Centre for Property Law

The Aberdeen University School of Law in 2001 established a Centre for Property Law to focus and coordinate the activities of a number of specialists working in different areas of the wide field of property. Combined, the activities concerned represent a noteworthy concentration of expertise - significant in terms of both volume and range of research and publications.

General information about the Centre is below. For further information please contact the director - Professor David L Carey Miller, School of Law, University of Aberdeen, Old Aberdeen, AB24 3UB, telephone (01224) 272419, fax (01224) 272442, e-mail dcm@abdn.ac.uk.

The Work of the Centre

The Centre orgainises a biennial property law conference in Aberdeen. The first was held in 2004, and the second in 2006. The third conference was in 2008.

The Centre’s primary area of work is the property law of Scotland. The major areas of land law, corporeal moveable property, commercial property and intellectual property are all represented. A second area of expertise and research is the property law of South Africa, both in its own right and as a source potentially relevant to the development of Scots law. Included within the Centre's work also is the law of Succession and Trusts.

Strengths in the following general areas are reflected in the collective or individual work of the persons contributing to the Centre

• the history and development of property law
• land law and conveyancing
• corporeal moveable property
• commercial property
• rights in security
• property questions on insolvency
• intellectual property
• nature conservation and countryside law

The Centre’s broad areas of strength identified above encompass the following specialisms all represented by recent work published by members

• servitudes and rights of way
• tenement and apartment ownership
• title disputes in works of art and antiquities
• access to the countryside
• European and international insolvency
• European and international intellectual property
• floating charges
• Scottish land reform
• South African land reform

The Centre’s work and role will include

• carrying out research and writing projects
• offering graduate courses
• supervising doctoral and masters research degrees
• providing consultancy expertise
• responding and reporting on public interest issues
• advising public bodies
• law commission consultancy and submission work
• contributing to international reform and harmonisation projects
• providing expert information to the media
• organising conferences, symposia and meetings
• attracting visiting scholars
• offering professional post-qualifying courses
  

Law School Property Specialists Associated with the Centre

David L Carey Miller BA, LLB (Natal), LLM (Edin), PhD (Aberd), Advocate (High Court of South Africa), FRSE, Emeritus Professor of Property Law, email: dcm@abdn.ac.uk

Donna W Mckenzie Skene LLB, Dip LP (Aberd), Solicitor and Notary Public, Senior Lecturer in Law, email: d.w.mckenzie@abdn.ac.uk

Cornelius G van der Merwe LLB, BCL (Oxon), LLD, Advocate (High Court of South Africa), Emeritus Professor of Civil Law, email: cgvdm@abdn.ac.uk

Roderick R M Paisley LLB, Dip LP, PhD (Aberd), Solicitor and Notary Public, Professor of Commercial Property Law, email: r.paisley@abdn.ac.uk

Scott C Styles MA (Aberd), LLB, Dip LP (Edin), Senior Lecturer in Law, email: s.c.styles@abdn.ac.uk

Anne-Michelle Slater, BA (Dub), MRUP (UCD), MRTPI, Senior Lecturer in Law, email: a.m.slater@abdn.ac.uk

Aylwin Pillai, LLB Hons, LLM, PhD (Aberd), Lecturer in law, email: a.pillai@abdn.ac.uk

Patrick Masiyakurima, LLB (Hons) (Zim), BCL (Oxon), LLM (Yale), Lecturer in Law, email: p.masiyakurima@abdn.ac.uk

Catherine Ng, B Comm (British Columbia), LLB (Windsor), LLM (Osgoode Hall, York), DPhil (Oxon), Lecturer in Law, email: c.w.ng@abdn.ac.uk

Advisory Board

Stewart Brymer
Solicitor, Thorntons WS, Dundee

Elizabeth J Cooke
Director, Centre for Property Law, University of Reading

David Morrison
Solicitor, Campbell Connon, Aberdeen

Professor Kenneth G C Reid, CBE, FRSE
University of Edinburgh, Scottish Law Commission

Jeremy Rowan-Robinson
Consultant, Paull & Williamsons, Aberdeen

Publication and Research Papers by Centre Specialists

Major recent books and contributions to books include: the definitive Scottish work on servitudes and rights of way; a book on the Scottish law of the countryside; a detailed text on South African land reform law; a text on insolvency law in Scotland; a second edition of the standard Scottish text on corporeal moveable property; chapters on different aspects of property in companion Oxford University Press works on South African and Scots private law; an International Encyclopaedia of Comparative law volume on apartment ownership; chapters in the first book on good faith in property and contract in Scots law.

Articles have appeared in the following journals: Edinburgh Law Review; European Review of Private Law; European Intellectual Property Review; Intellectual Property Journal, Candian Intellectual Property Review Insolvency Law and Practice; Juridical Review; Scottish Law and Practice Quarterly; Singapore Journal of International and Comparative Law; South African Law Journal; Stellenbosch Law Review; Trade Mark Review; Tulane Law Review; University of Baltimore Law Review; Zeitschrift für Europaisches Privatrecht; Art, Antiquity and Law; the Diritto dell'Internet.

Members have contributed or will contribute research papers to property law conferences or symposia in Austria, Australia, England, Italy, The Netherlands, South Africa, Spain and Scotland.