Biography

Ben McFarlane is Professor of English Law at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of St John’s College, Oxford. He was an undergraduate and graduate law student at Oxford, and was a Fellow of Christ Church (1999-2003), St Peter’s (2003-2004) and Trinity College (2004-2012) before joining UCL as a Professor of Law in 2012. He rejoined the Oxford Faculty of Law in 2019. As well as supervising doctoral students, he teaches in private law subjects, including Land Law and Trusts on the FHS course and Restitution of Unjust Enrichment and Advanced Property and Trusts on the BCL/ MJur.

Ben is a co-author of leading textbooks on property law and trusts, such as Hayton, McFarlane and Mitchell on Equity and Trusts (15th edn, 2022) and Land Law: Text, Cases and Materials (6th edn, 2024). He is the sole author of the leading practitioner text on proprietary estoppel: The Law of Proprietary Estoppel (2nd edn, 2020), and contributes chapters to Snell’s Equity (35th edn, 2024) and Chitty on Contracts (35th edn, 2024). He is an Academic Member of the Chancery Bar Association and the Property Bar Association and he holds a visiting appointment at Melbourne Law School, where he is a Senior Fellow. His Oxford inaugural lecture of 2022 and his Current Legal Problems Lecture of 2024 are available online.

Please scroll down for a comprehensive list of Ben’s publications.

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Publications

Books:

  • The Law of Proprietary Estoppel (2nd edn, 2020; 1st edn, OUP, 2014)
  • The Structure of Property Law (Hart Publishing, 2008)
  •  Hayton, McFarlane, and Mitchell: Text, Cases and Materials on Equity and Trusts (Sweet & Maxwell, 15th edn, 2022: with J. Hudson and C. Mitchell)
  • Hayton and Mitchell: Text, Cases and Materials on the Law of Trusts and Equitable Remedies (Sweet & Maxwell,14th edn, 2015: with C. Mitchell)
  • Land Law: Text, Cases and Materials (OUP, 6th edn 2024, 5th edn 2021, 4th edn 2018, with S. Nield; 1st edn 2009, 2nd edn 2012, 3rd edn 2015: with N. Hopkins and S. Nield)
  • Core Text: Land Law (2nd edn, 2020 with N. Hopkins and S. Nield)
  • Snell’s Equity (Sweet & Maxwell, 35th edn, 2025, 34th edn 2020, 33rd edn 2015, 32nd edn 2010: contributor with responsibility for chapters 5, 8, 9, 12, 13)
  • Chitty on Contract (Sweet & Maxwell, 35th edition, 2025: contributor with responsibility for chapter 23)

Edited Books:

  • Private Law and Building Safety (edited with M. Bell, S. Bright, and A. Robertson, Hart, forthcoming 2025)
  • Equity Today: 150 Years after the Judicature Reforms (edited with S. Elliott, Hart, 2023)
  • Modern Studies in Property Law, Volume 10 (edited with S. Agnew, Hart, 2019)

 Book chapters:

(a) Equity

  • Property and Equity in Boundaries of Private Law (OUP, 2024)
  • Trusts, Property, and Rights in Philosophical Foundations of the Law of Express Trusts (OUP, 2023)
  • The Persistence of Equity: Lessons from the Trust in Equity Today: 150 Years after the Judicature Reforms (Hart, 2023)
  • As Complex as ABC? Bona Fide Purchasers of Equitable Interests (with A. Televantos) in Intermediaries in Commercial Law (Hart, 2022)
  • The Essential Nature of Trusts and Other Equitable Interests: Two and a Half Cheers for Hohfeld in The Legacy of Wesley Hohfeld (CUP, 2022)
  • Controlling Private Punishment in Three Dimensions: Penalties and Forfeiture in England and Australia in Punishment and Private Law (Hart, 2021)
  • Equity and the Justification of Private Rights in Justifying Private Rights (Hart, 2020)
  • Form and Substance in Equity in Form and Substance in the Law of Obligations (Hart, 2019)
  • What’s Special About Equity? Rights About Rights (with R. Stevens) in Philosophical Foundations of Equity (OUP, 2019)
  • The Paradox of the Equitable Proprietary Claim (with S. Agnew) in Modern Studies in Property Law: Volume 10 (Hart, 2019)
  • Avoiding Anarchy? Common Law v Equity & Maitland v Hohfeld in Equity and Law: Fusion and Fission (CUP, 2018)
  • Sham Trusts (with S. Douglas) in Modern Studies in Property Law, Volume 9 (Hart, 2017)
  • The Trust and its Civilian Analogues in The Worlds of the Trust (CUP, 2013)
  • Trusts and Knowledge: Lessons from Australia in Fault Lines in Equity (Hart, 2012)
  • The Centrality of Constructive and Resulting Trusts in Constructive and Resulting Trusts (Hart, 2010)
  • Intermediated Securities: Practical Problems and Conceptual Solutions (with R. Stevens) in Intermediated Securities: Legal Problems and Practical Issues (Hart, 2010)

(b) Property

  • Defining Property Rights (with S. Douglas) in Philosophical Foundations of Property Law, OUP, 2013)
  • Keppell v Bailey (1834) and Hill v Tupper (1863) in Landmark Cases in Land Law (Hart, 2013)
  • Tulk v Moxhay (1848) in Landmark Cases in Equity (Hart, 2012)
  • The Numerus Clausus Principle and Covenants Relating to Land in Modern Studies in Property Law: Volume 6 (Hart, 2011)
  • Tackling Avoidance (with E. Simpson) in Rationalizing Property, Equity and Trusts (OUP, 2003)

(c) Estoppel

  • Equitable Estoppel and Restitution as Interstitial Causes of Action in Interstitial Private Law (OUP, forthcoming 2024)
  • Equitable Estoppel as a Cause of Action: Neither One Thing Nor One Other in Contract in Commercial Law (Lawbook Co, 2017)
  • Proprietary Estoppel: Undermining the Law of Succession? in Current Issues in Succession Law (Hart, 2016)
  • Proprietary Estoppel: The Importance of Looking Back in The Jurisprudence of Lord Hoffmann (Hart, 2015)
  • Promissory Estoppel and Debts in Contract Formation and Parties (OUP, 2010)

 (d) Unjust Enrichment

  • Rights and Value: Means and Ends in The Restatement Third: Restitution and Unjust Enrichment: Critical and Comparative Essays (Hart, 2013)
  • Unjust Enrichment, Rights and Value in Rights and Private Law (Hart, 2011)

 Journal Articles:

 (a) Equity

  •  The Nature of Trusts and the Conflict of Laws (with S. Agnew) (2021) 137 LQR 405
  • Intermediated Securities: Taking Stock (2016) BJIBFL 359
  • An English Perspective: Two Cheers for Book X (2011) 15 Edinburgh Law Review 471
  • The Nature of Equitable Property (with R. Stevens) (2010) 4 Journal of Equity 1
  • Equity, Obligations and Third Parties (2008) Singapore Journal of Legal Studies 308
  • Constructive Trusts Arising on a Receipt of Property Sub Conditione (2004) 118 LQR 667

 (b) Property

  • Property, Analogy, and Variety (with S. Douglas) (2022) 42 OJLS 161
  • Property: Duties, Diversity, and Limits (2022) 33 King’s LJ 23
  • Property and the New Doctrinalism: Comment (2015) 163 U Penn L Rev Online 293
  • Reply: Property Law and its Structure (2011) 2 Jurisprudence 217
  • Identifying Property Rights – A Reply to Mr Watt [2003] Conv 473

(c) Estoppel

  • Promises, Detriment, and Liability: Lessons from Proprietary Estoppel (with P. Sales) (2015) 131 LQR 610
  • The Limits to Estoppels (2013) 7 Journal of Equity 250
  • Understanding Equitable Estoppel: From Metaphors to Better Laws (2013) 66 CLP 267
  • The Protection of Pre-Contractual Reliance: A Way Forward? (2010) 10 OUCLJ 95
  • Apocalypse Averted: Proprietary Estoppel in the House of Lords (with A. Robertson) (2008) 124 LQR 535 (case-note)
  • The Death of Proprietary Estoppel (with A. Robertson) [2008] LMCLQ 449 (case-note)
  • Blue Haven Enterprises Ltd v Tully and Another (2006) 1 Journal of Equity 156 (case-note)
  • Proprietary Estoppel and Failed Contractual Negotiations [2005] Conv 501
  • The Non-Contractual Enforcement of Agreements to Dispose of Interests in Land [2005] KCLJ 174
  • Proprietary Estoppel and Property Rights (with S. Bright) [2005] CLJ 449
  • Personal Liability in Proprietary Estoppel (with S. Bright) [2005] Conv 14
  • Proprietary Estoppel and Third Parties after the LRA 2002 [2003] CLJ 661

(d) Unjust Enrichment

  • Unjust Enrichment, Property Rights and Indirect Recipients (2009) 17 RLR 37
  • In Defence of Sumpter v Hedges (with R. Stevens) (2002) 116 LQR 569
  • The Recovery of Money Paid Under Judgments Later Reversed [2001] RLR 1

Blog posts

  • Estoppel Remedies (with J. Mee) Oxford Property Law Blog 15 Mar 2022
  • The Nature of Trusts and the Conflict of Laws (with S. Agnew) Oxford Property Law Blog 17 July 2021
  • Data Trusts and Defining Property Oxford Property Law Blog 29 Oct 2019

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