Private Law
Trinity College Law School
Welcome
Convenor
Des Ryan
Biography
Dr. Desmond Ryan LL.B. (Dubl.), B.C.L., M.A. (Oxon.), Ph.D. (Dubl.), Barrister-at-Law, F.T.C.D. is an Associate Professor in the School of Law at Trinity College Dublin. He is a practising barrister at the Bar of Ireland and is also called to the Bar of England and Wales and the Bar of Northern Ireland.
Dr. Ryan's principal areas of research interest are in Employment Law and Tort Law, with a particular emphasis on the contract of employment, vicarious liability and dismissal law. He is interested in all aspects of the law of obligations and is the convenor of the Private Law Group.
He welcomes approaches from prospective doctoral candidates seeking to engage in research in these and related areas.
Dr Ryan teaches Employment Law, Tort Law, and Current Issues in Tort Theory and Practice on the LL.B. programmes and he has served as both Director of Teaching and Learning (Undergraduate) and as Director of the LLM Programmes.
He has published widely in journals including The Cambridge Law Journal, Professional Negligence, The Modern Law Review, The Civil Justice Quarterly, Legal Studies, The Conveyancer and Property Lawyer, the Dublin University Law Journal, the Irish Employment Law Journal and the Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly.
Publications and Further Research Outputs
Peer-Reviewed Publications
Desmond Ryan, "The Power and Limits of Close Connection: Analysing the Legacy of Bazley v Curry through three international case studies", The Supreme Court Law Review (Canada), 2, (Third Series), 2024, p31 - 47
Desmond Ryan, Marta Lasek-Markey, Andrea Mulligan, Linda Hogan, Bryana Tunder, Conscientious Objection in an Uncertain Time: New Challenges in Ireland, Religions, 14, 2023, p1 - 16
Desmond Ryan, Emerging institutional reforms of the labour law dispute resolution machinery in Ireland, and their implications for labour law norms, Labour Law Research Network, Warsaw, Poland, 24 June 2023, 2023
Desmond Ryan, Damages for false imprisonment by the state: counterfactual and vindicatory approaches in comparative perspective, Obligations X, Banff, Canada, 14 July 2023, 2023
Desmond Ryan, The Duty of Care in Negligence: University College Cork v Electricity Supply Board, Irish Supreme Court Review, 2022, p185 - 201
Connecting Cautiously: Vicarious Liability in Ireland in Comparative Perspective in, editor(s)Paula Giliker , Vicarious Liability in the Common Law World, Oxford, Hart, 2022, pp103 - 119, [Desmond Ryan ]
Allison Silink and Desmond Ryan, Twenty Years on from Lister v Hesley Hall Ltd - Is There Now a 'Tailored Close Connection Test' for Vicarious Liability in Cases of Sexual Abuse, or Not?, Professional Negligence, 38, (1), 2022, p5 - 23
The influence of Chief Baron Palles on the development of the doctrines of vicarious liability and the non-delegable duty of care in, editor(s)Oonagh B. Breen and Noel McGrath , Palles: The Legal Legacy of the Last Lord Chief Baron, Dublin, Four Courts Press, 2022, pp160 - 175, [Desmond Ryan]
Allison Silink and Desmond Ryan, The relevance of "control" in both stages of the test for vicarious liability in relationships that are "akin to employment" : an analysis of Blackpool in the Court of Appeal, Professional Negligence, 38, (4), 2022, p229 - 238
Desmond Ryan, Nano Nagle School v Daly, Irish Supreme Court Review, 2, 2021, p61 - 74
Desmond Ryan, Restating Restraint of Trade: The Implications of the Supreme Court's Judgment in Tillman v Egon Zehnder Ltd, Industrial Law Journal, 2020, p1 - 14
Rachael Walsh and Sarah Hamill (chapter authors) Deirdre Ahern and Suryapratim Roy (report editors), Policy Responses to Covid-19 In Ireland: Supporting Individuals, Communities, Businesses, and the Economy, COVID-19 Legal Observatory, Trinity College Dublin, December, 2020, p1 - 108
Desmond Ryan and Mark Bell, Disability, Reasonable Accommodation and the Employer's Obligations: Nano Nagle School v Daly, Modern Law Review, 83, 2020, p1059 - 1071
Cliodhna Murphy, Desmond Ryan, Work, Dignity and Non-Citizens: Reflections from the Irish Constitutional Order, Public Law, Issue 1 January 2020, 2019, p30-40
Desmond Ryan, Vicarious Liability for Independent Contractors: Orthodox Principles "On the Move"?, Irish Employment Law Journal, 16, (1), 2019, p4 - 9
Desmond Ryan, SAAMCO re-explored: BPE and the law of professional negligence, Journal of Professional Negligence, 34, (2), 2018, p71 - 86
Allison Silink and Desmond Ryan, Vicarious Liability for Independent Contractors, Cambridge Law Journal, 2018, p458 - 461
Desmond Ryan, Bullying and Harassment Litigation post-Ruffley: An Analysis of the Judgment of the Court of Appeal in McCarthy v ISS Ireland Ltd, Tort Law and Litigation Review, 2018, p19 - 28
Desmond Ryan, Vicarious liability and the non-delegable duty of care: application of the Supreme Court's guidance at first instance, Professional Negligence, 2018, p209 - 215
Part-Time Workers in, editor(s)Ailbhe Murphy Maeve Regan , Employment Law, Dublin, Bloomsbury, 2017, pp401 - 428, [Desmond Ryan]
Fixed-Term Workers in, editor(s)Ailbhe Murphy Maeve Regan , Employment Law, Dublin, Bloomsbury, 2017, pp429 - 467, [Desmond Ryan]
Desmond Ryan, 'From opportunity to occasion: vicarious liability in the High Court of Australia', Cambridge Law Journal, 76, 2017, p14-18
Bullying Harassment and Stress at Work in, editor(s)Ailbhe Murphy, Maeve Regan , Employment Law, Dublin, Bloomsbury, 2017, pp233 - 283, [Desmond Ryan]
Vicarious Liability in, editor(s)Ailbhe Murphy Maeve Regan , Employment Law, Dublin, Bloomsbury, 2017, pp285 - 325, [Desmond Ryan]
Individualism and Autonomy in Occupiers' Liability and Compensation Culture in, editor(s)Eoin Quill Raymond Friel , Damages and Compensation Culture: Comparative Perspectives, United Kingdom, Hart Publishing, 2016, [Desmond Ryan]
Desmond Ryan, "Close Connection" and "Akin to Employment": Perspectives on Fifty Years of Radical Developments in Vicarious Liability", The Irish Jurist, LVI, 2016, p239 - 260
Desmond Ryan, Atypical Work in the Emergence from Austerity: Assumptions and Expectations Re-Evaluated, Dublin University Law Journal, 39(1), 2016, p75 - 92
Whistleblowing: National Report for Ireland in, editor(s)PD Dr. Gerrit Forst LL.M. (Cantab.) Gastprofessor Gregor Thusig , Whistleblowing: International Academy of Comparative Labour Law, Germany, Springer International, 2016, pp181 - 186, [Dr. Desmond Ryan and Dr. Michael Doherty]
Desmond Ryan, Parallel Proceedings in Employment Law: An Analysis of the High Court judgments in Cunningham and Culkin, Dublin University Law Journal, 38, (1), 2015, p219 - 231
Dublin University Law Journal, 37, (2014), i, 1 - iv, 299p, Desmond Ryan and Oran Doyle, [eds.], 2010-2014
Desmond Ryan, Individual Autonomy and Personal Responsibility in Occupiers' Liability and Compensation Culture, Compensation Culture: Comparative Tort Reform in the 21st Century, University of Limerick, 23 May 2014, 2014
Desmond Ryan, The 'Constitutional Tort' in Ireland: Another Perspective on the Convergence Debate regarding Tort Law and Human Rights, Obligations VII, Hong Kong University, 15-18 July 2014, 2014
DESMOND RYAN, Tort Law Defences by James Goudkamp, Review of Tort Law Defences , by James Goudkamp , Legal Studies, 34, (4), 2014, p743
Dublin University Law Journal, 36, (2013), i, 1 - iv, 403p, Desmond Ryan and Oran Doyle, [eds.], 2010-2014
Desmond Ryan, From the Irish Supreme Court to the Strasbourg Grand Chamber: Domestic Approaches to Vicarious Liability under challenge in Europe', Society of Legal Scholars, Edinburgh, 3 September 2013, 2013
Dublin University Law Journal, 2012, 35, (2012), i, 1 - iv, 355p, Des Ryan and Oran Doyle, [eds.], 2010-2014
Delany, H. and Ryan D., "Springboard Injunctions: An Analysis of Emerging Principles in the Case Law of the English and Irish Courts, Civil Justice Quarterly, 31, (3), 2012, p284 - 303
Dublin University Law Journal, 34, (2011), i, 1 - iv, 280p, Desmond Ryan and Oran Doyle, [eds.]
Dublin University Law Journal, 33, (2011), i, 1 - ix,428p, Des Ryan and Oran Doyle, [eds.], 2010-2014
Report on Ireland in, editor(s)Monika Schlachter , The Prohibition of Age Discrimination in Labour Relations, Germany, Nomos, 2011, pp293 - 308, [Desmond Ryan and Michael Doherty]
Oran Doyle, Desmond Ryan, Judicial Interpretation of the European Convention on Human Rights Act 2003: Reflections and Analysis, Dublin University Law Journal, 33, 2011, p369 - 392
Dr. Desmond Ryan, "Article 2 ECHR and the Tort of Negligence: Where are we Now?", Society of Legal Scholars, Southampton, United Kingdom, 16 September 2010, 2010
Dr. Desmond Ryan & Dr. Michael Doherty, "Age Discrimination in Employment Law", International Academy of Comparative Law Congress , Washington DC, USA, July-August 2010, 2010
Desmond Ryan, Vindicating Rights through the Tortious Liability of Public Authorities: Emerging Themes and Tensions in Comparative Perspective, Trinity College Dublin, 2010
Part-Time Workers in, editor(s)Maeve Regan , Employment Law, Dublin, Tottel Publishing, 2009, pp281-303 - [Des Ryan]
Bullying, Harassment and Stress at Work in, editor(s)Maeve Regan , Employment Law, Dublin, Tottel Publishing, 2009, pp231-264 , [Des Ryan]
Desmond Ryan, Connections without consensus: recent approaches to vicarious liability in the Irish Supreme Court, Dublin University Law Journal, 31, (1), 2009, p457 - 472
Fixed-Term Workers in, editor(s)Maeve Regan , Employment Law, Dublin, Tottel Publishing, 2009, pp305-334 , [Des Ryan]
Neville CoxVal CorbettDesmond Ryan, Employment Law in Ireland, 1st, Dublin, Clarus Press, 2009, 1-892pp
Vicarious Liability in, editor(s)Maeve Regan , Employment Law, Dublin, Tottel Publishing, 2009, pp265-280 , [Des Ryan]
Desmond Ryan, Making connections: new approaches to vicarious liability in comparative perspective, Dublin University Law Journal, 30, (1), 2008, p41 - 70
Recent Judicial Approaches to Loss of Chance in Medical Negligence Cases in, editor(s)Professor William Binchy Dr. Ciaran Craven , Medical Negligence Litigation: Emerging Issues, Dublin, First Law, 2008, pp24 - 55, [Ray Ryan and Des Ryan]
Delany, H. and Ryan, D., Unconscionability: A Unifying Theme in Equity?, The Conveyancer and Property Lawyer, 72, (5), 2008, p401 - 436
Ray Ryan, Des Ryan, "Intoxicated Guests, Third Parties and the Law of Negligence", Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly, 2007, p108 - 119
Ray Ryan, Des Ryan, "Vicarious liability of employers - emerging themes and trends and their potential implications for Irish law", Irish Employment Law Journal, 2007, p3 - 8
Ray Ryan, Des Ryan, Asbestos litigation and the requirements of the negligence action: new developments in Irish and English law., Quarterly Review of Tort Law, 2007, p10 - 15
Desmond Ryan, "Royal Brunei Dishonesty: A Clear Welcome for Barlow Clowes", The Conveyancer and Property Lawyer, 2007, p168-
Marguerite Bolger, Des Ryan , "The mutual duty of fidelity in the contract of employment: significant recent developments", Irish Employment Law Journal, 2007, p112 - 120
Ray Ryan, Des Ryan , "MRSA litigation in Ireland: new questions for tort law", Quarterly Review of Tort Law, 2007, p12 - 19
Ray Ryan, Des Ryan , Bonus points: employers' discretion in the determination of bonus payments, Commercial Law Practitioner, 2007, p166 - 171
Desmond Ryan, "Conditional Fee Agreements: Strutting Their Stuff Around a Circle that Cannot be Squared?", Civil Justice Quarterly , 2006, p20 - 26
Desmond Ryan, "Royal Brunei Dishonesty: Clarity at Last?" , The Conveyancer and Property Lawyer, 2006, p188 - 197
Ray Ryan, Des Ryan, "Resolving the duress dilemma: guidance from the House of Lords", Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly, 2005, p421 - 430
Dublin University Law Journal, Dublin, Clarus Press, [eds.], 2004-2017
Non-Peer-Reviewed Publications
Desmond Ryan, Redmond on Dismissal Law, Third, Dublin, Bloomsbury Professional, 2017, 1 - 641pp
Employment Law in, editor(s)Professor William Binchy Raymond Byrne, Director of Research, Law Reform Commission , Annual Review of Irish Law 2008, Dublin, Thomson Round Hall, 2009, pp311 - 324, [Des Ryan]
Employment Law in, editor(s)Professor William Binchy Raymond Byrne, Director of Research, Law Reform Commission , Annual Review of Irish Law 2007, Dublin, Thomson Round Hall, 2008, pp257 - 279, [Des Ryan]
Research Expertise
Description
Employment Law and the contract of employment The relationship between statute and common law in employment law and tort law Tort Law esp. Negligence and Vicarious Liability Private Law Theory: ObligationsRecognition
Representations
Convenor for Ireland, Society of Legal Scholars
Awards and Honours
Elected a Visiting Fellow, Exeter College Oxford
Provost's Teaching Award, Trinity College Dublin, 2011
Invited as Academic Visitor, University of Melbourne Law School Centre for Employment Law and Industrial Relations
Nominated for a Provost's Teaching Award (ineligible for application due to having received this award in 2011)
Memberships
Convenor for Ireland and Member of Executive Committee, Society of Legal Scholars
Founder and Co-Director, Private Law Discussion Group, Trinity College Dublin
Founding Member, Employment Law Association of Ireland
European Employment Lawyers' Association
Health and Safety Lawyers' Association of Ireland
News and Events
Public Lecture - Thursday, 26 March 2020 at 6pm - Stranded High and Exposed: Reflecting on Private Law after Grenfell by Professor Susan Bright, University of Oxford.
CPD Event - Wednesday, 19 June 2019 at 6 pm - Civil Litigation Update
CPD Event - Wednesday, 20 June 2018 at 6 pm - Civil Litigation Update
Guest Lecture - Wednesday, 4 April 2018 at 6 pm by Professor Hanoch Dagan 'A Liberal Theory of Property'
Academic Members
Sarah Hamill
Biography
Dr Sarah Hamill joined Trinity College Dublin in September 2017. She previously worked as a Lecturer at The City Law School, City, University of London, and prior to that she was a Catalyst Fellow at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, Canada. She holds an LLB Honours from the University of Glasgow, an LLM from the University of Toronto, and a PhD in Law from the University of Alberta.
Dr Hamill's main areas of research are property law, housing law, and legal history. She has published widely in both areas. Her research in property law focuses on the interaction of public and private claims in the context of property law and housing law. Recent work includes a comparative analysis of restrictions on accessing property and housing, and an article about specific performance in Ireland.
Dr Hamill's legal history research has focused on the regulation of alcohol in early-twentieth-century Canada and explored how the province of Alberta sought to make its liquor laws effective. This research included an examination of the role plebiscites played in shaping the regulation of alcohol. In addition to her research in property and legal history, Dr Hamill has also published in the area of public law, specifically equality, and freedom of expression.
Dr Hamill"s work on legal history has been cited by the Tribunal des droits de la personne (Human Rights Tribunal of Quebec), her work on freedom of expression has been cited by the Quebec Court of Appeal, and her work on property law has been cited by the Supreme Court of Canada.
Dr Hamill has provided media commentary about her areas of research, in particular she has provided media commentary on drug and alcohol regulation in Canada, on the legal issues around student protests on Canadian university campuses, and on housing law issues in Ireland. She has written articles for the Irish Examiner, the Sunday Business Post, and the Irish Times, and she has appeared on Morning Ireland, News Talk, Drivetime, Prime Time, and CBC Toronto News. She is open to media queries on housing law and property law issues both in Ireland and beyond.
At Trinity Dr Hamill teaches English Land Law, and Housing Law and Rights in Context to undergraduate students. She also leads a final-year undergraduate dissertation group on Law and Empire. She has previously taught Private Law Remedies, and formerly led a final-year dissertation group on Property Law and Theory.
Publications and Further Research Outputs
Peer-Reviewed Publications
Mary Dobbs, Sarah E Hamill, and Robin Hickey, Land Law and Land Use, Irish Studies in International Affairs, 34, (2), 2023, p149 - 185
Sarah E. Hamill, Property Says No: Relational (In)Equality, Encampments, and Property Rights, Journal of Law and Social Policy, 36, 2023, p119 - 137
Sarah E Hamill and Ciara Hackett, Law of Obligations, Irish Studies in International Affairs, 34, (2), 2023, p439 - 479
Sarah E Hamill, Social Housing, Domestic Violence and the Public Sector Duty , Mercy Law Resource Centre, September, 2023, p1 - 32
At law, at equity, (sometimes) at odds with other judges: Chief Baron Palles and the Judicature Act in, editor(s)Oonagh B Breen and Noel McGrath , Palles: The Legal Legacy of the Last Lord Chief Baron , Dublin, Four Courts Press, 2022, pp35 - 51, [Sarah E. Hamill]
Sarah E. Hamill, Restricting Access to Property: Citizens, Owners, Residents, and Claims to Property, Common Law World Review, 2022
Charlie Wing and the Alberta Liquor Control Board: The Story of the first Chinese-Canadian hotel licensee in post-prohibition Alberta in, Dan Malleck and Cheryl Krasnick Warsh , Pleasure and Panic: New Essays on the History of Alcohol and Drugs , Vancouver, University of British Columbia Press, 2022, pp245 - 269, [Sarah E. Hamill]
David DesBaillets & Sarah E. Hamill, Coming in from the Cold: Canada's National Housing Strategy, Homelessness, and the Right to Housing in a Transnational Perspective, Canadian Journal of Law and Society , 2022, p1-21
Sarah E. Hamill, Getting the Reasoning Right: Gibbons v Doherty and ADT Investments Ltd [2020] IESC 72, Irish Supreme Court Review, 4, 2022, p83 - 100
Sarah Hamill, "The Properties of Universities and Universities' Property: Academic Freedom, Freedom of Expression, and Accessing Campuses", CAUT Journal, 2021, p1 - 16
Journal of Canadian Studies, 55, 2, (2021), 231 - 480p, Michael Boudreau and Sarah E Hamill, [eds.]
Sarah E Hamill, Enduring Trespass: What Adverse Possession Reveals about Property, Supreme Court Law Review, 2nd Series, 96, 2020, p215 - 236
Sociology of contract and property law in, editor(s)Jiri Priban , Research Handbook on the Sociology of Law, Cheltenham, UK, Edward Elgar, 2020, pp258 - 270, [Sarah E Hamill]
Rachael Walsh and Sarah Hamill (chapter authors) Deirdre Ahern and Suryapratim Roy (report editors), Policy Responses to Covid-19 In Ireland: Supporting Individuals, Communities, Businesses, and the Economy, COVID-19 Legal Observatory, Trinity College Dublin, December, 2020, p1 - 108
Sarah E Hamill, Public Policy or Intent: The Rationale Underlying Easements of Necessity, Dublin University Law Journal, 42, (1), 2020, p63 - 87
Sarah E. Hamill, Review of Legal History, Social & Legal Studies, 2019
Sarah E Hamill, Bursting its Bounds: Ownership and the City, University of British Columbia Law Review, 51, (3), 2018, p739 - 772
Sarah E Hamill, Caught between Deference and Indifference: The Right to Housing in Canada, Canadian Journal of Human Rights, 7, (1), 2018, p67 - 95
Sarah E. Hamill, Sex, Race, and Motel Guests: Another Look at King v Barclay, Osgoode Hall Law Journal, 54, (3), 2017, p851 - 875
Pippa Feinstein & Sarah E. Hamill, The Silencing of LGBTTQQIA Voices in the Litigation over Trinity Western University's Proposed Law School, Windsor Yearbook of Access to Justice, 34, (2), 2017, p156 - 185
Sarah E. Hamill, Community, Property, and Human Rights: The Failure of Property-as-Respect, Journal of Law and Social Policy, 27, 2017, p7 - 28
Sarah E. Hamill, The Public Right to Fish and the Triumph of Colonial Dispossession in Ireland and Canada, University of British Columbia Law Review, 50, (1), 2017, p53 - 94
Sarah E. Hamill, Of Malls and Campuses: The Regulation of University Campuses and Section 2(b) of the Charter, Dalhousie Law Journal, 40, (1), 2017, p157 - 187
Sarah E. Hamill, The Alberta Liquor Control Board and the Question of Administrative Independence, 1924193, Alberta Law Review, 53, (3), 2016, p747 - 775
Sarah E. Hamill, The Meta-Constitution: Amendment, Recognition, and the Continuing Puzzle of Supreme Law in Canada, Oxford University Commonwealth Law Journal, 16, (1), 2016, p28 - 64
Sarah E. Hamill, Liquor Laws, Legal Continuity, and Hotel Beer Parlours in Alberta, 1924 to c 1939, Histoire socilae/Social History, 49, (100), 2016, p581 - 602
Sarah E. Hamill, Common Law Property Theory and Jurisprudence in Canada, Queen's Law Journal, 40, (2), 2015, p679 - 703
Sarah E. Hamill, Prohibition Plebiscites on the Prairies: (Not-So) Direct Legislation and Liquor Control in Alberta, 1915 to 1932, Law and History Review, 33, (2), 2015, p377 - 410
Sarah E. Hamill, Location Matters: How Nuisance Governs Access to Property for Free Expression, University of British Columbia Law Review, 47, (1), 2014, p129 - 165
Sarah E. Hamill, Private Rights to Public Property: the Evolution of Common Property in Canada, McGill Law Journal, 58, (2), 2012, p365 - 403
Sarah E. Hamill, Making the Law Work: Alberta's Liquor Act and the Control of Medicinal Liquor from 1916 to 1924, Canadian Journal of Law and Society, 27, (2), 2012, p249 - 265
Sarah E. Hamill, Private Property Rights and Public Responsibility: Leaving Room for the Homeless, Windsor Review of Legal and Social Issues, 30, 2011, p91 - 114
Non-Peer-Reviewed Publications
Sarah E. Hamill, The Celtic Paper Tiger: Ireland's Residential Tenancies Acts 2004-2022 and the Chimera of Tenants" Rights, Institute for Advanced Legal Studies, Director's Seminar Series, Online, 29 March 2023, 2023, Institute for Advanced Legal Studies
Sarah Hamill, Sociology of contract and property law, 2021 Socio-legal Studies Association Conference, Cardiff University/Online, March 2021, 2021
Sarah E. Hamill, Review of Justifying Private Rights , by Simone Degeling, Michael Crawford and Nicholas Tiverios (eds) , Modern Law Review, 2021
Sarah E. Hamill, Getting the Reasoning Right: Gibbons v Doherty and ADT Investments Ltd [2020] IESC 72, Irish Supreme Court Review Conference, Online, November 2021, 2021
Alan Eustace, Sarah Hamill, Andrea Mulligan, Public Health Law During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Ireland: A Public Policy Report of the COVID-19 Legal Observatory , Covid-19 Law and Human Rights Observatory, Trinity College Dublin, August, 2021, p1 - 142
Sarah E. Hamill, Review of Possession, Relative Title, and Ownership in English Law, by Luke Rostill , Cambridge Law Journal, 80, (3), 2021, p624-627
Sarah E. Hamill, Understanding Ownership, New Directions in Private Law Theory, University College London/Onlline, November 2021, 2021
Sarah E Hamill, Eoin O'Dell, Alan Eustace, Philip Gavin and Sadhbh McGrath, Embedding Group Work and Innovative Assessment in the Private Law Curriculum, The Society of Legal Scholars Annual Conference, online/ Durham University, 31/08 - 3/09 2021, 2021
Sarah Hamill and Sarah Keenan, Critical Perspectives on Land Registration, 10/2020-01/2021, 2020, Online/Birkbeck, University of London
Sarah Hamill, The Properties of Universities and Universities' Property: Academic Freedom, Freedom of Expression, and Accessing Campuses, Free Speech on Campus, Toronto, ON, February 2019, 2019
Sarah Hamill, Review of New Perspectives on Land Registration , by Amy Goymour, Stephen Watterson, and Martin Dixon (eds) , Legal Studies, 39, (3), 2019, p550-553
Sarah Hamill, Time, Contingency, and the Duty to Act like an Owner: What Adverse Possession Reveals about property, New Work in Property and Trusts Symposium, University College London, May 2019, 2019
Sarah E. Hamill, Review of Property Law in a Globalizing World, by Amnon Lehavi , International and Comparative Law Quarterly, 2019
Sarah E Hamill, "Goodwill or Good excuse?: the origins and afterlife of Ulster Transport Authority v James Brown & Sons", Reputation as Property: perspectives from tort and property, Trinity College Dublin, January 2019, 2019
Sarah Hamill, Public Rights of Way Over Private Land: Aberration, Interruption, or Correction?, Colloquium: Intersections in Private Law, Sydney, Australia, August 2019, 2019
Sarah Hamill and David Mangan, Reputation as Property: Perspectives from Property and Tort, 2019, Dublin
Sarah Hamill, Thinking About Public Property: The Nature of Land, Owners, and Use, Annual Meeting of the Association for Law, Property and Society,, Maastricht University, May-June 2018, 2018
Sarah Hamill, Enduring Trespass and Challenging Property: What Adverse Possession Tells us About Property, Modern Studies in Property Law 2018, University College London, April 2018, 2018
Sarah Hamill, Charlie Wing and the Alberta Liquor Control Board: Anti-Chinese Racism and the Liquor Laws in Post-Prohibition Alberta, Law at the Crossroads - The Annual Meeting of the Law and Society Association, Toronto, ON, 2018
Sarah Hamill, Involuntary Transfers of Ownership and the Search for Certainty in Property, Modern Studies in Property Law Publication Workshop, Queen's College, Cambridge, April 2017, 2017
Sarah Hamill, Owners and Citizens: Entitlements to Property and Questions of Community, A Workshop on Property, Vulnerability, and Resilience, University of Essex, September 2017, 2017
Sarah Hamill, The Last Gasp of Temperance? Liberalising the Liquor Laws in Post-War Alberta, 1945-1958, Canada's Legal Past: Future Directions in Canadian Legal History, University of Calgary, July 2017, 2017
Sarah Hamill, Bursting its Bounds: Ownership and the City, Property in the City, University of British Columbia, March 2017, 2017
Sarah Hamill, "Fishing Rights and the Triumph of Colonial Dispossession" , Confronting the Violence of Capital, Historical Materialism 2016 Conference, York University, May 2016, 2016
Sarah Hamill, A Theory of Urban Property, Challenging Traditional Notions of Property in Land Use Planning, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, June 2016, 2016
Sarah Hamill, Sex, Race, and Motel Guests: Another Look at King v Barclay, Law, History, Authority - A Symposium in Honour of Douglas Hay, York University, May 2016, 2016
Sarah E. Hamill, Ola Malik, Megan van Huizen, Tent Cities, Homelessness and the Charter: A Commentary on Abbotsford (City) v Shantz, Digest of Municipal and Planning Law, 7, (16), 2016, p1 - 6
Sarah E. Hamill, Ola Malik, Imposing Limits on the Public's Right to Access Transit Services: Is the Alberta Court of Appeal's Train of Thought in the Case of R v SA on the Right Track, Digest of Municipal and Planning Law, 6, (24), 2014, p1 - 8
Sarah Hamill, The Failure of Prohibition and the Success of Government Control: Legal Change in Alberta, Law on the Edge - Joint Meeting of the CLSA and LSA-ANZ, University of British Columbia, July 2013, 2013
Sarah E. Hamill, Judges and Religious-Based Reasoning: A Response to Ginn and Blaikie, Constitutional Forum constitutionnel, 21, (1), 2012, p15 - 24
Sarah E. Hamill, McIvor v Canada and the 2010 Amendments to the Indian Act: A Half-hearted Remedy to Historical Injustice, Constitutional Forum constitutionnel, 19, (2), 2011, p75 - 84
Sarah E. Hamill, Review of of Canadian State Trials, Volume III: Political Trials and Security Measures, 1840-1914 , by Barry Wright & Susan Binne , Labour/Le Travail, 66, 2010, p2
Research Expertise
Recognition
Awards and Honours
Eleanor Luxton Historical Foundation Graduate Fellowship
University of Alberta Foote Graduate Award
The Honourable N.D. McDermid Graduate Scholarship in Law
Alberta Law Foundation Ph.D Scholarship
University of Alberta, Faculty of Law Graduate Scholarship
Memberships
Society of Legal Scholars
Canadian Law and Society Association
Andrea Mulligan
Biography
I am an Assistant Professor of Law at the School of Law, teaching and researching in the field of Medical Law and Bioethics. My particular area of specialisation is the legal regulation of human reproduction, encompassing maternity care, assisted reproduction and abortion. I am interested in both the public law and private law aspects of this research field.
I am PI on the IRC-funded CORALE Project investigating attitudes to conscientious objection in abortion services in Ireland.
I graduated from the LL.B programme at the School of Law, before going on to study on the LL.M programme at Harvard Law School, where I specialised in reproductive technologies and constitutional law. I returned to TCD for my doctoral studies, and was awarded my doctorate in 2014, for my thesis entitled "Fundamental Right and Organising Principles in the Regulation of Assisted Reproduction in Ireland." I was called to the Bar of Ireland in 2012.
I was appointed a Commissioner at the Law Reform Commission of Ireland in 2020.
Publications and Further Research Outputs
Peer-Reviewed Publications
Andrea Mulligan, Surrogacy and the Significance of Gestation: Implications for Law and Policy, Bioethics, 2024, p1 - 10
Andrea Mulligan, Constitutional Rights in Assisted Human Reproduction: Charting the Contemporary Impact of Marital Privacy, Dublin University Law Journal, 2024
Desmond Ryan, Marta Lasek-Markey, Andrea Mulligan, Linda Hogan, Bryana Tunder, Conscientious Objection in an Uncertain Time: New Challenges in Ireland, Religions, 14, 2023, p1 - 16
Andrea Mulligan and Rebecca Brown, 'Maternal Request Caesarean Section' and Medical Necessity, Clinical Ethics, 18, (3), 2023, p312 - 320
Andrea Mulligan and Clayton Ó Néill, Health Law: Convergence and Divergence on the Island of Ireland, Irish Studies in International Affairs, 34, (2), 2023, p285 - 329
Andrea Mulligan, Anonymous gamete donation and Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights: The case for incompatibility, Medical Law International, 22, (2), 2022, p119 - 146
Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly Special Issue: Covid-19 and Legal Responses on the Island of Ireland, 73, 2, (2022), Ollie Bartlett, Neil Maddox, Ronagh McQuigg and Andrea Mulligan, [Guest Editor]
Joan Gabrielle Lalor , Greg Sheaf , Andrea Mulligan , Magdalena Ohaja , Ashamole Clive , Sylvia Murphy-Tighe , Esperanza Debby Ng , Shefaly Shorey, Parental experiences with changes in maternity care during the Covid-19 pandemic: A mixed-studies systematic review, Women and Birth , 2022, p5
Sarah Hamill and Andrea Mulligan, Public/Private Healthcare in a Pandemic in n Public Health Law During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Ireland Editors: Alan Eustace, Sarah Hamill, Andrea Mulligan A Public Policy Report of the COVID-19 LEGAL OBSERVATORY School of Law, Trinity College Dublin, August 2021, 2021, August 2021, 2021
Andrea Mulligan, Patient Confidentiality and Disclosure Of HIV Status: Disentangling the Entitlement to Disclose From the Duty To Warn, Medical Law Review, 29, (4), 2021, p688 - 698
Conor Casey, David Kenny and Andrea Mulligan, Public Health Governance: The Role of NPHET, in Public Health Law During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Ireland Editors: Alan Eustace, Sarah Hamill, Andrea Mulligan A Public Policy Report of the COVID-19 LEGAL OBSERVATORY School of Law, Trinity College Dublin, August 2021, 2021
Andrea Mulligan, A Vindicatory Approach to Tortious Liability for Mistakes in Assisted Human Reproduction, Legal Studies, 40, (1), 2020, p55 - 76
Andrea Mulligan, Protecting Identity in Collaborative Assisted Reproduction: The Right To Know One's Gestational Surrogate, International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family, 34, (1), 2020, p20 - 42
Redressing Unauthorised Vaginal Examination Through Litigation in, editor(s)Camilla Pickles and Jonathan Herring , Women's Birthing Bodies and the Law: Unauthorised Intimate Examinations, Power and Vulnerability, Oxford, Hart Publishing , 2020, pp171 - 194, [Andrea Mulligan]
Surrogacy Law in Ireland: The Troubling Consequences of Legislative Inertia in, editor(s)Peter Dunne and Lynsey Black , Law and Gender in Modern Ireland, Hart Publishing , 2019, pp117 - 136, [Andrea Mulligan]
Andrea Mulligan, Identity Rights and Sensitive Ethical Questions: The European Convention on Human Rights and the Regulation of Surrogacy Arrangements, Medical Law Review, 2018, p449 - 475
Mulligan, Constitutional Aspects of International Data Transfer and Mass Surveillance, Irish Jurist, 55, 2016, p199 - 208
Andrea Mulligan, The Right to Travel for Abortion Services: A Case Study in "Cross-Border Reproductive Care, European Journal of Health Law, 22, (3), 2015, p239 - 266
Andrea Mulligan, Self-Determination, Capacity and the Right to Die by Hunger Strike: Governor of X Prison v PMcD, Irish Jurist, 54, (2), 2015, p165 - 172
Andrea Mulligan, Maternal Brain Death and Legal Protection of the Foetus in Ireland, Medical Law International, 15, 2015, p182 - 195
Andrea Mulligan, Article 8 and the Right to Respect for the Decision to Have or Not to Have a Child, European Human Rights Law Review, 4, 2014, p378 - 387
Andrea Mulligan, Constitutional Parenthood in the Age of Assisted Reproduction" (2014) 48(1) Irish Jurist , Irish Jurist, 48, (1), 2014, p90 - 122
Andrea Mulligan, From Murray v Ireland to Roche v Roche: Re-Evaluating the Right to Procreate in the Context of Assisted Reproduction, Dublin University Law Journal, 35, 2012, p261 - 291
Andrea Mulligan, Tortious Liability for Mistakes in IVF: Duty of Care, Public Policy and the Non-Identity Problem in A(A Minor) and B(A Minor) v A Health and Social Services Trust, Dublin University Law Journal, 34, 2011, p256 - 270
Andrea Mulligan, Frozen Embryo disposition in Ireland After Roche v Roche, Irish Jurist, 46, (1), 2011, p202 - 210
Non-Peer-Reviewed Publications
Andrea Mulligan, Conscientious Objection in Termination of Pregnancy Services in Ireland: Interdisciplinary Insights, Trinity Long Room Hub Medical Humanities Seminar, Trinity Long Room Hub, 18 April 2024, 2024, Medical Humanities Research Group TCD
Mulligan, Caulfield, Grant, Hunt-Sheridan, Molony, O'Brien and Tolan, Law Reform Commission Report: A Regulatory Framework for Adult Safeguarding, LRC-128, Law Reform Commission, April 2024, 2024
Andrea Mulligan, Conscientious Objection in Termination of Pregnancy in Ireland: Doctrinal and Empirical Insights, Society of Legal Scholars Conference 2024, University of Bristol, 3-5 September 2024, 2024
Andrea Mulligan and Joan Lalor, Conscientious Objection in Termination of Pregnancy in Ireland: Balancing Rights and Ensuring Service Provision, Conference of the European Association of Health Law 2024, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland, 18-20 September 2024, 2024
Andrea Mulligan and Joan Lalor, Uncharted Territory: Investigating the Right toConscientious Objection in Termination ofPregnancy in Ireland, Law and Society, Denver, Colorado, 6-9 June 2024, 2024
Andrea Mulligan, Modern Marital Privacy: Re-Evaluating McGee for Contemporary Reproduction, CONTRACEPTION AND THE CONSTITUTION: REPRODUCTIVE AUTONOMY AND CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGE AFTER MCGEE V ATTORNEY GENERAL, Trinity College Dublin, Long Room Hub, 2 December 2023, 2023
Andrea Mulligan, Health Law on the Island of Ireland, Cross-Border Practice on the Island of Ireland: Convergence and Divergence, Distillery Building, Bar of Ireland, 22 February 2023, 2023, Bar of Ireland
Andrea Mulligan, Clinical Negligence as a Mechanism for the Vindication of Fundamental Rights: The Rights of Family Members, Society of Legal Scholars Conference, King's College London, 7-9 September 2022, 2022
Andrea Mulligan, Surrogacy and the Significance of Gestation: Implications for Law and Policy, Guest Presentation at Centre for Health, Law, and Society, University of Bristol, Centre for Health, Law, and Society, University of Bristol, 7 July 2022, 2022, Centre for Health, Law, and Society, University of Bristol
Andrea Mulligan, The Covid 19 Pandemic and the Rule of Law, European Lawyers Union and Irish Centre for European Law Conference,`The Rule of Law in the European Union", The Long Room Hub, Trinity College Dublin, 11 November 2022, 2022, European Lawyers Union and Irish Centre for European Law
Andrea Mulligan, Surrogacy and the Significance of Gestation: Implications for Law and Policy, Presentation to Medical Law and Ethics Discussion Group, Faculty of Law, University of Oxford, Faculty of Law, University of Oxford, 27 April 2022, 2022, Medical Law and Ethics Discussion Group
Alan Eustace, Sarah Hamill, Andrea Mulligan, Public Health Law During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Ireland, COVID-19 LEGAL OBSERVATORY, School of Law, Trinity College Dublin, August, 2021
Andrea Mulligan, Regulating Abortion in the Republic of Ireland, Regulating Abortion: The English, French and Irish Perspectives, Bar Library, Inn of Court of Northern Ireland, 30 January 2020, 2020, European Circuit/Bar of Northern Ireland
Andrea Mulligan, State Obligations and Gamete Donor Anonymity under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, The complicated relationship between genetic relatedness, the family, and the state, Umea, Sweden, 8 May 2020, 2020
Andrea Mulligan, The Law of Assisted Human Reproduction in Ireland (Webinar), Family Lawyers Association of Ireland CPD Lecture Series, 7 May 2020, 2020, Family Lawyers Association of Ireland
Pandemic Ethics Advisory Group, 'Ethical considerations relating to long-term residential care facilities', National Public Health Emergency Team, 2020, - 11
Pandemic Ethics Advisory Group, 'Ethical Considerations Relating to Critical Care in the context of COVID-19 ', National Public Health Emergency Team, 2020, - 6
Pandemic Ethics Advisory Group, 'Ethical Considerations for PPE Use by Health Care Workers in a Pandemic', National Public Health Emergency Team, 2020, - 2
Andrea Mulligan, Recent Developments in the Law of Assisted Human Reproduction in Ireland, Medico-Legal Society of Ireland Webinar, 12 December 2020, 2020
Andrea Mulligan, Beware "Best Interests" In the Regulation of Reproductive Gene Editing Technologies, Society of Legal Scholars Annual Conference 2020, Preston, 2 September 2020, 2020
Andrea Mulligan, Limitations in Human Rights and Public Health Laws - Invited Discussant, The Protection of Human Rights in Infectious Disease Control: Lessons for Global Health Governance from a Comparison of National Judicial Practice, Queen's University Belfast, 12 - 13 Nov 2020, 2020
Andrea Mulligan, The Developing Law of Open Disclosure in the Republic of Ireland, Wellcome Workshop: PATIENT SAFETY AND REDRESS, Queen's University Belfast, 6 March 2020, 2020
Pandemic Ethics Advisory Group, 'Procedural Values for Decision Making in a Pandemic', National Public Health Emergency Team, Gov.ie, National Public Health Emergency Team, Department of Health, 2020, - 6
Pandemic Ethics Advisory Group, 'Ethical framework for decision-making in a pandemic', National Public Health Emergency Team, Gov.ie, National Public Health Emergency Team, 2020, - 19
Andrea Mulligan, Protecting the Best Interests of the Future Child in the Regulation of Gene Editing Technologies, European Association of Health Law Conference, Toulouse, September 2019, 2019
Andrea Mulligan, Protecting the Best Interests of the Child in the Regulation of Gene Editing Technologies, 33rd European Conference on Philosophy of Medicine and Healthcare (ESPMH), Oslo, August 2019, 2019
Andrea Mulligan, Should there be a Legal Right to Know your Surrogate? Identity and the Role of Gestational Motherhood, British Sociology Association, Human Reproduction Study Group Annual Conference, May 2018, 2018
Oran Doyle, Andrea Mulligan and Mary Rogan, Graduate Attributes, Curriculum Reform, and Pedagogical Innovation, LERU Law Schools Conference - The Future of Legal Pedagogy, Lund, 14 November 2018, 2018
Andrea Mulligan, Article 8 ECHR and the Right to Identity in Assisted Human Reproduction, Society of Legal Scholars Annual Conference, London, September 2018, 2018
Andrea Mulligan, Tortious Liability for Mistakes in Reproductive Treatment, Society of Legal Scholars Annual Conference, Dublin, September 2017, 2017
Andrea Mulligan Simon Mills, Medical Law in Ireland, 1st, Dublin, Bloomsbury Professional , 2017, 1 - 619pp
Andrea Mulligan, Regulation of Surrogacy and the ECHR, Surrogacy: Forging a legal and Policy Framework for Ireland, 2016
Andrea Mulligan, The Use of DNAR Orders in Irish Law, CMG Interdisciplinary Professional Conference, 'Legalities in End of Life Care, Dublin, 2015
International Conference on Reproductive Rights, New Reproductive Technologies and the European Fertility Market, Gamete Donation Across International Borders: The Challenge of Ensuring Donor Contact in Europe, International Conference on Reproductive Rights, New Reproductive Technologies and the European Fertility Market, Santander, Spain, 2015
Andrea Mulligan, The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Acts and the Protection of the Best Interests of Future Children., Postgraduate Bioethics Conference, King's College London, May 2013, 2013
Andrea Mulligan, Crafting a Legal Framework for Assisted Reproduction: Values, Rules and Judicial Incrementalism, Irish Association of Law Teachers Annual Conference, Dublin, November 2012, 2012
Andrea Mulligan, The Contested Nature of the Best Interests Test, Conference on the Children's Rights Referendum, TCD, 2012
Andrea Mulligan, Revising the Meaning of Life: Legal Protection of Embryos in Ireland and Germany and Assisted Human Reproduction, Irish Society of Comparative Law, UCD, April 2011, 2011
Andrea Mulligan, Roche v Roche: some guidance for frozen embryo disputes, Trinity College Law Review, 13, 2010, p168 - 181
Recognition
Representations
Appointed by Government of Ireland as Law Reform Commissioner (Part Time) 2020 - 2025. The Law Reform Commission is the independent statutory body with responsibility for law reform in Ireland. The vast majority of its recommendations are ultimately enacted as law by the legislature. Commissioners are nominated by the Attorney General and appointed by the Government. I am the only academic Commissioner and the other three part-time Commissioners are current or former judges of the High Court and Supreme Court. I was Coordinating Commissioner on the Report on a Regulatory Framework for Adult Safeguarding (Approx 1000 pages), meaning that I had overall responsibility for the content of the Report and was responsible for achieving consensus among all the commissioners on the recommendations.
Independent Ethics Advisor, KitNewCare. This is a pan-European project investigating how to make kidney healthcare more sustainable, funded by the EU's Horizon 2020 project and UK Research and Innovation. I have been appointed as Independent Ethics Advisor for the duration of the project (4 years). During this time I will provide ongoing consultancy services and write annual reports on issues arising. Details on the project can be found here:https://kitnewcare.eu/
Provided preliminary data from CORALE Study to Marie O'Shea for use in the Independent Review of the Operation of the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018, commissioned by the Department of Health. The final draft of the report published in April 2023 cites the CORALE Study 12 times and specifically acknowledges that our data provided information that would not otherwise have been known. The final report is available here:https://docs.google.com/file/d/1OZJj1KXvFir86JcEA0RiSQJpagfT6MHF/view
Invited to address the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Assisted Dying. I was cited 9 times in the Final Report of the Committee. My contribution to the debate can be found here:https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/joint_committee_on_assisted_dying/2023-06-20/
Invited to address Joint Oireachtas Committee on International Surrogacy. I was invited to address the Committee in my capacity as an expert on surrogacy law. My contribution can be found here:https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/joint_committee_on_international_surrogacy/2022-04-14/2/
Invited to address Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health on Adult Safeguarding, in my capacity as Law Reform Commissioner and Coordinating Commissioner of the Adult Safeguarding Project
Engaged by the Attorney General to advise on the Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Act 2024. I was engaged as an academic expert on surrogacy to advise on the law of international surrogacy. Through this piece of work I had the opportunity to directly implement my academic research on surrogacy into law.
Journal of Law and the Biosciences, Peer Reviewer
Irish Supreme Court Review, Peer Reviewer
Lecturer in Assisted Human Reproduction on Law Society of Ireland, PPC II
Lecturer in Assisted Human Reproduction on King's Inns Advanced Diploma in Medical Law
Engaged by the Attorney General to advise on constitutional law issues arising in respect of, and work on the drafting of, the Birth Information and Tracing Act 2022. This seminal piece of law reform gave adopted persons a legal right to access to their birth information for the first time in the history of the Irish State.
Member of the Pandemic Ethics Advisory Group, March - July 2020. This was a subgroup of the National Public Health Emergency Team, the expert advisory group that advised Government during the COVID-19 pandemic. I was jointly responsible for drafting guidance documents on ethical topics such as allocation of critical care resources. Our guidance documents were disseminated across the health service by the HSE/Department of Health and formed the practical basis for ethical decisions during the most acute phase of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Engaged as an academic expert by the UK Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to provide an expert report for the High Court of England and Wales on surrogacy laws in the Member States of the Council of Europe. Report cited by Mrs Justice Lieven of the High Court of England and Wales in her judgment.
Commissioned by Special Rapporteur for Children Geoffrey Shannon to work on legal report on discovery of mass graves at Tuam Mother & Baby Home. Report contributed to ultimate decision by government to exhume bodies.
Briefed by Attorney General to represent State in case of IRM v Minister for Justice before the Supreme Court. Case defined scope of right to life of unborn, prior to repeal of 8th Amendment.
Bioethics (Journal), Peer Reviewer
Invited to provide policy briefing to Irish Hospice Foundation on constitutional issues and end of life care, including assisted suicide.
Council Member, Irish Association of Law Teachers. This is the association for Law teachers in Ireland. My role involved liaising between the IALT and the Trinity Law School.
Medical Law Review, Peer Reviewer
Journal of Medical Ethics, Peer Reviewer
Medical Law International, Peer Reviewer
Fulbright Commission, Interview Panel for Law Scholarships. I was invited by the Fulbright Commission of Ireland to sit on the law interview panel for the award of student and academic fellowships to study in the United States.
Member, Incorporated Council for Law Reporting in Ireland. This is the body that is responsible for the reporting of cases of the Superior Courts of Ireland. I am involved both in the policy decisions of the Council and in the review of decisions of the courts to decide which should be formally reported. Reported cases typically are more widely used in legal argument and cited in course so the decision as to what cases are reported has significant potential influence on development of the law.
Commissioned by Special Rapporteur for Children Geoffrey Shannon to prepare a report on uncommenced sections of the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015 relating to assisted human reproduction.
Awards and Honours
Visiting Fellow, Wadham College Oxford
Elected to Scholarship, Trinity College Dublin
Lucy Gwynn Prize, Trinity College Dublin
Kingsmill Moore Prize
Fulbright Scholarship
Dean's Scholar in Legal and Ethical Issues in Reproductive Technologies
Ussher PhD Fellowship, Trinity College Dublin
Memberships
European Association of Health Law
International Association of Bioethics
Northern/Irish Health Law and Ethics Network
Ethics, Law and Pregnancy in Ireland Network (ELPIN)
Bar of Ireland
Eoin O'Dell
Biography
Eoin O'Dell BCL(NUI), BCL(Oxon), PhD (Cantab), FTCD, Barrister-at-Law. Dr O'Dell lectures Contract, Restitution and Freedom of Expression, researches and publishes primarily in the fields of private and commercial law, and has been President of the Irish Association of Law Teachers and Editor of the Dublin University Law Journal.
Publications and Further Research Outputs
Peer-Reviewed Publications
Eoin O'Dell, Property and Proportionality: Evaluating Ireland's Tobacco Packaging Legislation, Queensland University of Technology Law Review , 17, (3), 2017, p46 - 65
Eoin O'Dell, Compensation for Breach of the General Data Protection Regulation, Dublin University Law Journal, 40, (1), 2017, p97 - 164
Dublin University Law Journal, Dublin, Clarus Press, [eds.], 2015
Dublin University Law Journal, Dublin, Clarus Press, [eds.], 2015
Dublin University Law Journal, Dublin, Clarus Press, [eds.], 2014
Dublin University Law Journal, Dublin, Clarus Press, [eds.], 2013-2015
Eoin O'Dell, Prof Steve Hedley, & Patricia McGovern, Modernising Copyright The Report of the Copyright Review Committee, Dublin, 2013, 1-179
Dublin University Law Journal, 2013, Clarus Press, [eds.], 2013
Eoin O'Dell, Prof Steve Hedley, & Patricia McGovern, Copyright and Innovation A Consultation Pape, Dublin, February, 2012, 1-172
Geoffrey Shannon and Eoin O'Dell, Law and Practice: Essays on Reform, Dublin, Clarus Press, 2009, 1-479pp
Eoin O'Dell, Older people in modern Ireland : essays on law and policy, Dublin, First Law, 2006, 1-598pp
Irish Case Study on Commercial Trusts in, editor(s)Michele Graziadei, Ugo Mattei and Lionel Smith , Commercial Trusts in European Private Law, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2005, pppassim , [O'Dell, Eoin, with N Moloney]
O'Dell, Eoin with Hugh Mohan SC, Paula Mullooly, Sinead McSweeney and Regina Terry , Report of the Legal Advisor Group on Defamation, Government Publications, 2003
Ireland in, Restitution Law Review, 2003, [O'Dell, Eoin]
Contract in, editor(s)R. Byrne and W. Binchy , Annual Review of Irish Law 2001, Dublin , Round Hall Sweet & Maxwell, 2002, pp123 - 176, [O'Dell, Eoin]
O'Dell, Eoin, Restitution, rectification and mitigation: negligent solicitors and wills, again, Modern Law Review, 65, (3), 2002
O'Dell, Eoin, The use and abuse of Clayton's case, Dublin University Law Journal, 23, 2001
Ireland in, Restitution Law Review, 2001, [O'Dell, Eoin]
Contract in, editor(s)R. Byrne and W. Binchy , Annual Review of Irish Law 2000, Dublin, Round Hall Sweet & Maxwell, 2001, [O'Dell, Eoin]
O'Dell, Eoin, Unjust enrichment and the remedial constructive trust, Dublin University Law Journal, 23, 2001
O'Dell, Eoin, Restitution: Debt and Taxes, Dublin University Law Journal, 23, 2001
Contract Law in, editor(s)R. Byrne and W. Binchy , Annual Review of Irish Law 1999, Dublin , Round Hall Sweet & Maxwell, 2000, pp123 - 176, [O'Dell, Eoin]
O'Dell, Eoin, (Editor), Leading Cases of the Twentieth Century, Dublin, Round Hall Sweet & Maxwell, 2000
O'Dell, Eoin, Tracing, Dublin University Law Journal, 22, 2000, p131 - 172
Contract Law in, editor(s)R. Byrne and W. Binchy , Annual Review of Irish Law, Dublin, Round Hall Sweet & Maxwell, 2000, pp81 - 126, [O'Dell, Eoin]
Incapacity in, editor(s)Birks, P and Rose, F. , Lessons of the Swaps litigation, London, Mansfield Press, 2000, pp113 - 167, [O'Dell, Eoin]
The Case that Fell to Earth, Sinclair v Brougham in, editor(s)O'Dell, Eoin , Leading Cases of the Twentieth Century, Round Hall Sweet & Maxwell, 2000, pp28 - 63, [O'Dell, Eoin, ed]
Contract in, editor(s)R. Byrne and W. Binchy , Annual Review of Irish Law 1999, Dublin, Round Hall Sweet & Maxwell, 2000, [O'Dell, Eoin]
Ireland in, Restitution Law Review, 2000, [O'Dell, Eoin]
Ireland in, Restitution Law Review, 1999, [O'Dell, Eoin]
Eoin O'Dell, Reflections on a Revolution in Libel, Irish Law Times , 9, 1999, p214 - 218
Contract in, editor(s)Binchy, William and Byrne, Raymond with specialist contributors , Annual Review of Irish Law, 1998, Round Hall Sweet & Maxwell, 1999, [O'Dell, Eoin]
Contract Law in, editor(s)Binchy, W and Byrne, R , Annual Review of Irish Law 1998, Round Hall Sweet & Maxwell, 1999, [O'Dell, Eoin]
Bricks and Stones and the Structure of the Law of Restitution in, editor(s)O'Dell, Eoin , Dublin University Law Journal, Dublin, 1998, [O'Dell, Eoin]
Contract Law in, editor(s)Binchy, W and Byrne, R , Annual Review of Irish Law, 1997, Round Hall, 1998, [O'Dell, Eoin]
When two tribes go to war: privacy interests and media speech in, editor(s)McMonagle, M , Law and the Media, Dublin, Round Hall Press, 1997, pp181 - 256, [O'Dell, Eoin]
Contract Law in, editor(s)R. Byrne and W. Binchy , Annual Review of Irish Law 1996, Dublin, Round Hall Sweet & Maxwell, 1997, [O'Dell, Eoin]
Ireland in, Restitution Law Review, 1997, [O'Dell, Eoin]
O'Dell, Eoin, Insurance Payments (Mis)Directed, Equitable Maxims (Mis)Used, and Restitution Doctrines missed, Lloyd's Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly, 1997, p197 - 203
O'Dell, Eoin, Restititution and res Judicata in the Irish Supreme Court, Law Quarterly Review, 113, 1997, p245 - 249
O'Dell, Eoin, Restitution, coercion by a third party, and the proper role of notice, Cambridge Law Journal, 56, (1), 1997, p71 - 99
Ireland in, Restitution Law Review, 1995, [O'Dell, Eoin]
Speech in a Cold Climate: The Chilling Effect of the Contempt Jurisdiction in, editor(s)L. Heffernan , Human Rights. A European Perspective, Dublin, Round Hall Press, 1993, pp219 - 228, [O'Dell, Eoin]
O'Dell, Eoin, Estoppel and Ultra Vires Contracts, Dublin University Law Journal, 14, 1992
O'Dell, Eoin, Reform of Occupier's Liability - Part 1, Gazette I.L.S.I., 86, 1992
O'Dell, Eoin, Reform of Occupier's Liability, Gazette I.L.S.I, 86, 1992
The Principle Against Unjust Enrichment, Dublin University Law Journal, 15, 1992
O'Dell, Eoin, a Tragedy in Five Acts: Behind the Scenes in Cotter and McDermott (No. 2), Irish Student Law Review 2, 1992
O'Dell, Eoin, Legal Aspects of the Control of Anti-Competitive Behaviour in Ireland, Irish Student Law Review 2, 1992
O'Dell, Eoin, Danger Invites Rescue. The Tort of Negligence and the rescue Principle, Dublin University Law Journal, 14, 1992
O'Dell, Eoin, Whyte, G.F., Fitzpatrick, Barry and Docksey, Christopher, Welfare, women and unjust enrichment, Industrial Law Journal , 20, (4), 1991, p304 - 320
O'Dell, Eoin, Relfections on a Revolution in Libel - Part 2, Irish Law Times, 9, 1991
O'Dell, Eoin, Relfections on a Revolution in Libel - Part 1, Irish Law Times, 9, 1991
O'Dell, Eoin, Does Defamation Value Free Expression? The Possible Influence of New York v. Sullivan on Irish Law, Dublin University Law Journal (new series), 12, 1990
O'Dell, Eoin, Does Defamation Value Free Expression? The Possible Influence of New York v. Sullivan on Irish Law, Dublin University Law Journal (new series), 12, 1990
Eoin O'Dell, "Does Defamation Value Free Expression? The Possible Influence of New York Times v. Sullivan on Irish Law", Dublin University Law Journal , 12, 1990, p50 - 80
Non-Peer-Reviewed Publications
Eoin O'Dell, Comparative Defamation and Privacy Law - Irish Perspectives, Dublin University Law Journal, 40, (1), 2017, p236 - 49
Eoin O'Dell, 'cearta', cearta.ie, -
Research Expertise
Description
Contract, Restitution, Freedom of Expression, Defamation, Competition Policy, Constitutional Law and Intellectual PropertyRecognition
Representations
Dublin University Law Journal Editor
Dublin University Law Journal Technical Editor
Restitution Law Review, Regional Editor and Contributor for Ireland
Irish Student Law Review Editor
Member of Editorial Board, Irish Student Law Review
Irish Moot Court Committee, Founder, Treater and Author of the 1991 and 2003 Cases
Member of Organising Committee for BILETA annual conference
Member of Organising Committee for ALT / IALT annual Conference
Acting President of IALT
Organiser of Annual IALT Conference: The Academy, The Bench and Law Reform
Organiser of Annual Conference "The Leading Cases of the Twentieth Century"
President IALT
Member of Organising Committee of IALT Annual Conference
Council Member of Society of Legal Scholars
Executive Member of Society of Legal Scholars
Awards and Honours
College Scholarship, University College Cork
Prendergast Scholar, University of Oxford,
Rodney Overend Memorial Trust scholar
Newton Trust Scholarship, University of Cambridge,
Fellow, TCD
Des Ryan, Convenor
Biography
Dr. Desmond Ryan LL.B. (Dubl.), B.C.L., M.A. (Oxon.), Ph.D. (Dubl.), Barrister-at-Law, F.T.C.D. is an Associate Professor in the School of Law at Trinity College Dublin. He is a practising barrister at the Bar of Ireland and is also called to the Bar of England and Wales and the Bar of Northern Ireland.
Dr. Ryan's principal areas of research interest are in Employment Law and Tort Law, with a particular emphasis on the contract of employment, vicarious liability and dismissal law. He is interested in all aspects of the law of obligations and is the convenor of the Private Law Group.
He welcomes approaches from prospective doctoral candidates seeking to engage in research in these and related areas.
Dr Ryan teaches Employment Law, Tort Law, and Current Issues in Tort Theory and Practice on the LL.B. programmes and he has served as both Director of Teaching and Learning (Undergraduate) and as Director of the LLM Programmes.
He has published widely in journals including The Cambridge Law Journal, Professional Negligence, The Modern Law Review, The Civil Justice Quarterly, Legal Studies, The Conveyancer and Property Lawyer, the Dublin University Law Journal, the Irish Employment Law Journal and the Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly.
Publications and Further Research Outputs
Peer-Reviewed Publications
Desmond Ryan, "The Power and Limits of Close Connection: Analysing the Legacy of Bazley v Curry through three international case studies", The Supreme Court Law Review (Canada), 2, (Third Series), 2024, p31 - 47
Desmond Ryan, Marta Lasek-Markey, Andrea Mulligan, Linda Hogan, Bryana Tunder, Conscientious Objection in an Uncertain Time: New Challenges in Ireland, Religions, 14, 2023, p1 - 16
Desmond Ryan, Emerging institutional reforms of the labour law dispute resolution machinery in Ireland, and their implications for labour law norms, Labour Law Research Network, Warsaw, Poland, 24 June 2023, 2023
Desmond Ryan, Damages for false imprisonment by the state: counterfactual and vindicatory approaches in comparative perspective, Obligations X, Banff, Canada, 14 July 2023, 2023
Desmond Ryan, The Duty of Care in Negligence: University College Cork v Electricity Supply Board, Irish Supreme Court Review, 2022, p185 - 201
Connecting Cautiously: Vicarious Liability in Ireland in Comparative Perspective in, editor(s)Paula Giliker , Vicarious Liability in the Common Law World, Oxford, Hart, 2022, pp103 - 119, [Desmond Ryan ]
Allison Silink and Desmond Ryan, Twenty Years on from Lister v Hesley Hall Ltd - Is There Now a 'Tailored Close Connection Test' for Vicarious Liability in Cases of Sexual Abuse, or Not?, Professional Negligence, 38, (1), 2022, p5 - 23
The influence of Chief Baron Palles on the development of the doctrines of vicarious liability and the non-delegable duty of care in, editor(s)Oonagh B. Breen and Noel McGrath , Palles: The Legal Legacy of the Last Lord Chief Baron, Dublin, Four Courts Press, 2022, pp160 - 175, [Desmond Ryan]
Allison Silink and Desmond Ryan, The relevance of "control" in both stages of the test for vicarious liability in relationships that are "akin to employment" : an analysis of Blackpool in the Court of Appeal, Professional Negligence, 38, (4), 2022, p229 - 238
Desmond Ryan, Nano Nagle School v Daly, Irish Supreme Court Review, 2, 2021, p61 - 74
Desmond Ryan, Restating Restraint of Trade: The Implications of the Supreme Court's Judgment in Tillman v Egon Zehnder Ltd, Industrial Law Journal, 2020, p1 - 14
Rachael Walsh and Sarah Hamill (chapter authors) Deirdre Ahern and Suryapratim Roy (report editors), Policy Responses to Covid-19 In Ireland: Supporting Individuals, Communities, Businesses, and the Economy, COVID-19 Legal Observatory, Trinity College Dublin, December, 2020, p1 - 108
Desmond Ryan and Mark Bell, Disability, Reasonable Accommodation and the Employer's Obligations: Nano Nagle School v Daly, Modern Law Review, 83, 2020, p1059 - 1071
Cliodhna Murphy, Desmond Ryan, Work, Dignity and Non-Citizens: Reflections from the Irish Constitutional Order, Public Law, Issue 1 January 2020, 2019, p30-40
Desmond Ryan, Vicarious Liability for Independent Contractors: Orthodox Principles "On the Move"?, Irish Employment Law Journal, 16, (1), 2019, p4 - 9
Desmond Ryan, SAAMCO re-explored: BPE and the law of professional negligence, Journal of Professional Negligence, 34, (2), 2018, p71 - 86
Allison Silink and Desmond Ryan, Vicarious Liability for Independent Contractors, Cambridge Law Journal, 2018, p458 - 461
Desmond Ryan, Bullying and Harassment Litigation post-Ruffley: An Analysis of the Judgment of the Court of Appeal in McCarthy v ISS Ireland Ltd, Tort Law and Litigation Review, 2018, p19 - 28
Desmond Ryan, Vicarious liability and the non-delegable duty of care: application of the Supreme Court's guidance at first instance, Professional Negligence, 2018, p209 - 215
Part-Time Workers in, editor(s)Ailbhe Murphy Maeve Regan , Employment Law, Dublin, Bloomsbury, 2017, pp401 - 428, [Desmond Ryan]
Fixed-Term Workers in, editor(s)Ailbhe Murphy Maeve Regan , Employment Law, Dublin, Bloomsbury, 2017, pp429 - 467, [Desmond Ryan]
Desmond Ryan, 'From opportunity to occasion: vicarious liability in the High Court of Australia', Cambridge Law Journal, 76, 2017, p14-18
Bullying Harassment and Stress at Work in, editor(s)Ailbhe Murphy, Maeve Regan , Employment Law, Dublin, Bloomsbury, 2017, pp233 - 283, [Desmond Ryan]
Vicarious Liability in, editor(s)Ailbhe Murphy Maeve Regan , Employment Law, Dublin, Bloomsbury, 2017, pp285 - 325, [Desmond Ryan]
Individualism and Autonomy in Occupiers' Liability and Compensation Culture in, editor(s)Eoin Quill Raymond Friel , Damages and Compensation Culture: Comparative Perspectives, United Kingdom, Hart Publishing, 2016, [Desmond Ryan]
Desmond Ryan, "Close Connection" and "Akin to Employment": Perspectives on Fifty Years of Radical Developments in Vicarious Liability", The Irish Jurist, LVI, 2016, p239 - 260
Desmond Ryan, Atypical Work in the Emergence from Austerity: Assumptions and Expectations Re-Evaluated, Dublin University Law Journal, 39(1), 2016, p75 - 92
Whistleblowing: National Report for Ireland in, editor(s)PD Dr. Gerrit Forst LL.M. (Cantab.) Gastprofessor Gregor Thusig , Whistleblowing: International Academy of Comparative Labour Law, Germany, Springer International, 2016, pp181 - 186, [Dr. Desmond Ryan and Dr. Michael Doherty]
Desmond Ryan, Parallel Proceedings in Employment Law: An Analysis of the High Court judgments in Cunningham and Culkin, Dublin University Law Journal, 38, (1), 2015, p219 - 231
Dublin University Law Journal, 37, (2014), i, 1 - iv, 299p, Desmond Ryan and Oran Doyle, [eds.], 2010-2014
Desmond Ryan, Individual Autonomy and Personal Responsibility in Occupiers' Liability and Compensation Culture, Compensation Culture: Comparative Tort Reform in the 21st Century, University of Limerick, 23 May 2014, 2014
Desmond Ryan, The 'Constitutional Tort' in Ireland: Another Perspective on the Convergence Debate regarding Tort Law and Human Rights, Obligations VII, Hong Kong University, 15-18 July 2014, 2014
DESMOND RYAN, Tort Law Defences by James Goudkamp, Review of Tort Law Defences , by James Goudkamp , Legal Studies, 34, (4), 2014, p743
Dublin University Law Journal, 36, (2013), i, 1 - iv, 403p, Desmond Ryan and Oran Doyle, [eds.], 2010-2014
Desmond Ryan, From the Irish Supreme Court to the Strasbourg Grand Chamber: Domestic Approaches to Vicarious Liability under challenge in Europe', Society of Legal Scholars, Edinburgh, 3 September 2013, 2013
Dublin University Law Journal, 2012, 35, (2012), i, 1 - iv, 355p, Des Ryan and Oran Doyle, [eds.], 2010-2014
Delany, H. and Ryan D., "Springboard Injunctions: An Analysis of Emerging Principles in the Case Law of the English and Irish Courts, Civil Justice Quarterly, 31, (3), 2012, p284 - 303
Dublin University Law Journal, 34, (2011), i, 1 - iv, 280p, Desmond Ryan and Oran Doyle, [eds.]
Dublin University Law Journal, 33, (2011), i, 1 - ix,428p, Des Ryan and Oran Doyle, [eds.], 2010-2014
Report on Ireland in, editor(s)Monika Schlachter , The Prohibition of Age Discrimination in Labour Relations, Germany, Nomos, 2011, pp293 - 308, [Desmond Ryan and Michael Doherty]
Oran Doyle, Desmond Ryan, Judicial Interpretation of the European Convention on Human Rights Act 2003: Reflections and Analysis, Dublin University Law Journal, 33, 2011, p369 - 392
Dr. Desmond Ryan, "Article 2 ECHR and the Tort of Negligence: Where are we Now?", Society of Legal Scholars, Southampton, United Kingdom, 16 September 2010, 2010
Dr. Desmond Ryan & Dr. Michael Doherty, "Age Discrimination in Employment Law", International Academy of Comparative Law Congress , Washington DC, USA, July-August 2010, 2010
Desmond Ryan, Vindicating Rights through the Tortious Liability of Public Authorities: Emerging Themes and Tensions in Comparative Perspective, Trinity College Dublin, 2010
Part-Time Workers in, editor(s)Maeve Regan , Employment Law, Dublin, Tottel Publishing, 2009, pp281-303 - [Des Ryan]
Bullying, Harassment and Stress at Work in, editor(s)Maeve Regan , Employment Law, Dublin, Tottel Publishing, 2009, pp231-264 , [Des Ryan]
Desmond Ryan, Connections without consensus: recent approaches to vicarious liability in the Irish Supreme Court, Dublin University Law Journal, 31, (1), 2009, p457 - 472
Fixed-Term Workers in, editor(s)Maeve Regan , Employment Law, Dublin, Tottel Publishing, 2009, pp305-334 , [Des Ryan]
Neville CoxVal CorbettDesmond Ryan, Employment Law in Ireland, 1st, Dublin, Clarus Press, 2009, 1-892pp
Vicarious Liability in, editor(s)Maeve Regan , Employment Law, Dublin, Tottel Publishing, 2009, pp265-280 , [Des Ryan]
Desmond Ryan, Making connections: new approaches to vicarious liability in comparative perspective, Dublin University Law Journal, 30, (1), 2008, p41 - 70
Recent Judicial Approaches to Loss of Chance in Medical Negligence Cases in, editor(s)Professor William Binchy Dr. Ciaran Craven , Medical Negligence Litigation: Emerging Issues, Dublin, First Law, 2008, pp24 - 55, [Ray Ryan and Des Ryan]
Delany, H. and Ryan, D., Unconscionability: A Unifying Theme in Equity?, The Conveyancer and Property Lawyer, 72, (5), 2008, p401 - 436
Ray Ryan, Des Ryan, "Intoxicated Guests, Third Parties and the Law of Negligence", Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly, 2007, p108 - 119
Ray Ryan, Des Ryan, "Vicarious liability of employers - emerging themes and trends and their potential implications for Irish law", Irish Employment Law Journal, 2007, p3 - 8
Ray Ryan, Des Ryan, Asbestos litigation and the requirements of the negligence action: new developments in Irish and English law., Quarterly Review of Tort Law, 2007, p10 - 15
Desmond Ryan, "Royal Brunei Dishonesty: A Clear Welcome for Barlow Clowes", The Conveyancer and Property Lawyer, 2007, p168-
Marguerite Bolger, Des Ryan , "The mutual duty of fidelity in the contract of employment: significant recent developments", Irish Employment Law Journal, 2007, p112 - 120
Ray Ryan, Des Ryan , "MRSA litigation in Ireland: new questions for tort law", Quarterly Review of Tort Law, 2007, p12 - 19
Ray Ryan, Des Ryan , Bonus points: employers' discretion in the determination of bonus payments, Commercial Law Practitioner, 2007, p166 - 171
Desmond Ryan, "Conditional Fee Agreements: Strutting Their Stuff Around a Circle that Cannot be Squared?", Civil Justice Quarterly , 2006, p20 - 26
Desmond Ryan, "Royal Brunei Dishonesty: Clarity at Last?" , The Conveyancer and Property Lawyer, 2006, p188 - 197
Ray Ryan, Des Ryan, "Resolving the duress dilemma: guidance from the House of Lords", Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly, 2005, p421 - 430
Dublin University Law Journal, Dublin, Clarus Press, [eds.], 2004-2017
Non-Peer-Reviewed Publications
Desmond Ryan, Redmond on Dismissal Law, Third, Dublin, Bloomsbury Professional, 2017, 1 - 641pp
Employment Law in, editor(s)Professor William Binchy Raymond Byrne, Director of Research, Law Reform Commission , Annual Review of Irish Law 2008, Dublin, Thomson Round Hall, 2009, pp311 - 324, [Des Ryan]
Employment Law in, editor(s)Professor William Binchy Raymond Byrne, Director of Research, Law Reform Commission , Annual Review of Irish Law 2007, Dublin, Thomson Round Hall, 2008, pp257 - 279, [Des Ryan]
Research Expertise
Description
Employment Law and the contract of employment The relationship between statute and common law in employment law and tort law Tort Law esp. Negligence and Vicarious Liability Private Law Theory: ObligationsRecognition
Representations
Convenor for Ireland, Society of Legal Scholars
Awards and Honours
Elected a Visiting Fellow, Exeter College Oxford
Provost's Teaching Award, Trinity College Dublin, 2011
Invited as Academic Visitor, University of Melbourne Law School Centre for Employment Law and Industrial Relations
Nominated for a Provost's Teaching Award (ineligible for application due to having received this award in 2011)
Memberships
Convenor for Ireland and Member of Executive Committee, Society of Legal Scholars
Founder and Co-Director, Private Law Discussion Group, Trinity College Dublin
Founding Member, Employment Law Association of Ireland
European Employment Lawyers' Association
Health and Safety Lawyers' Association of Ireland
Rachael Walsh
Biography
I am an Associate Professor and Fellow at the School of Law, teaching and researching in the areas of property law and theory and constitutional law and theory. I am the Law School's Director of Global Engagement and Erasmus Coordinator. I previously worked as a permanent Lecturer in Law at King's College London. There, I taught property law and environmental law and served as the Director of the Joint Degree with Columbia Law School and the Study Abroad Programme. Prior to that, I was an Adjunct Professor at Trinity College Dublin. I completed my PhD at Trinity College Dublin, where I was funded by an Ussher Scholarship. I obtained an LLM degree from Harvard Law School as a Fulbright Scholar. I am also a qualified barrister.
I am recognised internationally as a leader in constitutional law and property law. Throughout my work, I aim to connect legal theory and practice through analysing the underpinnings and drivers of law 'in action'. Key recent publications include Property Rights and Social Justice: Progressive Property in Action (Cambridge University Press, 2021) and Kelly: The Irish Constitution (Bloomsbury, 2018), which is the seminal text on Irish constitutional law. These books complement peer-reviewed publications in journals of high standing in both constitutional law and property law.
My research examines how constitutions shape democracies and set parameters for solving social problems, both procedural and value-based. In my current projects, I analyse the role of citizens in constitutional reform and the balance between the individual and the community in the protection of property rights. I do so through the prism of global challenges, for example securing safe and secure housing (including over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic), effectively designing and implementing climate mitigation measures, and restoring trust in democracy.
My property scholarship focuses in various ways on the question of how the State can restrict the exercise of property rights to secure the common good, analysing whether property law, and ideology, limits the legal and political scope for progressive policy reforms in response to urgent problems such as climate change. Accordingly, my research cross-cuts a range of subject areas, including property law and theory, constitutional law and theory, environmental law, planning law, housing law, and human rights law.
As well as focusing on the interaction between constitutional law and property law, I research other constitutional problems. Given the rise of populist politics around the world, there is an urgent need to reconnect people with political processes. Increasing citizen participation is proposed as one solution, with Ireland pointed to internationally as a leading example. Arising out of my role as constitutional law advisor to the Irish Citizens' Assembly, my research also explores the role that citizens play in changing and updating constitutions, in particular through deliberative processes.
Publications and Further Research Outputs
Peer-Reviewed Publications
Rachael Walsh, Common Good Constitutionalism and the Individual " A Property Perspective, American Journal of Jurisprudence, 69, (1), 2024
Developing Resilient Property Systems: Legal Opportunities and Challenges in, editor(s)Magdalena Habdas , Rethinking Expropriation Law IV, Netherlands, Eleven, 2024, pp309 - 325, [Rachael Walsh]
Progressive Property's Thomistic Turn: Connecting Human Sustenance and Human Flourishing in, editor(s)Chris Bevan , Property Law and Theory Handbook, Edward Elgar, UK, Edward Elgar, 2024, [Rachael Walsh]
Rachael Walsh, Constitutional Property and Progressive Property's Compatibility: A Reappraisal, Texas A&M Journal of Property Law, 10, (1), 2024, p81 - 109
Rachael Walsh, 'Doctrinal Coherence and the Dwelling in Irish Constitutional Law', Dublin University Law Journal, 2024
Oran Doyle and Rachael Walsh, Assessing the Influence and Legitimacy of Citizen Deliberation on Abortion: A Reply to Eoin Carolan and Seana Glennon, International Journal of Constitutional Law, 22, (1), 2024, p204 - 208
Property Rights and Democratic Decision-Making: Lessons from the 1922 Constitution in, editor(s)Laura Cahillane and Donal Coffey , The Centenary of the Irish Free State Constitution: Constituting a Polity?, UK, Palgrave, Palgrave Modern Legal History, 2024, pp197 - 215, [Rachael Walsh]
Deliberative Property: Managing Complexity in Property Systems in, editor(s)John Oberdiek, Paul Miller , Oxford Studies in Private Law Theory, Oxford, OUP, 2024, [Rachael Walsh]
Rachael Walsh, Specifying Interpersonal Responsibilities in Private Law, American Journal of Jurisprudence, 68, (2), 2023, p141 - 151
Rachael Walsh, Distributing Collective Burdens and Benefits: O'Reilly, TD, and the Housing Crisis, Irish Judicial Studies Journal , 6, (3), 2022, p63 - 70, p63-70
Oran Doyle and Rachael Walsh, Constitutional Amendment and Public Will Formation: Deliberative Mini-Publics as a Tool for Consensus Democracy, International Journal of Constitutional Law, 20, 2022, p398 - 427
Rachael Walsh, Distributing the Costs of Change: Property Transitions and Pacts, International Journal of Law in Context, 18, (2), 2022
Rachael Walsh, Review of Open Democracy : Reinventing Popular Rule for the 21st Century, by Helene Landemore , International Journal of Constitutional Law, 2021, phttps://doi.org/10.1093/icon/m
Deliberative Mini-Publics as a Response to Populist Democratic Backsliding in, editor(s)Maria Cahill, Colm O'Cinneide, Seán Ó Conaill and Conor O'Mahony , Constitutional Change and Popular Sovereignty: Populism, Politics and the Law in Ireland, London, Routledge, 2021, [Oran Doyle and Rachael Walsh]
Rachael Walsh, Property Rights and Social Justice: Progressive Property in Action, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2021
Securing Possession of the Home in the COVID-19 Context in, editor(s)Elsabe van der Sijde , Property Responses to a Global Pandemic, South Africa, Juta, 2021, pp165 - 182, [Rachael Walsh]
Rachael Walsh and Sarah Hamill (chapter authors) Deirdre Ahern and Suryapratim Roy (report editors), Policy Responses to Covid-19 In Ireland: Supporting Individuals, Communities, Businesses, and the Economy, COVID-19 Legal Observatory, Trinity College Dublin, December, 2020, p1 - 108
Oran Doyle and Rachael Walsh, Deliberation in Constitutional Amendment: Reappraising Ireland's Deliberative Mini-Publics, European Constitutional Law Review, 16, (3), 2020, p440 - 465
Rachael Walsh, Climate Change Retrofitting Obligations - Ireland, 2020
Oran Doyle and Rachael Walsh, Participatory Democracy in Ireland: Citizens' Assemblies, Studi Senesi, 131, 2019, p485 - 496
Rachael Walsh, Climate Action and Constitutional Property Rights - Partners or Adversaries?, Dublin University Law Journal, 42, (2), 2019, p131 - 149
Rachael Walsh and Lorna Fox O'Mahony, Land Law, Property Ideologies and the British Irish Relationship, Common Law World Review, 47, 2018, p7 - 34
GW Hogan, GF Whyte, D Kenny, R Walsh, Kelly: The Irish Constitution, Fifth edition, Dublin, Bloomsbury Professional, 2018, 1 - 2765pp
The Marginality of Property in Expropriation Law: A Comparative Assessment in, editor(s)Gustav Muller, Reghard Brits, Bradley Slade, Jeannie van Eyk , Transformative Property Law, South Africa, Juta, 2018, pp21 - 51, [Bradley Slade and Rachael Walsh]
Rachael Walsh, Property, Human Flourishing, and St Thomas Aquinas: Assessing a Contemporary Revival, Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence, 31, (1), 2018, p197 - 222
Comparative Constitutional Property Law in, editor(s)Lionel Smith and Michele Graziadei , Research Handbook on Comparative Property Law, US, Elgar, 2017, pp193 - 216, [Rachael Walsh and Andre van der Walt]
Reviewing Expropriations: The Search for 'External Guidance" in, editor(s)Hanri Mostert and Leon Verstappen , Rethinking Public Interest in Expropriation Law, The Netherlands and South Africa, Eleven Publishing and Juta Publishing, 2015, [Rachael Walsh]
Gerard Hogan, David Kenny, Rachael Walsh, An Anthology of Declarations of Unconstitutionality, Irish Jurist, 54, 2015, p1 - 35
Rachael Walsh, Stability and Predictability in English Property Law - The Impact of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights Reassessed, Law Quarterly Review, 131, (October), 2015, p585 - 609
Belfast Corporation v OD Cars - Setting Parameters for Restricting Use in, editor(s)Robin Hiickey, Simon Douglas and Emma Waring , Landmark Cases in Property Law, Oxford: UK, Hart Publishing, 2015, pp227 - 252, [Rachael Walsh]
Expropriation in Ireland in, editor(s)Jacques Sluysmans, Emma Waring, Stijn Verbist , Expropriation Law in Europe, Netherlands, Wolters Kluwer, 2015, [Rachael Walsh]
Rachael Walsh and Eloise Scotford, The Symbiosis of Property and English Environmental Law - Property Rights in a Public Law Context, Modern Law Review, 76, 2013, p1010-
The Evolving Relationship Between Property and Participation in English Planning Law in, editor(s)Nick Hopkins , Modern Studies in Property Law Volume 7, Oxford, UK, Hart Publishing, 2013, pp283 - [Rachael Walsh]
King's Law Journal, Special Edition, 'The Interface of Public and Private Concepts of Property', 24, 2, (2013), Rachael Walsh, Tanya Aplin, Leslie Turano-Taylor, [eds.], Special Edition Editor
Rachael Walsh , Private Property Rights in the Drafting of the Irish Constitution - A Communitarian Compromise, Dublin University Law Review, 33, 2011, p86-
Rachael Walsh , Integrating Proportionality into Public Authority Possession Applications - Conclusive Answers from the Supreme Court?, King's Law Journal, 22, 2011, p414-
Rachael Walsh , Property in the Margins, King's Law Journal, 21, 2010, p591-
Rachael Walsh , The Principles of Social Justice - The Compulsory Acquisition of Private Property for Redevelopment in the United States and Ireland, Dublin University Law Journal , 32, 2010, p1-
Rachael Walsh , The Constitution, Property Rights and Proportionality - A Reappraisal, Dublin University Law Journal , 31, 2009, p1-
Rachael Walsh, Cogley v RTE and Aherne v RTE, Trinity College Law Review, 9, (1), 2006, p137 - 146
Non-Peer-Reviewed Publications
Rachael Walsh, 'Constitutional Property Rights: Setting Parameters for Responding to the Housing Crisis', Housing Commission Expert Conference on a Referendum on Housing, University College Dublin, 21/05/22, 2022
Rachael Walsh, Opinion on the Implications of Constitutional Property Rights for Responses to the Housing Crisis', 2020
H2020 consortium, 'RESILENS: Realising European Resilience for Critical Infrastructure', http://resilens.eu, 2018, -
Rachael Walsh, Compensation for Expropriation - 'Democratic Discounting', Rethinking Expropriation: Compensation for Expropriation, University of Cape Town, 7-9 December 2016, 2016
Rachael Walsh, Tanya Aplin, Leslie Turano-Taylor, The Public/Private Interface of Property, King's Law Journal, 24, (2), 2013, p1-
Research Expertise
Description
I have established myself as an international leader in property and constitutional law through 2 books and 39 articles/chapters. My scholarship distinctively integrates analysis of private law (governing legal relations between private individuals) and public law (governing State/individual relations), transforming understandings of disciplinary boundaries at national and international levels. I interrogate how legal protections for owners shape equitable responses to global challenges, like affordable housing and climate mitigation. For example, my accepted chapter in the forthcoming peer-reviewed "Oxford Studies in Private Law Theory" series critically analyses the relationship between legal regulation, stakeholder deliberation, and judicial decision-making in mortgage arrears crises. The importance of my research was reflected in its selection for the Provost's Annual Review. I achieve real-world impacts through my scholarship. I am currently Lead PI for the interdisciplinary ASHA (Achieving Sustainable Housing Affordably) project, awarded 400,000 euros in TRDA funding in June 2023, and I was previously Co-PI in the H2020 RESILENS project. My monograph 'Property and Social Justice: Progressive Property in Action' (CUP, 2021) showed how property rights and social justice can be effectively mediated through law. It was reviewed as 'exemplary' and 'insightful' (International Journal of Constitutional Law) and cited by the Irish Supreme Court in 2024. I broke new ground in Irish constitutional law as co-author of Kelly: The Irish Constitution (Bloomsbury, 2018). This treatise is recognised internationally as providing the authoritative academic analysis of all aspects Irish constitutional law and is routinely cited by the Irish Supreme Court. Relatedly, and arising out of my role as constitutional law advisor to the Citizens' Assembly, my research analyses how citizens influence constitutional reform, including through publications in leading international peer-reviewed journals, such as the International Constitutional Law Journal. This research also has important social impact, and I have advised at EU and international levels on citizen deliberation.Projects
- Title
- RESILENS
- Summary
- Funded H2020 interdisciplinary project, working with SME's, public bodies and academics on resilience planning in core infrastructure development.
- Funding Agency
- EU Commission
- Date From
- Estimated June 2015
Recognition
Representations
Appointed member of the Expert Advisory Group of the Citizen's Assembly on the Eighth Amendment, Fixed Term Parliaments, and Referendums. This is widely regarded as the foremost global example of citizen deliberation on constitutional reform. I was appointed by its Chairperson, former Supreme Court Judge Mary Laffoy. I had responsibility for intensive work to prepare the work programme and agendas for the Assembly on abortion, identify appropriate speakers, review expert papers, draft proposals and ballot papers, and attend at the Assembly's workshops to answer questions from the citizens and track and respond to the development of the Assembly's work. Its recommendations fed directly into the successful referendum on abortion that was held in May 2018.
Board Member, Director (volunteer) O'Cualann Co-housing Alliance (Approved Housing Body and Registered Charity). I am a Director of an innovative housing body, supporting affordable housing developments throughout Ireland and developing a distinctive model regularly cited by politicians as exemplary.
Editor, Legal Studies. Legal Studies is a leading international generalist law journal, impact factor 0.7, covering all subject areas within the discipline, and published by CUP. I have responsibility for managing all aspects ofthe peer-review and editorial processes, liaising with the production, publication, and marketing teams, supporting early career researchers, and advancing the journal's mission of diversifying its pool of authors and reviewers. I was appointed following a competitive selection process by the Society of Legal Scholars.
External Examiner for University College Dublin - overall responsibility for reviewing academic standards across all modules in Property and Trusts law (core areas of the curriculum). Responsibilities include attendance at exam boards, review of exam papers and liaising with academics, review of exam results data.
Consultant to the Law Reform Commission for its Compulsory Acquisition of Land report (published in March 2023 - https://www.lawreform.ie/_fileupload/Reports/LRC%20127%202023/LRC-127%202003%20-%20Compulsory%20Acquisition%20of%20Land%20-%20W%20Cover.pdf), providing expert advice on the future direction of law reform on compulsory purchase in Ireland, which is an area of law that is vital to ensuring effective responses to the ongoing housing crisis.
Award application reviewer, Fulbright Commission of Ireland
Peer-reviewer, monograph proposals, Routledge
Peer-reviewer, monograph proposals, Oxford University Press
Peer-reviewer, The Irish Jurist
Peer-reviewer, Irish Judicial Studies Institute Journal
Peer reviewer, Irish Supreme Court Review
External advisor, Housing Commission, Ireland. Invited to provide detailed advice to the Housing Commission, in particular on options for a referendum on a right to housing in Ireland.
Board member, Modern Studies in Property Law. This is a highly prestigious international property law group, focused on a large conference and a research workshop every two years, as well as a resulting peer-reviewed publication.
External examiner, PhD, University of Stellenbosch - external examiner for 3 PhDs at the University of Stellenbosch
External examiner, PhD, University of Glasgow
External Advisor (Citizen Deliberation), EU Committee of the Regions: I was invited to present and share expertise on the Irish experience of deliberative democracy in constitutional reform processes.
External Advisor, Irish Citizen's Assembly on Biodiversity Loss
Peer-reviewer, Modern Law Review. This is the leading generalist law journal in the UK. I was an invited guest to the annual Chorley Lecture and dinner in 2024 in recognition of my particular contribution as a peer-reviewer for the journal.
External Advisor, Irish Citizen's Assembly on Gender Equality
Mentoring Committee, Association of Law Property and Society, responsibility for leading the association's aim of ensuring early-career and peer to peer mentoring at all levels.
External Advisor, German National Citizen's Assembly (Burgerrat Demokratie). I was interviewed by the German Citizens' Assembly to inform its work on democratic reform. Recording available at: https://soundcloud.com/user-755126245/ergebnisse-des-burgerrats-demokratie
Peer-reviewer, Journal of Law, Property and Society
Peer-reviewer, University of Toronto Law Journal
Fellow, South African Research Chair in Property Law - appointed on the basis of outstanding research in comparative constitutional property law, functions include attending at the Chair to carry out research, delivery of graduate seminars and examination of PhD's.
External reviewer for the South African research funding body, the National Research Foundation. Functions include reviewing and assessing research outputs from individual researchers, and reviewing institutions from a teaching and learning, as well as a research perspective.
Peer-reviewer, monograph proposals, Cambridge University Press
Peer-reviewer. The Conveyancer journal.
Peer-Reviewer, European Property Law Journal
Member, Editorial Board, King's Law Journal
Peer-reviewer, Dublin University Law Journal
National representative for Ireland for the Core Principles of European Expropriation Law and Obligations to climate-proof real estate EU-wide research projects.
Awards and Honours
School winner, TCD Research Supervision Awards
Elected to Fellowship, Trinity College Dublin
Provost's Teaching Award
Accelerated Advancement in the Assistant Professor grade
Laidlaw Scholar Supervisor
Ussher Award for PhD studies
Fulbright Scholar Award
Rodney Overend Educational Trust award for Ph.D. studies
James Murnaghan Prize, The Honorable Society of the King's Inns
Gold Medal Award, TCD
Henry Hunter Hamilton Prize, TCD
Memberships
Member, Society of Legal Scholars, and Co-Editor of the associated peer-reviewed journal, Legal Studies. Legal Studies is a leading international Law journal, which is general rather than specialist in the legal subject-areas that it covers. It is published by CUP and has a current impact factor of 0.7. I was appointed in 2022 to the position of editor following a competitive process run by the Society of Legal Scholars to identify a new editorial team. I am part of a team of 4 co-equal editors of the journal, leading all stages of the peer-review process for articles, liaising with production, and engaging in author and readership outreach.
Director (voluntary), O'Cualann Co-Housing Alliance. This is an innovative co-housing charity and approved housing body, working throughout Ireland to deliver low cost housing for purchase. As a Board Member, I use my legal expertise, particularly on property and housing, to steer the activities of the alliance.
Board Member, Modern Studies in Property Law: Modern Studies in Property Law is the leading UK property law conference, which meets biennially in full conference format, and in workshop format on alternate years. It results in a prestigious peer-reviewed edited collection published by Hart. As a Board Member, I steer the conference activities and also manage a research mentoring programme and support for postgraduate research.
Member, Progressive Property Network. This research group, which was started in Harvard but has expanded its reach internationally, includes the top international property scholars working within the progressive property school of thought, and is focused on sharing and supporting the development of research, and an annual conference. Membership is by invitation only from one of the founding members of the group.
Member, Association of Law, Property and Society, and Mentoring Sub-Committee Lead. This association (ALPS) is one of the top international networks for property research, with year-round activities, as well as an annual conference. I am responsible for facilitating mentoring between senior and early career academics, and peer-to-peer mentoring.
Member, Expert Group on Expropriation: The Expert Group brings together by invitation leading academics and practitioners working in the field of expropriation law to develop good governance standards in expropriation, in particular with a view to securing sustainable development. The Group holds regular international conferences and publishes peer-reviewed edited collections.
Fellow, South African Research Chair in Property Law Group: The Research Chair was the leading centre for property law research in South Africa, which has a central role in crucial debates concerning access to housing and land. As an appointed Fellow, I contributed to its research activities and to its postgraduate programmes, including through teaching and as a PhD examiner.
Member, Resilient Property Theory Network: this research group runs a monthly reading group and annual workshop on cutting edge approaches to property theory.
Member, Irish Association of Law Teachers
Member, International Society of Public Law
Member, Irish Jurisprudence Society
Researchers
Sonja Heppner