PhD, LLM, LLM. LLB, BA (Hons), BA

Research interests are broadly human rights, particularly those of women and children, and the law that governs property, including but not limited to, land and intellectual property. My research often uses case studies from the island countries of the South Pacific region to focus on issues of human rights, legal pluralism, the challenges of development and sustainability, globalisation and legal colonialism. In particular I am interested in the interface between legal systems and normative frameworks within states and between states, and the relationship between national, regional and international players in shaping and developing legal responses to contemporary issues. I welcome interdisciplinary collaboration and research that escapes from the usual categorisation of legal topics.

Member of the Society of Legal Scholars, Commission of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law, Juris Diversitas (Expert Advisory Group); European Society of Oceanists (Esfo), American Society of Anthropologists, the European Consortium of Pacific Studies (ECOPAS) and Socio Legal Studies Association (Journal review panel).

I am also regularly asked to review academic articles for a range of journals, book proposals for publishers and to review publications.

I am an external examiner for the University of Glasgow.

Climate change and sustainable Futures   I am associated with this interdisciplinary  project through being an associate of the  Centre for Pacific Studies, St Andrew University. I am the only law academic on this project. This is an international collaborative project funded under the EU Framework Seven  Programme, which brings together under the ECOPAS grouping  St Andrews University, the University of Bergen, University of the South Pacific, National Research Institute, Papua New Guinea, Centre for Research and Documentation on Oceania (CREDO) in Aix-Marseilles, and the University of Nijmegen. The project has involved a number of workshops and conferences at which I have presented papers and meetings in Brussels and London, which I have attended.

Intellectual Property and Traditional Knowledge in Pacific Island States, with Miranda Forsyth Australian National University and Katerina Serrano, University of the South Pacific, sponsored by Australian National Research Council and ANU; this project has produced a number of published outputs based on field work and desk research, and led to an international conference hosted at ANU in 2012, the proceedings from which were published by the journal of Pacific Studies under my editorship. A major  monograph is currently in progress.

Young People on the Edge of Adulthood, collaborating with Professor Rhona Smith and others , this collaboration has involved, co-chaired panel session at the Cana­dian Law and Soci­ety Asso­ci­ation and the Law and Soci­ety Asso­ci­ation of Aus­tralia and New Zea­l­and, ‘Law on the Edge’ Conference, the Uni­ver­sity of Brit­ish Columbia, 2013; Co-chair and co-convenor ‘On the Edge of Adulthood’ one day workshop, Northumbria University, Newcastle, sponsored by Northumbria University Pro Vice Chancellors fund; Poster display Society of Legal Scholars Edinburgh, 2013; papers presented at the Law and Society conference in Minneapolis, 2014 , and submission of abstracts for future events such as ‘Scotland’s children: possible futures? 2014.

Forthcoming publications include:

Article ‘That plant is my ancestor’: dilemmas for intellectual property in developing countries, food security and Pacific island countries’ Queen Mary Journal of Intellectual Property, to appear Volume 4, Issue 4 2014;

Book Chapter: ‘Graffiti artists and guerrilla gardeners: challenging understandings of property law’ in Re-imagining our Sociological Contemporary: What is the Age of Re-embodiments. Ruth Thomas-Pellicer, Sian Sullivan and Vito de Lucia (eds) Law, Justice and Ecology Series, Routledge, Glasshouse Book;

Article: ‘Aid, trade and taboo: the place of indigenous traditional knowledge in development strategies: a Pacific perspective’ Development Studies Journal be published online (TaylorFrancis) 2014;

Book: S. Farran, E. Orucu and S. Donlan (eds), A Study of Mixed Legal Systems: Endangered, Entrenched or Blended Ashgate, which includes a chapter S. Farran ‘Scotland: Is the Tartan Fading?

Book Chapter:  Indigenous Knowledge (eds. Elmien du Plessis and Caroline Ncube) to be published by Juta and Co, Cape Town, in the CSLAR Series (Contemporary Studies in Legal and Applied Research)

Current research projects include: editing a collection of international papers, many by early career researchers, under the working title ‘Diffusion: the movement of laws and norms’ Ashgate;   a co-authored work on Equity and Trusts, with Katharine Davies (NU), Hall and Stott Publishing; and a co-authored monograph Centralising Culture: Weaving Intellectual Property Policy in Small Island Developing States. A view from the Pacific, with Miranda Forsyth, (ANU), Intersentia.

Ongoing collaborative projects are listed below under Further Information

Future funded research: ‘The gender impact of land reform in the Republic of Vanuatu’ for which I  have been awarded travel and research funding from the society of Legal Scholars.

 

Monographs 

South Pacific Land Systems co-edited and co-authored with Don Paterson (USP), University of the South Pacific Press  2013

South Pacific Law of Property and Trusts Supplement 20 (2013) International Encyclopaedia of Laws, Kluwer International, The Hague, 2nd edition

South Pacific Law of Property and Trusts (2013) International Encyclopaedia of Laws, Kluwer International, The Hague, 2nd edition

Law and the Family in the Pacific (2011) University of the South Pacific

South Pacific Intellectual Property Law (2011)Supplement 51International Encyclopaedia of Laws, Kluwer International, The Hague, 3^rd third edition 

Human Rights in the South Pacific: Challenges and Changes’ (2009) Routledge-Cavendish, London

South Pacific Intellectual Property Law (2009)Supplement 51International Encyclopaedia of Laws, Kluwer International, The Hague,  2^nd edition 

South Pacific Law of Property and Trusts (2009) Supplement 9 International Encyclopaedia of Laws, Kluwer International, The Hague

Chapters in Collections/Books 

 ‘Outwith the law in Samoa and Tonga’ in N. Besnier and K. Alexeyeff (eds.) Gender on the Edge: Transgender, Gay and Other Pacific Islanders University of Hawai’i Press, 2014

‘Timber Extraction in Solomon Islands: Too Much, Too Fast; Too Little, Too Late’ in E. Gilberthorpe and G. Hilson (eds) Natural Resource Extraction and Indigenous Livelihoods: Development challenges in an Era of globalisation, Ashgate, Farnham, 2014, 179-200

‘Earth under the Nails: the Extraordinary Return to the Land’ in N. Hopkins, (ed) Modern Studies in Property Law, Hart Publication, Oxford, 2013, 173-191

‘Selling the Land: Should it stop. A case-study from the South Pacific’ in M. Dixon (ed) Modern Studies in Property Law (2009) Vol 5, Hart Publications, Oxford, 289-311 

‘Vanuatu (New Hebrides)’ Max Planck Encyclopaedia of Public International Law, (2010) Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and Intentional Law, Heidelberg and Oxford University Press

‘Vanuatu: A tinder-box in the Pacific’ in B. Edgeworth  and L. Bennet-Moses (UNSW) (eds) Property and Security: Selected Essays (2010) Law Book Co. Thomson Reuters, Australia  pp 69-87

Articles 

‘The “unnatural” legal framing of traditional knowledge and forms of cultural expression in the

Pacific’ (2013) 1 (2) Journal of New Zealand and Pacific Studies181-197

‘Food Security in Pacific Island Countries’ (2013) Pacific Studies, Brigham Young University, Hawai’i  140-156

‘The Age of Empire: Again?  (2013) 47 (3) The Law Teacher 345-367

‘Intellectual Property and Food Security in Least Developed Countries’ with Forsyth, M. (ANU) (2013) 34 (3) Third World Quarterly 521-538

 ‘Navigating between traditional land tenure and introduced land laws in Pacific Island States’ (2012) 64 Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law 65-90

‘Children of the Pacific: Giving effect to Article 3 UNCRC in small island states’ (2012) 2 The International Journal of Children’s Rights 199-223

‘Paddling a canoe with an oar made of oak’. The challenging legacy of British law in Pacific island states’ (2012) 63(3) Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly 323-341

‘Navigating Changing Land Use in Vanuatu’ (2011) 33 (2/3) Pacific Studies 250-268

‘Storing Sperm in Scotland: A Risky Business’ (2011) 19(1) European Review of Private Law 257-274

‘Scots Law: A system in search of a family’ (2010) 61(4) Northern Ireland Law Quarterly 311-327

Book Review ‘Justice, Legality, and the rule of Law: Lessons from the Pitcairn Prosecutions’ Dawn Oliver (ed) OUP 2009, in (2010) 6 (3) International Journal of Law in Context 309-313

 ‘Pacific Perspectives: Fa’afafine and Fakaleiti in Samoa and Tonga: People Between Worlds’ (2010) 31(1) Liverpool Law Review 13 < http://www.springerlink.com/openurl.asp?genre=article&id=doi:10.1007/s10991-010-9070-0>

‘Law, land, development and narrative: a case-study from the South Pacific’ (2010) 6 International Journal of Law in Context 1-21 

‘Child adoption: the challenges presented by the plural legal systems of South Pacific island states’ (2009) 21(4) Child and Family Law Quarterly 462-484 

 ‘Land as a Fundamental right: A cautionary tale’ (2009) 40(1) Victoria University of Wellington Law Review 387-402 

 ‘Palm tree justice? The role of comparative law in the South Pacific’ (2009) 58 International and Comparative Law Quarterly 181-195

‘”Making Land Work” in the Pacific?  Evaluating Land Reform in Vanuatu’ (2009) LAWASIAJournal  44-61 

 Fragmenting the Land and the Laws that Govern It’ (2008) 58 Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law Number, pp. 93-113 

‘South Pacific Children: the law on adoption and issues of concern’ (2008) 6(2) New Zealand Family

Law Journal 30-36 

‘Timber! Felling the Future of the Solomon Islands’ (2008) 16(2) Australian Property Law Journal 109-128 

Conference papers

 

‘ Intellectual Property in a culturally and legally plural world: learning from the Pacific’ Olomouc University Annual Conference, Czech Republic 15-16 May, 2014

‘Legal inequalities and the not-yet-adult child’ Law and Society Conference, Minneapolis May 29-June 1, 2014

 ‘At the edges and on the margins: hearing the voices of young people in South Pacific island countries’ Cana­dian Law and Soci­ety Asso­ci­ation and the Law and Soci­ety Asso­ci­ation of Aus­tralia and New Zea­l­and, ‘Law on the Edge’ Conference, the Uni­ver­sity of Brit­ish Columbia, Vancouver,1- 4 July, 2013

‘Scots Law: Is the Tartan Fading? Endangered Mixed Legal Systems, Glasgow University Tercentenary celebrations for the Regius Chair of Criminal Law, Glasgow, 10-11 June, 2013

‘One nation many islands: many islands one nation’ Juris Diversitas ‘Infusion/Diffusion’ Conference, Swiss Institute of Comparative Law, Lausanne, 3-4 June, 2013

‘The Age of Empire: Again? A critical examination of legal education’ Irish Society of Comparative Law, National University of Ireland, Galway, 24-25 May, 2013

‘Are there guerrillas in my garden?’ Staff seminar, Newcastle University Law School, 22 May, 2013

‘That plant is my ancestor. The significance of intellectual property on food security in developing countries’ SLSA Conference, York University, 26 March, 2013

The ‘unnatural’ legal framing of traditional knowledge and forms of cultural expression’ European Society of Oceanists, Bergen 5-8, December, 2012

‘Food Security in Pacific Island Countries’ Innovation, Creativity, Access to Knowledge and Development in Pacific Island Countries, 24-25 September, 2012 Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

‘A bundle of sticks in my garden’ Gardens of Justice, Critical Legal Studies Conference, Stockholm, Sweden, 14-16 September, 2012

 ‘Pacific Punch: tropical flavours of mixedness in the island republic of Vanuatu’ Mixed Jurisdictions East-West, Society of Mixed Jurisdictions, Valleta, Malta, May 14-16, 2012

‘Earth under the Nails: the Extraordinary Return to the Land’ Modern Studies in Property Law Conference, Southampton University, March 21-23, 2012

 ‘Changing currents: laws and development in South Pacific island states' Island Dynamics Conference, Malta 11-15 May, 2011

‘Children of the Pacific: Giving effect to Article 3 UNCRC in small island states’ Research forum for the Child, Queen’s University, Belfast 1-2 June, 2011

‘Navigating between traditional land tenure and introduced land laws in Pacific Island States’  Legal and Cultural Pluralism Conference Cape Town, South Africa 8-10 September 2011, Commission for Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law

‘Access to knowledge and the promotion of innovations: challenges for Pacific island states’ Legal and Cultural Pluralism Conference Cape Town, South Africa 8-10 September 2011

‘Aid, Trade and Taboo: the place of indigenous traditional knowledge in development strategies: A Pacific perspective’ SLS Conference, Cambridge, 4-6 September 2011

‘Scots law, a system in search of a family’ Irish Society of Comparative law’ Queen’s University Belfast, March 5-6, 2010

‘Customary property rights at the cross-roads: thoughts from the Pacific’ Socio-Legal Studies Association Annual conference, Bristol 30 March- 1 April, 2010

 ‘Pacific perspectives: Fa’afafine and Fakaleiti in Samoa and Tonga people between worlds’ in the ‘Gender Sexuality and Law’ stream at the SLSA Conference 7-9 April, 2009

‘Vanuatu:  a tinder-box in the Pacific’ Australasian Property Law Teachers’’ Conference April 17-19, Sydney, 2009  

‘Narratives of land claims.’ Literature, Law and Sovereignty Conference, Birkbeck College, London,  May 2, 2009 

 ‘Towards convergence? Scots and English private law.’ Society of Legal Scholars Conference, Comparative Law Section, September, Keele, 2009  

 ‘Selling the land: should it stop? A case-study from the South Pacific’ Biennial Conference on Property Law, Cambridge University, February, 2008  

‘Timber! Felling the future of the Solomon Islands’ British Academy funded conference on ‘Examining the Long-Term Impact of Post-Colonial Phases of Extractive Industry on Indigenous Livelihoods’, University of Durham, March, 2008

‘Land as a fundamental right’ Strategies for the Future Protecting Rights in the Pacific, April, Apia, Samoa, 2008

‘Land, law and people in the Pacific’ European Society of Oceanists ‘Putting People First’ Verona, July, 2008

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