S.J.D. Candidate
wchan at sjd.law.harvard.edu
Dissertation
A Humean Theory of Property Law
In my thesis, I aim to develop and defend a fully argued theory of property law inspired by Hume’s conventionalistic theory of justice. Humean theories of property have received relatively little attention within contemporary property theory, particularly analytical property theory. My project seeks to demonstrate how a Humean conventionalistic theory has the potential to contribute to property theory by providing a powerful and attractive justification for proprietary norms, combined with a novel analysis of the interface between conceptualism and contextualism in property law.
Fields of Research and Supervisors
- Property Theory with Professor Henry E. Smith, Harvard Law School, Principal Faculty Supervisor
- Law, Property, and Society with Professor Maureen E. Brady, Harvard Law School
- Private Law Theory and Jurisprudence with Professor John C.P. Goldberg, Harvard Law School
Additional Research Interests
- Property Law and Theory
- Private Law Theory
- General Jurisprudence
- Law and Society
- Equity and Trusts
Education
- Harvard Law School, S.J.D. Candidate 2024 – Present
- Harvard Law School, LL.M. 2024
- National University of Singapore, LL.B. 2018
Academic Appointments and Fellowships
- National University of Singapore, Faculty of Law, 2022–present, Sheridan Fellow
- Harvard Law School, 2023–2024, Project on the Foundations of Private Law Student Fellow
Representative Publications
- ‘Blockchain Tokenisation: ‘NFTy’ trick or Griftonomics?’ in Hans Tjio & Paul Davies (eds), Fraud and Risk in Commercial Law (Hart, forthcoming August 2024) (with Kelvin FK Low)
- ‘The Nature of Property in Cryptoassets’ (2023) 43(3) Legal Studies 480-498
- ‘DeFi Common Sense: Crypto-backed Lending in Janesh s/o Rajkumar v Unknown Person (‘CHEFPIERRE’)‘ (2023) 86(5) Modern Law Review 1278-1293 (with Kelvin FK Low)
- ‘Post-Scam Crypto Recovery: Final Clarity or Deceptive Simplicity?’ (2023) 139(Jul) Law Quarterly Review 379-384 (with Kelvin FK Low)
- ‘Resulting and Constructive Trusts Over Public Housing – Recent Developments and the Way Forward’ (2022) Singapore Journal of Legal Studies 1–25
- ‘The Doctrine of Mutual Wills in Singapore: Case Comment – VTL v VTM’ (2022) Singapore Journal of Legal Studies 213–224
Additional Information
Last Updated: June 17, 2024