Professor Shannon Hoctor has a specialisation in criminal justice, and in substantive criminal law in particular. He further has a particular research interest in legal history. He holds BA, LLB, and LLM degrees from the University of Cape Town (UCT), a doctorate in law (DJuris) from the University of Leiden (Netherlands), as well as a postgraduate diploma in Latin from the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. Professor Hoctor’s academic career began at UCT’s Faculty of Law as a part-time lecturer in specific crimes before he took up a contract-teaching position at the University of Port Elizabeth (UPE), where he was later appointed to a senior lectureship, teaching criminal law and jurisprudence. After his promotion to associate professor at UPE, Professor Hoctor took up a chair in law at the University of Natal (now the University of KwaZulu-Natal) in Pietermaritzburg, where he taught from 2002 to 2021. Professor Hoctor served as Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of KwaZulu-Natal from 2010 to 2011. He has published numerous articles in law journals, along with several chapters in books, and has authored books in criminal law, statutory offences and road traffic law, along with five edited works. He has served as editor-in-chief of the South African Journal of Criminal Justice since 2010, of Fundamina – A Journal of Legal History since 2019, and assistant editor of Obiter since 2002. Professor Hoctor has been admitted as an advocate of the High Court of South Africa. He serves as President of the Southern African Society of Legal Historians, and is a member of the Selden Society, the Stair Society, and the South African branch of the International Law Association.