! Note on the schedule. Please be advised that on some Mondays and Wednesdays the lectures will take place also from 5 pm to 6.30 pm in addition to the regular time. The complete schedule of the course is available below.

Course description
In this course students will first be introduced to the methodology of comparing, and of law comparison in particular. They will then be introduced to the great legal traditions of the world. Students will be invited to situate their own legal system in these larger families and to discuss the advantages and disadvantages that their countries’ approach may have compared with the other sorts of legal thinking and practice in the world. In a final part of the course, transversal comparative issues will be dealt with, such as: how are interhuman relations (e.g. marriage) viewed in the various legal systems? How is democracy embodied in the various legal systems? How has globalization influenced the diversity of legal ways of thinking? How do history and culture interact with the choices in law? Students will be expected to write a research paper on a transversal topic, presenting a comparison and evaluating the compared approaches.

Syllabus
Week 1: Introduction to course and method of comparison
Weeks 2-5: Introduction to the major legal systems + preparation and presentation of country reports by students of three countries (one student per country including Italy)
Week 6: Mid-term test and discussion; introduction to collective work: common theme for multinational student groups (for students not having made a national country report) on topics we will determine, such as:
- Small jurisdictions and their specific issues
- How to keep art in the country and retrieve works of art from abroad?
Weeks 10 to 12 : Group work + Comparison of forms of state and authority + Comparison of family law (clip at disposal; contact hour for questions and discussion)
Week 13 : Preparation of presentations and presentations of group work

Teaching Schedule
21/2 :9.00-10.30, Danny Pieters and Gerard Everaet: Introduction to course and method of comparison
28/2 :9.00-10.30, Danny Pieters: Germany / Russia
2/3 :9.00-10.30, Danny Pieters: Israel / India
7/3 :9.00-10.30, Danny Pieters: Islamic law +law in Africa
9/3 :9.00-10.30, Bert Demarsin: UK
11/3 :9.00-10.30, Bert Demarsin: US
11/3 :11.00-12.30, Bert Demarsin: FR
14/3 :9.00-10.30, Bert Demarsin: China
16/3 :9.00-10.30, Bert Demarsin: Japan
21/3 :9.00-10.30, Bert Demarsin: Brazil
21/3 :17.00-18.30, Bert Demarsin: Introduction to focus for later task group work theme ‘Small jurisdictions and their specific issues’ 11
23/3 :9.00-10.30, Bert Demarsin: Introduction to focus for later task group work theme ‘How to keep art in the country and to retrieve work of arts?’
28/3 :9.00-10.30, Gerard Everaet: Mct + feed back
27/4 :9.00-10.30, Gerard Everaet: Assignment of task for group work (for students not having yet made a presentation)
27/4 :17.00-18.30, Gerard Everaet: Presentation by one student (or guest lecturer) of Italian law
2/5 :9.00-10.30, Gerard Everaet: Presentations by one student per not yet covered country
2/5 :17.00-18.30, Gerard Everaet: Presentations by one student per not yet covered country
4/5 :9.00-10.30, Gerard Everaet: Coaching and first discussion on group work focus ‘small jurisdictions’
4/5 :17.00-18.30, Gerard Everaet: Coaching and first discussion on group work focus ‘heritage’
9/5 :9.00-10.30, Gerard Everaet: Introduction to comparative family law as an example of law comparison
9/5 :17.00-18.30, Gerard Everaet: Introduction to comparative family law as an example of law comparison II
11/5 :9.00-10.30, Gerard Everaet: Introduction to comparative public law I
16/5 :9.00-10.30, Gerard Everaet: Introduction to comparative public law II
18/5 :9.00-10.30, Gerard Everaet: Coaching and final repetition for group work presentations +mct and feed back
23/5 :9.00-10.30, Bert Demarsin and Gerard Everaet: Final presentation and evaluation of group work for both focusses.

Download the schedule in pdf.

Learning outcomes
Students participating in this course will acquire basic knowledge of the various approaches to law throughout the world. Moreover they should be able to take account of the diversity of (legal) approaches present throughout the world when communicating with persons from other backgrounds. They should also be aware of the interrelation between history, culture, economics and law; they will be able to switch into the logics of other cultures and to adopt a real global approach to global issues.
This course will be team taught, and include some elements of distance teaching with the permanent presence of one teacher in loco. There will be ample opportunity for interaction with each of the involved teachers.

Evaluation method
1/2 of the final score will be given in the form of an overall evaluation of the group work paper and its presentation
1/2 of the final score will result from a written multiple-choice exam

Course Requirements
No preliminary knowledge on the topic, or of law in general is required; students are however expected to acquire some knowledge and information about their own national legal system in order to get full benefit from the classes and the discussions.

Reading materials on the major legal systems of the world will be provided; also ppts will be provided for each of the lessons.