Course Content
This course offers an introduction to comparative human and constitutional rights law. The first part introduces the students to the structure and basic doctrines of human rights law and to the nature and methodology of comparative law. The following parts cover a range of important and controversial issues in human rights law: abortion; euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide; “deviant” sexual practices; gay marriage; religion in the public sphere; hate speech and denial of the Holocaust; obscenity and blasphemy; socio-economic rights; terrorism and human rights. These topics are approached by studying and comparing judgments from various influential courts all over the world, including the U.S. Supreme Court, the Canadian Supreme Court, the South African Constitutional Court, the European Court of Human Rights, the U.K. Supreme Court, and the German Federal Constitutional Court. The courts’ decisions serve as a springboard for a critical discussion of the respective rights issue.
Course structure
Introduction
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Introduction to Human and Constitutional Rights Law
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Introduction to Comparative Law
Life and Death
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Abortion
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Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide
Sexuality
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“Deviant” Sexual Practices: Sodomy, Sado-Masochistic Sex and Incest
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Gay Marriage
Religion
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Religion in the Public Sphere: Muslim Dress, Crucifixes, and the Ten Commandments
Freedom of Expression/Speech
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Hate Speech and Denial of the Holocaust
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Obscenity and Blasphemy
Contemporary Challenges
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Socio-Economic Rights
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Terrorism and Human Rights
Cross-Cutting Issues
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The Future of Comparative Human and Constitutional Rights Law
Course outcomes
The goals of the course are, first, to introduce the students to the jurisprudence of the above-mentioned powerful and influential courts, and, second, to enable them to think about and critically analyse some of the most controversial, difficult, and important rights issues of our time from a comparative perspective.
World-class LSE teaching
LSE Law has excelled once again in the UK's nationwide assessment of research quality, impact and environment. The Research Excellence Framework results published in December 2014 show that LSE Law is the UK's number one law school for legal research.
The 2015 QS World University faculty rankings for Law also place the LSE in the world's top ten for the subject, making it London's best Law School.
On this three week intensive programme, you will engage with and learn from full-time lecturers from the LSE’s law faculty. LL209 course lecturer, Dr Kai Möller teaches on a number of our undergraduate and graduate law modules, including Comparative Constitutional Law and European Human Rights. In 2014 Dr Möller was shortlisted for the UK Law Teacher of the Year award.
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Texts*
The below texts are reference books; it will not be necessary to purchase them.
Jackson and Tushnet, Comparative Constitutional Law (3rd edition, 2014)
Dorsen, Rosenfeld, Sajó, and Baer, Comparative Constitutionalism: Cases and Materials (2nd edition, 2010)
*A more detailed reading list will be supplied prior to the start of the programme
**Course content, faculty and dates may be subject to change without prior notice