General provisions

Determined on October 26, 2012 by Faculty of Law’s Teaching Committee, Uppsala University, by virtue of Chapter 6 Section 14 and 15 of the Higher Education Ordinance. The course plan enters into force on July 1, 2013.

In General

The course represents 15 university points (15 ECTS credits), and is an optional course at the advanced level in the studies for the degree of Master of Laws, according to the degree requirements adopted 16 April 2007 by the Board of the Faculty of Law of Uppsala University. The course is held in English.

Entry requirements

In general, Swedish students must have attained five passes out of the six courses given at level 1 of the LLM programme. All the obligatory phases of the course in which the student has not attained a pass must have been fulfilled. Swedish students must have passed the exam for Term course 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6.

Foreign students must at least have passed two years of studies in law.

If special reasons exist the board of exemption may grant exemption from the acceptance requirements.

Learning outcomes

The course is intended to provide the students with the necessary tools (analytical reasoning) with which to approach moral issues within the law, and provoke critical thinking about the moral challenges that the law raises as well as the moral responsibilities of public actors (including but not restricted to lawyers). Issues to be discussed include moral disagreement, authority and legitimacy, the role of courts in a democracy. Emphasis will be placed on the ability to present arguments (written and oral) that are clear and relevant to the issues discussed. To plan work such that time limits are kept, and still the work is done in a satisfactory way.

Grading criteria

By the grading the ability to analyse in an independent, relevant and competent way will be assessed.

Analyse - to make a consistent, systematic and coherent comparison between different legal theories and arguments.

Independent - that the student is not only describing, but also reflecting over similarities and differences between different legal theories and different legal and moral arguments.

Relevant - that the student can identify and focus on the issues discussed and make a balanced disposition of the different aspects of the issues.

Competent - to demonstrate familiarity with the course literature and sources and an ability to make use of them when responding to the question in an independent way.

To obtain the grade AB a very good ability is demanded, for BA a good ability is demanded and for the grad B an acceptable ability to achieve the above mentioned requirements is demanded.

Content

The aim of the course is to give the students a deeper understanding of the relation between law and morality, in particular as regards the argumentation of courts. What characterises moral argumentation and how does it relate to legal argumentation? Another central theme is the growing judicialisation that we witness within the EU. This development requires that lawyers are able to clearly and with relevant arguments enter a discussion regarding the meaning and application of central moral and legal principles. The course will also provide the students with opportunity to practice their skills in moral and legal reasoning.

The course will treat central issues in moral and legal philosophy, but also certain principled questions in international law, human rights, and constitutional law. A part of the material is case-law from various jurisdictions in the world, including India, Canada, South Africa, and Israel, that shows how similar the problems are that courts face, and how similar the reasoning is that they engage in to resolve these problems.

Instruction

The course consists of lectures, seminars, and a take-home exam. The course is divided into two main parts: in the first part, the focus will be certain theoretical issues within moral philosophy (moral argumentation, Mill’s harm principle, moral disagreement), and legal philosophy (authority and legitimacy, and judicial review), in the second part we will turn to an analysis of certain central moral issues within the law (sexual orientation, freedom of expression, religion and culture). In this second part, the work will centre on an analysis of case-law from various jurisdictions, including Canada, Israel, India et al.

Assessment

Examination will consist of a take home exam, a written five page essay, which must be the individual work of the student. Apart from this, students are required to be present at seminars and lectures.

The grades given are Fail (U), and the passing grades Pass (B), Pass with credit (BA) and Pass with distinction (AB).