Course Catalogue

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This course will investigate the civilian and common law traditions in the period 1600-1900. The focus will be on England and Scotland, western Europe, colonial America, the United States and India and will look at the development of the law and legal institutions across multiple jurisdictions.

There will be 10 x 2-hour seminars spread throughout semester 1.

This course is only available to LLB students.

None.

None.

Essay 1 (formative & summative): 25% (2000 words).

Essay 2 (summative): 75% (3000 words).

Reassessments are normally available for all courses, except those which contribute to the Honours classification. Where, exceptionally, reassessment on Honours courses is required to satisfy professional/accreditation requirements, only the overall course grade achieved at the first attempt will contribute to the Honours classification. For non-Honours courses, students are offered reassessment in all or any of the components of assessment if the satisfactory (threshold) grade for the overall course is not achieved at the first attempt. This is normally grade D3 for undergraduate students and grade C3 for postgraduate students. Exceptionally it may not be possible to offer reassessment of some coursework items, in which case the mark achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade. Any such exceptions for this course are described below. 

The aim of this course is to introduce students to comparative legal history; to expose them to the concept of legal pluralism and the methodologies associated with comparative law in its historical context.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

1. Explain the development of law and legal institutions in a range of jurisdictions influenced by western European colonialism in the early modern period.

2. Produce sustained arguments on a variety of textual sources associated with the development of colonial law in certain common law, civilian and mixed jurisdictions.

3. Demonstrate an understanding of the historical forces at work in the development of law; appreciate the significance of legal formants and legal transplants and influence of legal ideas across multiple jurisdictions.

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.