Land Law

McFarlane, Hopkins, and Nield's Land Law is the most succinct, analytical textbook available in this subject area. These experienced and respected authors have used their unique approach to land law to provide a consistent structure with which students and lecturers can tackle the topics.

The approach arms students with the tools needed to analyse content covered in classes and exams autonomously by demonstrating how to consider rules in isolation before looking at the full picture. This method helps students make links across topics.

The concise treatment allows students to concentrate on building an in-depth, sophisticated grasp of the core principles. The authors' direct writing style and contextual outlook guides readers through the depth and detail and gives lucidity to abstract rules. The use of significant cases to exemplify rules in practice and diagrams for visual learners gives additional clarity to concepts that are particularly difficult to imagine.

Students are encouraged to test their knowledge by answering end-of-chapter questions and to widen their research by referring to the resources suggested in the further reading lists accompanying each chapter. Web links to online sources are hosted on the Online Resource Centre. Legal updates are also available on this website.

Ben McFarlane, Professor of Law, University College London,Nicholas Hopkins, Law Commissioner for England and Wales and Professor of Law, University of Reading,Sarah Nield, Professor of Law, University of Southampton

Ben McFarlane is Professor of Law at University College London. He has published a number of articles on land law in leading journals and is the author of The Law of Proprietary Estoppel (OUP, 2014) and The Structure of Property Law (Hart, 2008). He is also a contributing editor of Snells's Equity.


Nicholas Hopkins is a Law Commissioner for England and Wales and Professor of Law at the University of Reading. He has published widely on land law and has a particular interest in law and the family home. He is chair of the board of Modern Studies in Property Law, an academic member of the Property Bar Association and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Prior to his appointment as Commissioner he taught land law for over twenty years.

Sarah Nield is a Professor of Property Law at Southampton University. She has been teaching land law since 1982, having previously held posts at Hong Kong University and the University of Bristol. She has also taught conveyancing, equity and trusts and company law. She has published widely in the area of property law both in this jurisdiction and Hong Kong. She is also a qualified solicitor.