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Dr. Sarah Hamill

Dr. Sarah Hamill

Assistant Professor, Law

3531896 2041

Biography

Dr Sarah Hamill joined Trinity College Dublin in September 2017. She previously worked as a Lecturer at The City Law School, City, University of London, and prior to that she was a Catalyst Fellow at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, Canada. She holds an LLB Honours from the University of Glasgow, an LLM from the University of Toronto, and a PhD in Law from the University of Alberta. Dr Hamill's main areas of research are property law, housing law, and legal history. She has published widely in both areas. Her research in property law focuses on the interaction of public and private claims in the context of property law and housing law. Recent work includes an analysis of tenant rights in Ireland, and work on comparative property and obligations law. Dr Hamill's legal history research has focused on the regulation of alcohol in early-twentieth-century Canada and explored how the province of Alberta sought to make its liquor laws effective. This research included an examination of the role plebiscites played in shaping the regulation of alcohol. In addition to her research in property and legal history, Dr Hamill has also published in the area of public law, specifically equality, and freedom of expression. Dr Hamill's work on legal history has been cited by the Tribunal des droits de la personne (Human Rights Tribunal of Quebec), her work on freedom of expression has been cited by the Quebec Court of Appeal, and her work on property law has been cited by the Supreme Court of Canada. Dr Hamill has provided media commentary about her areas of research, in particular she has provided media commentary on drug and alcohol regulation in Canada, on the legal issues around student protests on Canadian university campuses, and on housing law issues in Ireland. She has written articles for the Irish Examiner, the Sunday Business Post, the Irish Independent, and the Irish Times, and she has appeared on Morning Ireland, News Talk, Drivetime, Prime Time, and CBC Toronto News. She is open to media queries on housing law and property law issues both in Ireland and beyond. At Trinity Dr Hamill teaches housing law to undergraduate students. She has previously taught Private Law Remedies, English Land Law, and capstone modules on Law and Empire, and Property Law. In 2025, Dr Hamill received the Inspiring Educator Award.

Publications and Further Research Outputs

  • Sarah E. Hamill, Private Property Rights and Public Responsibility: Leaving Room for the Homeless, Windsor Review of Legal and Social Issues, 30, 2011, p91 - 114Journal Article, 2011, URL
  • Sarah E. Hamill, Making the Law Work: Alberta's Liquor Act and the Control of Medicinal Liquor from 1916 to 1924, Canadian Journal of Law and Society, 27, (2), 2012, p249 - 265Journal Article, 2012, DOI
  • Sarah E. Hamill, Private Rights to Public Property: the Evolution of Common Property in Canada, McGill Law Journal, 58, (2), 2012, p365 - 403Journal Article, 2012, URL
  • Sarah E. Hamill, Location Matters: How Nuisance Governs Access to Property for Free Expression, University of British Columbia Law Review, 47, (1), 2014, p129 - 165Journal Article, 2014, URL
  • Sarah E. Hamill, Common Law Property Theory and Jurisprudence in Canada, Queen's Law Journal, 40, (2), 2015, p679 - 703Journal Article, 2015, URL , TARA - Full Text
  • Sarah E. Hamill, Prohibition Plebiscites on the Prairies: (Not-So) Direct Legislation and Liquor Control in Alberta, 1915 to 1932, Law and History Review, 33, (2), 2015, p377 - 410Journal Article, 2015, DOI , URL
  • Sarah E. Hamill, The Alberta Liquor Control Board and the Question of Administrative Independence, 1924193, Alberta Law Review, 53, (3), 2016, p747 - 775Journal Article, 2016, URL , TARA - Full Text
  • Sarah E. Hamill, The Meta-Constitution: Amendment, Recognition, and the Continuing Puzzle of Supreme Law in Canada, Oxford University Commonwealth Law Journal, 16, (1), 2016, p28 - 64Journal Article, 2016, DOI
  • Sarah E. Hamill, Liquor Laws, Legal Continuity, and Hotel Beer Parlours in Alberta, 1924 to c 1939, Histoire socilae/Social History, 49, (100), 2016, p581 - 602Journal Article, 2016, URL
  • Sarah E. Hamill, The Public Right to Fish and the Triumph of Colonial Dispossession in Ireland and Canada, University of British Columbia Law Review, 50, (1), 2017, p53 - 94Journal Article, 2017, URL
  • Sarah E. Hamill, Sex, Race, and Motel Guests: Another Look at King v Barclay, Osgoode Hall Law Journal, 54, (3), 2017, p851 - 875Journal Article, 2017, URL , TARA - Full Text
  • Sarah E. Hamill, Community, Property, and Human Rights: The Failure of Property-as-Respect, Journal of Law and Social Policy, 27, 2017, p7 - 28Journal Article, 2017, URL , TARA - Full Text
  • Sarah E. Hamill, Of Malls and Campuses: The Regulation of University Campuses and Section 2(b) of the Charter, Dalhousie Law Journal, 40, (1), 2017, p157 - 187Journal Article, 2017, TARA - Full Text
  • Sarah E Hamill, Caught between Deference and Indifference: The Right to Housing in Canada, Canadian Journal of Human Rights, 7, (1), 2018, p67 - 95Journal Article, 2018, URL
  • Pippa Feinstein & Sarah E. Hamill, The Silencing of LGBTTQQIA Voices in the Litigation over Trinity Western University's Proposed Law School, Windsor Yearbook of Access to Justice, 34, (2), 2017, p156 - 185Journal Article, 2017, URL
  • Sarah E Hamill, Bursting its Bounds: Ownership and the City, University of British Columbia Law Review, 51, (3), 2018, p739 - 772Journal Article, 2018
  • Sarah E. Hamill, Review of Legal History, Social & Legal Studies, 2019Journal Article, 2019, DOI
  • Sarah E Hamill, Enduring Trespass: What Adverse Possession Reveals about Property, Supreme Court Law Review, 2nd Series, 96, 2020, p215 - 236Journal Article, 2020
  • Sarah E Hamill, Public Policy or Intent: The Rationale Underlying Easements of Necessity, Dublin University Law Journal, 42, (1), 2020, p63 - 87Journal Article, 2020
  • Rachael Walsh and Sarah Hamill (chapter authors) Deirdre Ahern and Suryapratim Roy (report editors), Policy Responses to Covid-19 In Ireland: Supporting Individuals, Communities, Businesses, and the Economy, COVID-19 Legal Observatory, Trinity College Dublin, December, 2020, p1 - 108Report, 2020, TARA - Full Text
  • Sociology of contract and property law in, editor(s)Jiri Priban , Research Handbook on the Sociology of Law, Cheltenham, UK, Edward Elgar, 2020, pp258 - 270, [Sarah E Hamill]Book Chapter, 2020, DOI
  • Sarah Hamill, "The Properties of Universities and Universities' Property: Academic Freedom, Freedom of Expression, and Accessing Campuses", CAUT Journal, 2021, p1 - 16Journal Article, 2021, URL
  • Journal of Canadian Studies, 55, 2, (2021), 231 - 480p, Michael Boudreau and Sarah E Hamill, [eds.]Journal, 2021
  • David DesBaillets & Sarah E. Hamill, Coming in from the Cold: Canada's National Housing Strategy, Homelessness, and the Right to Housing in a Transnational Perspective, Canadian Journal of Law and Society , 2022, p1-21Journal Article, 2022, DOI , URL
  • Sarah E. Hamill, Restricting Access to Property: Citizens, Owners, Residents, and Claims to Property, Common Law World Review, 2022Journal Article, 2022, DOI , URL
  • Charlie Wing and the Alberta Liquor Control Board: The Story of the first Chinese-Canadian hotel licensee in post-prohibition Alberta in, Dan Malleck and Cheryl Krasnick Warsh , Pleasure and Panic: New Essays on the History of Alcohol and Drugs , Vancouver, University of British Columbia Press, 2022, pp245 - 269, [Sarah E. Hamill]Book Chapter, 2022
  • At law, at equity, (sometimes) at odds with other judges: Chief Baron Palles and the Judicature Act in, editor(s)Oonagh B Breen and Noel McGrath , Palles: The Legal Legacy of the Last Lord Chief Baron , Dublin, Four Courts Press, 2022, pp35 - 51, [Sarah E. Hamill]Book Chapter, 2022
  • Sarah E. Hamill, Getting the Reasoning Right: Gibbons v Doherty and ADT Investments Ltd [2020] IESC 72, Irish Supreme Court Review, 4, 2022, p83 - 100Journal Article, 2022
  • Sarah E. Hamill, Property Says No: Relational (In)Equality, Encampments, and Property Rights, Journal of Law and Social Policy, 36, 2023, p119 - 137Journal Article, 2023, URL
  • Mary Dobbs, Sarah E Hamill, and Robin Hickey, Land Law and Land Use, Irish Studies in International Affairs, 34, (2), 2023, p149 - 185Journal Article, 2023, DOI , URL
  • Sarah E Hamill, Social Housing, Domestic Violence and the Public Sector Duty , Mercy Law Resource Centre, September, 2023, p1 - 32Report, 2023
  • Sarah E Hamill and Ciara Hackett, Law of Obligations, Irish Studies in International Affairs, 34, (2), 2023, p439 - 479Journal Article, 2023, DOI , URL
  • Sarah E Hamill, Tenant rights under Ireland's Residential Tenancies Acts 2004 - 2025, Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly, 76, 2025, p56 - 86Journal Article, 2025, URL
  • Sarah E. Hamill, McIvor v Canada and the 2010 Amendments to the Indian Act: A Half-hearted Remedy to Historical Injustice, Constitutional Forum constitutionnel, 19, (2), 2011, p75 - 84Journal Article, URL
  • Sarah E. Hamill, Judges and Religious-Based Reasoning: A Response to Ginn and Blaikie, Constitutional Forum constitutionnel, 21, (1), 2012, p15 - 24Journal Article, URL
  • Sarah E. Hamill, Review of of Canadian State Trials, Volume III: Political Trials and Security Measures, 1840-1914 , by Barry Wright & Susan Binne , Labour/Le Travail, 66, 2010, p2Review, URL
  • Sarah E. Hamill, Ola Malik, Imposing Limits on the Public's Right to Access Transit Services: Is the Alberta Court of Appeal's Train of Thought in the Case of R v SA on the Right Track, Digest of Municipal and Planning Law, 6, (24), 2014, p1 - 8Journal Article
  • Sarah E. Hamill, Ola Malik, Megan van Huizen, Tent Cities, Homelessness and the Charter: A Commentary on Abbotsford (City) v Shantz, Digest of Municipal and Planning Law, 7, (16), 2016, p1 - 6Journal Article
  • Sarah Hamill, Owners and Citizens: Entitlements to Property and Questions of Community, A Workshop on Property, Vulnerability, and Resilience, University of Essex, September 2017, 2017Oral Presentation
  • Sarah Hamill, The Last Gasp of Temperance? Liberalising the Liquor Laws in Post-War Alberta, 1945-1958, Canada's Legal Past: Future Directions in Canadian Legal History, University of Calgary, July 2017, 2017Oral Presentation
  • Sarah Hamill, Involuntary Transfers of Ownership and the Search for Certainty in Property, Modern Studies in Property Law Publication Workshop, Queen's College, Cambridge, April 2017, 2017Oral Presentation
  • Sarah Hamill, Bursting its Bounds: Ownership and the City, Property in the City, University of British Columbia, March 2017, 2017Oral Presentation
  • Sarah Hamill, A Theory of Urban Property, Challenging Traditional Notions of Property in Land Use Planning, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, June 2016, 2016Oral Presentation
  • Sarah Hamill, Enduring Trespass and Challenging Property: What Adverse Possession Tells us About Property, Modern Studies in Property Law 2018, University College London, April 2018, 2018Oral Presentation
  • Sarah Hamill, "Fishing Rights and the Triumph of Colonial Dispossession" , Confronting the Violence of Capital, Historical Materialism 2016 Conference, York University, May 2016, 2016Oral Presentation
  • Sarah Hamill, Sex, Race, and Motel Guests: Another Look at King v Barclay, Law, History, Authority - A Symposium in Honour of Douglas Hay, York University, May 2016, 2016Oral Presentation
  • Sarah Hamill, The Failure of Prohibition and the Success of Government Control: Legal Change in Alberta, Law on the Edge - Joint Meeting of the CLSA and LSA-ANZ, University of British Columbia, July 2013, 2013Oral Presentation
  • Sarah Hamill, Thinking About Public Property: The Nature of Land, Owners, and Use, Annual Meeting of the Association for Law, Property and Society,, Maastricht University, May-June 2018, 2018Oral Presentation
  • Sarah Hamill, Charlie Wing and the Alberta Liquor Control Board: Anti-Chinese Racism and the Liquor Laws in Post-Prohibition Alberta, Law at the Crossroads - The Annual Meeting of the Law and Society Association, Toronto, ON, 2018Oral Presentation
  • Sarah E Hamill, "Goodwill or Good excuse?: the origins and afterlife of Ulster Transport Authority v James Brown & Sons", Reputation as Property: perspectives from tort and property, Trinity College Dublin, January 2019, 2019Oral Presentation
  • Sarah Hamill, The Properties of Universities and Universities' Property: Academic Freedom, Freedom of Expression, and Accessing Campuses, Free Speech on Campus, Toronto, ON, February 2019, 2019Invited Talk
  • Sarah Hamill, Time, Contingency, and the Duty to Act like an Owner: What Adverse Possession Reveals about property, New Work in Property and Trusts Symposium, University College London, May 2019, 2019Oral Presentation
  • Sarah Hamill, Public Rights of Way Over Private Land: Aberration, Interruption, or Correction?, Colloquium: Intersections in Private Law, Sydney, Australia, August 2019, 2019Oral Presentation
  • Sarah Hamill, Review of New Perspectives on Land Registration , by Amy Goymour, Stephen Watterson, and Martin Dixon (eds) , Legal Studies, 39, (3), 2019, p550-553Review, DOI
  • Sarah E. Hamill, Review of Property Law in a Globalizing World, by Amnon Lehavi , International and Comparative Law Quarterly, 2019Review, DOI
  • Sarah Hamill, Sociology of contract and property law, 2021 Socio-legal Studies Association Conference, Cardiff University/Online, March 2021, 2021Oral Presentation
  • Sarah E Hamill, Eoin O'Dell, Alan Eustace, Philip Gavin and Sadhbh McGrath, Embedding Group Work and Innovative Assessment in the Private Law Curriculum, The Society of Legal Scholars Annual Conference, online/ Durham University, 31/08 - 3/09 2021, 2021Oral Presentation
  • Alan Eustace, Sarah Hamill, Andrea Mulligan, Public Health Law During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Ireland: A Public Policy Report of the COVID-19 Legal Observatory , Covid-19 Law and Human Rights Observatory, Trinity College Dublin, August, 2021, p1 - 142Report
  • Sarah E. Hamill, Review of Justifying Private Rights , by Simone Degeling, Michael Crawford and Nicholas Tiverios (eds) , Modern Law Review, 2021Review, DOI
  • Sarah Hamill and Sarah Keenan, Critical Perspectives on Land Registration, 10/2020-01/2021, 2020, Online/Birkbeck, University of LondonMeetings /Conferences Organised
  • Sarah Hamill and David Mangan, Reputation as Property: Perspectives from Property and Tort, 2019, DublinMeetings /Conferences Organised
  • Sarah E. Hamill, Review of Possession, Relative Title, and Ownership in English Law, by Luke Rostill , Cambridge Law Journal, 80, (3), 2021, p624-627Review, DOI
  • Sarah E. Hamill, Getting the Reasoning Right: Gibbons v Doherty and ADT Investments Ltd [2020] IESC 72, Irish Supreme Court Review Conference, Online, November 2021, 2021Oral Presentation
  • Sarah E. Hamill, Understanding Ownership, New Directions in Private Law Theory, University College London/Onlline, November 2021, 2021Oral Presentation
  • Sarah E. Hamill, The Celtic Paper Tiger: Ireland's Residential Tenancies Acts 2004-2022 and the Chimera of Tenants" Rights, Institute for Advanced Legal Studies, Director's Seminar Series, Online, 29 March 2023, 2023, Institute for Advanced Legal StudiesInvited Talk
  • Sarah Hamill, Free Expression and Universities, Re-imagining Law Schools: Challenges and Opportunities, University of Reading, September 2024, 2024Invited Talk
  • Sarah Hamill, Access to Housing and Homelessness, Access to housing: affordable and sustainable housing, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada, November 2024, 2024Invited Talk
  • Sarah Hamill, Divergent Answers to the Ongoing Land and Housing Question(s)?, Exploring Ireland as a divergent common law jurisdiction since 1922, UCD Centre for the Common Law in Europe, Sutherland School of Law, University College Dublin,, December 2024, 2024Invited Talk
  • Sarah E Hamill, The Celtic Paper Tiger: Ireland's Residential Tenancies Acts 2004-2024 and the Chimera of Tenants" Rights, Maynooth University, 16 April 2025, 2025Invited Talk

Research Expertise

History, Heritage and Archaeology, Law and legal studies,

Recognition

  • The Honourable N.D. McDermid Graduate Scholarship in Law 2009-2012
  • Alberta Law Foundation Ph.D Scholarship 2009-2011
  • Eleanor Luxton Historical Foundation Graduate Fellowship 2012-2013
  • University of Alberta Foote Graduate Award 2011-2012
  • University of Alberta, Faculty of Law Graduate Scholarship 2009-2010
  • Canadian Law and Society Association 2018
  • Society of Legal Scholars