LL4Z7      Half Unit
Comparative Constitutional Rights

This information is for the 2023/24 session.

Teacher responsible

Professor Kai Möller

Availability

This course is available on the LLM (extended part-time), LLM (full-time) and University of Pennsylvania Law School LLM Visiting Students. This course is not available as an outside option.

 

This course has a limited number of places and demand is typically high. This may mean that you’re not able to get a place on this course.

Course content

This course examines a range of controversial issues in human and constitutional rights law from a comparative perspective. These issues include: abortion; euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide; same sex marriage; religion in the public sphere; hate speech and denial of the holocaust; obscenity; affirmative action. We will approach them by comparing and contrasting judgments from courts all over the world, with a certain emphasis on cases from 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 goals of the course are, first, to introduce the students to the jurisprudence of those powerful and influential courts, and, second, to invite them to think about and critically analyse some of the most controversial, difficult, and important rights issues of our time.

Teaching

This course will have two hours of teaching content each week in Autumn Term and two hours in the Spring Term. There will be a Reading Week in Week 6 of Autumn Term.

Formative coursework

One 2,000 word essay.

Indicative reading

The course is mainly case-based. Students will be provided with course packs including shortened versions of the relevant judgments via the Moodle page for this course.

Assessment

Exam (100%, duration: 2 hours, reading time: 15 minutes) in the spring exam period.

Key facts

Department: Law School

Total students 2022/23: 30

Average class size 2022/23: 30

Controlled access 2022/23: Yes

Value: Half Unit

Guidelines for interpreting course guide information

Course selection videos

Some departments have produced short videos to introduce their courses. Please refer to the course selection videos index page for further information.

Personal development skills

  • Communication
  • Specialist skills