Postgraduate Course: Fundamentals of Comparative Private Law (LAWS11380)
Course Outline
| School | School of Law |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | In a globalised era, markets, societies, cultures, and political systems are interconnected. What is more, the growing permeability of frontiers, the openness of national economies and societies, has a deep impact on the evolution of the law, as legal concepts and principles flow across borders. Anyone envisaging a career with an international dimension, whether in practice or in academia, will need to engage not just with foreign laws and foreign legal concepts, but will also be confronted with different legal cultures. It is therefore crucial to be familiar with the opportunities but also the difficulties that arise when stepping outside one's own legal system.
The aim of this course is to provide students with a general introduction to the basics and the methodology of comparative law, and to equip them with the tools necessary to conduct comparative analysis. It offers an ideal foundation for students who want to study core areas of private law across both civil and common law jurisdictions.
The course is structured in two parts. While Part I of the course allows students to gain an understanding of the history of comparative law, its functions and methodological approaches, as well as it challenges and potential pitfalls, Part II introduces them to the historical developments of the major legal traditions and their respective styles (including, for instance, an analysis of their respective sources of law and legal reasoning), with a particular focus on private law.
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| Course description |
1. Academic description
The aim of this course is to provide students with a general introduction to the basics and the methodology of comparative law, and to equip them with the tools necessary to conduct comparative analysis. The course will survey the major legal traditions, offering insights into their main characteristics and their historical development. Attention will be given to different methodological approaches to comparative law, and to the purposes and problems of the legal comparison.
2. Outline content
The course is structured in two parts:
Part I
What is comparative law?
The functions of comparative law
Methodological approaches
Legal transplants
Comparative law and language
Part II
The Civil law tradition with a particular focus on the French and the Germanic legal family
The Common law tradition
Mixed legal jurisdictions
Beyond the Western legal tradition
Future of comparative private law
3. Student Learning Experience
The course will be taught by a series of 10 2-hour seminars, for which students will be provided in advance with reading lists, and questions to guide their development of ideas. Active participation in seminar discussions will be encouraged. The course will emphasise the connection of ideas across a range of legal traditions.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2017/18, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: 25 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 20,
Feedback/Feedforward Hours 4,
Formative Assessment Hours 2,
Summative Assessment Hours 4,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
166 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
The course is assessed by a 5,000-word essay which requires to be submitted in early January. A choice of topics will be given. |
| Feedback |
All students will be required to give an oral presentation concerning a particular paper on the reading list or on a specific topic. In addition, they will be given the opportunity to submit a piece of formative written work in week 8 of semester. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- understand comparative private law as a distinct discipline which is separate from the study of national laws;
- discern the value but also the challenges of the comparative enterprise
- understand the core features of the main legal traditions examined
- apply the knowledge thus gained to substantive topics within the field of private law
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Reading List
K Zweigert and H Kötz, Introduction to Comparative Law (OUP, 3rd edn 1996 transl T Weir)
M Reimann and R Zimmermann (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Law (OUP 2006)
E Örücü and David Nelken (eds), Comparative Law: A Handbook (Hart, 2007).
RB Schlesinger, Comparative Law: Cases, Text, Materials (Foundation Press, 7th edn, 2017)
M A Glendon and PG Carozza and C Picker, Comparative Legal Traditions: Text, Materials, and Cases on Western Law (West Academic Publishing, 2014)
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Students will develop the skills of working independently in the critical analysis of legal and source materials across different jurisdictions. They will gain experience in comparative methodology, and will be equipped with the tools necessary to conduct comparative analysis. They will develop sensitivity to the nuances of language and terminology. By interactive discussion, they will learn the value of shared dialogue to the formation and refinement of their thinking. |
| Keywords | Private Law,comparative law,common law,civil law,mixed jurisdictions,legal transplants |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Alexandra Braun
Tel: (0131 6)51 5560
Email: Alexandra.Braun@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Olivia Hayes
Tel: (0131 6)50 9588
Email: Olivia.Hayes@ed.ac.uk |
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