John Locke Essay Competition · 2026 questions
John Locke Law Essay Questions
Law is the category with the clearest scholarly conventions and the one where students most often write like advocates instead of scholars. The judges reward a defined question, real cases and statutes cited properly, and an argument that concedes what it must.
The 2026 questions below are the official set. The 2027 questions are expected in late January 2027 and this page will carry them within 48 hours.
The 2026 Law questions, one by one
Quoted verbatim from the John Locke Institute. For each: what the examiners are testing, where strong students lose marks, the argument lines that hold up over 2,000 words, and what to read before you write.
What it is really asking
Whether punishment depends on desert, and whether desert depends on free will. It is a thought experiment that tests your grip on the justifications of punishment.
The trap
Assuming determinism abolishes punishment. Deterrence, incapacitation and rehabilitation survive determinism intact; only retribution is in question, and even that has compatibilist defenders.
Lines of argument that can carry 2,000 words
- Retribution falls, or narrows: if no one could have done otherwise, "just deserts" needs a compatibilist rescue (Frankfurt, Strawson's reactive attitudes). Assess whether the rescue works.
- Consequentialist sentencing is untouched and may grow: a determinist legislature has more reason, not less, to invest in rehabilitation and prevention. Norway is the natural example.
- The practical residue: mitigation doctrine already imports determinism piecemeal (diminished responsibility, duress, the age of criminal responsibility). The question is whether to generalise what the law already does at the margins.
Read first
- Freedom and Resentment, P. F. Strawson
- Punishment and Responsibility, H. L. A. Hart (the first two chapters)
- Free Will, Punishment and Criminal Responsibility, Derk Pereboom (the free-will sceptic's account of what remains)
What the judges reward in Law
The official criteria are knowledge and understanding, competent use of evidence, quality of argumentation, originality, structure, writing style and persuasive force. In this category that means:
- 1Cases and statutes cited accurately, in the form a law student would use, and used to make a point rather than to display knowledge.
- 2A stated framework for what punishment is for, applied consistently.
- 3Concessions: the strongest law essays give the other side its best case and then distinguish it.
- 4Comparative law where the question invites it.
A published winning essay in this category
"Should "innocent until proven guilty" apply not only to courts of law, but also to public censure?"
Huaming Li · Second Prize, Law, 2021
The essay defines its terms (public censure, public figure) from case law in the first page, announces three reasons for its answer, and then argues each with authorities in proper legal citation form: the ICCPR, New York Times v. Sullivan, Gertz. It reads like a student note in a law review, which is exactly the register the judges reward.
Read the essay on the Institute's siteOur analysis of every essay the Institute has published is in Past winning essays, analysed.
How to prepare for the 2027 Law questions before they are released
- 1
Learn a citation form (OSCOLA or Bluebook) and use it in endnotes. The 2021 second-prize essay does, and it shows.
- 2
For each question, find the leading case or statute first; build the essay around it.
- 3
Read one chapter of Hart before anything else; every sentencing question turns on his distinctions.
- 4
Write the concession paragraph before the conclusion. Law essays that never concede read as advocacy.
John Locke Essay Competition prep for Law
John Locke Basics
12 group sessions plus 6 hours of 1-on-1 mentorship, from question choice to a submission-ready draft. 38 of our 41 students were shortlisted in 2026.
Questions about the Law category
Yes, where they are relevant, and in a recognised citation form. The 2021 second-prize Law essay cites the ICCPR, five US Supreme Court decisions and several law-review articles, all in Bluebook form in the endnotes. Judges in this category are lawyers and academics who read citations as evidence of how carefully you have worked.
The other nine categories
John Locke guides
The complete guide
Eligibility, rules, dates, judging and prizes in one place.
John Locke Essay Competition prep
All four programmes, compared, with the 2026 results and the 2027 timeline.
Deadline and timeline 2027
Every date, confirmed or expected, on one page.
The interview after shortlisting
What the Institute says, what students report, how to prepare.
Past winning essays, analysed
The seven published prize essays, paragraph by paragraph.
Is it prestigious, and worth entering?
What a shortlist, commendation or prize is worth in admissions.
Free essay planner
Question deconstruction, argument map and self-audit sheet.
2027 dates and changes tracker
What is confirmed, what is expected, and every 2026 rule change.
The competition from Dubai and the UAE
How the calendar sits against UAE school terms and exam seasons.