Course Catalog

This class makes the nature of Comparative Law as well as its functions and aims accessible to students from different legal backgrounds. As studying even one legal system fully is difficult and time-consuming, the course must necessarily take a selective approach to comparative law and to the multitude of legal systems in the world. The class Comparative Law I therefore will focus on European Legal Traditions, whose similarities and differences are an important driver of European harmonization. Matching the overall aim of this module the course will focus on private law and business law aspects of comparative law. The course has three main components. The first part will cover the origins and utility of comparative law, its aims, tools and methods. This part will particularly focus on the legal orders, which the participants of the class are most familiar with. The main second part of the course will look at common features of generally accepted concepts of both contract law and of building bricks necessary for any business law, such as division of work, liability, tort law and insurance. The different possible solutions for these problems, which appear in different forms in many jurisdictions, will be presented, followed by an analysis of how they are governed by legal orders belonging to different legal families. Lines of influence and hybrids will similarly be covered. Furthermore, the course will give comparative legal insights to laws in transition as well as legal transplants. Whereas former socialist European countries may serve as an example for the first, the adoption of economic concepts in contract law (such as merchandising and franchising from the US in Europe and the respective related problems of integration into European Union law) are paradigmatic for the second. The third part of the course will cover a comparison of legal education and profession (e.g. role of the judiciary), a critical matter for proper delivery of legal services to foreign clients and working effectively with international law partners.