Comparative Law

3 units

In a 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. Among them, the civil law and the common law systems (families) are the closest ones to our tradition. The general question here is to what extent the globalization resulted in a certain convergence of the traditional systems and what is the role of international and supranational legal systems in imposing such convergence. The first part offers a general discussion on the method of comparative law and on the principal characteristics of the civil law system, the common law system and some other types of legal systems. Furthermore, some problems of techniques of comparative law and comparisons of judicial styles will be considered. The second part of the course will be devoted to analyzing a few selected examples comparing how similar institutions and procedures are elaborated in different legal systems. We will focus on comparative problems of the judicial review (diffused v. concentrated systems) and of the modern constitutions (including the review of constitutionality of constitutional amendments). Furthermore, we will compare the concept of contract and tort in the law of obligations. Finally, one class will be devoted to discussion on the criminal procedure (including the problem of the fruits of the poisonous tree concept). Classroom instruction will combine lecture, students in-class presentations and discussion. Lap-tops and similar devices are allowed in class. The grade will be based on in-class participation and in-class presentations (30%) and on a take-home, unlimited in time exam (70%).