Jura (alle)
Bachelor
The course will be split into three parts: first, general aspects of U.S. laws and legal system; second, an overview of substantive topics in key subject areas of law; and, third, practicing law in the United States including commencing a lawsuit, research, and litigation.
Your final grade will comprise class preparedness, homework assignment (written or oral) and a written final exam.
This class makes the nature of Comparative Law as well as its functions and aims accessible to students from different legal backgrounds. As studying even one legal system fully is difficult and time-consuming, the course must necessarily take a selective approach to comparative law and to the multitude of legal systems in the world. The class Comparative Law I therefore will focus on European Legal Traditions, whose similarities and differences are an important driver of European harmonization. Matching the overall aim of this module the course will focus on private law and business law aspects of comparative law.
The course has three main components. The first part will cover the origins and utility of comparative law, its aims, tools and methods. This part will particularly focus on the legal orders, which the participants of the class are most familiar with.
The main second part of the course will look at common features of generally accepted concepts of both contract law and of building bricks necessary for any business law, such as division of work, liability, tort law and insurance. The different possible solutions for these problems, which appear in different forms in many jurisdictions, will be presented, followed by an analysis of how they are governed by legal orders belonging to different legal families. Lines of influence and hybrids will similarly be covered.
Furthermore, the course will give comparative legal insights to laws in transition as well as legal transplants. Whereas former socialist European countries may serve as an example for the first, the adoption of economic concepts in contract law (such as merchandising and franchising from the US in Europe and the respective related problems of integration into European Union law) are paradigmatic for the second. The third part of the course will cover a comparison of legal education and profession (e.g. role of the judiciary), a critical matter for proper delivery of legal services to foreign clients and working effectively with international law partners.This class makes the nature of Comparative Law as well as its functions and aims accessible to students from different legal backgrounds. As studying even one legal system fully is difficult and time-consuming, the course must necessarily take a selective approach to comparative law and to the multitude of legal systems in the world. The class Comparative Law I therefore will focus on European Legal Traditions, whose similarities and differences, are an important driver of European harmonization. Matching the overall aim of this module the course will focus on private law and business law aspects of comparative law.
The course has three main components. The first part will cover the origins and utility of comparative law, its aims, tools and methods. This part will particularly focus on the legal orders, which the participants of the class are most familiar with.
The main second part of the course will look at common features of generally accepted concepts of both contract law and of building bricks necessary for any business law, such as division of work, liability, tort law, insurance. The different possible solutions for these problems, which appear in different forms in many jurisdictions will be presented, followed by an analysis of how they are governed by legal orders belonging to different legal families. Lines of influence and hybrids will similarly be covered. Furthermore the course will give comparative legal insights to laws in transition as well as legal transplants. Whereas former socialist European countries may serve as an example for the first, the adoption of economic concepts in contract law (such as merchandising and franchising from the US in Europe and the respective related problems of integration into European Union law) are paradigmatic for the second.
The third part of the course will cover a comparison of legal education and profession (e.g. role of the judiciary), a critical matter for proper delivery of legal services to foreign clients and working effectively with international law partners.
- Aims and methods of comparative law research
- Principle of equality of all legal orders
- Grouping of legal families according to historic origin or structure
- Basic concepts of contract law: party autonomy, formation of contract, performance
- Basic concepts of business law: division of work, liability, tort law, insurance
- Hybrids and legal transplants
The course Comparative Law deals with nature, technique and purpose of legal comparison both from a theoretical and from a practical point of view. Further it aims at introducing students to fundamental concepts of the European Legal families, which more often than not serve as model for European harmonization. The insight will provide students with the necessary analytical background allowing them to carry out comparative legal analysis in their respective further fields of studies.
This course aims to both give understanding of the digital assets and ways to protect rights to digital assets in terms of current legislation and case law as well as defining digital ownership as a perspective way to protect rights to digital assets. Based on that, the course covers such topics:
• Digital assets: notion, types, legal landscape
• Digital ownership: European and American perspectives
• Personal and machine-generated data ownership issues
• Cryptocurrencies, NFT and other crypto-assets
• Social media and online gaming accounts
• Digital inheritance
The first topic aims to introduce current approaches to the definition of digital assets, describe types of digital assets and recent legislative findings on digital assets regulation.
In the second chapter the concept of digital ownership as a type of ownership will be described, current developments on implementing this concept in European and American legal field will be highlighted, the feasibility and necessity of this concept for protection of rights to digital assets will be explained.
The third section looks into the current legal regulation of personal and machine-generated data, including GDPR, Database Directive and Data Act. It also aims to describe the concept of data ownership and its correlation with digital ownership. Issues of correlation between information and data concepts will be discussed in this section.
The fourth chapter aims to discuss approach to legal regulation of cryptocurrencies and other crypto-assets both at the European and national legislative level. It specifically focuses on the issues of NFT, including their transfer and connection to intellectual property rights.
Social media and online gaming accounts will be discussed from the digital ownership perspective. Tradable elements of the account will be revealed, current possibilities to protect rights and get benefits from social and online gaming accounts considering provisions of the Terms of Service will be discussed.
In the section on digital inheritance current issues and instruments to define post-mortal fate of digital assets will be discussed. Possible legal frames for common and civil law to dispose of digital assets will be highlighted, the US experience to solve this issue will be considered.
Learning outcomes and qualification goals:
The course intends to provide students with a deeper understanding of the digital assets concept and approaches to protect rights to digital assets. Students will learn current legislative approaches to digital assets in different countries as well as on the European level, study current case law on digital assets.
Lecturer: Kateryna Nekit – Professor of Civil Law
National university „Odesa Law Academy“
The European Union (EU) possesses strong regulatory powers, the use of which, directly or indirectly, affects private subjects within the EU Member States. Nevertheless, not until the late 1960’s did the European Court of Justice (CJEU) acknowledge fundamental rights to be general principles of the then European Economic Community (EEC) law. And not until 2009 did a Charter of Fundamental Rights enter into force, which ranks equal to the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
The course aims to give an introduction to the sources and standards of human rights protection within the EU legal framework. Through the analysis of EU hard and soft law instruments, CJEU and member states’ case law, and doctrinal contributions the course will analyze the EU fundamental rights system in both its legal and political dimensions.
The course structure is threefold: the first part aims to introduce students to the genesis of fundamental rights law within the ECC/
• Development of the protection of fundamental rights in the history of European integration;
• The role of the CJEU and its interaction with national courts;
• Legal sources of fundamental rights guaranteed by EU-law and their interpretation;
• The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights: adoption, structure and impact;
• EU fundamental rights and the European Convention on Human Rights;
• EU fundamental rights in the larger Public International Law contexts;
• EU as a global actor: promoting democracy and human rights on a global scale;
• The future of fundamental rights in the EU: main challenges.
Learning outcomes and qualification goals:
The course intends to provide students with a deeper understanding of both the EU system of fundamental rights protection and its relationships with the national and international human rights systems.
Students will learn to solve and critically assess legal problems, developing analytical and practical skills, while acquiring relevant knowledge in the human rights area.
The course will provide a framework for an advanced comprehension of European private law in comparative perspective, with an eye on the impact of Community legislation and adjudication on national legal systems.
The focus of the first part is on the core aspect of European private law, namely contract law. It will cover both uniform rules, such as the uniform sales law (but also their predecessors PECL and UNIDROIT) on the one hand, the relevant directives harmonizing national private laws on the other. Further soft law as a driver for European Harmonization and national modernization will be covered.
In a second part general structures and core concepts of European private law will be covered. This will in particular relate to contracts as the most important means to create and organize legal environments on the one hand and the restraints on party autonomy in favour of the weaker party and the means for its protection (i.e. consumer law) on the other.
Throughout the course there will be a strong focus on cases and the differences the application of the mentioned legal sources to identical facts will result in.
- Development of European private law
- The different layers of legal sources
- Uniform sales law
- UNIDROIT and PECL
- Excessive harmonization
- The function of soft law
- Freedom of contracts as corner stone of European private law
- Restraints of party autonomy: the concept of the weaker party
Learning outcomes and qualification goals:
The course encourages close and interactive reading of key legislative and judicial texts, at both national and European levels (including decisions of the German Supreme Court (in English translation) and of the European Court of Justice). The objective is to introduce students to a major range of European contract law disputes (formation of contract, unfair terms etc.) that require the handling of domestic, comparative and European Union private law materials and techniques at once. Further the course intends to foster critical awareness of the complex ways in which domestic private laws are subject to Europeanization, and how European laws re-arrange domestic private laws
The course will provide a framework for an advanced comprehension of European private law in comparative perspective, with an eye on the impact of Community legislation and adjudication on national legal systems.
The focus of the first part is on the core aspect of European private law, namely contract law. It will cover both uniform rules, such as the uniform sales law (but also their predecessors PECL and UNIDROIT) on the one hand, the relevant directives harmonizing national private laws on the other. Further soft law as a driver for European Harmonization and national modernization will be covered.
In a second part general structures and core concepts of European private law will be covered. This will in particular relate to contracts as the most important means to create and organize legal environments on the one hand and the restraints on party autonomy in favour of the weaker party and the means for its protection (i.e. consumer law) on the other.
Throughout the course there will be a strong focus on cases and the differences the application of the mentioned legal sources to identical facts will result in.
- Development of European private law
- The different layers of legal sources
- Uniform sales law
- UNIDROIT and PECL
- Excessive harmonization
- The function of soft law
- Freedom of contracts as corner stone of European private law
- Restraints of party autonomy: the concept of the weaker party
The course encourages close and interactive reading of key legislative and judicial texts, at both national and European levels (including decisions of the German Supreme Court (in English translation) and of the European Court of Justice). The objective is to introduce students to a major range of European contract law disputes (formation of contract, unfair terms etc.) that require the handling of domestic, comparative and European Union private law materials and techniques at once. Further the course intends to foster critical awareness of the complex ways in which domestic private laws are subject to Europeanization, and how European laws re-arrange domestic private laws.
After introducing the concept of international litigation and the main policy issues at stake, the course will comprehensively address the crucial procedural law questions lawyers have to deal with when bringing a cross-border civil or commercial dispute to a national court. These include: international jurisdiction (Which court is competent?), coordination between different jurisdictions (lis pendens, provisional measures), conduct of proceedings (service of documents, taking evidence abroad) as well as recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments.
Students who have completed the course will have developed a sound understanding of international procedural law that will enable them to successfully work in a litigation context, be it in the judiciary, a law firm or a legal department. The course is suited for exchange and graduate students (LL.M., M.C.B.L.) in law and related fields as well as for LL.B. students aiming to cover the relevant aspects of international procedural law required for taking the First German State Exam according to § 8 Abs. 2 Nr. 5 JAPrO.
The course will cover the following subjects:
• Concept and practical relevance of international litigation
• Advantages and disadvantages of international litigation
• Sources of international procedural law
• International jurisdiction
• Coordination between different jurisdictions
• Conduct of proceedings
• Recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments
Course materials: Required reading materials will be provided or made available electronically via the university library. Introductory and further readings (optional):
• Fentiman, Richard: International Commercial Litigation, 2nd edition, Oxford 2015, Oxford University Press
• Hartley, Trevor C.: International Commercial Litigation, 3rd edition, Cambridge 2020, Cambridge University Press
• Junker, Abbo: Internationales Zivilprozessrecht, 5th edition, München 2020, C. H. Beck
Assessment: Class participation and take-home-exam
Introductory Readings (optional):
- Cassese, Antonio, ‘International Criminal Law’ (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2008)
- Cryer, Robert, ‘An Introduction to International Criminal Law and Procedure’ (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2010)
- Schabas, William A., ‘The International Criminal Court: A Commentary on the Rome Statute’ (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2010)
- Werle, Gerhard, ‘Principles of International Criminal Law’ (The Hague, Asser, 2005)
This course aims at providing students with a fundamental understanding of this increasingly important realm of public international law. Thus, in a first approach, an overview both of international criminal law’s theoretical foundation as well as its historical sources will be provided. Adjacently, focus will be given to the ad-hoc tribunals of the 1990s (such as the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia) and most prominently to the International Criminal Court (ICC) as the first permanent international organization addressing matters of international criminal justice.
Complementary to this institutional approach, the second part of the course will address material law aspects: Besides the abovementioned crimes as stipulated in the Rome Statute forming the International Criminal Court, attention will be given to further international crimes such as piracy or terrorism. Additionally, questions such as immunity from prosecution for heads of state or government, modes of liability, interdependencies between the national and international judicial sphere and notions of state sovereignty will be addressed throughout the course.
In this course the development as well as the basic concepts of IHL will be explored. Students will be introduced to the most important documents governing armed conflict, learn how to apply these and will consider the challenges posed to the application of IHL in armed conflicts. A large part of the course will focus on the new developments in IHL including the emergence of new forms of armed conflicts and the development and use of new technologies in armed conflict.
Assessment
Assessment for this course will consist of one presentation and one take-home exam.
The course is designed to give a comprehensive survey of German private law, i.e. general rules of private law, commercial law, and civil procedure.
An important structural decision of German private law (sic!) is already displayed by the fact that the Civil Code is the ‘lawbook for citizens – today including consumers – whereas particular rules for businesses are comprised in the commercial code, corporate law, and various other codifications. However, both general private law, and commercial law are enforced by the same rules of civil procedure.
The German Civil Code is of paramount importance for understanding German law as its concept and system has impressed the legal thinking of generations of German lawyers. Students will be acquainted with both its sources, and its general principles. In the course of the class students will learn to work with the German civil code, understand the underlying system, influences on the Civil Code from other jurisdictions, and the accepted methods of interpretation. The role of the judiciary for the further development of private law will be highlighted by analyzing leading cases of the Federal Court of Justice and the upper courts.
• Introduction to German Private Law
• The division between general private law and commercial law
• The German Civil Code
• Influence from other jurisdictions
• Basic concepts and means of interpretation
• Function and Content of the General Part
• Law of obligations (contracts, torts, and unjust enrichment)
• Property Law
• Law of succession and company law (including partnerships and corporations)
• The system of law enforcement
Learning outcomes and qualification goals:
Students will be acquainted with the overall structure of German private law and the German Civil Code as its main source. They will acquire the necessary skills to find the respective legal sources, do research on academic writing and case law and analyze whether a specific intended business action appears admissible or may imply legal risks.
Students are encouraged to make reference, by way of comparison, to the law of their own country in the class.
– das für die juristische Falllösung erforderliche „Handwerkszeug“ erwerben;
– sich ein strukturierendes Verstehen des Rechts als eines Systems erschließen.
Topics that will be discussed include:
– Legal and economic perspectives on lawsuits
– Cost and cost allocation regimes
– Right to access to justice
– Valuation of legal claims
– Methods of financing lawsuits
– Legal and economic aspects of litigation finance transactions
– Monetization of claims, portfolio funding, law firm funding
– History of litigation finance in common law and civil law jurisdictions
– Litigation finance in specific types of disputes (arbitration, class actions, IP disputes, …)
– Emerging regulation of litigation finance
– Litigation-related insurance
– Litigation finance and lawyers’ ethical obligations
– Litigation as asset class
Reading materials:
– A selection of academic articles and book chapters will be provided.
Exam type:
– Students will write a graded paper and, depending on the number of students, hold a graded presentation on a topic in litigation finance.
Master
The course will be split into three parts: first, general aspects of U.S. laws and legal system; second, an overview of substantive topics in key subject areas of law; and, third, practicing law in the United States including commencing a lawsuit, research, and litigation.
Your final grade will comprise class preparedness, homework assignment (written or oral) and a written final exam.
This class makes the nature of Comparative Law as well as its functions and aims accessible to students from different legal backgrounds. As studying even one legal system fully is difficult and time-consuming, the course must necessarily take a selective approach to comparative law and to the multitude of legal systems in the world. The class Comparative Law I therefore will focus on European Legal Traditions, whose similarities and differences are an important driver of European harmonization. Matching the overall aim of this module the course will focus on private law and business law aspects of comparative law.
The course has three main components. The first part will cover the origins and utility of comparative law, its aims, tools and methods. This part will particularly focus on the legal orders, which the participants of the class are most familiar with.
The main second part of the course will look at common features of generally accepted concepts of both contract law and of building bricks necessary for any business law, such as division of work, liability, tort law and insurance. The different possible solutions for these problems, which appear in different forms in many jurisdictions, will be presented, followed by an analysis of how they are governed by legal orders belonging to different legal families. Lines of influence and hybrids will similarly be covered.
Furthermore, the course will give comparative legal insights to laws in transition as well as legal transplants. Whereas former socialist European countries may serve as an example for the first, the adoption of economic concepts in contract law (such as merchandising and franchising from the US in Europe and the respective related problems of integration into European Union law) are paradigmatic for the second. The third part of the course will cover a comparison of legal education and profession (e.g. role of the judiciary), a critical matter for proper delivery of legal services to foreign clients and working effectively with international law partners.This class makes the nature of Comparative Law as well as its functions and aims accessible to students from different legal backgrounds. As studying even one legal system fully is difficult and time-consuming, the course must necessarily take a selective approach to comparative law and to the multitude of legal systems in the world. The class Comparative Law I therefore will focus on European Legal Traditions, whose similarities and differences, are an important driver of European harmonization. Matching the overall aim of this module the course will focus on private law and business law aspects of comparative law.
The course has three main components. The first part will cover the origins and utility of comparative law, its aims, tools and methods. This part will particularly focus on the legal orders, which the participants of the class are most familiar with.
The main second part of the course will look at common features of generally accepted concepts of both contract law and of building bricks necessary for any business law, such as division of work, liability, tort law, insurance. The different possible solutions for these problems, which appear in different forms in many jurisdictions will be presented, followed by an analysis of how they are governed by legal orders belonging to different legal families. Lines of influence and hybrids will similarly be covered. Furthermore the course will give comparative legal insights to laws in transition as well as legal transplants. Whereas former socialist European countries may serve as an example for the first, the adoption of economic concepts in contract law (such as merchandising and franchising from the US in Europe and the respective related problems of integration into European Union law) are paradigmatic for the second.
The third part of the course will cover a comparison of legal education and profession (e.g. role of the judiciary), a critical matter for proper delivery of legal services to foreign clients and working effectively with international law partners.
- Aims and methods of comparative law research
- Principle of equality of all legal orders
- Grouping of legal families according to historic origin or structure
- Basic concepts of contract law: party autonomy, formation of contract, performance
- Basic concepts of business law: division of work, liability, tort law, insurance
- Hybrids and legal transplants
The course Comparative Law deals with nature, technique and purpose of legal comparison both from a theoretical and from a practical point of view. Further it aims at introducing students to fundamental concepts of the European Legal families, which more often than not serve as model for European harmonization. The insight will provide students with the necessary analytical background allowing them to carry out comparative legal analysis in their respective further fields of studies.
This course aims to both give understanding of the digital assets and ways to protect rights to digital assets in terms of current legislation and case law as well as defining digital ownership as a perspective way to protect rights to digital assets. Based on that, the course covers such topics:
• Digital assets: notion, types, legal landscape
• Digital ownership: European and American perspectives
• Personal and machine-generated data ownership issues
• Cryptocurrencies, NFT and other crypto-assets
• Social media and online gaming accounts
• Digital inheritance
The first topic aims to introduce current approaches to the definition of digital assets, describe types of digital assets and recent legislative findings on digital assets regulation.
In the second chapter the concept of digital ownership as a type of ownership will be described, current developments on implementing this concept in European and American legal field will be highlighted, the feasibility and necessity of this concept for protection of rights to digital assets will be explained.
The third section looks into the current legal regulation of personal and machine-generated data, including GDPR, Database Directive and Data Act. It also aims to describe the concept of data ownership and its correlation with digital ownership. Issues of correlation between information and data concepts will be discussed in this section.
The fourth chapter aims to discuss approach to legal regulation of cryptocurrencies and other crypto-assets both at the European and national legislative level. It specifically focuses on the issues of NFT, including their transfer and connection to intellectual property rights.
Social media and online gaming accounts will be discussed from the digital ownership perspective. Tradable elements of the account will be revealed, current possibilities to protect rights and get benefits from social and online gaming accounts considering provisions of the Terms of Service will be discussed.
In the section on digital inheritance current issues and instruments to define post-mortal fate of digital assets will be discussed. Possible legal frames for common and civil law to dispose of digital assets will be highlighted, the US experience to solve this issue will be considered.
Learning outcomes and qualification goals:
The course intends to provide students with a deeper understanding of the digital assets concept and approaches to protect rights to digital assets. Students will learn current legislative approaches to digital assets in different countries as well as on the European level, study current case law on digital assets.
Lecturer: Kateryna Nekit – Professor of Civil Law
National university „Odesa Law Academy“
The course gives a thorough introduction to the legal problems, which may occur in the course of the use of the internet in general and e-commerce in particular. It is focused on the view of business related activities. Based on an introduction to the infrastructure of the internet the course will analyse the major legal issues of five economically relevant sections :
- E-Commerce & Private Law
- Advertising for e-commerce
- Online shops and copyright law
- Domains
- Cross border e-commerce
The chapter on E-Commerce & Private Law will inter alia cover formation of contract, standard terms and conditions, consumer protection and specific problems connected to internet auctions and mobile commerce.
Advertising for e-commerce will take a look at rules of unfair competition, required imprint information, the ban on spamming, specific requirements for sales of pharmaceutical products via the internet and, of course, on ad-words. Further the liability under tele media law, for hyperlinks, hotspot operators and for user generated content will be an important issue.
The section on copyright law and online shops will focus on copyright restrictions for the presentation of content (including file sharing and streaming) and will take a look on the protection of content and websites.
The section on domains will explain the domain name system and its implications on trademark law and unfair competition law. It will also look at the possibilities to protect a domain as trademark. Finally and the legal consequences of infringement will be covered.
The course gives a thorough introduction to the legal problems, which may occur in the course of the use of the internet in general and e-commerce in particular. It is focused on the view of business related activities. Based on an introduction to the infrastructure of the internet the course will analyze the major legal issues of five economically relevant sections :
• E-Commerce & Private Law
• Advertising for e-commerce
• Online shops and copyright law
• Domains
• Cross border e-commerce
The chapter on E-Commerce & Private Law will inter alia cover formation of contract, , standard terms and conditions, consumer protection and specific problems connected to internet auctions.
Advertising for e-commerce will take a look at rules of unfair competition, required imprint information, the ban on spaming, specific requirements for sales of pharmaceutical products via the internet and, of course, on ad-words. Further the liability under telemedia law, for hyperlinks and for user generated content will be an important issue.
The section on copyright law and online shops will focus on copyright restrictions for the presentation of content (including filesharing and p2p- markets) and will take a look on the protection of content and websites.
The section on domains will explain the technical basics, the structure of an URL and the system of allocation of Second-Level-Domains. It will focus on trademark law and unfair competition law restrictions to use a domain. It will also look at the possibilities to protect a domain as trademark. Finally the and legal consequences of infringement will be covered.
Learning outcomes and qualification goals:
The students are instructed to apply their knowledge of structures and rules to the field of e- commerce. They will be acquainted with the general legal rules and regulations for e-commerce. Most important they will learn how the general rules have to be adapted to suit this virtual environment. Leading cases will be discussed and demonstrate how the courts have adjusted the legal regime, overcome some uncertainties and filled the gaps. Students shall be enabled to audit the requirements for e-commerce projects and to solve legal problems which have resulted in the course of e-business. The class will learn argumentation and procedural strategies of legal challenge and defense in e-commerce cases. Students are invited to draft general terms of business, website imprints and cancellation policies in study groups.
The European Union (EU) possesses strong regulatory powers, the use of which, directly or indirectly, affects private subjects within the EU Member States. Nevertheless, not until the late 1960’s did the European Court of Justice (CJEU) acknowledge fundamental rights to be general principles of the then European Economic Community (EEC) law. And not until 2009 did a Charter of Fundamental Rights enter into force, which ranks equal to the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
The course aims to give an introduction to the sources and standards of human rights protection within the EU legal framework. Through the analysis of EU hard and soft law instruments, CJEU and member states’ case law, and doctrinal contributions the course will analyze the EU fundamental rights system in both its legal and political dimensions.
The course structure is threefold: the first part aims to introduce students to the genesis of fundamental rights law within the ECC/
• Development of the protection of fundamental rights in the history of European integration;
• The role of the CJEU and its interaction with national courts;
• Legal sources of fundamental rights guaranteed by EU-law and their interpretation;
• The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights: adoption, structure and impact;
• EU fundamental rights and the European Convention on Human Rights;
• EU fundamental rights in the larger Public International Law contexts;
• EU as a global actor: promoting democracy and human rights on a global scale;
• The future of fundamental rights in the EU: main challenges.
Learning outcomes and qualification goals:
The course intends to provide students with a deeper understanding of both the EU system of fundamental rights protection and its relationships with the national and international human rights systems.
Students will learn to solve and critically assess legal problems, developing analytical and practical skills, while acquiring relevant knowledge in the human rights area.
Over the past 40 years, the rules on Competition Law (Antitrust) in the EU have developed into a substantial body of law. They constitute directly applicable rules for enterprises, and as such they are of immediate concern to them. Contracts in violation of the rules are unenforceable and huge fines are imposed in case of infringements while parties that suffered damages may litigate before a national civil court.
This course offers an introduction to main areas of EU competition law illustrated by practical examples which in part reflect the lecturer’s own experience as an eminent German antitrust practitioner. Core elements of EU competition law treated include the concepts of horizontal and vertical restraints of competition, the importance of market definitions and the various techniques used therefore, the role of market power for Articles 101 and 102 TFEU (and implementing regulations and guidelines) and the basic outlines of European merger control.
It is the aim of the course to provide the participants with a solid basis for the practice of competition law. The course will cover the main features of the EU rules both from a substantive and a procedural perspective, including the relationship between EU and national competition law as well as the economic principles and procedures concerning merger control.
Over the past 40 years, the rules on Competition Law (Antitrust) in the EU have developed into a substantial body of law. They constitute directly applicable rules for enterprises, and as such they are of immediate concern to them. Contracts in violation of the rules are unenforceable and huge fines are imposed in case of infringements while parties that suffered damages may litigate before a national civil court.
This course offers an introduction to main areas of EU competition law illustrated by practical examples which in part reflect the lecturer’s own experience as an eminent German antitrust practitioner. Core elements of EU competition law treated include the concepts of horizontal and vertical restraints of competition, the importance of market definitions and the various techniques used therefore, the role of market power for Articles 101 and 102 TFEU (and implementing regulations and guidelines) and the basic outlines of merger control (articles 107–109 TFEU).
It is the aim of the course to provide the participants with a solid basis for the practice of competition law. The course will cover the main features of the EU rules both from a substantive and a procedural perspective, including government induced distortions of competition, the relationship between EU and national competition law, the economic principles and procedures concerning merger control, and the rules on state aid.
- The fight against cartels
- Abuse of dominance
- Investigating and sanctioning cartels
- Merger control
- State aid control
Students will be required to understand the specific economic approach to the application of competition law favoured by the EU Commission. They will become familiar with original decisions by the EU Commission and the European Courts dealing with competition aspects. The course aims to allow a basic understanding of how competition law affects business decisions. The students will be required to draw comparisons between the system of EU competition law and their own national competition law. To the extent possible the students will be invited to contribute skills developed in neighbouring subjects such as economics and institutional law of the European communities.
All private persons or companies upon entering one of the EU Member States not only come under this single State’s national legal order. They are immediately affected by “European Law”, the law of the European Union granting them certain rights and privileges but also requiring them to comply with certain duties and obligations.
The internal market is one of the essential cornerstones of the European Union. The Market Freedoms lie at its heart. The free movement of goods, persons, services and capital is essential for unifying the markets while ensuring competition and trade within Europe. The freedoms grant direct effective rights to private persons and legal persons, which can be enforced before national courts, and guarantee the freedom of contract in a transnational perspective.
The course will focus on a systematic survey of the market freedoms by the means of studying the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice.
- General concept of the market freedoms
- Development and aim of market freedoms
- Leading cases of the European Court of Justice
- Function of market freedom fostering integration
- Further development of market freedoms
- Impact of market freedoms (compliance)
All private persons or companies upon entering one of the EU Member States not only come under this single State’s national legal order. They are immediately affected by “European Law”, the law of the European Union granting them certain rights and privileges but also requiring them to comply with certain duties and obligations.
The internal market is one of the essential cornerstones of the European Union. Its core are the Market Freedoms. The free movement of goods, persons, services and capital is essential for unifying the markets while ensuring competition and trade within Europe. The freedoms grant direct effective rights to private persons and legal persons, which can be enforced before national courts, and guarantee the freedom of contract in a transnational perspective.
The course will focus on a systematic survey of the market freedoms by the means of studying the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice.
- General concept of the market freedoms
- Development and aim of market freedoms
- Leading cases of the European Court of Justice
- Function of market freedom fostering integration
- Further development of market freedoms
- Impact of market freedoms (compliance)
This course is intended to give the students a thorough grounding in the substantive provisions on the internal market, i.e. on the ‘four freedoms’ as well as on their link to competition law. Participants will improve their ability to read and understand the Court’s decisions. The course also aims at training students to discuss cases critically and to enhance their skills of dealing with new and as yet unknown problems of substantive European Community law by applying the generally acknowledged methods of interpretation.
The course will provide a framework for an advanced comprehension of European private law in comparative perspective, with an eye on the impact of Community legislation and adjudication on national legal systems.
The focus of the first part is on the core aspect of European private law, namely contract law. It will cover both uniform rules, such as the uniform sales law (but also their predecessors PECL and UNIDROIT) on the one hand, the relevant directives harmonizing national private laws on the other. Further soft law as a driver for European Harmonization and national modernization will be covered.
In a second part general structures and core concepts of European private law will be covered. This will in particular relate to contracts as the most important means to create and organize legal environments on the one hand and the restraints on party autonomy in favour of the weaker party and the means for its protection (i.e. consumer law) on the other.
Throughout the course there will be a strong focus on cases and the differences the application of the mentioned legal sources to identical facts will result in.
- Development of European private law
- The different layers of legal sources
- Uniform sales law
- UNIDROIT and PECL
- Excessive harmonization
- The function of soft law
- Freedom of contracts as corner stone of European private law
- Restraints of party autonomy: the concept of the weaker party
Learning outcomes and qualification goals:
The course encourages close and interactive reading of key legislative and judicial texts, at both national and European levels (including decisions of the German Supreme Court (in English translation) and of the European Court of Justice). The objective is to introduce students to a major range of European contract law disputes (formation of contract, unfair terms etc.) that require the handling of domestic, comparative and European Union private law materials and techniques at once. Further the course intends to foster critical awareness of the complex ways in which domestic private laws are subject to Europeanization, and how European laws re-arrange domestic private laws
The course will provide a framework for an advanced comprehension of European private law in comparative perspective, with an eye on the impact of Community legislation and adjudication on national legal systems.
The focus of the first part is on the core aspect of European private law, namely contract law. It will cover both uniform rules, such as the uniform sales law (but also their predecessors PECL and UNIDROIT) on the one hand, the relevant directives harmonizing national private laws on the other. Further soft law as a driver for European Harmonization and national modernization will be covered.
In a second part general structures and core concepts of European private law will be covered. This will in particular relate to contracts as the most important means to create and organize legal environments on the one hand and the restraints on party autonomy in favour of the weaker party and the means for its protection (i.e. consumer law) on the other.
Throughout the course there will be a strong focus on cases and the differences the application of the mentioned legal sources to identical facts will result in.
- Development of European private law
- The different layers of legal sources
- Uniform sales law
- UNIDROIT and PECL
- Excessive harmonization
- The function of soft law
- Freedom of contracts as corner stone of European private law
- Restraints of party autonomy: the concept of the weaker party
The course encourages close and interactive reading of key legislative and judicial texts, at both national and European levels (including decisions of the German Supreme Court (in English translation) and of the European Court of Justice). The objective is to introduce students to a major range of European contract law disputes (formation of contract, unfair terms etc.) that require the handling of domestic, comparative and European Union private law materials and techniques at once. Further the course intends to foster critical awareness of the complex ways in which domestic private laws are subject to Europeanization, and how European laws re-arrange domestic private laws.
European Union Law has an increasing impact on the taxation of private individuals as well as of companies doing business in Europe. While the European Union has no original tax authority its law has a major influence on national tax laws.
The course will start with an introduction into European Union Tax Law, the aims and measures so far taken by European institutions. After that the course will cover the positive harmonization of indirect taxes mainly by European directives. In a third part the course will focus on secondary law harmonizing direct taxes in Europe, e.g. the Parent-Subsidiary Directive. In a last section the course deals with the importance of the fundamental freedoms for the taxation in Europe. A special focus will be put on the case law of the European Court of Justice.
- Basic principles of European Law
- Harmonization of indirect and direct taxes by primary and secondary law
- Fundamental freedoms referring to taxation in Europe
- Important case law
Parties to international disputes tend to strive for litigation in their home countries. This is primarily attributable to the parties’ and their representatives’ familiarity with the system and language. This tendency can even be observed in cases where an informed choice would prove a foreign venue to be more favourable, be it for procedural reasons (e.g. evidence, costs of litigation) or matters of substance (applicable law, ordre public, mandatory rules of the forum, scope of private autonomy).
The opposite effect can be observed with regard to arbitration. Arbitration often is chosen by parties in the belief that it is a superior means of dispute resolution, e.g. because it is said to be time- and cost-efficient, neutral, arbitrators ensure high legal quality and superior understanding of business contexts. In fact arbitration can be a very reasonable means of solving legal disputes. But whether state courts must be shy of the comparison will depend on the arbitration rules and venue chosen and the subject matter or the dispute.
The course consists of two parts: The first focuses on cross border litigation before state courts, the second will provide an overview on arbitration law.
- Introduction: Impact of the forum on the dispute (lex fori and lex causae)
- International Jurisdiction of state courts (Brussels I Regulation)
- Provisional measures and procedural strategy
- Access to evidence in cross-border litigation
- Recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments (Brussels I Regulation)
- Advantages and Disadvantages of Arbitration
- Drafting arbitration agreements
- Introduction of common arbitration rules (ICC, LCIA, Swiss Rules, DIS)
- Conduct of arbitration proceedings
- Enforcing arbitration awards and the New York Convention
Parties to international disputes tend to strive for litigation in their home countries. This is primarily attributable to the parties’ and their representatives’ familiarity with the system and language. This tendency can even be observed in cases where an informed choice would prove a foreign venue to be more favourable, be it for procedural reasons (e.g. evidence, costs of litigation) or matters of substance (applicable law, ordre public, mandatory rules of the forum, scope of private autonomy).
The opposite effect can be observed with regard to arbitration. Arbitration often is chosen by parties in the belief that it is a superior means of dispute resolution, e.g. because it is said to be time- and cost-efficient, neutral, arbitrators ensure high legal quality and superior understanding of business contexts. In fact arbitration can be a very reasonable means of solving legal disputes. But whether state courts must be shy of the comparison will depend on the arbitration rules and venue chosen and the subject matter or the dispute.
The course consists of two parts: The first focuses on cross border litigation before state courts, the second will provide an overview on arbitration law
- Introduction: Impact of the forum on the dispute (lex fori and lex causae)
- International Jurisdiction of state courts (Brussels I Regulation)
- Provisional measures and procedural strategy
- Access to evidence in cross-border litigation
- Recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments (Brussels I Regulation)
- Advantages and Disadvantages of Arbitration
- Drafting arbitration agreements
- Introduction of common arbitration rules (ICC, LCIA, Swiss Rules, DIS)
- Conduct of arbitration proceedings
- Enforcing arbitration awards and the New York Convention
European harmonization and the common internal market have led to a significant increase of transnational legal disputes. These pose significant challenges to both judges and lawyers trained in a single national legal system. A common reaction to these threat is to avoid foreign litigation and if possible to institute proceedings before the home venue.
As an alternative many disputes concerning international business transactions are subjected to arbitration. The course intends to provide an overview on state court and arbitration as alternative means to resolve disputes and familiarize the students with their respective advantages and disadvantages, which are indispensable for an informed choice.
After introducing the concept of international litigation and the main policy issues at stake, the course will comprehensively address the crucial procedural law questions lawyers have to deal with when bringing a cross-border civil or commercial dispute to a national court. These include: international jurisdiction (Which court is competent?), coordination between different jurisdictions (lis pendens, provisional measures), conduct of proceedings (service of documents, taking evidence abroad) as well as recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments.
Students who have completed the course will have developed a sound understanding of international procedural law that will enable them to successfully work in a litigation context, be it in the judiciary, a law firm or a legal department. The course is suited for exchange and graduate students (LL.M., M.C.B.L.) in law and related fields as well as for LL.B. students aiming to cover the relevant aspects of international procedural law required for taking the First German State Exam according to § 8 Abs. 2 Nr. 5 JAPrO.
The course will cover the following subjects:
• Concept and practical relevance of international litigation
• Advantages and disadvantages of international litigation
• Sources of international procedural law
• International jurisdiction
• Coordination between different jurisdictions
• Conduct of proceedings
• Recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments
Course materials: Required reading materials will be provided or made available electronically via the university library. Introductory and further readings (optional):
• Fentiman, Richard: International Commercial Litigation, 2nd edition, Oxford 2015, Oxford University Press
• Hartley, Trevor C.: International Commercial Litigation, 3rd edition, Cambridge 2020, Cambridge University Press
• Junker, Abbo: Internationales Zivilprozessrecht, 5th edition, München 2020, C. H. Beck
Assessment: Class participation and take-home-exam
Introductory Readings (optional):
- Cassese, Antonio, ‘International Criminal Law’ (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2008)
- Cryer, Robert, ‘An Introduction to International Criminal Law and Procedure’ (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2010)
- Schabas, William A., ‘The International Criminal Court: A Commentary on the Rome Statute’ (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2010)
- Werle, Gerhard, ‘Principles of International Criminal Law’ (The Hague, Asser, 2005)
This course aims at providing students with a fundamental understanding of this increasingly important realm of public international law. Thus, in a first approach, an overview both of international criminal law’s theoretical foundation as well as its historical sources will be provided. Adjacently, focus will be given to the ad-hoc tribunals of the 1990s (such as the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia) and most prominently to the International Criminal Court (ICC) as the first permanent international organization addressing matters of international criminal justice.
Complementary to this institutional approach, the second part of the course will address material law aspects: Besides the abovementioned crimes as stipulated in the Rome Statute forming the International Criminal Court, attention will be given to further international crimes such as piracy or terrorism. Additionally, questions such as immunity from prosecution for heads of state or government, modes of liability, interdependencies between the national and international judicial sphere and notions of state sovereignty will be addressed throughout the course.
In this course the development as well as the basic concepts of IHL will be explored. Students will be introduced to the most important documents governing armed conflict, learn how to apply these and will consider the challenges posed to the application of IHL in armed conflicts. A large part of the course will focus on the new developments in IHL including the emergence of new forms of armed conflicts and the development and use of new technologies in armed conflict.
Assessment
Assessment for this course will consist of one presentation and one take-home exam.
The course is designed to give a comprehensive survey of German private law, i.e. general rules of private law, commercial law, and civil procedure.
An important structural decision of German private law (sic!) is already displayed by the fact that the Civil Code is the ‘lawbook for citizens – today including consumers – whereas particular rules for businesses are comprised in the commercial code, corporate law, and various other codifications. However, both general private law, and commercial law are enforced by the same rules of civil procedure.
The German Civil Code is of paramount importance for understanding German law as its concept and system has impressed the legal thinking of generations of German lawyers. Students will be acquainted with both its sources, and its general principles. In the course of the class students will learn to work with the German civil code, understand the underlying system, influences on the Civil Code from other jurisdictions, and the accepted methods of interpretation. The role of the judiciary for the further development of private law will be highlighted by analyzing leading cases of the Federal Court of Justice and the upper courts.
• Introduction to German Private Law
• The division between general private law and commercial law
• The German Civil Code
• Influence from other jurisdictions
• Basic concepts and means of interpretation
• Function and Content of the General Part
• Law of obligations (contracts, torts, and unjust enrichment)
• Property Law
• Law of succession and company law (including partnerships and corporations)
• The system of law enforcement
Learning outcomes and qualification goals:
Students will be acquainted with the overall structure of German private law and the German Civil Code as its main source. They will acquire the necessary skills to find the respective legal sources, do research on academic writing and case law and analyze whether a specific intended business action appears admissible or may imply legal risks.
Students are encouraged to make reference, by way of comparison, to the law of their own country in the class.
– das für die juristische Falllösung erforderliche „Handwerkszeug“ erwerben;
– sich ein strukturierendes Verstehen des Rechts als eines Systems erschließen.
Topics that will be discussed include:
– Legal and economic perspectives on lawsuits
– Cost and cost allocation regimes
– Right to access to justice
– Valuation of legal claims
– Methods of financing lawsuits
– Legal and economic aspects of litigation finance transactions
– Monetization of claims, portfolio funding, law firm funding
– History of litigation finance in common law and civil law jurisdictions
– Litigation finance in specific types of disputes (arbitration, class actions, IP disputes, …)
– Emerging regulation of litigation finance
– Litigation-related insurance
– Litigation finance and lawyers’ ethical obligations
– Litigation as asset class
Reading materials:
– A selection of academic articles and book chapters will be provided.
Exam type:
– Students will write a graded paper and, depending on the number of students, hold a graded presentation on a topic in litigation finance.