Law

Bachelor 2018/2019

Category 'Best Course for Broadening Horizons and Diversity of Knowledge and Skills'

Type: Compulsory course (Political Science and World Politics)

Area of studies: Political Science

Delivered by: Department of Political Science and International Affairs

Where: Saint-Petersburg School of Social Sciences

When: 1 year, 1 module

Mode of studies: offline

Instructors: Elena Vandysheva

Language: English

ECTS credits: 3

Contact hours: 24

Full Syllabus

Abstract

Studying Jurisprudence students will learn to reflect in a critical way on the functions and meaning of legal systems and legal institutions. We will discuss relation between law and politics, economy and morality. The course content will cover most common problems in the legal theory and practice to develop a wider comprehension of the nature and working of law.

Learning Objectives

The primary aim of the course is to form a complete understanding of approaches toward research on law in comparative perspective and ability to resolve typical legal conflicts and to prepare legal documents

Expected Learning Outcomes

Understand the character and ready to use legal reasoning and argument
Understand fundamental terminology
Know where and how to find legal acts and courts decisions
Know the basic research methods in legal analysis
Explain main legal concepts and ideas
Be able to analyze a range of different ways of thinking about the nature of law

Course Contents

Introduction: Modern legal families
The concept of legal family and its development. Definitions of legal family (legal system). The criteria of a taxonomy. Types of modern legal families and their characteristics. Continental or Romance-Germanic law family. Anglo-Saxon (Anglo-American) law family. Religious legal family. Mixed legal system.
Main legal concepts
Approaches to definition of legal understanding. Natural law (Jusnaturalism) and its characteristics. Etatism and its characteristics. Features of sociological type of legal understanding. Characteristics of psychological type of legal understanding.
Sources of law
Definition of sources of law. Kinds of sources of law and their legal force. Domestic and international sources. Federal and regional sources. Constitutions. Statutes. Court Opinions (the role of precedents). Administrative Regulations. The effect of law in time. Immediate effect (enforcement). Retroactive legality. Surviving of the legal act. Rules for legal acts enforcement and official publication. Termination of the action of legal act. The effect of legal act in space. Jurisdiction. The effect of law in personal. Immunities.
Wrongdoing and legal accountability
Definition and features of wrongdoing. Types of wrongdoing. Elements of wrongdoing (corpus delicti). Delictual capacity. Sanity. Defendant's characteristic. Object of wrongdoing. External element. Mental element (mens rea). Legal responsibility (definition and forms).
Law making process
Parliament agenda formation and measuring. Characteristics of main stages of law making process. Legislative initiative. Preparation. Introduction. Committee Study. Floor Action. Action by the Second Chamber. Conference Committees. Promulgation.
The concept of the Rule of Law

Assessment Elements

Class activity
Team project
12.09.2018 – Team building (Each team consists of 6-7 people) 18.09.2018 – Project proposal (about 200 words: (1) Project title and overview & (2) Objectives) 02.10.2018 – Final project
The final written examination

Interim Assessment

Interim assessment (1 module)
0.36 * Class activity + 0.24 * Team project + 0.4 * The final written examination

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

Brooks, T. (2014). Law and Legal Theory. Leiden: Brill. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=675680

Recommended Additional Bibliography

BERINZON, M., & BRIGGS, R. C. (2016). Legal Families Without the Laws: The Fading of Colonial Law in French West Africa. American Journal of Comparative Law, 64(2), 329–370. https://doi.org/10.5131/AJCL.2016.0012
Brownlee, K. (2004). The Oxford Handbook of Jurisprudence and Philosophy of Law (Book). Journal of Moral Philosophy, 1(2), 229–231. https://doi.org/10.1177/174046810400100209
CASANOVA, J. (2017). Islam, Gender, and Democracy in Comparative Perspective. OXFORD: OUP Oxford. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1506315
Goh, B. C. (2016). Law Without Lawyers, Justice Without Courts : On Traditional Chinese Mediation. London: Routledge. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1431920
Goldsworthy, J. D. (2006). Interpreting Constitutions : A Comparative Study. Oxford: OUP Oxford. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=2092575
Guerrier, C. (2016). Security and Privacy in the Digital Era. London: Wiley-ISTE. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1339817
Lautenbach, G. (2013). The Concept of the Rule of Law and the European Court of Human Rights (Vol. First edition). Oxford, United Kingdom: OUP Oxford. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=672428
Li, L. (2017). Building the Rule of Law in China. Cambridge, MA, United States: Elsevier. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1433172
Raz, J. (2011). From Normativity to Responsibility. Oxford: OUP Oxford. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=458490
The Oxford handbook of empirical legal research / ed. by Peter Cane; Herbert M. Kritzer. (2010). Oxford [u.a.]: Oxford Univ. Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edswao&AN=edswao.330885197

Course Syllabus