Legal Studies

This course examines the relationship between crime, law, medicine and science. It focuses on criminal detection practices, death investigation systems, the coroner's office, autopsies and socio-legal management of the dead body, human tissue and organ controversies, and the role of medicine, science and psychology in criminal justice.

This course is specialized for international students. It presents French history and its political institutions and provides a general knowledge of the French political and legal system. The course covers the history of French construction until 1789; constitutional history of France since 1789; the system of the Fifth Republic; executive power (President, Government) territorial organization; legislative power (the National Assembly, the Senate); judicial power (courts of private and public law, constitutional council); the territorial system (decentralization, local authorities); the distinction between private law, public law, mixed rights; and the hierarchy of norms.

The European Union (EU) is one of the world's largest and most important economies. Those interested in doing business with the EU member states must know the rules and the practice of relevant laws. This introductory course deals with the subject from several perspectives, including a social and economic perspective. It provides the fundamental tools needed to be able to do business with the EU, whether they live in Europe or elsewhere. Students gain a broad understanding of both the practical and theoretical aspects of European business law, regardless of if they have prior legal knowledge or not. The course focuses on topics central to business law and economic analysis, such as free movement law, competition law, environmental law, trade law, and state aid law. A general understanding of the EU's legal system and an exploration of the basic constitutional foundations of the EU is gained.

This course provides an international law of armed conflict framework to the main recent and ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa regions. It focuses on the role international law plays in the realm of international and regional relations, namely inter-State relations but also State-individual relations through the growth of human rights law. The first part of the course provides an outline of the general public international law framework to key international conflicts faced by the international community. It then applies these concepts to concrete case studies that are discussed in-depth during the second part of the seminar in view of analyzing and studying international law “in motion.” The course is interactive and necessitates active participation and engagement in the class discussions.

This course provides an overview of the major debates in comparative judicial politics and an introduction to the political science of law and courts, a branch of the discipline known as judicial politics. This is not a course on constitutional adjudication law, and the focus is not on doctrinal analysis or close reading of cases (though cases are discussed to illustrate and examine the topics of the course). Instead, constitutional courts are evaluated as political institutions and judges as political actors. After theorizing judicial review by introducing students to concepts such as the government of judges, juristocracy, and political constitutionalism, specific cases are studied. Topics include: judicial review models across time and space; constraints on judicial power; conflicts between constitutional courts and the other branches of government; decision making within the judicial hierarchy; judicial appointments. The focus of this course is comparative with an emphasis on constitutional courts in advanced democracies; however, courts and legal systems in new democracies and authoritarian regimes are discussed as well.

This course introduces concepts of international corporate law. It seeks to understand the relation between most major constituents (director, shareholder, officers) in international corporations as well as the relevance of business organizations in corporate transactions such as mergers & acquisitions. The course also provides a basic understanding of fundamental capital market rules. 

The course examines the peculiar nature of early modern English crime, law, and punishment through its recent historiography, testing arguments about social control, the use of evidence, levels of violence, and changing patterns of crime. From the level of state-building down to the pettiest transgressions, students will see the law in action and follow the people in court.

This course examines from a historical perspective the legal transformations in 20th century China and developments towards the rule of law. First, the key concepts of the rule of law are introduced in a straightforward way suitable for students from all backgrounds. The course then examines the Chinese legal tradition up until the late Qing dynasty, including the legal and constitutional reforms introduced in response to the challenge of the West. This is followed by looking at the continuation of the late Qing legal reforms in the Republican era, including the move to one-party rule under the Kuomintang Government, legal and constitutional reforms in post-1945 Taiwan, and the development of the rule of law there. This course also covers legal thought and legal developments in the People’s Republic of China since 1949, including the Maoist era and the “Cultural Revolution”. The final topic is the modernization of the Chinese legal system in the era of “reform and opening”, which considers the legal reforms that have
accompanied the move from a socialist planned economy to a market economy, developments relating to “ruling the country according to law”, constitutional reforms for the protection of property and human rights, and the legal practice of “One Country, Two Systems” in the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau. 

This course explores the current state of play in EU platform regulation and the societal developments to which it responds. It covers the most important current issues in platform governance, including topics such as harmful social media content, platform labor, competition in digital markets, and the “platformization” of media and culture. It also explores and analyzes how EU law is responding to these issues, in areas such as data protection and competition law as well as sector-specific regulations targeting platforms, like the just-passed Digital Services Act. While the course focuses on legal issues, a legal background is not essential, as the focus is on how the EU is aiming to address concrete policy issues rather than on technical/doctrinal questions. The course encourages thinking in a critical and interdisciplinary manner. Rather than simply attributing social changes to technological developments, it encourages thinking about how platform companies' technology and business practices interact with and influence broader social and political trends. To this end, class sessions focus on discussing the assigned reading and helping students formulate and share their own opinions on each week's topics.

This course concerns biodiversity law which is, first and foremost, a right to protect species, their habitats, natural areas, and ecological continuity; as well as a law governing certain activities, whether they contribute to the regulation of species (hunting) or are detrimental to them (urban planning, agriculture, development of major infrastructures). The course provides the foundations needed to understand these major legal issues in their various aspects (international law, EU law, and domestic law) while drawing on concrete, emblematic cases.