ELLM: Upcoming modules

The course provides students with a detailed understanding of remedies in a commercial context. The reading addresses both case law and academic commentary. Here is an indicative list of the issues that will be considered on the course:

1. The aims of commercial remedies: What interests and other policies may be served by the law when remedying commercial disputes?

2. The function of contract damages: How do the courts assess damages for breaches of contract?  Should the courts do more to protect the claimant’s interest in performance?  What limits are placed on the recovery or measure of damages?

3. Punishment: Is punishment of a defaulting defendant ever a legitimate aim in commercial remedies?  Should punitive damages be given a greater role in English commercial law?

4. Agreed remedies: To what extent are commercial parties free to fix the remedies available to them in the event of breach?  Does freedom of contract extend to the parties’ secondary obligations?

5. Unjust enrichment: What is the law of unjust enrichment?  What is its relationship to the law of contract?  What can commercial parties recover under the law of unjust enrichment?

6. Comparative law: How do other jurisdictions deal with these questions?  What might the common law learn from civil law systems? 

Lecturer: Professor Charlie Webb

Module Code: LL438E

The course introduces students to the practice and theory of international legal dispute resolution, focusing on dispute settlement before courts and tribunals. The former Prosecutor of the Yugoslav Tribunal, Richard Goldstone, resolved that: ‘it seems to me that if you don’t have international tribunals, you might as well not have international law’. Given the proliferation of courts and tribunals applying and enforcing international law, certain scholars have argued we are witnessing the emergence of an ‘international judicial system’ (Martinez).

The course involves three main elements:

1. Firstly, the course examines the structure and work of the International Court of Justice, the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, focusing on jurisdiction/admissibility, contentious cases and advisory opinions.

2. Secondly, the course introduces a variety of other international courts and tribunals, such as the International Criminal Court, domestic and regional courts dealing with international law and human rights, including the European Court of Human Rights and the European Court of Justice, the WTO Dispute Settlement Body and investment treaty arbitral tribunals.  Using contemporary and controversial case studies, the course will critically analyze and contrast the institutional design and jurisdiction of these courts and tribunals.

3. Thirdly, throughout the course we explore key theoretical controversies surrounding the adjudication of international law, focusing in particular on (a) how these courts and tribunals relate to one another (hierarchy, specialization and fragmentation); (b) what criteria should be used in assessing the legitimacy and effectiveness of these courts and tribunals; and (c) whether and how these courts and tribunals create international law.

Lecturer: Dr Devika Hovell

Module Code: LL447E

The course is a comprehensive study of the main features of competition law. While the focus is on EU competition law, reference will be made to the laws of other jurisdictions (e.g. the United States and the UK) when these offer relevant points for comparison. The first part of the course examines the history and aims of competition law. It considers the role of economic analysis and its limitations in the light of non-economic considerations. The second part is a review of the major substantive fields: restrictive practices; the regulation of monopolies and dominant positions; distribution and cooperation agreements and merger control. The third part addresses the public and private enforcement of competition law.

Lecturer: Professor Pablo Ibanez Colomo

Module Code: LL425E