Sean Thomas

Profile

Biography

Dr Sean Thomas

LLB (Durham), PhD (Manchester)

Reader

I joined York as a Reader in September 2019, having previously held positions at the University of Durham (2015-19, Associate Professor), University of Leicester (2010-13, Lecturer in Commercial Law; 2013-15, Senior Lecturer in Commercial Law) and Anglia Ruskin University (2008-10, Senior Lecturer in Law).

I hold a PhD from the University of Manchester (where I was a Graduate Teaching Assistant). I also hold a PG Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, and am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Departmental roles

Deputy Chair of the Board of Examiners

Research

Overview

My research concerns, broadly, the transfer of ownership of personal property. I approach this fundamental issue by examining the interconnections of forms and methods of ownership and control of personal, real and intellectual property drawing on multiple disciplinary and methodological foundations. I have expertise in title conflicts (particularly comparative analysis with United States law), the historical development of commercial law, and the interface between goods, intellectual property, and land. I also have a longstanding interest in radical property practices, and my work on freeganism and waste has been cited widely across disciplinary boundaries and has attracted media and other interest.

Recently my work has concentrated on two areas of growing importance: circular economy, and smart technology. My analyses of law and circular economics was amongst the first in the field (and was the first considering English and Welsh law and circular economy); I have a rather sceptical view of the legal implications of circular economics on the ownership and use of goods. I have also published work examining the interface between sales law and smart technologies; again, I am critical of the possible implications for ownership of goods.

I am a co-author (with Dr Reza Beheshti and Professor Severine Saintier) of the fourth edition of Bradgate’s Commercial Law (OUP 2024).

My work has been cited judicially, by the Law Commission, and the Scottish Law Commission. I am a member of the advisory board to the Everyday Cyborgs project (Professor Muireanne Quigley), and of the advisory board to the Commercial Code project (Professor Gerard McMeel KC). I have also been a member of the Secured Transactions Law Reform Project.

I have forthcoming publications on digital product passports (Journal of Business Law), the relationship between the nemo dat exceptions and the law of theft, a very brief piece about Lord Denning’s jurisprudence, and a chapter on waste supply chains (co-authored with Professor Melanie Kreye of the School for Business and Society).

I am also (slowly, but surely) working on two monographs. One looks to the past, and examines the development of English law on middlemen in sales transactions c1700-1800. The other looks to the future, and examines the possible death of ownership.

I have supervised a number of PhD students to completion, in areas of commercial and contract law, AI, and loot boxes. I am happy to discuss potential research projects in the following fields:

• Circular Economy
• Smart Technology and Artificial Intelligence
• Contract Law
• Commercial Law
• Land Law
• Personal Property Law
• Legal History

Teaching

Undergraduate

I have taught a wide range of QLD and optional modules at all levels of UG and PGT study. I have extensive experience in small (tutorial), medium (seminar), and large (lecture) group teaching, and a strong understanding of Problem Based Learning. I utilise a broad variety of traditional and non-traditional means of assessment in all aspects of my teaching. I was lucky to have been nominated for the York University Students Union Teaching Excellence Award 2021-22.

My current teaching at York Law School crosses a number of subjects:

• Property (as part of the Foundations in Law modules across years 1 and 2). I am also the subject lead for Property.
• Personal Property Law (Y3 optional module)
• Dissertation supervision (LLB and LLM)
• Law and Circular Economy (LLM module)

I also teach a seminar on circular economy and law on the MSc Green Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry.

At York Law School, I have also taught classes in Legal Concepts, Legal Skills, Advanced Legal Skills, and Issues in Law and Society. I have also given lectures in Issues in Law and Society, and Philosophy of Law.

Publications

Selected publications

Publications on Commercial Law:

• ‘Digital Product Passports: Some Implications for English and Welsh Sales Law’ [2026] Journal of Business Law (forthcoming)
• Reza Beheshti, Severine Saintier and Sean Thomas, Bradgate’s Commercial Law (4th edn OUP 2024)
• ‘Mistake of Identity: A Comparative Analysis’ [2008] Lloyd’s Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly 188

Publications on Circular Economy:

• ‘Circular Economy, Title, and Harmonisation of Commercial Law’ in O Akseli and J Linarelli (eds), The Future of Commercial Law: Ways Forward for Harmonisation (Oxford, Hart Publishing 2020) 187
• ‘Waste, marginal property practices, and the Circular Economy’ (2020) 12(3) Journal of Property, Planning, and Environmental Law 203
• ‘Law and the Circular Economy’ [2019] Journal of Business Law 62
• ‘Law, Smart Technology, and Circular Economy: All Watched Over By Machines of Loving Grace?’ (2018) 10 (2) Law, Innovation & Technology 230

Publications on AI and Smart Technologies:

• ‘Sales Law and AI’ in E Lim and P Morgan (eds), Cambridge Handbook of Private Law and Artificial Intelligence (CUP, 2024) ch 22
• ‘Smart Homes’ in S Farran, R Hewiston and A Ramshaw (eds), Modern Studies in Property Law: Volume XI (Hart 2021) ch 9
• ‘Goods with embedded software: obligations under Section 12 of the Sale of Goods Act 1979’ (2012) 26 International Review of Law, Computers & Technology 165

Publications on Security Interests:

• ‘Security and New Asset Types in Scotland: The Possibilities of “Further Kinds of Incorporeal Property”’ [2024] (4) Juridical Review 268
• ‘Relationship and Intersections between Intellectual Property, Property (as security) and Circular Economy’ in T Pihlajarinne, J Mähönen, and P Upreti (eds), Rethinking the Role of Intellectual Property Rights in the Post Pandemic World: An Integrated Framework of Sustainability, Innovation and Global Justice (Elgar, 2023) ch 12
• ‘Security Interests in Intellectual Property: Proposals for Reform’ (2017) 37(2) Legal Studies 214
• ‘Mortgages, fixtures, fittings and security over personal property’ (2015) 66 NILQ 343

Publications on Legal History:

• ‘English Commercial Law in the Longue Durée: Chasing Continental Shadows’ in M Gałędek and A Klimaszewska (eds) Modernisation, National Identity, and Legal Instrumentalism: Studies in Comparative Legal History Volume I: Private Law (Brill, 2020) ch 5
• ‘The Development of the Implied Terms on Quantity in the Law of Sale of Goods’ (2014) 35 The Journal of Legal History 281
• ‘The Origins of the Factors Acts 1823 and 1825’ (2011) 32 The Journal of Legal History 151

Publications on Theft

• ‘A Question of Justice: Nemo Dat and Theft’ in L Hewitt and J Welsh (eds), Rights and Justice in Public and Private Law (Routledge, forthcoming 2025)
• ‘Do Freegans Commit Theft?’ (2010) 30 (1) Legal Studies 98

External activities

Memberships

• Society of Legal Scholars
• Socio-Legal Studies Association
• Future of Law Association
• Obligations Discussion Group North
• Northern Legal History Group

I am currently an External Examiner/Critical Friend at the University of Bristol, and the University of Sheffield.