 In 1951 he was appointed Vice-Chancellor of Melbourne University and held the position until his retirement in 1968.After retirement he was President of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology Inc. (ANZSOC) from 1969 to 1971

Paton's major published work, "A Text-Book of Jurisprudence", appeared in 1940 and went through further editions.It won the Swiney Prize, a British award for works on jurisprudence.