Legal Studies

This course facilitates students in the formulation of their own, critically aware, understanding of the nature of law and its features. Students develop their ability to articulate a reasoned position on distinctive features of law and a legal system and on questions such as the relationship between law and morality, law’s legitimacy and function in a social order. Among topics that may be explored are the concept of law, the rule of law, authority, and connections between law and morality. 

In this course students learn, for example, that using language in a certain way may result in a more advantageous outcome for the speaker and by contrast, that certain other ways of using language may be considered law-breaking. No prior knowledge of linguistics is required but having some competence in another language in addition to English is an advantage. This course is interdisciplinary and students learn about the ways in which a number of disciplines are related to one another, including linguistics, the law, criminology, and psychology. 

This course presents the history and main current characteristics of the Japanese legal system. The first part of the course presents the historical background of the Japanese legal system, focusing on the reception of Western law in the Meiji period and on the consolidation of the legal system in the 20th century. The second part presents several key aspects of current Japanese constitutional law, private law, criminal law, and procedure. The course may include a field trip to an institution of law covered during the semester.

This research internship program offers selected students the opportunity to participate in research projects or work as an intern in research centers or organizations at Yonsei University. Students are expected to participate in research projects for approximately 20 hours per week throughout the program. Projects will vary depending on placement. Graded Pass/No pass only.

This course introduces students to critical approaches to international law and excavates the ideas and histories that help shape international law's subjects, categories, and boundaries. The course engages with critical theories (TWAIL, critical legal studies, Marxism) that challenge the narrative of international law as a universal and progressive project. This course consists of three parts which provide students with a foundation to reflect on both the limits and potential of international law. The first part of the course explores how colonialism helped produce international law's actors: the State, victim, perpetrator, and international community. The second part engages with non-legal discourses (narrative, mythology, emotion) to explore how these categories are sustained. The third part of the course investigates whether the discourse presents a crisis of imagination that makes alternative international engagements unthinkable.

This course explores business finance law. Topics include: corporate finance law-- current outlook for financial markets; internal company financing; external company financing; financing small and medium enterprises (SMEs); financing technology-based companies and spin-offs; financing social enterprises.

The course introduces students to the role of property concepts in legal and social thought. Particular attention is paid to the context, development, and function of property forms in contemporary legal systems. The course encompasses a broad range of established and emergent property forms, ranging from questions of copyright and share ownership to aspects of real property. Extensive use is made of historical and other general commentaries on the question of property.

Using mainly law, sociology, and economics but also philosophy, literature, and psychology; and focusing on different actors such as states, societies, consumers, and banks; the course deals with current controversial issues such as the rising role of money, the global distribution of wealth, the erosion of monetary sovereignty, the legal challenges of alternative and stateless currencies, and the disruptive effects of cryptocurrencies on finance and banking industries. The course is divided into three parts: the origins and essence of money, the socio-economic and legal issues raised by money in today's society, and the current challenges coming from the rise of cryptocurrencies.