Contact
Email ben.france-hudson@otago.ac.nz
Research interests
Ben researches the law and theory of private property, with a particular focus on natural resources, land law and climate change. Ben was appointed as a Public Member of the New Zealand Media Council in 2019. He is also a member of the Property Law Section of the New Zealand Law Society and in 2018 was appointed to its Property Law Reform Panel.
Recently, Ben’s research has focused on property law and the anticipated effects of climate change. In 2017 Ben (along with co-researchers from GNS Science) was awarded funding from the Resilience to Natures Challenges National Science Challenge for a two year project which lead to the report Reducing risk through the management of existing uses: tensions under the RMA. In 2020 this report was awarded the New Zealand Planning Institute’s John Mawson Award of Merit.
Project report: Reducing risk through the management of existing uses: tensions under the RMA (PDF)
This work led to the opportunity to work at the Ministry for the Environment, helping to develop policy for the (now repealed) Natural and Built Environments Act 2023 and Spatial Planning Act 2023. He was also involved in policy development for a proposed Climate Adaptation Act, which was aimed at providing a system for enabling managed retreat. A highlight of this work was publication of the Report of the Expert Working Group on Managed Retreat: A Proposed System for Te Hekenga Rauora/Planned Relocation.
In 2017 Ben was awarded the Journal of Environmental Law Richard Macrory Prize for his article “Surprisingly Social: Private Property and Environmental Management”. Previously, Ben was responsible for several chapters in the leading New Zealand textbook Brookers Land Law (J Burrows (ed) looseleaf ed, Thompson Reuters, 2016).
In 2015 (along with co-researchers from the Universities of Canterbury and Otago) Ben was awarded funding by BRANZ (the Building Regulation Authority of New Zealand) and the New Zealand Law Foundation, to prepare a report considering revisions to the legal frameworks for the ownership and use of multi-dwelling units on a single piece of land.
Background
Ben has worked as a Judges’ Clerk at the Christchurch High Court, as a solicitor in the Treasury Solicitor’s Office (London), as an Assistant Crown Counsel in the Crown Law Office (Wellington) and as Principal Analyst for the Ministry for the Environment (Wellington).
Publications
France-Hudson, B. (2020). Judicial interpretation of Torrens registered documents. In D. Grinlinton & R. Thomas (Eds.), Land registration and title security in the digital age: New horizons for Torrens. (pp. 315-333). New York, NY: Routledge. Chapter in Book - Research
Johnstone, V., & France-Hudson, B. (2019). Implications of climate change for western concepts of ownership: Australian case study. University of New South Wales Law Journal, 42(3), 869-898. Journal - Research Article
Grace, E. S., France-Hudson, B. T., & Kilvington, M. J. (2019). Reducing risks through the management of existing uses: Tensions under the RMA [GNS Science Report 2019/55]. Wellington, New Zealand: GNS Science. 131p. doi: 10.21420/27S5-E538 Commissioned Report for External Body
France-Hudson, B. (2019). The recognition of covenants in gross in New Zealand: A dangerous advancement? In B. McFarlane & S. Agnew (Eds.), Modern studies in property law (Vol. 10). (pp. 187-205). Oxford, UK: Hart Publishing. Chapter in Book - Research
France-Hudson, B. (2017). Surprisingly social: Private property and environmental management. Journal of Environmental Law, 29(1), 101-127. doi: 10.1093/jel/eqw032 Journal - Research Article