Prof Ernst Marais

Prof  EJ (Ernst) Marais joined the Department of Private Law at the Law Faculty of the University of Johannesburg (UJ) in 2014, where he teaches property law at undergraduate level. He is also a guest lecturer in the LLM in Advanced General Principles in Property Law at the University of Pretoria. He obtained his LLD degree from Stellenbosch University in 2011 and did two post-doctoral research fellowships, one with the late Prof AJ van der Walt (Stellenbosch University) in 2012 and the other with Prof Hanri Mostert (University of Cape Town) in 2014. He is a recipient of the Belgian Tijdschrift voor Privaatrecht (Journal for Private Law) exchange chair for 2022.

He has published numerous peer-reviewed articles in prestigious journals, book chapters, and has co-edited several books, the most recent of which being B Hoops & EJ Marais (eds) The Acquisition of Immovables through Long-Term Use (2022) Intersentia Publishers: Cambridge, B Hoops & EJ Marais (eds) New Perspectives on Acquisitive Prescription (2019) Eleven International Publishing: The Hague, and B Hoops, EJ Marais, L van Schalkwyk & NK Tagliarino (eds) Rethinking Expropriation Law III – Fair Compensation (2018) Eleven International Publishing: The Hague. He is a founding member of the Expropriation Law Expert Group and a member of the Advisory Board to the Young Property Lawyers Forum. His research focuses on constitutional property law, private property law, and legal theory and considers the impact property rules have in society and how they may be developed, in light of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, to create a more egalitarian society. He is currently writing a monograph, entitled The Law of Possession, for Juta Publishers, which is scheduled for publication in 2023. Qualifications: BA LLB LLD (Stellenbosch University)