Staff profile

Tom Allen has a BA from Queen's University, Kingston, Canada, an LLB from Dalhousie Law School, Halifax, Canada, and an LLM from the School of Oriental and African Studies, London. He began his academic career at Durham in 1991, and has previously held posts at Newcastle Law School and the University of Leeds. Prior to entering academic life, Professor Allen practised law in Toronto, Canada and taught secondary school mathematics as a volunteer in Botswana.

His principal area of research concerns property as a human right. He has published a number of articles on the topic and two books, The Right to Property in Commonwealth Constitutions (Cambridge, 2000) and Property and the Human Rights Act 1998 (Hart Publishing, 2005).

Professor Allen was Visiting Adjunct Professor at Cornell Law School, Cornell University, USA in the Fall Semester, 2005, and has been a visiting lecturer at Stellenbosch University, South Africa.

Professor Allen became the Master of Grey College, Durham, in October 2011.

Teaching Areas

• The right to property in constitutional and international law

Authored book

• Allen, T. (2005). 'Property and the Human Rights Act 1998'. Hart Publishing
• Allen, T. (2000). The Right to Property in Commonwealth Constitutions. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511493812

Chapter in book

• Allen, T. (2020). A Constitutional Right to Property?. In M. Elliot, & K. Hughes (Eds.), Common Law Constitutional Rights. Hart Publishing
• Allen, T. (2016). Constitutional law, Social Justice and the Redistribution of Land. In T. Xu, & J. Allain (Eds.), Property and human rights in a global context (63-92). Hart Publishing
• Allen, T. (2014). The Right to Property. In R. Dixon, & T. Ginsburg (Eds.), Comparative Constitutional Law in Asia (250-276). Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781781002704.00018
• Allen, T. (2012). Legal Principles, Political Processes and Cultural Property. In G. Scarre, & R. Coningham (Eds.), Appropriating the Past: Philosophical Perspectives on the Practice of Archaeology. Cambridge University Press
• Allen, T. (2011). The Right to Property. In T. Ginsburg, & R. Dixon (Eds.), Comparative Constitutional Law (504-518). Edward Elgar Publishing
• Allen, T., & Douglas, B. (2011). Closing the Door on Restitution: The European Court of Human Rights. In A. Buyse, & M. Hamilton (Eds.), Transitional Jurisprudence and the ECHR (208-238.). Cambridge University Press
• Allen, T. (2008). A Comparative View. In R. P. Malloy (Ed.), Private Property, Community Development & Eminent Domain (75-99). Ashgate Publishing
• Allen, T. (2003). The Autonomous Meaning of ‘Possessions’ under the European Convention on Human Rights. In E. Cooke (Ed.), Modern studies in property law (57-80). Hart Publishing

Journal Article

• Allen, T. (online). 'The Power to Acquire Property on Just Terms'. Sydney Law Review, 351-380
• Lundmark, J. M., & Allen, T. (2023). Norwegian Law and the Swedish Sami: Rights, Paternalism and International Law. Nordic Journal of International Law, 92(2), 189-217. https://doi.org/10.1163/15718107-bja10066
• Allen, T. (2018). Constitutional Rights in the Irish Home Rule Bill of 1893. The Journal of Legal History, 39(2), 187-215. https://doi.org/10.1080/01440365.2018.1484324
• Allen, T. (2017). The Purposes of Land Settlement in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, 1898-1914: Drawing Paths through the Weeds. The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, 45(6), 894-922. https://doi.org/10.1080/03086534.2017.1395585
• Allen, T. (2015). The Revival of the Right to Property in India. Asian Journal of Comparative Law, 10(01), 23-52. https://doi.org/10.1017/asjcl.2015.4
• Allen, T. (2012). General Principles of International Law and the Autonomous Interpetation of the Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. Journal of Islamic state practices in international law, 8(1), 91-100
• Allen, T. (2010). Liberalism, Social Democracy and the Value of Property under the European Convention on Human Rights. International and Comparative Law Quarterly, 59(4), 1055-1078. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0020589310000448
• Allen, T. (2007). Property as a Fundamental Right in India, Europe and South Africa. Asia Pacific Law Review, 15(2), 193-218
• Allen, T. (2007). Compensation for Property under the European Convention on Human Rights. Michigan journal of international law, 27(2), 287-335
• Allen, T. (2007). 'Restitution and Transitional Justice in the European Court of Human Rights'. The Columbia journal of European law, 13(1), 1-46
• Allen, T. (2005). Human Rights and Regulatory Takings. Journal of Environmental Law, 17(2), 245-264. https://doi.org/10.1093/envlaw/eqi019
• Allen, T. (2005). 'Transitional Justice and the Right to Property under the European Convention on Human Rights'. Stellenbosch law review, 3, 413-430
• Allen, T., & Ulph, J. (2004). 'Transactions at an Undervalue, Purchasers and the Human Rights Act 1998'. Journal of Business Law, 1, 1-33
• Allen, T. (2003). 'The Autonomous Meaning of 'Possessions' under the European Convention on Human Rights'
• Allen, T. (2002). Scandalising the Court: The Impact of Bills of Rights. Asia Pacific Law Review, 10, 1-28