Dr Marco Cappelletti is a Lecturer in Private Law. Before joining King's in September 2026, he was a Tutorial Fellow in Law at Worcester College, University of Oxford. He previously held several academic positions at St John's College, Oxford, including a Junior Research Fellowship.

Marco holds a DPhil and an MJur from the University of Oxford, an LLM from Harvard Law School, where he studied as a Fulbright Scholar, and a law degree from the University of Perugia, Italy. Before pursuing an academic career, he practised law at the Rome office of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton.

Marco is the author of Justifying Strict Liability: A Comparative Analysis in Legal Reasoning (Oxford University Press, 2022), which was awarded the Canada Prize of the International Academy of Comparative Law. He is also a co-editor of Comparative Reflections in Private Law: Essays in Honour of Simon Whittaker (Oxford University Press, 2026).

His research has appeared in leading academic journals, including the Modern Law Review, the Law Quarterly Review, the Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, and Law and Philosophy. His work has also received the Ius Commune Prize for outstanding legal scholarship.

In 2026, Marco was awarded an Outstanding Early Career Visiting Fellowship by the Faculty of Law at the University of Hong Kong.

Research Interests

Marco's research interests lie in private law, particularly tort law, tort theory, and comparative tort law. His research combines doctrinal analysis with broader theoretical inquiry, often drawing on comparative perspectives.

Marco's past and current research covers a range of interconnected topics. These include the justifications for strict liability and vicarious liability; the role of foreseeability in private law, both in English law and from a comparative perspective; the principles governing remoteness of damage; the rule in Rylands v Fletcher; and the role of punishment in tort law. His current research also examines the circumstances in which employers and other organisations may be held responsible for wrongdoing committed by others, as well as fundamental questions concerning product liability, particularly the concept of defectiveness and the principles governing liability for harm caused by defective products.

Teaching Interests

• Tort
• Contract
• Obligations

Publications

M. Cappelletti, ‘Rylands v Fletcher Redux’ (forthcoming, Modern Law Review)

M. Cappelletti, ‘Remoteness in Negligence: A Critique and Reconstruction’ (2026) Oxford Journal of Legal Studies

M. Cappelletti, C. Kennefick, and D. Leczykiewicz (eds), Comparative Reflections in Private Law: Essays in Honour of Simon Whittaker (OUP 2026)

M. Cappelletti, ‘Foreseeability in the Law of Torts: A Comparative Analysis’ in Marco Cappelletti, Ciara Kennefick, and Dorota Leczykiewicz (eds), Comparative Reflections in Private Law: Essays in Honour of Simon Whittaker (OUP 2026)

M. Cappelletti, ‘Justifying Harm-Based Strict Liability: Reflections on Keating’s Reasonableness and Risk’ (2026) 45 Law and Philosophy 1

F. Bettini and M. Cappelletti, ‘Tackling Building Safety through Private Law: A Comparative Analysis’ in Matthew Bell, Susan Bright, Ben McFarlane, and Andrew Robertson (eds), Private Law and Building Safety (Hart Publishing 2025)

M. Cappelletti, ‘A Pluralist View of Vicarious Liability in Tort’ (2024) 140 Law Quarterly Review 61

M. Cappelletti, ‘Justifying Strict Liability: A Comparative Perspective’, British Association of Comparative Law, 31 March 2023, at https://british-association-comparative-law.org/2023/03/31/justifying-strict-liability-a-comparative-perspective-by-marco-cappelletti/

M. Cappelletti, Justifying Strict Liability: A Comparative Analysis in Legal Reasoning (OUP 2022) (awarded the Grand Prize of the International Academy of Comparative Law)

M. Cappelletti, ‘Compensatio lucri cum damno e Torts: prospettive inglesi alla luce delle quattro sentenze gemelle della Corte di Cassazione’ in Angelo Venchiarutti (ed), La compensatio lucri cum damno. Orientamenti italiani e europei a confronto (Pacini Giuridica 2020) 69

M. Cappelletti, ‘Compensatio Lucri cum Damno in Tort Law: An English Perspective on the Italian Four Judgments’ (2020) 28 European Review of Private Law 701

M. Cappelletti, ‘Réflexions comparatives sur le rôle de la punition en droit de la responsabilité délictuelle’ (2019) 116 Revue des contrats 293

M. Cappelletti, ‘Comparative Reflections on Punishment in Tort Law’ in J-S Borghetti and S Whittaker (eds), French Civil Liability in Comparative Perspective (Hart Publishing 2019) 329 (awarded the Ius Commune Prize for outstanding legal research)

M. Cappelletti, ‘Sui limiti alla risarcibilità iure hereditatis del danno biologico e morale in caso di morte del prossimo congiunto’ (2016) 2 Danno e Responsabilità 194

M. Cappelletti, ‘Punitive Damages and the Public/Private Distinction: A Comparison between the United States and Italy’ (2015) 32 Arizona Journal of International & Comparative Law 799

M. Cappelletti, ‘Rapporto tra Sentenze Penali e Giudizio Civile Risarcitorio’ (2015) 6 Danno e Responsabilità 587

M. Cappelletti, ‘La tutela dell’affidamento e il dovere di coerenza nel diritto comparato’ (2011) 2 Rivista Critica del Diritto Privato 313

Dr Cappelletti's full publication list can be found on his Pure Profile