Staff Profile

Sue joined Newcastle Law School from the University of Northumbria in 2019 having previously held posts at the University of Dundee, the University of the South Pacific (based in the Republic of Vanuatu) and the University of the West of England. She is an Associate of the Centre for Pacific Studies at the University of St Andrews.

Sue's research interest lie in the field of human rights and property, encompassing in particular the rights of women, children and indigenous people, and land, natural resources and intellectual property. Many of her publications use case studies from the Pacific island states to explore larger themes. Much of her work adopts a comparative focus and she is interested in legal pluralism and the interface of traditional and modern systems of law.

i currently hold an ESRC/AHRC FCO funded Research Fellowship under which i am seconded to work for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development office of Her Majesty's Government in Whitehall. I am attached to the Asia Pacific Research Group focussing on the regional area of the Pacific, preparing research papers, briefs and minutes for policy makers, diplomats and ministers. This role draws on my many years of research a range of issues relevant to Pacific Island States but also stretches me to consider many others.

I have published widely both as a single author and co-author as well as editing collections of papers both in special journal issues and monographs. I also act as a reviewer for various journals and welcome working with researchers from other disciplines.

in the academic year 2019/20 I have taught Land Law and Equity and Trusts at Undergraduate level and International Human Rights, International Intellectual Property Law and Enivironmental Impact Assessment on the taught LLM. I am also supervising dissertations at undergraduate and post-graduate level.

• Forsyth M, Farran S. Weaving Intellectual Property Policy in Small Island Developing States. Cambridge: Intersentia, 2015.
• Corrin J, Farran S, ed. The Plural Practice of Adoption in Pacific Island States. London: Springer, 2018.
• Farran S. Chagos and the ICJ – The Marine Protected Area [The Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice on The Chagos Archipelago: An Anticipatory Analysis (Part I, II & III)]. Questions of International Law 2018, 71-84.
• Farran S. Intellectual Property Consequences of Commercial Relations with Small States: A View from the Pacific. In: Petra Butler, Eva Lein and Rhonson Salim, ed. Integration and International Dispute Resultion in Small States. Cham: Springer, 2018, pp.141-163.
• Farran S, Smith R. The Case of John Hudson December 1783, trial of John Hudson. In: Stalford, H; Hollingsworth, K; Gilmore, S, ed. Rewriting Children's Rights Judgments: From Academic Vision to New Practice. Oxford, UK: Hart Publishing, 2017.
• Farran S, Corrin J. Developing legislation to formalise customary land management: deep legal pluralism or a shallow veneer?. Law and Development Review 2016, 10(1), 1-27.
• Farran S. Redrawing the Law's Definition of Property in the Light of Contemporary Use of Urban Surfaces. In: Ben McFarlane and Sinéad Agnew, ed. Modern Studies in Property Law, Volume 10. Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2019.
• Farran S. Learning from Chagos, Lessons for Pitcairn. In: Stephen Allen and Chris Monaghan, ed. Fifty Years of the British Indian Ocean Territory: Legal Perspectives. Cham: Springer, 2018, pp.293-317.
• Farran S. 'That plant is my ancestor': dilemmas for intellectual property in developing countries, food security and Pacific Island countries. Queen Mary Journal of Intellectual Property 2014, 4, 277-296.
• Farran S, Corrin J. Introduction. In: Jennifer Corrin and Sue Farran, ed. The Plural Practice of Adoption in Pacific Island States. London: Springer, 2019, pp.1-13.
• Tupou M, Farran S. Adoption in Tonga. In: Jennifer Corrin and Sue Farran, ed. The Plural Practice of Adoption in Pacific Island States. London: Springer, 2018, pp.129-145.
• Farran S. Is marine protection compatible with the right to economic development in Pacific Island States?. In: Regional Identities & Coastal Communities of the Pacific. 2018, Aveiro, Portugal: New Zealand Studies Association.
• Farran S. Redrawing the Taxonomy of Property Law in the Light of Contemporary Use of Urban Surfaces. In: 12th Biennial MSPL Conference: Modern Studies in Property Law 2018. 2018, London.
• Farran S. Regulating the environment for blue-green economy in plural legal states: a view from the Pacific. Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law 2018, 50, 119-144.
• Corrin J, Farran S. The Law on Adoption in Vanuatu. In: Jennifer Corrin and Sue Farran, ed. The Plural Practice of Adoption in Pacific Island States. London: Springer, 2018, pp.147-169.
• Farran S. Who are you if you lose your island?. In: Commission on Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law: Legal Status and Identity Panel. 2018, Ottawa, Canada: Commission on Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law.
• Farran S. At the edges and on the margins: hearing the voices on young people in South Pacific Island countries. The Round Table 2016, 105(4), 401-414.
• Farran S. Graffiti artists and guerilla gardeners: challenging our understandings of Property Law. In: Ruth Thomas-Pellicer, Vito De Lucia and Sian Sullivan, ed. Contributions to Law, Philosophy and Ecology: Exploring Re-Embodiments. Abingdon: Routledge, 2016, pp.192-211.
• Farran S, Smith R. Introduction. Round Table 2016, 105(4), 351-354.
• Farran S, Hultin N. Introduction. Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law 2016, 48(3), 347-353.
• Corrin J, Farran S, Paterson D. Introduction. Journal of South Pacific Law 2016, 2016(1), 1-4.
• Crook T, Farran S, Roell E. Understanding Gender Inequality Actions in the Pacific: Ethnographic Case-studies and Policy Options. Final Report. Brussels: European Commission, 2016.
• Smith R, Farran S. When is a Child not a Child and Other Questions - A Commonwealth-wide Overview. The Round Table 2016, 105(4), 363-375.
• O'Brien D, Farran S. A new dawn for human rights in Fiji? Learning from comparative lessons. Journal of International and Comparative Law 2015, 2(2), 326-559.
• Farran S. Gender, Equality and Pacific Island Countries with Particular Focus on Domestic Violence. Journal of South Pacific Law 2015, 2015(2), A1-A23.
• Farran S. Human rights perspective on protection of traditional knowledge and intellectual property: A view from island states in the Pacific. In: Christophe Geiger, ed. Research Handbook on Human Rights and Intellectual Property. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2015, pp.641-658.
• Farran S, Rautenbach C. Introduction. In: Sue Farran, James Gallen, Jennifer Hendry and Christa Rautenbach, ed. The Diffusion of Law: The Movement of Laws and Norms Around the World. Ashgate Publishing, 2015, pp.1-6.
• Farran S. Pacific punch: Tropical flavors of mixedness in the island Republic of Vanuatu. In: Vernon Valentine, Mohamed Y. Mattar and Anna Koppel, ed. Mixed Legal Systems, East and West. Ashgate Publishing, 2015, pp.123-140.
• Farran S, Gallen J, Hendry J, Rautenbach C. The Diffusion of Law: The Movement of Laws and Norms Around the World. Ashgate Publishing, 2015.
• Farran S. A bundle of sticks in my garden. Pólemos: Journal of Law, Literature and Culture 2014, 8(2), 235-251.
• Farran S, Örücü E, Donlan SP. A Study of Mixed Legal Systems: Endangered, Entrenched or Blended. Ashgate Publishing, 2014.
• Farran S. Aid, trade and taboo: The place of indigenous traditional knowledge in development strategies: A Pacific perspective. Development Studies Research 2014, 1(1), 28-41.
• Farran S. Child adoption: A dilemma in a plural legal system: A critical comment on recent case law. Journal of South Pacific Law 2014, 2014(1), C14-C26.
• Farran S. Outwith the law in Samoa and Tonga. In: Niko Besnier and Kalissa Alexeyeff, ed. Gender on the Edge: Transgender, Gay, and Other Pacific Islanders. University of Hawaii Press, 2014, pp.347-370.
• Farran S. Scotland: 'Is the tartan fading?'. In: Sue Farran, Esin Örücü and Seán Patrick Donlan, ed. A Study of Mixed Legal Systems: Endangered, Entrenched or Blended. Ashgate Publishing, 2014, pp.13-34.
• Farran S. The challenges to human rights posed by threats to food security in the Pacific Islands. New Zealand Yearbook of International Law 2014, 12, 153-173.
• Farran S. Timber extraction in Solomon Islands: Too much, too fast; too little, too late. In: Emma Gilberthorpe and Gavin Hilson, ed. Natural Resource Extraction and Indigenous Livelihoods: Development Challenges in an Era of Globalization. Ashgate Publishing, 2014, pp.179-200.
• Forsyth M, Farran S. Intellectual property and food security in least developed countries. Third World Quarterly 2013, 34(3), 516-533.
• Farran S. The "age of empire": again?. The Law Teacher 2013, 47(3), 345-367.
• Farran S. Children of the Pacific: Giving effect to Article 3 UNCRC in small island states. International Journal of Children's Rights 2012, 20(2), 199-223.
• Farran S. Navigating between traditional land tenure and introduced land laws in Pacific island states. Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law 2011, 43(64), 65-90.
• Farran S. Law, land, development and narrative: A case-study from the South Pacific. International Journal of Law in Context 2010, 6(1), 1-21.
• Farran S. Pacific perspectives: Fa'afafine and fakaleiti in Samoa and Tonga: People between worlds. Liverpool Law Review 2010, 31(1), 13-28.
• Farran S. Human Rights in the South Pacific: Challenges and Changes. Routledge-Cavendish, 2009.
• Farran S. Palm tree justice? The role of comparative law in the South Pacific. International and Comparative Law Quarterly 2009, 58(1), 181-195.
• Farran S. Fragmenting land and the laws that govern it. Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law 2008, 40(58), 93-113.
• Farran S, Cabrelli D. Exploring the Interfaces between Contract Law and Property Law: A UK Comparative Approach. Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law 2006, 13(4), 403-443.
• Farran S. Is legal pluralism an obstacle to human rights? Considerations from the South Pacific. Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law 2006, 38(52), 77-105.
• Farran S. Sand, fish and sea: A legal reflection on islands - From Orkney to Vanuatu. International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law 2006, 21(4), 389-421.
• Farran S, Su'a A. Criminal law and Fa'afafine and Fakaleiti in the South Pacific. Commonwealth Law Bulletin 2005, 31(1), 19-31.
• Farran S, Paterson D. South Pacific Property Law. Routledge-Cavendish, 2004.
• Farran S, Hill ER. Making waves and breaking the mould in civil procedure in the Pacific: The new civil procedure rules of Vanuatu. Commonwealth Law Bulletin 2002, 28(2), 1108-1125.
• Care JC, Farran S. Law in the Pacific: Implications of jurisdictional, cultural and ethnic diversity for the teaching of law. The Law Teacher 1997, 31(3), 283-309.
• Farran S. Marine Protected Areas and Indigenous Rights. In: Allen S; Bankes N; Ravna O, ed. The Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Marine Areas. Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2019, pp.319-340.
• Farran S. Legislating for customary land tenure: A comparative query. In: Donlan, SP and Mair, J, ed. Comparative Law: Mixes, Movments and Metaphors. London and New York: Routledge, 2020, pp.31-46.
• Farran S. The Chagos Marine Protected Area. In: Burri, T; Trinidad, J, ed. The International Court of Justice and Chagos Islands. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020, pp.1-25. Submitted.
• Farran S. Are environmental charities getting their feet wet when they lobby for marine protection around remote islands?. Trusts and Trustees 2020, 26(2), 138-148.
• Farran S. The Place of Law in the 'Blue Pacific' Agenda. Revista General de Derecho Publico Comparado 2019.
• Farran S, Corrin J. COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVES ON PLURAL LEGAL GOVERNANCE OF MARINE RESOURCES IN THE PACIFIC. Comparative Law Journal of the Pacific 2022. Submitted.
• Farran S. Exploring the Engagement of Pacific Island Judges with the convention on the Rights of the Child. International Journal of Children's Rights 2021, Epub ahead of print.
• Farran S, Smith R. Graffiti in a time of Covid-19: spray paint and the law. King's Law Journal 2021, 32(1), 84-95.
• Farran S, Smith R. The ‘Pacific way’ of responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Round Table: The Commonwealth Journal of International Studies 2021, 110(2), 217-231.
• Farran S. The Significance of Sea-level Rise for the Continuation of States and the Identity of their People. Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal 2021, 24, 1-32.
• Farran S, Corrin J. Torres Straits Islanders lead the way in legislating for Kupai Omasker in the Pacific. Child and Family Law Quarterly 2021, 33(1). In Press.
• Farran S, Hewitson R. A new lease of life for Donatio Mortis Causa?. Trusts and Trustees 2020, 26(7), 613-619.
• Farran S. Balancing livelihoods with environmental protection: A case study from Fiji. Environmental Law Review 2020, 22(4), 266-279.
• Farran S. Environmental Law in a Context of Legal Pluralism. In: Wewerinke-Singh, M; Hamman,E, ed. Environmental Law and Governance in the Pacific. Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 2020.