General provisions

General

The course offers 15 university points (15 ECTS credits) upon successful completion and is a single subject course at the advanced level. The course is held in English.

Entry requirements

In general, Swedish students must have attained five passes out of six in the six semester-long courses given at the undergraduate level of the LL.M. in law degree program. All the obligatory phases of the course in which the student has not attained a pass must have been fulfilled.

Foreign students must have studied law for at least two years.

If special reasons exist the board of exemption may grant exemption from these prerequisite requirements for admission to the course.

Learning outcomes

After the course, students should be able, both orally and in writing, to:

▪ Reflect upon their previous knowledge of major areas of private law and their own "home" legal system(s) in a comparative context.

▪ Apply relevant legal rules and principles in evaluating hypothetical and real scenarios.

▪ Summarize accurately and respond, in small groups and independently, to legal and ideological arguments encountered in class, within course readings, and within materials chosen by the student for use in the student's research paper.

▪ Demonstrate understanding of the purposes for which comparative law can be used and of the field's dominant principles and methods.

▪ Discuss and evaluate challenges and potential solutions to complex private law issues that have arisen in the present era of globalization, including to issues of (non)sustainability.

▪ Independently plan, draft, revise, complete and present a written comparative law research paper of satisfactory quality within specified timeframes.

Content

This course introduces comparatively the major sub-areas of private law (including the principles and rules of contract law, tort law, property law and family law) as they are defined and regulated in a selection of Nordic and other European as well as Anglo-American, Asian, African, Middle Eastern and Latin American legal systems.

Four important themes of the course are:

1. Comparative law as a field, methodology and pedagogical tool.

2. Main aspects of private law at the local, national, regional and global levels. 

3. Comparative private law in an era of globalization.

4. Private law in practice (lawyering skills, legal research and writing).

The course aims to deepen students' understanding of and ability to use comparative law, common legal principles and "black letter law" rules to solve practical and theoretical legal problems in a modern context. Students' legal practice skills are strengthened, especially in oral and written skills including in legal English comprehension and use.

Instruction

The teaching consists of lectures and mandatory seminars. Most teaching consists of problem-based seminars during which students' proposed solutions to previously-assigned problems and further questions are discussed. The required preparation for the seminars consists of reading and writing assignments. Students may be required to present a short, written assignment and to give a short commentary on other students' contributions ("peer feedback"). The teaching is based on the course literature specified in the attached list. The content and structure of the course are further specified in the teaching plan.

Assessment

Four components of student work are part of the course examination: (1) class attendance and active participation; (2) completion of shorter written assignments and oral presentations assigned in advance of certain class sessions; (3) completion of written and oral peer feedback assignments in connection with other students' written assignments and (4) completion of one longer written comparative legal research paper.

The final grade a student earns for the course is based on teacher assessment of the four components examined (as specified in the teaching plan). Points earned for performance on graded components during the course significantly affect the final course grade; the remainder of the final grade is based on the final research paper component. Each component of the examination must receive a passing grade for a student to receive a passing grade on the course as a whole. A student who does not achieve a passing grade on a graded component will have a new opportunity to be examined (a re-examination).

If there are special reasons for doing so, an examiner may make an exception from the method of assessment indicated in this course syllabus and allow a student to be assessed by another method. For example, an examiner may grant an exemption from a certain mandatory element of the course, such as a particular seminar, if appropriate supplementary tasks, assigned by the teacher, are completed. An example of special reasons might be a certificate regarding recommendations of special pedagogical support from the University's special needs coordinator. Oral examination is only given for special reasons. Grading takes place in accordance with what is prescribed in the teaching plan.

It is prohibited to attempt to use deceptive means to influence the outcome of an exam or other ways of evaluating student performance such as essays. This entails inter alia the following points. A student may not use non-permitted aids or materials during a written examination. Even with respect to a take-home examination, the work submitted must be the individual work of the student. Cooperation with for example other students in the writing of take-home examinations is prohibited. It is also prohibited to pass off another person's work as one's own work, in other words to engage in plagiarism, and even to re-use one's own previous work  without appropriate attribution, for example for work that has been published or previously graded for credit. See further the instructions given during the course on properly referencing sources in an academic paper and more!

n addition to the result (grade) of the exam, paper or other way of evaluating student performance being reduced or declared null, a student who, in the above or other ways, engages in academic dishonesty or related inappropriate conduct will be reported to the University Disciplinary Board. The Board can issue formal warnings or bar the student from studying at the university for a period of up to six months.

Criteria for grades

The grades that may be awarded for the course are Unsuccessful (U) and the passing-level grades of B, Ba, and AB. An ETCS grade conversion letter can be provided for exchange students upon request. To pass the course, a student must complete all mandatory elements of the course.

Other regulations

Delegations

It is delegated to the course director to issue the study plan and the literature list. These shall be annually submitted to the Teaching Committee as part of the course report.