Comparative Law

Comparative Law - Professor Lech Garlicki

• Course Number: LAW-387
• Course Type: Highly Specialized
• Credits: 3
• Enrollment Limit: Determined by the Registrar
• Description: In today’s globalizing world, lawyers are increasingly confronted with foreign legal systems. This course is based on the assumption that national legal systems may be organized into certain legal families or traditions. This course examines the civil and common law traditions in particular, and considers to what extent globalization has resulted in a convergence between them, as well as the role of international and supranational legal systems in imposing such convergence. The first part of the course offers a general discussion on the method of comparative law and on the principal characteristics of the civil law tradition, the common law tradition, and some other types of legal systems. The second part of the course will be devoted to analyzing selected examples of comparing how similar institutions and procedures are elaborated in different legal systems and traditions. These examples will include judicial review, fundamental rights, contract and tort law, and criminal procedure. Classroom instruction will combine lecture, student in-class presentations, and discussion. 
• Prerequisite: none
• Evaluation Method: The grade will be based on a take-home, untimed exam. In-class participation and in-class presentations will also be taken into account.

• Capstone: no
• WIE: no