LL408E Half Unit
Comparative Constitutional Law
This information is for the 2025/26 session.
Course Convenor
Prof Jo Murkens
Availability
This course is available on the Executive Master of Laws (ELLM). This course is not available as an outside option to students on other programmes.
Available to Executive LLM students only. This course will be offered on the Executive LLM during the four year degree period. The Law School will not offer all Executive LLM courses every year, although some of the more popular courses may be offered in each year, or more than once each year. Please note that whilst it is the Law School's intention to offer all Executive LLM courses, its ability to do so will depend on the availability of the staff member in question. For more information please refer to the Law School website.
Course content
Comparative Constitutional Law has emerged as a vibrant discipline attracting interdisciplinary interest in how constitutions are formed, designed, and function across diverse societies. LL408E examines central constitutional issues across multiple jurisdictions through critical and contextual perspectives.
Part I explores comparative law as a distinct legal discipline with its own methodology, focusing on how constitutional ideas and ideologies transfer across national boundaries.
Part II investigates fundamental constitutional concepts, including the historical origins of fundamental law, constituent power, the origins and comparative theory and practice of judicial review, and an exploration of the British constitution from a comparative perspective.
Part III addresses constitutional design challenges, with particular emphasis on parliamentarism and presidentialism, and constitution-making processes in deeply divided and authoritarian societies.
The course offers both a rich historical account of Western constitutional traditions and examines their contemporary application in non-Western contexts. In doing so, it develops a critical perspective on mainstream liberal thought that often idealises constitutions as normative constraints on politics or essentialises constituent power.
A central question we'll examine is whether formal constitutions genuinely facilitate democratisation and political change, or whether they can sometimes undermine democracy by entrenching ruling elites. Rather than merely comparing constitutional codes across legal systems, LL408E approaches comparative constitutional law comprehensively and contextually, enabling students to deepen their understanding of law as methodology while making independent connections to other disciplines.
Teaching
24-26 hours of contact time.
Formative assessment
Students will have the option of producing a formative exam question of 2000 words to be delivered one month from the end of the module’s teaching session by email.
Indicative reading
There is no set book for this course. All materials will be made available in advance on Moodle.
Assessment
Assessment Pathway 1
Essay (100%, 8000 words)
Assessment Pathway 2
Legal problems (100%)
Key facts
Department: LSE Law School
Course Study Period: Autumn Term
Unit value: Half unit
FHEQ Level: Level 7
CEFR Level: Null
Total students 2024/25: Unavailable
Average class size 2024/25: Unavailable
Controlled access 2024/25: NoCourse 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