Staff Profile

Roles and Responsibilities

Chris was Head of School  2010 - 2016. His primary teaching and research interests are in the areas of property law and environmental law. Before coming to Newcastle in 2003, Chris was a Lecturer, Reader and then Professor of law at the University of Wales Aberystwyth. He has also been a Solicitor in private practice. He is now an Emeritus Professor of Law.

Chris was Editor in Chief of the Environmental Law Review (Sage) from 1999-2022.

Chris has undertaken a number of external academic roles. These have included:

REF 2014: Chris was appointed to Sub Panel UoA 20 (Law) as an output assessor in 2013.

Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC): member of AHRC Peer Review College 2010-2016. Assessor for major grant applications and knowledge transfer.

International Expert Referees Panel, Australian Research Council 2003- 2010

Nominated UK representative, European Science Foundation COST research programme, Individuals, Societies, Cultures and Health (ISCH) Domain 2008-2011

Qualifications

LLB (Wales) 1977, LLB (Cantab) 1978
Solicitor of the Supreme Court 1981

 Memberships

Comite European de Droit Rural (Council of Europe NGO)
Union Mondiale des Agraristes Universitaires : Scientific Council (elected)
Agricultural Law Association

Honours and Awards

Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences

Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts

Research Interests

Property law (especially landlord and tenant), agricultural law and environmental law. Chris is the author of several works in the area of property law, including Agricultural law (4th ed 2016, Bloomsbury) and Housing Law: Residential Security and Enfranchisement (Butterworths 2002). His principal research publications are in the areas of nature conservation law and property theory. These include:

Contested Common Land: Environmental Governance Past and Present (with A.Winchester, E.Straughton, M.Pieraccini), Earthscan Publishing, 2011 xii and 227 pp. ISBN 978-1-84971-094-7

The Law of Nature Conservation: property, environment and the limits of law xxix and 321pp. (Oxford University Press, 2013) ISBN 978-0-19-954313

He has recently been the Principal Investigator of two major Arts and Humanities Research Council  research projects:

AHRC project  AH/E510310/1 Contested Common Land: environmental governance, law and sustainable land management c.1600-2006,  February 2007 – January 2010 (AHRC Landscape and Environment programme, £312000 grant) and AHRC project  Building Commons Knowledge 2011-2012 (AHRC On Funding Scheme, £96000 grant)

Chris was from 2019-2022 the Principal Investigator of a large interdisciplinary AHRC project on urban green space:

AHRC project AH/S001824/1 Wastes and Strays: the Past, Present and Future of English Urban Commons, January 2019 - December 2021 (£887864 grant). 

Other Expertise

law and practice of arbitration, especially in relation to property disputes (principally agricultural property)

Current Work

Principal areas of current research are nature conservation law and property rights theory.

Future Research

Chris continues to work on projects focussed to ecosystem and habitat management, especailly in relation to common land and common pool resources.

Research Roles

Chris has been a member of the AHRC Peer review college, and was from 1999-2022 the Editor in Chief of the Environmental Law Review (Sage Publications). He was also General Editor of the Environment and Countryside Law Series (University of Wales Press).

Postgraduate Supervision

Environmental Law
Agriculture and the Law
Property law

If you would like further information on reading for a research degree at Newcastle Law School please see www.ncl.ac.uk/nuls/postgraduate/research/index.htm

Keywords

Environmental law, nature and the law, biodiversity and law, property rights

Professor Rodgers has now retired and undertakes no active teaching or postgraduate supervision. Former teaching included:

Undergraduate Teaching

Environmental Law, Succession

Postgraduate Teaching

Introduction to Planning Law

EIA Law and Practice

Biodiversity and Natural Resources law

Foundations of Environmental Law and Policy

Advanced Research Methods in Law 

• Articles

  • Reed MS, Curtis T, Gosal A, Kendall H, Andersen SP, Ziv G, Atlee A, Fitton R, Hay M, Gibson AC, Hume AC, Hill D, Mansfield J, Martino S, Olesen AS, Prior S, Rodgers C, Rudman H, Tanneberger F. Integrating ecosystem markets to co-ordinate landscape-scale public benefits from nature. PLoS ONE 2022, 17(1), e0258334.
  • Rodgers C, Grinlinton D. Covenanting for Nature: A Comparative Study of the Utility and Potential of Conservation Covenants. Modern Law Review 2020, 83(2), 373-405.
  • Rodgers C. Towards a Taxonomy for Public and Common Property. The Cambridge Law Journal 2019, 78(1), 124-147.
  • Rodgers C. Delivering a better natural environment? The Agriculture Bill and future agri-environment policy. Environmental Law Review 2019, 21(1), 38-49.
  • Rodgers C, Mackay D. Creating 'new' commons for the twenty-first century: innovative legal models for 'green space'. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management 2018, 61(5-6), 1051-1069.
  • Rodgers CP. A New Approach to Protecting Ecosystems: The Te Awa Tupua (Whanganui River Claims Settlement) Act 2017. Environmental Law Review 2017, 19(4), 266-279.
  • Rodgers C. Reversing the 'Tragedy' of the Commons? Sustainable management and the Commons Act 2006. Modern Law Review 2010, 73(3), 461-486.
  • Rodgers C. Property Rights, Land Use and the Rural Environment: A Case for Reform. Land Use Policy 2009, 26(s1), S134-S141.
  • Rodgers C. Nature’s Place? Property Rights, Property Rules and Environmental Stewardship. Cambridge Law Journal 2009, 68(3), 550-574.
  • Rodgers CP. Coexistence or Confrontation? DEFRA’s Proposals for GM Cropping. Environmental Law Review 2008, 10(1), 1-11.
  • Rodgers CP. Coexistence or Conflict? A European Perspective on GMOS and the problem of liability. Bulletin of Science Technology and Society 2007, 27(3), 233- 251.
  • Rodgers C. A New Deal For Commons? Common Resource Management and the Commons Act 2006. Environmental Law Review 2007, 9(1), 25-40.
  • Cardwell M, Rodgers C. Reforming the WTO legal order for agricultural trade: Issues for European rural policy in the Doha Round. International and Comparative Law Quarterly 2006, 55(4), 805-838.
  • Rodgers C. Protecting sites of special scientific interest: The human rights dimension. Journal of Planning and Environment Law 2005, 997-1009.
  • Rodgers CP. Liability for the release of GMOs into the environment: exploring the boundaries of nuisance. Cambridge Law Journal 2003, 62(2), 371-402.

• Authored Books

  • Rodgers C, Hammersley R, Zambelli A, Cheatle E, Clarke J, Collins S, Dee O, O'Neill S. English Urban Commons: The Past, Present and Future of Green Spaces. Routledge, 2024.
  • Rodgers CP. Agricultural Law. Haywards Heath, Sussex: Bloomsbury Professional Ltd, 2016.
  • Rodgers CP. The Law of Nature Conservation: Property, Environment and the Limits of Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.
  • Rodgers CP, Winchester AJL, Straughton E, Pieraccini M. Contested Common Land: Environmental Governance Past and Present. London and Washington DC: Earthscan, 2011.
  • Rodgers CP, Cardwell M, Grosmann M. Agriculture and International Trade: Law, Policy and the WTO. Oxford, UK: Cabi Publishing, 2003.

• Book Chapters

  • Rodgers CP. Commons Governance, Normative Pluralism and the Enduring Role of Custom. In: Xu, T; Clarke, A, ed. Legal Strategies for the Development and Protection of Communal Property. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018.
  • Rodgers C. Environmental Governance and Land Use Policy in Tension? Applying Environmental Impact Assessment to Intensive Agriculture. In: Cardwell, M; McMahon, J, ed. Research Handbook on EU Agriculture Law. London, UK: Edward Elgar, 2015, pp.20.
  • Rodgers C. Implementing the Community Environmental Liability Directive: Genetically Modified Organisms and the Problem of Unknown Risk. In: Bodiguel, L; Cardwell, M, ed. The Regulation of Genetically Modified Organisms: Comparative Approaches. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010, pp.198-224.
  • Rodgers CP. Reconciling Agricultural Biotechnology and the Environment?: the EC Environmental Liability Directive. In: Parent G; Lavallée S; Azzaria G, ed. Production et Consommation Durables: de la gouvernance au consommateur-citoyen. Brussels: Editions Yvon Blais, 2008, pp.419-445.
  • Rodgers CP. Environmental Policy and the Reform of European Agriculture Law. In: Cardwell, M., Rosso Grossman, M., Rodgers, C.P, ed. Agriculture and International Trade: Law, Policy and the WTO. New York, USA: CABI Publishing, 2003, pp.277-300.
  • Rodgers CP. Agenda 2000, Land Use, and the Environment: Towards a Theory of 'Environmental' Property Rights?. In: Holder, J., Harrison , C, ed. Law and Geography. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2003, pp.239-259.

• Report

  • Gosal A, Kendall H, Reed M, Mitchell G, Rodgers C, Ziv G. Exploring ecosystem markets for the delivery of public goods in the UK. Leeds: University of Leeds, 2020.