Upcoming Events
1st October 2025
'The Controversy Around Short-Term Letting in Europe'
This seminar will involve two paper presentations to reflect on the contentious regulation of short-term letting (STL), which has recently become a prominent source of political division and social discontent across Europe. This is particularly acute in major tourist destinations such as Edinburgh or Barcelona, among many others, where the rapid growth of STL holiday accommodation over the past decade is widely blamed for the shortage of affordable residential housing. Local community activists have mobilised to demand that the provision of STL be limited or even banned, and landlord associations have responded by campaigning to defend the STL industry. The issue has therefore become a central regulatory concern of public authorities at the local, national and supranational levels, and generated a wave of litigation across Europe that has placed judges at the centre of the controversy.
Papers will be presented by Professor Vassilis Hatzopoulos (Professor of EU Law and Policies at Panteion University, Athens, and visiting Professor at the College of Europe, Bruges), Dr Guillem Colom-Montero (School of Modern Languages & Cultures, University of Glasgow) and Professor Toni Marzal(School of Law, University of Glasgow). Responses will be given by Dr Bilge Serin (Urban Studies & Social Policy, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Glasgow), alongside those from within the School of Law.
The event will run 2:30pm-5pm, and will be hosted at 10 Professor's Square, Room 10.
Previous Events
9th May 2025
'Franco-Scottish Perspectives on Property, Sustainability, and Land Reform' Workshop
With the Franco-British Lawyers Association
Dr Flora Vern and Professor Maria Fletcher organised a conference on Franco-Scottish Perspectives on Property, Sustainability, and Land Reform, funded by the Private Law Research Group and the Franco-British Lawyers Society. Speakers from across Scotland and France delivered a series of presentations on current topics in land and property law through the overarching theme of sustainability. These sessions included discussions on the human rights aspects of land reform, community rights to buy and sustainable development, forest ownership and governance, and the law on residential tenements in the context of the energy transition. A write up of this event can be accessed here.
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
Sponsored by the Clark Foundation for Legal Education
Dr Stephen Bogle, Dr Alan Brown, and Dr Lesley-Anne Barnes Macfarlane hosted a two-day workshop on Capacity in Scots Private Law at the University of Glasgow, funded by the Clark Foundation for Legal Education. Speakers from universities and civil society organisations across the country were invited to present and lead discussions on different aspects of capacity and some of the key legal, policy, and practical considerations.
28th June 2024
'Overtourism and Local Communities' Seminar
Professor Antonio Marzal and Dr Guillem Colom-Montero organised a multi-panel event on Overtourism and Local Communities as part of the broader ‘Communicating Sustainabilities Conference 2024’. Academics, organisations, and activists across a range of legal and social sciences disciplines were convened to reflect on the impacts of overtourism from different perspectives, including housing, local spaces, cultures, and rights to the city.
1st May 2024
'René Demogue and the Continuous Construction of the Legal Person' Seminar
Professor Vincent Forray (SciencesPo Paris)
Professor Forray led the second seminar in the Private Law Research Seminar series. Professor Forray’s areas of expertise lie in contracts and tort, epistemology of law, law of persons and comparative law, and he has worked extensively on the ways in which purported descriptive accounts of the law play a role in transforming the law itself.
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
Sponsored by the Clark Foundation for Legal Education
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