Comparative Legal History

The course is part of the law programme (A1N).

Students following a Swedish law programme leading up to a law degree must have completed 150 hec from semesters 1-5 of the law programme. It is also open for visiting foreign students participating in international exchange programmes.

The course begins with a discussion of the comparative legal method, its practical application in lawyers’ every day life and its connection with the historical legal method. In particular, the course will critically discuss the classification of the world’s legal systems in so-called legal families.

We will then explore the relationship between a country’s general culture (philosophy, literature, politics, economy, etc.) and the development of the legal system. In particular, we will discuss theories formulated by Charles de Montesquieu, Friedrich Karl von Savigny, Alan Watson and Pierre Legrand.

The main part of the course will be devoted to a comparison between the main legal families of the Western legal tradition: common law, civil law and the Scandinavian legal family. In particular, we are going to discuss the following countries' national legal systems: France, Germany, England, USA and Sweden.

The comparison will discuss, among other things, the sources of law, the different actors that are active within the legal systems, legal methodology, and legal institutions that characterize specific legal systems (for instance judicial review in the US).

After the course completion the student is expected:

Knowledge and understanding

- to have an advanced knowledge of the historical development of law in Scandinavia, on the European continent, in England and in the United States.

- to have an advanced knowledge of the sources of law, the actors and the legal methodology in the aforementioned legal traditions.

Skills and abilities

- to be able to correctly and purposefully apply the historical and comparative legal method.

- to be able to resolve communication issues that may arise between lawyers from different legal systems.

- to be able to deliver comparative legal analyses orally as well as in writing.

Judgement and approach

- to have a critical understanding of the peculiarities and characteristics of his or her own legal system.

The teaching will take place in the form of lectures and seminars.

Language of instruction: English

The examination consists of two compulsory parts: active seminar participation and an essay that is submitted and opposed at the end of the course. The content and number of seminars are stated in the course manual. Absence from compulsory seminars is supplemented according to the teacher's instructions. The seminars and the paper are equally important in order to determine the final grade.

A student who has taken two examinations in a course or a part of a course without obtaining a pass grade is entitled to the nomination of another examiner, unless there are special reasons to the contrary. A written application should be sent to the Department.

The grading scale comprises: Passed with Distinction (AB), Passed with Credit (BA), Pass (B) and Fail (U).

The Department of Law is under obligation to evaluate all of its courses. Course evaluation will be conducted and compiled in accordance with the current procedures at the Department of Law. All course evaluations of the courses on the Master of Laws programme are scrutinised by the Board of Education of the Department of Law. A student who assists with the compilation of the course evaluations is entitled to a certainremuneration and a certificate to this point.