Professor of Law, University of Iceland
Career
| 2025–2026 | Ad hoc judge at the Icelandic Court of Appeals (Landsréttur) for 3.5 months |
| 2024- | Professor of Law, University of Iceland |
| 2020-2024 | Associate Professor of Law, University of Iceland |
| 2009-2021 | LEX Law Offices (paralegal 2009-2011, associate 2011-2018 and partner 2018-2021) |
| 2017-2020 | Adjunct, University of Iceland |
| 2011-2017 | Lecturer, University of Iceland |
| 2015-2016 | Law Clerk at the Supreme Court of Iceland |
| 2014-2015 | Research assistant to Professor Steven Shavell in the field of Law and Economics |
Education – academic and professional
| 2025 | PhD from Maastricht University |
| 2017 | Admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of Iceland (license inactive) |
| 2015 | LL.M. from Harvard Law School |
| 2011 | Admitted to practice before the District Courts of Iceland (license inactive) |
| 2011 | Mag. jur. degree in Law from the University of Iceland (with distinction) |
| 2009 | B.A. degree in Law from the University of Iceland |
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Grants and awards – academic and professional
| 2025- | Grant from the University of Iceland’s Law Institute. Research project: Property Law (fourth volume), co-authors Þorgeir Örlygsson and Karl Axelsson |
| 2024 | Grant from the Icelandic Bar Association. Research project: Default and Remedies in Construction Law, co-author Gunnar Atli Gunnarsson |
| 2023-2024 | Grant from the University of Iceland’s Law Institute. Research project: Property Law (third volume), co-authors Þorgeir Örlygsson and Karl Axelsson |
| 2023 | Grant from the Icelandic Bar Association. Research project: Property Law (third volume), co-authors Þorgeir Örlygsson and Karl Axelsson |
| 2023-2025 | A grant from the University of Iceland´s Research Fund for the project “The role of compensation in the European Court of Human Right's case-law on Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the European Convention on Human Rights.” A collaboration with Valgerður Sólnes, Associate Professor University of Iceland, Bram Akkermans, Professor Maastricht University, Gijs van Dijk, Professor Maastricht University and Róbert Spanó, Professor University of Iceland |
| 2020-2021 | Grant from the University of Iceland’s Law Institute. Research project: Property Law (second volume), co-authors Þorgeir Örlygsson and Karl Axelsson |
| 2020 | Grant from the Icelandic Bar Association. Research project: Property Law (second volume), co-authors Þorgeir Örlygsson and Karl Axelsson |
| 2020 | Grant from the Icelandic Student Innovation Fund. Research project: Land lease agreements in Iceland – in cooperation with Karl Axelsson and the Icelandic Association of Local Authorities |
| 2018-2019 | Grant from the University of Iceland’s Law Institute. Research project: Property Law (first volume), co-authors Þorgeir Örlygsson and Karl Axelsson |
| 2015 | Harvard Law School’s Mancini Prize for outstanding paper in European Law and European Legal Thought |
| 2015 | Summer Academic Fellowship from Harvard Law School. Research area: Law and economics |
| 2014-2015 | Fulbright grantee |
| 2014-2015 | Frank Boas scholarship from Harvard Law School |
Publications (all Icelandic titles translated to English)
| Books | |
| 1. | Constitutional Property Protection and Regulatory Inertia: Towards an Aristotelian Understanding of Regulatory Excess. PhD thesis, Maastricht University 2025. |
| 2. | Property Law III. Co-authored with Þorgeir Örlygsson and Karl Axelsson. Published in 2024 by Fons Juris. |
| 3. | Property Law II. Co-authored with Þorgeir Örlygsson and Karl Axelsson. Published in 2023 by Fons Juris. |
| 4. | Work delays in construction law – responsibility and remedies. Published in 2021 by the University of Iceland’s Law Institute. |
| 5. | Property Law I. Co-authored with Þorgeir Örlygsson and Karl Axelsson. Published in 2020 by Fons Juris. |
| Book chapters | |
| 6. | Review of Permits: The Interplay between Article 11(5) of the Water Framework Directive and Article 1 of Protocol 1 to the European Convention on Human Rights (co-authored with Flore Vavourakis), in Research Handbook on EU Water Law (eds. Marleen van Rijswick and Cathy Suykens). Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing 2026, pp 89–111. |
| 7. | Can Ownership be an Empty Shell? in Festschrift for Markús Sigurbjörnsson (eds. Benedikt Bogason et al.). Publisher: Fons Juris 2024, pp 669–689. |
| 8. | Surrendering Ownership of Real Estate, in Festschrift for Markús Sigurbjörnsson (eds. Benedikt Bogason et al.). Publisher: Fons Juris 2024, pp 647–668. |
| 9. | Ownership of Underground Resources in Iceland: New Issues and Challenges, in Property Law Reform, Sustainability and the Commons (eds. Vincent Sagaert et al.). Publisher: Intersentia 2024, pp 309–322. |
| 10. | Eminent Domain, Regulatory Takings, and the Right to Property (co-authored with Prof. Dr. Bram Akkermans), in Handbook of Property Law and Theory (ed. Chris Bevan). Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing 2024, pp 326-344. |
| 11. | Climate Change and the Social Function of Property – A Human Flourishing Reading of Article 1 of Protocol 1 to the European Convention on Human Rights, in Rethinking Expropriation Law (eds. Björn Hoops et al.). Publisher: Boom/Eleven 2024, pp 213-246. |
| 12. | Constitutional Property Law in Research Agenda in Property Law (ed. Bram Akkermans). Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing 2024, pp 39-56. |
| 13. | The procedural and substantive variants in Icelandic civil procedure. The University of Iceland and the Icelandic Supreme Courts’ Festschrift: The Supreme Court’s 100th Anniversary, pp 443- 480. Published in 2020 by Fons Juris. |
| 14. | Litigating the government’s actions and decisions before the Icelandic courts. The Icelandic Administrative Act for 25 years, pp 603-668. Published in 2019 by the Icelandic Prime Ministry. |
| Articles in peer-reviewed journals | |
| 15. | Termination of Construction Contracts (co-authored with Gunnar Atli Gunnarsson). Tímarit lögfræðinga 75(2) 2025, 295–398. |
| 16. | A Network Analysis for Determining the Topics and Precedents of Article 1 of Protocol No 1 (A1P1) to the European Convention on Human Rights (co-authored with Valgerður Sólnes, Bram Akkermans and Gijs van Dijck). European Property Law Journal 14(2), 147–176. |
| 17. | Nuisance Law and Human Rights: Bridging the Gap Between Article 8 and Article 1 of Protocol No 1 to the European Convention on Human Rights. Legal Studies (Studia Prawnicze) 231(1) 2025, 41–63. |
| 18. | The Interpretation of Indexation in Construction Contracts: Conclusions from the Supreme Court Judgment in Case No. 7/2025 (co-authored with Gunnar Atli Gunnarsson). Online publication of Úlfljótur Law Review (published 5 August 2025). |
| 19. | Abuse of Rights in Icelandic Property Law With a Comparative Survey of the Other Nordic Countries. European Review of Private Law 33(4), 929–946. |
| 20. | Positive Obligations to Retrofit Buildings with Third-Party Effect under Private Law as an Instrument of Public Climate Policy (co-authored with 16 authors). European Property Law Journal 13(3) 2024, 310–354. |
| 21. | Obligations for Owners to Climate-Proof Buildings in Iceland (co-authored with Kári Hólmar Ragnarsson). European Property Law Journal 13(1) 2024, 104-126. |
| 22. | The Requirements for the Reopening of Court Cases and the Reopening of Civil Cases (co-authored with Sindri M. Stephensen). Tímarit lögfræðinga 72(4) 2022, 509-568. |
| 23. | Requirements for the Reopening of Criminal Cases and the Limits of Authority of the Reopening Court (co-authored with Sindri M. Stephensen). Tímarit lögfræðinga 72(4) 2022, 569-636. |
| 24. | Ownership of ground resources – New issues and challenges. Tímarit lögfræðinga, 72(3) 2022, 383-430. |
| 25. | The dialogue between the Supreme Court of Iceland and the Reopening Court (co-authored with Sindri M. Stephensen). Online publication of Úlfljótur Law Review (published 7 November 2022). |
| 26. | Long-lease land agreements (co-authored with Karl Axelsson). Úlfljótur Law Review 74(4) 2022, 507-539. |
| 27. | The prohibition to purchase salmon and trout fishing rights exclusively and without buying the adjacent land at the same time – Legal development and case law. Tímarit lögfræðinga 72(2) 2022, 239-265. |
| 28. | Are lake commons public land? Online publication of Úlfljótur Law Review (published 27 June 2021). |
| 29. | Compulsory membership of fishing associations – Is the current regime for voting rights compatible with the principle of proportionality? (co-authored with Ásgerður Ragnarsdóttir). Úlfljótur Law Review 73(2) 2020, 151-178. |
| 30. | Can courts change the government’s decisions in an onerous way? Online publication of Úlfljótur Law Review (published 8 March 2020). |
| 31. | Encumbrances – their establishment, their permanence and their scale and scope (co-authored with Þorgeir Örlygsson and Karl Axelsson). Úlfljótur Law Review 72(3) 2019, 367-418. |
| 32. | The uniqueness of water rights under Icelandic law. Úlfljótur Law Review 72(3) 2019, 95-132. |
| 33. | Interlocking Directorates in the European Union: An Argument for Their Restriction. European Business Law Review 27(6) 2016, 821-864. |
| 34. | When should parties settle? Economic theories of settlement and how they relate to research of 386 civil cases before the Supreme Court of Iceland. Tímarit lögfræðinga 66(2) 2016, 189- 223. |
| 35. | Efficiency and hindsight bias in tort law (co-authored with Friðrik Árni Friðriksson Hirst). Úlfljótur Law Review 69(1) 2016, 5-35. |
| 36. | Reflections on invalidation of contract due to its unreasonableness in a recent ruling by the Icelandic Supreme Court (co-authored with dr. Valgerður Sólnes). Tímarit lögfræðinga 2015, 65(4), 611-633. |
| 37. | Expedited proceedings in civil cases. Úlfljótur Law Review 2015, 68(4), 631–650. |
| 38. | The termination of the limitation of claims and its legal effect. Úlfljótur Law Review 2013, 66(3), 335-384. |
| 39. | The content and conditions for individual applications before the European Court of Human Rights. Úlfljótur Law Review 2010, 63(4), 479-536 (based on master’s thesis). |
International lectures and conferences
| 2026 | “Should Human Rights Affect General Principles of Commercial Law?” Paper presented at the conference Nordic Commercial Law Days 29 April 2026. |
| 2025 | “Remedies for Expropriation before the European Court of Human Rights.” Paper presented at the conference Rethinking Expropriation Law 11 September 2025. “Price Spikes in Construction Law: A Nordic Comparative Study.” Paper presented with Malin Atran, attorney, at the Nordic Conference on Construction Law 30 January 2025. |
| 2024 | “Preventing Cross-Contamination Between Expropriations and Regulatory Excess.” M-EPLI talk at Maastricht University 2 October 2024. “An Aristotelian Approach to Regulatory Excess.” Paper presented at a conference held by the Association for Law, Property and Society 14 June 2024. “Abuse of Rights in Icelandic Property Law – Comparing with Norway, Denmark and Sweden.” Paper presented at the symposium Abuse of Rights and the (Potential) Role of General Interest, held at the University of Utrecht 14 May 2024. |
| 2023 | “The Curious Case of Vatnsendi – a 57-year-old Dispute Comes to an End.” Paper presented at the Young Property Lawyers’ Forum 1 June 2023. “The Role of Compensation in the European Court of Human Right’s Case-Law on A1P1.” Paper presented at a conference held by the Association for Law, Property and Society 13 May 2023. “Ownership of underground resources in Iceland – New issues and Challenges.” Paper presented at the conference Property Commons held at the University of Leuven 16 March 2023. “Price spikes in Construction Law: A Nordic Comparative Study”. A guest lecture at Stockholm University 1 February 2023. |
| 2022 | “Climate change and the social function of property – a human flourishing reading of Article 1 of Protocol No 1 to the European Convention on Human Rights”. A guest lecture at Maastricht University 4 October 2022. „Climate change and the social function of property – a human flourishing reading of Article 1 of Protocol No 1 to the European Convention on Human Rights.” A paper presented at the conference Takings for Climate Justice in Groningen 29 September 2022. “The Nordic standard form contracts’ preparedness for handling external disturbances and price spikes”. Key-note speaker at Stockholm Center for Commercial Law 27 September 2022. “Climate Change as a Global Nuisance”. A paper presented at the ALPS’ conference (Association for Law, Property and Society) 20 May 2022. “Reclaiming wetlands in Iceland”. A paper presented at the inaugural conference for Prof. Dr. Bram Akkermans, LL.M., 22 April 2022. |
| 2021 | “Private Property and the Battle Against Climate Change Through Land-Use”. A paper presented at the Ius Commune conference 26 November 2021. |
