Legal Studies

This course provides an introduction to law from a more abstract and philosophical point of view. Topics covered include: the concept of law; law as form of social organization; law and other normative systems; law and power; legal norms; the legal system; legal production; interpretation and implementation of law.

This course provides an overview of international criminal law as a specific branch of public international law. The course traces the historical and theoretical underpinnings of the canon beginning with the Post-World War I "Leipzig Trials" progressing through to the establishment of the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the turn of the twentieth century. In so doing, considerable attention is paid to the evolving theoretical and sociological foundations of international criminal justice, as well as the political circumstances which came to bear in the establishment of a multiplicity of international and internationalized criminal tribunals. While seeking to understand the object and purpose of international criminal prosecutions, the course focuses primarily on the continued development of the law relevant to the subject-matter jurisdiction of international courts and tribunals. Specifically, the course examines the law pertinent to war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression. Students are required to digest and critically analyze selected jurisprudence from international and internationalized courts and tribunals. After having dealt comprehensively with the issue of subject-jurisdiction, the course then examines the potential modes of liability (i.e., the basis on which an individual may be found individually responsible) which may be attached to these crimes. In this respect, the course looks at controversial issues surrounding the notions of joint criminal enterprise and superior responsibility. The course concludes with an examination of the challenges facing international criminal justice. In this regard, the course looks at issues such as prosecutorial discretion, the balancing of peace with the pursuit of justice, and the central importance of the principle of complementarity in the future development of international criminal law. Prerequisites for this course are an introduction to public international law and one additional intermediate-level course is recommended.

This course studies the interrelationship between gender, law, and legal culture. Addressing issues of gender underlines the importance of status in the contemporary world as it is reflected in community norms and state and international law, as well as in traditions and religions which stress the importance of gender and sexuality. Addressing the concept and understanding of legal cultures underlines a context different from the state, such as in intimate relations, spiritual communities or in economic relations including workplace and the market. The course seeks to increase the awareness of intersections between gender and culture in contemporary legal practices, and to research how both concepts meet, cooperate, compete, and change in these processes. The course seeks to improve the understanding of normative forces beyond state law and of their relevance and impact on both individuals and groups and the different and overlapping contexts they operate within. This course addresses many areas of legal and broader cultural practice where considerations of gender are typically omitted as traditionally taught in legal education, including newer twenty-first century concerns. These include reflections on: the role of authority and institutions on gendering legal decisions, the notion of gendered criminality, the influence on linguistic choices on judgments, the role of new technology and digital life on law and gender, gender minorities and the law, the legal responses to inter-generational responsibility, climate change and gender, the gendered family and work place, gender, law, culture and religion, gender and asylum gender and trans-national legal culture, post-colonialism, globalization, and international law. The course arms students with a point of view to not envision gender as a buzzword but as a social practice with legal effects. In this way it looks to develop young lawyers to not just consider gender as a side note, but as an avenue to approach the law and produce adequate and empowered institutions.

This course takes on a dual approach to migration law combining a theoretical and a practical account of the field. Through an interdisciplinary perspective mobilizing law, philosophy, and sociology, the sessions question the rationale of migration law in constitutional states, mostly in Europe and North America. Immigration law determines the condition of migrants in various ways: it primarily founds the distinction between nationals and aliens, it establishes the law of border policing and it delimits the rights of foreigners within the state territory. To this extent, migration law does not only define a set of rights and duties, it also enables a person to be part–or not–of a political community; it thus lies at the core of the foundations and the functioning of contemporary liberal states. After having examined and deconstructed the foundational concepts of migration law, the course dedicates a substantive part of the course to the analysis of the standing of foreigners and migrants in international, European and domestic law. The course then looks at the legal architecture regulating migration from the perspective of the states. This invites students to reflect on a series of topics including the following: the relation of sovereignty to immigration control; the power effects of categorizing migrants; legal status of foreigners; migrants structural exclusion from the framework of the rule of law; the extent that counter-terrorism measures and the use of states of exception undermine the condition of migrants in constitutional states; what these reflections tell us about our political societies. The practical aspect of the course permeates most sessions through in-class exercises where students are asked to produce advocacy tools based on real-life issues.

This course introduces students to jurisprudence and the philosophy of law. It explores the nature and purpose of law, examining how it relates to morality and politics. The course looks at some of the foundational principles which underpin legal systems in the western world, including justice, rights, democracy, the rule of law, and the separation of powers.

This course examines the general legal framework and legal issues arising in day-to-day business dealings through the interpretation and analysis of business cases and statutes. It introduces basic principles of business law: laws of contract, contract for the sale of goods and service, professional negligence, agency, partnership, employment law, and business ethics. Topics covered include basic legal principles and rules required by business personnel; situations encountered in the professional field; legislative materials and legal documents; relevant legal issues which may arise in the context of legal occupations; Hong Kong legal system, the court system and the sources of Hong Kong law; legal system on litigants' rights and duties; essential elements of a valid contract and the remedies available in case of a breach of contract; role of contract law on consumer-related issues; role of employment law on job-related issues and employment disputes; law of torts and the right to compensation and damages; Sale of Goods Ordinance; and corporate and partnership law.

This course focuses on the cross-cultural aspects of changing laws and legal institutions in the context of an increasingly transnational legal, economic, technological, and social world. Students learn how legal norms, actors, and institutions affect the everyday life and the cultural fabric of society. The course also introduces students to central analytical concepts in legal anthropology. The concepts of indigenization and vernacularization are used to make sense of how international law interacts with national and local norms. Students are introduced to anthropological approaches to legality and illegality. The course explores themes including the history of legal anthropology, anthropology, and international law; the anthropology of the state and citizenship; institutional perspectives on bureaucracies, courts, and legal professions; bottom-up actor perspectives on rights claiming and legal mobilization; the anthropology of the private sphere; and the anthropology of the market. While this course primarily attracts students of law and social science, it is also of interest to students from theology and the humanities. Students are graded based off a final 5-day take-home exam that is to be delivered electronically.