Legal Studies

This is a tutorial for the course INTRODUCTION TO FRENCH JUDICIAL SYSTEM. This course provides an introduction to French law and the judicial system. Students learn about the judicial organization, fundamental rights, the differences between a natural and a legal person, as well as the rules to carry out a contract. Topics like criminal, civil, and administrative liability are also taught.

This course examines the cultural and institutional languages within which contemporary law is communicated, expressed and understood. Official and unofficial texts of law are situated in relation with literature, music and podcasts, photography and other visual arts, as well as architecture and urban design. Our examples are selected to provide a representative sample of the main areas of legal study, such as criminal law, contract and torts, equity, administrative and constitutional law, jurisprudence, treaty and native title. Throughout, the justice of the case will be evaluated.

Criminal justice refers to the agencies of the government charged with enforcing law, adjudicating crime, and correcting criminal conduct. The major components of the criminal justice system are the police, courts and correctional agencies. Although society maintains other forms of social control such as the family, school, and church, only the criminal justice system has the power to control crime and punish criminals. However, can the police arrest all criminals? Does crime pay? Does punishment deter? This course is specially designed to critically examine whether the criminal justice system is an effective way to deal with crime.m.

This course provides a comprehensive introduction to the law and practice of international dispute settlement. The course begins with an introduction to the obligation to settle international disputes peacefully and an overview of the fundamental principles of dispute settlement. The course then explores the non-judicial means of dispute settlement: negotiation, mediation, good offices, inquiry, and conciliation. Thereafter, the course focuses on the judicial settlement of disputes by international courts and tribunals, in particular the International Court of Justice, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea dispute settlement mechanisms, the dispute settlement procedures and mechanisms of the World Trade Organization, and arbitral tribunals in both inter-State and investor-State disputes. The course concludes by addressing select issues related to international dispute settlement, namely provisional measures, landmark cases (such as the South China Sea arbitration), and contemporary issues such as compliance with judicial and arbitral decisions, and the politics of international investment law. Throughout the course, not only the “law,” but also the “politics” of dispute settlement are addressed.

This course examines the basic principles of maritime law and international conventions, including: contract of carriage, maritime collision, salvage, general average, limitations of liabilities and insurance.

This course develops a multi-disciplinary understanding of drugs in the UK and elsewhere by enabling students to apply sociological, criminological, historical, psychological and cultural perspectives to the study of drug use, and policy responses to this "social problem."  Students seek to understand why people take and sell drugs, how drug use is understood within societies, and how societies respond.