Trevor O Ryan

Biography

The research narrative underpinning my work is one of evaluating law's response to an ageing society. My approach is comparative, but draws primarily from Japan's experience as the most rapidly ageing society in the world. Areas that I have published on within this framework include adult guardianship, family trusts, retirement income disputes within families and the workplace, welfare entitlements of non-citizens, and the contractualisation of welfare. Topics that I am currently working on are tortious liability for accidents caused by dementia-related behaviours such a wandering, the political rights of persons with mental impairment, and legal issues surrounding the housing supply for seniors. My current aim is to draw from developments in these disparate areas to mount an argument in a monograph that rests on a number of themes including the breakdown of the public-private divide in law, the role of social norms and civil society in making law effective, the value of comparative and interdisciplinary cross-fertilisation, and challenges to liberal conceptions of law, rights, and the individual.

Research Interest

Areas of Research Interest Population ageing, elder law, and public policy Welfare privatisation and law Comparative law (esp East Asia) Constitutional law Legal theory Research Theories / Models of Interest Regulatory theory Interpretative theory Research Methods of Interest Legal doctrinal Comparative Interdisciplinary research