Legal Studies

Using Roman society and criminal law as an example, this course explores the impact of socio-cultural values on the concept of condemnable behaviors, judgment, and punishment.

For this advanced research seminar, students choose the topic of their research paper from the range of processes, legal innovations and socio-legal practices that took place within Germany in any period of choice from 1933 to today. The seminar will be held as a block when students will present the elaborated papers with a seminar presentation. The prerequisite for participation is the prior attendance of a lecture on “State Crime Criminology, Transitional Justice, and the Nazi Regime.” Students will write a 20-page seminar paper, give a seminar lecture, and participate in the discussion of the other students’ presentations.

This course explores the main concepts and principles of international environmental law. It looks at how international environmental law has emerged and developed, in particular by emphasizing the role and contribution of international courts and tribunals. The course also deals specifically with the legal regimes that have been shaped in order to preserve the global environment in different fields (climate change, biodiversity, desertification, water, ozone, chemical products, air pollution, genetically modified organisms, nanotechnologies). With the emergence of the concept of sustainable development, international environmental law is now at the crossroads of different regimes. In this context, the course analyzes the relationship between international environmental law and international trade (and/or investment) law as well as the relationship between international environmental law and human rights.

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 examines core political science questions concerning judicial decision making and judicial power: What explains the judicialization of politics? To what extent do ideological and strategic considerations influence how judges decide cases? Under what conditions are courts able to constrain other political actors? What is the policy impact of judicial decisions and what can judges do to increase their impact? This is not a course on constitutional adjudication, 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, courts are conceptualized as political institutions and judges as political actors. The course covers topics such as the government of judges, constraints on judicial power; conflicts between constitutional courts and the other branches of government; decision making within the judicial hierarchy; judicial appointments. After having examined the fundamentals of constitutional courts, the course compares models of judicial review through various case studies: the USA strong model; the Kelsenian model as applied in France, Italy, Germany and Spain; the Commonwealth and the Nordic weak models; the Irish hybrid model; the Latin America model(s); the Canadian and Israeli activist models; the new democracies model(s). The course finally addresses contemporary challenges to judicial review such as popular constitutionalism and the lack of diversity on the bench.

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.