UiB : Juridisk Fakultet : Reglementer : Studieplan for mastergradsstudiet

JUS358 Comparative Private Law -15 ects credits

Course coordinators: Guest Prof. Dr. Gianmaria Ajani (www.personalweb.unito.it/gianmaria.ajani)
Prof. Dr. Helge J. Thue

Language: English

Contents and Objectives:
The aim of this course is to introduce students to the assortment of major European legal systems and the to different styles of law-making and interpretation within those systems

By the end of the course, students will be able to:
Understand the distinction between common law and civil law legal systems in Europe;
Understand the variety of legal traditions which are contained within the category of private law in Europe;
Identify legal sources (constitution; legislation; case-law) from selected civil law systems;
Operate comparisons among different legal solutions both orally and in writing;

The course has 9 sessions and consists of two parts:

Part I (4 sessions) is devoted to a methodological introduction to comparative law studies
The following issues will be considered:

- law and language
- legal transplants
- legal formants
- national approaches to law-making (civil law/common law)

Part II (5 sessions) is devoted to a comparison of private law rules between common law and private law; the two last sessions (3 hours each) are devoted to case analysis and discussion of legal diversity in the law of torts, and in the law of contracts)

- judicial style: common law, French models, German models
- statutory interpretation under common law and civil law
- national diversities and European contract law
- formation of contracts: French, German solutions and the common law
- tortious liability: French, German solutions and the common law

Syllabus

Part I.
V. GROSSWALD CURRAN, Comparative Law and Language, University of Pittsburgh School of Law Working Paper Series, (2005) Paper 27 (Bepress) pp. 1-43
R. SACCO, Legal Formants: A Dynamic Approach to Comparative Law, (Part I) 39 Am. J. Comp. Law (1991) , pp. 1-34
R. SACCO, Legal Formants: A Dynamic Approach to Comparative Law, (Part II) 39 Am. J. Comp. Law (1991) , pp. 343-401
G. AJANI , Transplants, Legal Borrowings and Reception, Encyclopedia of Law & Society – Sage Pub., New York, 2007 pp. 1-8
E. ORUCU, Law as Transposition, 51 Int. Comp. Law Quarterly, (2002), pp. 205-223
W. TWINING, Generalizing about Law: the Case of Legal Transplants, The Tilburg-Warwick Lectures, 2000 pp. 1-52
F. SCHAUER, The Politics and Incentives of Legal Transplantation, CID Working Paper no. 44, Cambridge Mass., April 2000, Law and Development Paper no. 2, pp. 1-21

Part II.
P. LEGRAND, European Legal Systems are not Converging, 45 Int’l & Comp. L.Q. 55 (1996), pp. 52-81
K. ZWEIGERT, , H.-J. PUTTFARKEN, Statutory Interpretation – Judicial Style, 44 Tul. L. Rev. (1969-1970), pp. 704-719
A. N. ADLER, Translating and Interpreting Foreign Statutes, 19 Mich. J. Int'l L., (1997) pp. 1-31
M. W. HESSELINK, The Politics of European Contract Law: Who has an Interest in What Kind of Contract Law for Europe?, 2 Global Jurist Frontiers, (2002), pp. 1-11
M. WELLS, French and American Judicial Opinions 19 Yale J. Int’l L. 81 (1994), 81-132

Cour de Cassation Chambre civile 2, Audience publique du 18 décembre 1995
House of Lords White and Another Respondents v. Jones and Another Appellants [1995] 2 W.L.R. 187, pp. 8-68
House of Lords M'alister (or Donoghue) appellant; and Stevenson respondent [1932] AC 562 pp. 1-22
Supreme Court of California Escola v. Coca Cola Bottling Co. of Fresno [1944] 150 P.2d 436, pp. 1-5

Teaching and Assessment:
Teaching: The course is taught by mandatory lectures and seminars
Assessment: Written exam - 6 hours

Sist oppdatert 28.08.2007 av AT Kommentarer til denne siden.