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Legal Systems and Methods

The main purpose of the course Legal Systems and Methods is to help law students develop tools to successfully negotiate the difficulties that arise from clashing legal traditions in everyday legal work in an international or internationalized setting.

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Photo: Vitaliy Vodolazskyy / Mostphotos


Legal Systems and Methods is given as an elective course within the framework of the exchange programmes at the Department of Law, Stockholm University. Swedish law students admitted by the department are also given access to the course.


Read more about exchange programmes at the Department of Law 


To develop tools to successfully negotiate the difficulties that arise from clashing legal traditions in everyday legal work in an international or internationalized setting, the students first and foremost will be given an introduction to legal culture within the most theoretically and practically important legal systems. The curriculum places particular emphasis on legal methods and techniques specific to a legal tradition. Since legal cultures are constantly evolving, their historical background and ideological underpinnings must be considered.

In addition to the study of the legal methods of the world, students are required to develop such skills that facilitate legal work in situations where more than one legal tradition is involved. Practical exercises will help students to acquire inter-cultural legal communication skills and strategies (International Lawyering). The course closes with a case study.

 

  • Course structure

    The learning objectives, activities, and examination criteria for the course are outlined in the syllabus. Therefore, the syllabus serves as the foundational document dictating the course's content and structure.

    To access the current syllabus, please navigate to the right-hand column and locate the section titled "Syllabus - Legal document." Alternatively, if you are using a mobile device, you can find it towards the end of this page.
     

    In addition to the syllabus, the course director has compiled a course description. The primary aim of this description is to provide a comprehensive overview of the syllabus's structure and components.

    Course description (224 Kb)

    Please be advised that in the event of any inconsistencies between the information provided in the course description or on this course page regarding the course structure, and the content outlined in the current syllabus, the syllabus always supersedes.

    Teaching format


    Instruction is given in the form of lectures, group work, seminars and a case study.
     

    Assessment


    The course is examined on the basis of a written exam and a case study.
     

  • Schedule

    The schedule will be available no later than one month before the start of the course. We do not recommend print-outs as changes can occur. At the start of the course, your department will advise where you can find your schedule during the course.

  • Course literature

    Note that the course literature can be changed up to two months before the start of the course.

    Course literature and material

    • Zweigert, K – Kötz, H, An introduction to Comparative Law, 3rd ed., Oxford 1998 (492 pages)

    Compendiums:

    • Extract from Interpreting Statutes. A Comparative Study. Ed. MacCormick – Summers, Routledge, New York 2016
    • Extract from Interpreting Precedents. A Comparative Study. Ed. MacCormick – Summers, Routledge, New York 2016
      In total 432 pages.

    You can find the extracts in the ressources and activities section as downloadable PDF-files.

    In addition to the reading list, further material can be added during the course period, if a lecturer requests that a specific article etc. is to be read in preparation for classes. Such material will be posted in Athena.

  • More information


    Learning platform

    During the course, registered students will receive additional course information on the Athena learning platform.

    https://athena.itslearning.com/

    Open planning in Athena


    The Department

    Read more about education at the Department of Law at Stockholm University on our homepage.

    Education - Department of Law 

     

    Video presentation

     

    Video presentation of the course 

     

  • Contact

    Course contact: 
    legal@juridicum.su.se  

    Course coordinator: 
    Gia Le Truong

    Course manager: 
    Marie Sandström  

     

Selected reading

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