Modern Studies in Property Law 2026
Southampton Law School, University of Southampton
30th March – 1st April 2026
The 16th Biennial MSPL Conference will take place at Southampton Law School Highfield Campus from 30th March 2026 to 1st April 2026, hosted by the Law School’s Research Centre for People Property and Community. The call for papers is now open. The closing date for submissions is 15th September 2025.
MSPL is a world-leading forum for scholars with research and/or teaching interests in property law, attracting an international body of delegates. The conference started life at the University of Reading in 1996. It remained in Reading until 2006, and has since been held at Queens’ College, Cambridge (2008, 2024), New College, St John’s College Oxford (2010, 2022 respectively), the University of Southampton (2012), the University of Liverpool (2014), Queen’s University Belfast (2016), and University College London (2018). Those conferences gave rise to the well-regarded book series, Modern Studies in Property Law which has published refereed papers from the conference since 2001.
About MSPL 2026
The conference will be held in personWe anticipate that the standard registration fee will be no more than £200 plus conference dinner with deductions for PGRs, early bird registrations etc and supplements for late booking. Full details of registration costs will be available on the conference website which will be live from October 2025. Unfortunately, it is not possible to offer any funding towards the travel costs or the costs of attending the conference, even for speakers.
Preferential rates will be agreed with local hotels in Southampton, as the University does not have on-campus accommodation available. The website will provide full details and additional information about staying in Southampton.
We are delighted to announce that keynote lecture/plenary will be delivered by Professor Rachael Walsh of Trinity College Dublin.
Call for Papers
The main conference will feature two different formats for presenting original research on property law, building on experience from previous conferences: full papers, and work in progress sessions. ‘Property law’ is broadly defined to include doctrinal, theoretical, empirical and socio-legal perspectives on any aspect of property including real property, personal property, trusts, and equity. We welcome interdisciplinary and comparative perspectives as well as papers which seek to engage with the future of property.
Papers will be welcomed from scholars at all stages of their academic careers. PGR papers will be integrated into the main conference, and a reduced delegate rate will be available for PGR researchers. Our aim is that the conference fee will be no more than £200 plus conference dinner.
Full papers
Full papers should be in the region of 8,000-10,000 words. A selection of these papers will be published in the associated conference book, Modern Studies in Property Law, which will continue to be produced by Hart Publishing (Bloomsbury). In submitting a full paper, you are agreeing both that this paper can be considered for publication in this book and will not be offered for publication or published elsewhere (unless it is not accepted for the book). All full papers presented at the conference will need to be available as a complete draft 3 weeks before the conference. Revised drafts will be required 4 weeks after the conference. A process of peer-review will determine inclusion in the collection.
Work in progress
Works in progress sessions will involve discussion of projects at an earlier stage of completion. Papers in this category will not be eligible for submission to the conference collection, but the expectation is that the sessions will provide constructive feedback useful in bringing a project at an earlier stage of completion to fruition. An outline handout or draft paper will be required 3 weeks before the conference.
Submission details
Proposals for full papers and work in progress presentations should be sent to Nic Roberts by email to N.Roberts@soton.ac.uk by 15th September 2025. Proposals should:
- Indicate the category for which they are submitted, either (1) full paper or (2) work in progress.
- Include a short abstract of the paper (300 words)
- Include a very brief author CV (just a few lines)
The decision as to which papers to accept is made by a panel of property lawyers. For full papers, results will be communicated in the week commencing 13th October 2025. For works in progress presentations, decisions will be communicated by the end of November 2025.
For more details refer here
