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PROF. STEVEN GALLAGHER
Professional Consultant
Professor of Practice in Law

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Email

Office

(852)  3943 1832

(852) 2994 2505

stevegallagher@cuhk.edu.hk

Room 524
Faculty of Law
5/F, Lee Shau Kee Building
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Sha Tin, NT, Hong Kong SAR

Steven Gallagher is a Professional Consultant, Professor in Practice of Law (by courtesy), and Associate Dean (Academic & Student Affairs). Steven has taught various aspects of property law in England and Hong Kong. In 2013, Steven introduced the course, Principles of Art, Antiquities, Cultural Heritage and the Law to the LLM programme at CUHK LAW. In 2023, Steven introduced the course, Principles of Digital Technology and Law to the Juris Doctor programme. His academic work includes 10 books, and more than 100 academic articles and other pieces on topics associated with property. For Hong Kong’s professional sector, Steven has contributed chapters and volumes for various professional works including Atkin’s Court Forms Hong Kong and Halsbury’s Laws of Hong Kong. He has also presented over 300 professional and academic seminars and conference papers. Steven’s research interests include the law affecting art, antiquities and cultural heritage, Chinese custom and law, legal history, property law, law and technology, and innovative ways to teach law. The latter includes using superhero films for problem based learning, flipped classrooms and digital learning initiatives promoting asynchronous and distance learning. Steven has been widely quoted in newspapers and television reports regarding legal issues involving property law, digital technology and law, and art, cultural heritage and law. In 2023, Steven published the textbook, “Digital Technology and Law”. He is not a technologist.

EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS

  • Post Graduate Certificate in Teaching in Higher Education
  • Barrister (Gray’s Inn)
  • LL.M.
  • LL.B. (First Class) (University of Wolverhampton)

COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES

  • Co-Chief Examiner (Academia) for the Overseas Lawyers Qualifications Examination (OLQE) for 2 years from the 2023 Examination.
  • August 2019 – Arbitrator for the Court of Arbitration for Art, The Hague.
  • Pro-bono advice for a number of Hong Kong museums and artists on art and heritage related issues
  • Member, Editorial Committee of the Hong Kong Law Society’s journal, The Hong Kong Lawyer 2010- 2020
  • Consultant for the Department of Justice on the revisions to Hong Kong’s law of trusts implemented 1 December 2013

RESEARCH INTERESTS

  • Law and Technology
  • Art, Antiquities, Cultural Heritage and the Law
  • Legal History, particularly the origins of the law of trusts at common law and the incorporation of Chinese custom as law in Hong Kong
  • Superheroes and the Law

REPRESENTATIVE PUBLICATIONS

Books

  • Digital Technology and Law (Hong Kong: Curia Books, June 2023)
  • The Annotated Ordinances of Hong Kong: Landlord and Tenant (Consolidation) Ordinance (Cap 7) (Hong Kong: LexisNexis, May 2023). 
  • The Law of Unjust Enrichment in Hong Kong- Second Edition (Hong Kong: Lexisnexis, November 2021).
  • Protecting Built Heritage in Hong Kong, (Hong Kong: Springer, September 2021).
  • Equity and Trusts in Hong Kong: Doctrines, Remedies and Institutions, Second edition (Hong Kong: Sweet & Maxwell September 2020).
  • The Annotated Ordinances of Hong Kong: Landlord and Tenant (Consolidation) Ordinance (Cap 7) (Hong Kong: LexisNexis, May 2020).
  • Equity and Trusts: Centuries in the Making. In Chinese (China: Law Press, 2018)

Practitioner Texts

  • Halsbury’s Laws of Hong Kong, Volume 50, Trusts & Voluntary Associations. (Hong Kong: LexisNexis, 2020)
  • 2019 Atkin’s Court Forms Hong Kong
    • ❖ Issue 63 Land Easements
    • ❖ Issue 65 Land Mortgages
    • ❖ Issue 66 Land Sales

Book Chapters

  • “Prošek or Prosecco: Intellectual Property or Intangible Cultural Heritage?” In Wine Law and Policy From National Terroirs to a Global Market, edited by Julien Chaisse, Fernando Dias Simões and Danny Friedmann, chapter 22. (Boston, USA: Brill Publishers, 2020).
  • “Trusts and charitable donations to museums: should museums sell their collections?” In Trust patrimoni artistici e collezioni-Trusts artistic estates and collections, edited by Marta Cenini (Italia, Agosto: CEDAM, Wolters Kluwer, September 2019)
  • With Mark Hsiao. “The Concept of the Trust in Common Law and Civil Law and its Impact on Structured Finance”. In Structured Finance and Securitisation in Asia, edited by Kingsley Ong and Chee Keong LOW (Hong Kong: Thomson Reuters, November 2018).

Policy Briefs

  • For “Top Global New Think Tank”, Antiquities Coalition: “How to Successfully Fight the Illicit Trade in Stolen Art and Antiquities in Asia? Remove an Antiquated English Law from Hong Kong’s Legal System” (December 2018)

    Journal Articles

    • With Lin Siyi, and Lutz-Christian Wolff. “The History of a Mystery: The Evolution of the Law of Unjust Enrichment in Germany, England and China.” (2020) 3(2) Cardozo International Comparative, Policy & Ethics Law Review, 337-381.
    • “Shipwrecks, Treasure Hunters, Chinese Porcelain: the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage” (2019) September/ October, Orientations
    • “‘Purchased in Hong Kong’: Is Hong Kong the Best Place to Buy Stolen or Looted Antiquities?’ (2017) 24(4) International Journal of Cultural Property, pp. 479-496.
    • “Market Overt in Hong Kong: A ‘Legal Absurdity’”. (2016) 47(8) Orientations.
    • ‘Confusing Criminal and Civil law: when may a hospital refuse to release a dead body?’ (2014) 22 The Journal of Law & Medicine 387- 397.
    • ‘Placing your trust: a comparison of special trusts jurisdictions’ (2014) China Business Law Journal 5(8) (September), 51-57.
    • ‘Trust in HK: Changes to trust law have mainland appeal’, China Business Law Journal (2013) 4 (9), 51-55.
    • ‘The Presumption of Advancement in Hong Kong’, The Hong Kong Lawyer, November 2011, 14-25.
    • ‘Museums and Human Remains: an Equitable Solution’ (2010) 17 International Journal of Cultural Property 65-86.
    • ‘Raising the Dead: Exhumation and the Faculty Jurisdiction: should we presume to exhume? [2010] 1 Web Journal of Current Legal Issues
    • ‘Protecting the Dead: Exhumation and the Ministry of Justice’- [2008] 5 Web Journal of Current Legal Issues
    • With Frederick Cosgrove-Gibson, ‘The Justice of Exhumation’, New Law Journal, January 2008.

    Books Edited

    • Shared Heritage: Management of British Warship Wrecks Overseas (Swindon: English Heritage publication, January 2010)

    Web resources

    • September 2021- YouTube Channel: art, antiquities, cultural heritage and the law
    • Editor and Publisher “The Art and Heritage Issues in Asia Journal” (formerly “The Art and Heritage Crime in Asia Daily”) since October 2018.

    INVITED PRESENTATIONS AND CONFERENCE PAPERS

    • 6 September 2023, “Preventing Illicit Trade in China’s Cultural Heritage in the Greater Bay Area by Harmonizing Policy and Law”, CUHK LAW GBA Forum 2023 Online Seminar
    • 6 July 2023,  “Feng Shui, and Ancestor Veneration as a Business in the Hong Kong Metaverse”, CUHK Law and University of Manchester Conference Web3 Governance: Law and Policy
    • 21June 2023,   “Barangay Justice”,  Third Asian Legal History Conference, CUHK
    • 1 March 2023: “The Knights Templar and the Origins of the Common Law of Trusts” Property Law seminar for CUHK LAW.
    • 15 December 2022, “Directions in Virtual Teaching and Learning the Law”, co-presented with Professor Michael Lower and Dr Jenny Chan.
    • “The Protection of Built Heritage in Hong Kong”, seminar for CUHK Law’s Greater China Legal History seminar series. 16 September 2022
    • Invited Panel Member for the Kingdom of Cambodia – The International Conference on Cultural Property Protection.  5 September 2022.
    • “NFTs: The Future or the End of Art?”, 14th IP Conference: Digital Innovations and Intangible Assets, CUHK LAW.  29 July 2022,
    • “Blue and White Gold and the Great Asian Shipwreck Hunters”, the 2nd Asian Regional Workshop on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage. 21 July2022.
    • “Foreign Law Trusts in Hong Kong”, with Richard Grasby for Appleby Hong Kong. 20 July 2022.
    • “Digital Property and Probate” for the Law Society of Hong Kong with Peter Tsang. 20 July 2022.
    • “Toppling Statues and Changing Names: Should the Law Protect Embarrassing or Awkward Heritage?” for the University of Geneva Summer School on International Cultural Heritage Law.13 July 2022.
    • paper at “Directions in Legal Education”, 4th international conference on legal education in Hong Kong, CUHK LAW, on Superheroes and the Law. 11 July 2022.
    • invited presentation for the Department of Justice’s Mediation Conference 2022, on “Art in the Metaverse: Digital Art, Digital Assets, Crypto Assets, FTs and NFTS”. 6 May 2022.
    • CUHK LAW’s Property Law Seminar Series. “Can you destroy your Sex Pistols memorabilia. 16 March 2022.
    • Invited seminar for Department of Property & Registration Law of the Institute of Comparative Law, University of Tehran:  Informal Interest in Land in Hong Kong. 7 March 2022.
    • Teaching & Learning seminar for CUHK Law on legal writing with Professor Michael Lower and Professor Mara Malagodi. 9 February 2022
    • Invited seminar for the Hong Kong Family Law Association on the subject of customary marriage in Hong Kong. 26 January 2022
    • Invited by the American Bar Association International Law Section’s Art and Cultural Heritage Committee to present a book talk on “Protecting Built Heritage in Hong Kong”. 8/9 December 2021
    • paper on The Underwater Cultural Heritage Protection Regime of Hong Kong at the Asian Regional Workshop on Underwater Cultural Heritage organized by the Dalian Maritime University. 2 December 2021.
    • invited to join a panel of experts to talk about “Non-fungible Tokens, Art and Law” at the Hong Kong Design Institute NFT Forum 2021. 29 November 2021
    • UNSW Legal Education Research Conference describing the development of the greater China Legal History Seminar Series and the risks, challenges and opportunities of going online. 26 November 2021.
    • CUHK T&L seminar: Teaching law through superhero films. 27 October 2021
    • Friends of the CUHK Art Museum “Art Fraud & Fakes: Don’t be a Victim!” 27 October 2021
    • With Ian Morley. “The Jack the Ripper murders and why they captured the public imagination in 1888 and retain it in 2021.” CUHK LAW Seminar- Jack the Ripper, The first media serial killer. 22 October 2021
    • CUHK CLEAR Expo, “The Avengers and the Law: Using Superhero Films to Assist Law Students in Transitioning and Developing their Learning Skills for University Studies “29 July 2021.
    • Paper at the Australasian Law Academics Association Conference online on 6 Jul 2021, entitled “Law and History for Continuing Legal Education as a Vision of ‘Boldness’: The initial impetus for and changing face of, the Greater China Legal History Seminar Series”.
    • ‘The Common Law option not to perform’, CUHK LAW Conference “Pacta Sunt Servanda in Changing Times”. 25 June 2021.
    • “The Legal Issues in Acquiring, Maintaining and Disposing of Collections” for The Oriental Ceramics Society of Hong Kong. 8 April 2021
    • “Toppling Statues and Changing Names – Does the Law Protect Embarrassing or Awkward Heritage in Hong Kong?” 22 January 2021. Greater China Legal History Seminar Series. CUHK LAW.
    • “Mitigating fiduciary obligations – how far can (and should) a trustee go?” The Society of Trusts and Estate Practitioners (STEP) regional conference. 17 November 2020
    • ‘Equity and the Enforcement of Informal Land Contracts: Part II’ with Prof. Alice Lee & Prof. Michael Lower. CUHK LAW Property Law Seminar Series. 11 November 2020
    • “The great porcelain wreck treasures and China’s development of law and policy to identify and protect underwater cultural heritage along the Maritime Silk Road: evidence of “China’s peaceful rise” or reaction to perceived renewed colonial humiliation?” International Conference Heritage Conservation along the Belt and Road Zones: Between Politics and Professionalism, Hang Seng University of Hong Kong, 23 October 2020
    • ‘Equity and the Enforcement of Informal Land Contracts’ with Prof. Alice Lee & Prof. Michael Lower. CUHK LAW Property Law Seminar Series. 7 October 2020
    • ‘Toms v Ruberry: when can a CPO s. 58 notice be served?’ & ‘Gift, Sale, or Presumption of Resulting Trust?’ with Prof. Michael Lower. CUHK LAW Property Law Seminar Series. 23 September 2020
    • “Prošek or Prosecco: Intellectual Property or Intangible Cultural Heritage?” The 12th IP Conference-Technology and Legal Frontiers in Global Pandemics. 31 July 2020.
    • ‘Law and History for Continuing Legal Education?’ CUHK Teaching and Learning Innovation Expo 2019/20 28 – 30 July 2020.
    • “Toppled Statues and Monuments: Perspectives on the Global Movement Confronting Heritage”. The British Institute of International and Comparative Law, London. Online seminar. co-organised webinar with BIICL. 16 July 2020.
    • “Unjust Enrichment and Equity”. Presented at “Unjust Enrichment in Asia”, CUHK LAW, 26 June 2020.
    • “Law and History for Continuing Legal Education? Amazing Evidence from Hong Kong”. “Directions in Legal Education”, 3rd international conference on legal education in Hong Kong, CUHK LAW. 18-20 June 2020
    • “Sham and Illusory Trusts: do we need the common law doctrine of sham in the law of trusts?” CUHK LAW Property Law Seminar Series. 22 April 2020
    • “Chinese Shipwrecks and the Law of Treasure Hunting”, Class Acts for the Chinese University of Hong Kong,1 April 2020.
    • “Collectors and Collections of Chinese Art and Antiquities: Problems with Gifts, Trusts and Legacies”- CUHK LAW Greater China Legal History Seminar Series. 3 April 2020
    • “Middle Eastern Antiquities for Sale in Asia: a new market and a new trafficking route?” Law, Culture and Human Rights in Asia and the Middle East Conference. The British Institute of International and Comparative Law, London. 14 February 2020
    • “Law and History for Continuing Legal Education? Amazing Evidence from Hong Kong”. ANZLH Annual Conference, Melbourne. 13 December 2019
    • “Issues in Art & Law: A Collector’s Legacy from Donation to Deaccession?” Asia Week at Bonham’s Auctioneers Hong Kong. 3 December 2019
    • “Chinese Shipwrecks, Treasure Hunters and the History of Underwater Cultural Heritage Regimes”. The Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong. 24 May 2019
    • “Sham and Illusory Trusts and Professional Trustees”. 28 November 2019, to the Hong Kong Trustees Association at Deacons Hong Kong.
    • “Chinese Shipwrecks, Treasure Hunters and the History of Underwater Cultural Heritage Regimes”. CUHK LAW Greater China Legal History Seminar Series. 22 February 2019
    • “Shipwrecks, Treasure and the Law”. Invited CPD seminar to shipping firm Lau, Horton & Wise LLP in Association with CMS Hong Kong. 2 November 2018
    • “Is international Law Protecting Asia’s Cultural Heritage?” 3rd SEAMEO SPAFA International Conference on Southeast Asian Archeology, Bangkok, Thailand. 21 June 2018
    • “The History of a Mystery: The Development of the Law of Unjust Enrichment in Hong Kong, China and Germany”. With Professor Lutz-Christian Wolff, and Ms. Siyi Lin. CUHK LAW Greater China Legal History Seminar Series. 2 February 2018
    • “Civil evidence and presumptions: when is a gift a trust?”, CUHK LAW Property Law Seminar Series 10 & 17 January 2018.
    • “The Embarrassing Dead: trying to forget the dead in Hong Kong”, Centre for Death and Society Conference 2017, ‘Death at the Margins of the State’. 9-10 June, 2017
    • “The Lost Dead of China: why does Hong Kong retain the unowned and unclaimed dead from the Chinese diaspora of the 19th and 20th centuries?” Society for American Archaeology conference, Vancouver, Canada (29 March-2 April 2017)
    • “The illegality defence: the new approach in Patel v Mirza”. With Professor Michael Lower. Faculty of Law, CUHK, 16 March 2017.
    • “‘China’s spoiled children!’ How special laws and privileges were incorporated into the law of Hong Kong for the indigenous inhabitants of the New Territories and why this may have made them among the most (openly) resented indigenous peoples in the world’. 35th Annual Australia and New Zealand Law and History Society Conference. 05 December 2016
    • “Death and Taxes- some things never change: considering the use of uses in medieval England and the use of trusts in modern Hong Kong”. Invited presentation to the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) Hong Kong Annual Meeting. 30 November, 2016
    • “Precious Objects: the case for a legal ivory trade in Hong Kong”, Art, Antiquities, Heritage and Wildlife Crime in SE Asia Conference, the Faculty of Law, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. 22 October 2016
    • “The Business of Death in Hong Kong: regulating unauthorised land use while recognising Chinese custom and Chinese customary law in Hong Kong’s law of the dead.” Death and Culture Conference University of York, England. 1-3 September 2016.
    • “Is Hong Kong still the best place to buy illicitly obtained art and antiquities from Southeast Asia?” The 2nd SEAMEO SPAFA International Conference on Southeast Asian Archeology, Bangkok, Thailand. 30 May-2 June 2016
    • “Chinese Customary Law as Cultural Heritage?” Seminar as part of the Chinese Customary Law seminar series, The Faculty of Law, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. 23 March 2016
    • “Losing our heritage: can the law in Hong Kong protect cultural heritage?” invited presentation at the National University of Singapore, Cultural Heritage Law and the Built Heritage, 17 and 18 March, 2016.
    • “The Curious Case of Chinese Customary Trusts in Hong Kong: Uncertain Past, but Bright Future?” 20 November 2015. Second seminar series “Chinese Customary Law in Hong Kong” at the Faculty of Law, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
    • “Cultural Heritage Law and Chinese Cultural Heritage” for the Digital Cultural Heritage, China Conference at the China Centre, University of Oxford with Peking University, 30 September – 2 October 2015.
    • “One Culture, Two Systems: Changing Attitudes to Cultural Heritage Protection and Illicit Smuggling in Hong Kong and China” (With Toby Bull, Senior Inspector, Hong Kong Police). Art Crime Conference, Amelia, Umbria, Italy, 27 June 2015.
    • “The horns of a dilemma: The Court’s choice between the spouse and creditors when considering resulting trusts.” The Hong Kong Family Law Association, 12 May 2015.

    CONFERENCES ORGANISED

    • co-organised the 2nd Asian Regional Workshop on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage with Professor Sarah Ward, Dalian Maritime University. 21 & 22 July2022
    • Directions in Legal Education, 4th international conference on legal education in Hong Kong, CUHK LAW. 10 & 11 July 2022.
    • co-organized Asian Regional Workshop on Underwater Cultural Heritage with Professor Sarah Ward, Dalian Maritime University. 2 December 2021
    • Jack the Ripper, The first media serial killer. Co-organised with professor Ian Morley. 22 October 2021.
    • Directions in Legal Education. 3rd international conference on legal education in Hong Kong. CUHK LAW. 18-20 June 2020
    • Art, Antiquities, Heritage and Wildlife Crime in SE Asia. 22 October 2016
    • Directions in Legal Education. CUHK LAW. 3- 4 June 2016
    • Magna Carta and the Rule of Law in Hong Kong. Organised for the three Hong Kong law schools to commemorate the 800th anniversary of the sealing of Magna Carta. 31 October 2015

    AWARDS

    • CUHK LAW Teaching Excellence Award 2021-22
    • The Chinese University of Hong Kong, The Vice-Chancellor’s Exemplary Teaching Award 2012

    OCCASIONAL REVIEWER

    • International Journal of Cultural Policy
    • International Journal of Cultural Property
    • Art, Antiquity and the Law
    • China-EU Law Journal
    • Hong Kong Law Journal
    • The Singapore Law Review
    • International Journal of Law in Context
    • Asia Pacific Law Review
    • Ocean and Coastal Management