R. Calleros, Larry T. Garvin, Nadelle Grossman, F. E. Guerra-Pujol, Jeffrey L. Harrison, Hila Keren, Michael P. Malloy, Daniel P. O'Gorman, Deborah Post, Val Ricks, Rachel Arnow-Richman, Richard R. Carlson, Mark P. Gergen, Kenney Hegland, Nancy S. Kim, Jean Fleming Powers, and Cheryl B. Preston
(45 Florida State University Law Review 887-1020 (2018))Publications from 2017
Doux Commerce, Religion, and the Limits of Antidiscrimination Law, Nathan B. Oman
(92 Indiana Law Review 693-733 (2017))Reconsidering Contractual Consent: Why We Shouldn't Worry Too Much about Boilerplate and Other Puzzles, Nathan B. Oman
(83 Brooklyn Law Review 215-249 (2017))Publications from 2015
Book Review of Sustaining the Law: Joseph Smith's Legal Encounters, Nathan B. Oman
(33 Law and History Review 480-482 (2015))International Legal Experience and the Mormon Theology of the State, 1945-2012, Nathan B. Oman
(100 Iowa Law Review 715-750 (2015))The Need for a Law of Church and Market, Nathan B. Oman
(64 Duke Law Journal Online 141-160 (2015))Publications from 2014
A Theory of Civil Liability, Nathan B. Oman
(21 George Mason Law Review 381-408 (2014))Book Review of New Perspectives in Mormon Studies: Creating and Crossing Boundaries, Nathan B. Oman
(101 Journal of American History 549-550 (2014))Publications from 2013
The Supreme Court's Theory of Private Law, Nathan B. Oman and Jason M. Solomon
(62 Duke Law Journal 1109-1168 (2013))Publications from 2012
Markets as a Moral Foundation for Contract Law, Nathan B. Oman
(98 Iowa Law Review 183-230 (2012))Promise and Private Law, Nathan B. Oman
(45 Suffolk University Law Review 935-960 (2012))Publications from 2011
Consent to Retaliation: A Civil Recourse Theory of Contractual Liability, Nathan B. Oman
(96 Iowa Law Review 529-579 (2011))How to Judge Shari'a Contracts: A Guide to Islamic Marriage Agreements in American Courts, Nathan B. Oman
(2011 Utah Law Review 287-334)Natural Law and the Rhetoric of Empire: Reynolds v. United States, Polygamy, and Imperialism, Nathan B. Oman
(88 Washington University Law Review 661-706 (2011))The Honor of Private Law, Nathan B. Oman
(80 Fordham Law Review 31-71 (2011))Why There is No Duty to Pay Damages: Powers, Duties, and Private Law, Nathan B. Oman
(39 Florida State University Law Review 137-161 (2011))Publications from 2010
Bargaining in the Shadow of God's Law: Islamic Mahr Contracts and the Perils of Legal Specialization, Nathan B. Oman
(45 Wake Forest Law Review 579-606 (2010))Mordred Had A Good Point, Nathan B. Oman
(43 Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, 201-09 (Spring 2010))Publications from 2009
A Pragmatic Defense of Contract Law, Nathan B. Oman
(98 Georgetown Law Journal 77-116 (2009))Preaching to the Court House and Judging in the Temple, Nathan B. Oman
(2009 Brigham Young University Law Review 157-224)Specific Performance and the Thirteenth Amendment, Nathan B. Oman
(93 Minnesota Law Review 2020-2099 (2009))"The Living Oracles": Legal Interpretation and Mormon Thought, Nathan B. Oman
(42 Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 1-19 (2009))Publications from 2008
The Scholar as Celebrant, Nathan B. Oman
(41 Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 163-166 (2008))Publications from 2007
A Defense of the Authority of Church Doctrine, Nathan B. Oman
(40 Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 1-28 (2007))The Failure of Economic Interpretations of the Law of Contact Damages, Nathan B. Oman
(64 Washington & Lee Law Review 829-875 (2007))Publications from 2006
Jurisprudence and the Problem of Church Doctrine, Nathan B. Oman
(2 Element 1-19 (2006))Publications from 2005
Corporations and Autonomy Theories of Contract: A Critique of the New Lex Mercatoria, Nathan B. Oman
(83 Denver University Law Review 101-145 (2005))Unity and Pluralism in Contract Law, Nathan B. Oman
(103 Michigan Law Review 1483-1506 (2005))Publications from 2004
"Secret Combinations": A Legal Analysis, Nathan B. Oman
(16 FARMS Review of Books 49-73 (2004))Statutory Interpretation in Econotopia, Nathan B. Oman
(25 Pace Law Review 49-90 (2004))Publications from 2003
Wagering on Religious Liberty, Nathan B. Oman
(116 Harvard Law Review 946-968 (2003))Publications from 2002
Book Review of Sarah Barringer Gordon's The Mormon Question: Polygamy and Constitutional Conflict in Nineteenth-Century America, Nathan B. Oman
(41 BYU Studies 71-80 (2002))Constitutional Law Leading Cases: Judicial Elections, Nathan B. Oman
(116 Harvard Law Review 272-282 (2002))The Story of a Forgotten Battle, Nathan B. Oman
(2002 Brigham Young University Law Review 745-757)Washington Supreme Court Upholds State Anti-Spamming Law, Nathan B. Oman
(115 Harvard Law Review 931-937 (2002))Publications from 2000
"Out of Zion Shall Go Forth the Law", Nathan B. Oman
(12 FARMS Review of Books 113-135 (2000))