This study of the boundaries of personal property has an inward and an outward perspective, with the intellectual emphasis on the latter. The inward-looking inquiry considers shares as items of personal property. Nowadays those who think of themselves as shareholders often stand one step removed from the share itself. They hold what this book christens a sub-share. This part of the book asks in what sense shares and sub-shares can be conceived to be things, how those things are alienated, and how they are protected in litigation. The outward-looking inquiry then asks whether personal property can be contemplated as a sub-category of the law of things and, more particularly, as the law of all things locatable in space, alienable, or vindicable in court. The outward inquiry considers three boundaries. Within the law of property the line between realty and personalty proves relatively uncontroversial; the second boundary lies between property and obligations; the third between wealth and non-wealth. The second boundary is the main concern. Respect for it necessitates a differentiation between the law of property in the strict sense and the all-encompassing law of wealth, even where the consequence might be to exclude shares and sub-shares from the law of property. In maintaining the value of careful proprietary taxonomy and in reviving the underlying concepts on which it depends, this book opposes modern scepticism as to the possibility and desirability of precision in legal classification. In these commitments it could fairly be styled a post-modern study of personal property. Winner of the SLS Birks Prize for Outstanding Legal Scholarship 2006 - Second Prize.

What are the contemporary challenges faced by property law as we enter the 2nd decade of the 21st century? This collection brings together the research and perspectives of an international body of academics and practitioners to consider these challenges and how even familiar topics must develop to meet new demands and developments. As with previous books in the Modern Studies in Property Law series, this volume adopts a broad approach to topics encompassed by 'property law' in the firm belief that the boundaries that divide are shadowy at best and constantly moving in the endeavour to keep up with what is 'modern'. This collection looks at 5 themes: - Comparative perspectives, including a chapter on grazing and cropping rights in Northern Ireland, and analysis of the anomalies of the English trust law as seen from a civil law perspective; - Taking and alienating property, including a chapter on bankruptcy and the family home; - Modern dilemmas, including chapters on trusts in virtual currency and on smart homes; - Old chestnuts – new challenges, including analysis of the mortgage law reform in Scotland and a chapter on the ouster principle in common law jurisdictions; and - Wills, death and other morbid topics, with chapters on English succession law and the role of knowledge and approval in retrospective assessments of capacity. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic prevented the 13th biennial conference being held in 2020 as planned but despite this, the authors and co-editors persevered to produce this interesting and diverse collection.

Intellectual property law faces the challenge of balancing the interests of right holders and users in the face of technological change and inequalities in information access. Concepts of Property in Intellectual Property Law offers a collection of essays which reflect on the interaction between intellectual property and broader, more traditional, notions of property. It explores the way in which differing interpretations of the concept of property can affect the scope of protection in the law of copyright, patent, trade marks and confidential information. With contributions from leading and emerging scholars from a variety of jurisdictions, the book demonstrates how concepts of property can assist in shaping a conceptually coherent and balanced response to the challenges faced by intellectual property law.