This is the introduction to four lectures published together in the November 2019 issue of Lloyds Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly. The lectures were part of a special series, "The Common Law and Finance: Perspectives from the Bench" held in Oxford in 2018-2019. In the series, senior judges from four jurisdictions (Hong Kong, Australia, the UK and the US) were invited to reflect on the role of the common law judge in the regulation of commerce and finance. In this introduction, we explain the motivation for the series, provide a synopsis of the papers, highlight some common themes, and identify some areas that might usefully be the subject of further research.