D. Benjamin Barros
Dean and Professor of Law
B.A., Colgate University
JD, Fordham University School of Law
MPhil., University of Maryland
Email: [email protected]
Office: (Gulfport)
Course
Property Law
Biography
Dean D. Benjamin Barros came to Stetson Law from the University of Toledo College of Law, where he served as Dean from 2015 through 2023. A nationally recognized property law scholar, he has taught and written extensively on Property Law and Theory, Property Law Reform, Regulatory Takings, and the Philosophy of Science. He brings a broad set of experience in the academy and in practice to Stetson Law.
He is the author of a prominent casebook on property law with Aspen Publishers and was the founding editor of the Journal of Law, Property, and Society.
Prior to his time as Dean of the University of Toledo College of Law, Dean Barros was the associate dean of academic affairs and professor of law at Widener University School of Law in Harrisburg, PA.
His passion for improving legal education and, by extension, the legal profession itself, is evident in the leadership roles he has held within professional organizations. Dean Barros served twice on the American Association of Law Schools (AALS) Executive Committee and was one of the youngest educators to serve in such a role when he was first appointed. He also served as chair of the AALS Property Section and is a past president of the Association for Law, Property, and Society.
Before becoming an educator, Dean Barros worked as a litigator at the New York City law firms of Latham & Watkins LLP and Debevoise & Plimpton. After he graduated from law school, he clerked for Judge Milton Pollack of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Dean Barros earned his JD from Fordham University School of Law (1996). He was an editorial board member on the Fordham Law Review and a member of Order of the Coif. He earned his bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Colgate University (1991) and a master’s degree in philosophy from the University of Maryland (2013).
Publications
Featured Article
A Proposed Amendment on Admendments
This article proposes an amendment that reforms the amendment process in Article V of the United States Constitution. It makes four major contributions to the literature. First, it argues for a very significant reduction in the threshold for proposing an amendment to the Constitution while modestly reducing the threshold for ratification. Second, it argues for providing national referenda as an option for both proposing and ratifying amendments. Third, it comprehensively provides proposed solutions to many procedural ambiguities and issues that have not previously been addressed in reform proposals. In total, it addresses more than forty substantive and procedural amendment issues. Perhaps most importantly, it sets strict time limits and prevents legislative inaction on ratification votes on proposed amendments. Fourth, by drafting a full proposed amendment rather than discussing potential changes in the abstract, the article brings focus and structure to the issues involved in altering Article V's amendment process.
Books & Book Chapters
Property, Second Edition (Aspen/Wolters Kluwer, 2020) (with Anna Hemingway and Shelley Cavalieri).
Hernando de Soto and Property in a Market Economy (2010) (edited volume).
Law Review Articles & Essays
Negative Causation in Causal and Mechanistic Explanation, 190 Synthese 449 (2013).
The Complexities of Judicial Takings, 45 U. Rich. L. Rev. 903 (2011) reprinted in Zoning and Planning Law Handbook 2012 (Thomson West).
Toward a Model Law of Estates and Future Interests, 66 Washington & Lee Law Review 3 (2009).
Property and Freedom, 4 NYU JOURNAL OF LAW & LIBERTY 36 (2009)
Group Size, Heterogeneity, and Prosocial Behavior: Designing Legal Structures to Facilitate Cooperation in a Diverse Society, 18 CORNELL JOURNAL OF LAW & PUBLIC POLICY 203 (2008)
Natural Selection as a Mechanism, 75 PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE 306 (2008) (winner of the 2006 Philosophy of Science Association Graduate Student Essay Prize)
Home as a Legal Concept, 46 SANTA CLARA LAW REVIEW 255 (2006)
The Police Power and the Takings Clause, 58 UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI LAW REVIEW 471 (2004) reprinted in ZONING AND PLANNING LAW HANDBOOK 2005 (Thomson West)