Previous Events
9th May 2025
'Franco-Scottish Perspectives on Property, Sustainability, and Land Reform' Workshop
With the Franco-British Lawyers Association
30th April 2025
'Making Sense of Private Law Theory' Seminar
Professor Steve Hedley (University College Cork)
On 30th April 2025, Professor Steve Hedley (UCC) delivered to the Private Law Research Group a seminar concerning the current state of private law theory, seeking to provide an approximate map of the approaches in the field with significant support. Professor Hedley aimed to show the Group that, rather than the field being chaotic and lacking cohesion, it was possible to outline a distinct pattern that these theories followed. The resulting picture, something of a ‘theory of theories’, provided a useful summary of the area, and sparked a lively discussion.
10th-11th September 2024
'Capacity in Scots Private Law' Workshop
28th June 2024
'Overtourism and Local Communities' Seminar
1st May 2024
'René Demogue and the Continuous Construction of the Legal Person' Seminar
Professor Vincent Forray (SciencesPo Paris)
1st May 2024
6th March 2024
'Governance by Contract: The Contractual Consequences of the Private Provision of Public Service' Seminar
Professor Catharine MacMillan (King's College London)
On 6th March 2024, the Private Law Research Group hosted Professor Catharine MacMillan (KCL) who delivered an eye-opening seminar on the phenomena of government bodies ‘contracting out’ their public law responsibilities to private actors. Professor MacMillan set the trend in a historical perspective, tracing its rise during the 1980s all the way to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the seminar detailing the problematic implications of this. Arguing that contract law and public law are founded upon different values, the move away from public services provided by governmental bodies suggests that principles such as natural justice and accountability are hampered by the contractual principles that are based on efficiency and privity. The paper Professor MacMillan’s seminar was based upon has since been published in an edited collection, which can be found here.
23rd November 2023
'10 Years of the Defamation Act 2013' Workshop
6th-7th July 2023
Guest v Guest Modern Law Review Seminar
Sponsored by the Modern Law Review seminar scheme.
5th June 2023
Legal Geography Workshop
This one-day workshop brought together an inter-discipilnary group of researchers to explore the connections between issues of sustainability, land use and housing.
25th May 2023
'Building Families Through Surrogacy: A New Law Report' Workshop
Led by Dr Alan Brown, this workshop brought together academics and practitioners to reflect on and discuss the Law Commission's recent report on surrogacy.
20th April 2023
Book Launch – 'Contract Before the Enlightenment'
Dr Stephen Bogle held the book launch for his new monograph, Contract before the Enlightenment: the ideas of James Dalrymple, Viscount Stair (1619-1695), earlier this year. The afternoon event featured contributions from guests such as Hector MacQueen, Catherine MacMillan, Adelyn Wilson and John Ford, as well as those from internal speakers.
24th March 2023
'Children on the Move' Workshop
Led by Professor Janeen Carruthers, this workshop set out to explore issues affecting children in Scotland who are subject to a change of personal, domestic circumstances, to assess how well they are supported and protected by Scots law.
It was generously funded by the Clark Foundation for Legal Education
Read more about the workshop on the Scottish Civil Justice Hub