Jura

Vorlesung

8.0

Bachelor

deutsch

1

Präsenz live

Prof. Dr. Jens-Uwe Franck

Vorlesung

8.0

Bachelor

deutsch

2

Präsenz live

Prof. Dr. Carsten Schäfer

Vorlesung

8.0

Bachelor, Master

englisch

2

This course will introduce students to distinctive aspects that comprise the law and legal system of the United States. Topics will examine the interplay between state and federal court systems, as well as sources of law and lawmaking, the American legal education and becoming a lawyer. We will explore key subjects from first-year law school curriculum, including torts, contract, property, constitutional law, criminal law, and criminal and civil procedure. Other topics will include the jury trial, class actions, punitive damages, and practical aspects of the law in the United States, such as rules of discovery and the basics of legal research, writing and trial advocacy.

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. 

Sheila O'Laughlin

Vorlesung

12.0

Bachelor

deutsch

4

Präsenz live

Prof. Dr. Philipp Fischinger

Vorlesung

6.0

Bachelor

deutsch

1

Präsenz live

Dr. Andreas Pitz

Vorlesung

10.0

Bachelor

deutsch

2

Präsenz live

Prof. Dr. Oliver Brand

Vorlesung

8.0

Bachelor

deutsch

2

Präsenz live

Prof. Dr. Moritz Renner

Vorlesung

6.0

Bachelor, Master

englisch

2

Präsenz live

The class Comparative Law II – The Common/Civil Law divide will focus on the Common/Civil Law divide and in particular compare aspects of the legal system in Germany on the one hand, and Australia/the United States on the other hand. Methodological differences between the Civil law and the Common law systems will be pointed out, and subjects of particular importance for daily business, such as formation of contracts, agency, contract interpretation etc., will be treated in greater detail.

The course has three main components. The first part of the course will consider the origins and utility of comparative law, its aims, tools and methods. The second part of the course will review and analyse the two main legal traditions in the world, Common Law and Civil Law. The objective will be to understand differences and similarities between these two ways of understanding law and organizing legal institutions and procedures, on the other hand. In this context, an overview on the differences with regard to the rule of law, judicial review and the legal profession will be provided. The third part of the course will focus upon applying comparative legal analysis to actual cases and international disputes and show how the results differ depending on which legal order is applied.

 

• Basic features, tools and methods of comparative law
• Development and current status of Common Law as a legal family
• Development and current status of Civil Law as a legal family
• The education and role of lawyers
• Judges and judiciaries, lay judges and juries
• Legal reasoning
• Statutes and their construction
• Judicial precedents
• Particular legal institutions and instruments in a comparative assessment

Learning outcomes and qualification goals:
The course Comparative Law II constitutes the basis for all M.C.B.L. courses in the area International
& Comparative Business Law (taught in Mannheim during the Spring-Summer-Term). It deals with nature, technique and purpose of legal comparison both from a theoretical and from a practical point of view, but with a particular focus on the differences and common features of the world’s two major
legal families, Civil law and Common law. In doing so, it supplements and further enhances the content of the course Comparative Law I (taught during the Fall-Winter-Term). The aim is to provide students with the necessary analytical background allowing them to carry out sophisticated comparative legal analysis in their respective further fields of studies, and make them familiar with the most important aspects of the proverbial (but sometimes overstated) “Common/Civil Law divide”.

Written examination

Prof. Dr. Oliver Brand

Kurs

6.0

Bachelor, Master

deutsch

Präsenz live

F. E. Schnapp, „Stilfibel für Juristen“, Münster 2004.
M. Schmuck, „Klare Sprache für Juristen“, in: Römermann/Paulus: „Schlüsselqu. für Jurastud., Examen und Beruf“, München 2003
oder M. Schmuck, „Deutsch für Juristen“, 3. Aufl. Köln 2010/11.
T. Walter, „Kleine Stilkunde für Juristen“, 2. Aufl. München 2009.
W. Schneider, „Deutsch für Profis“, seit 1984 immer wieder...

Vorlesung

10.0

Bachelor, Master

englisch

2.5

Präsenz live

The amount and value of new digital objects appeared due to the ongoing development of information technologies and covered by the concept “digital assets” is constantly and impressively growing.  However, the legal landscape for such objects is still under considerations. The main issue that needs to be resolved to ensure rights of digital assets’ holders is which legal provisions are the most appropriate for the regulation of relations regarding digital assets.
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. It is also important to understand the border between data and digital assets, how these two groups of digital objects are correlated and what are the differences in their protection. That is why the course embraces also the basics of data protection. Based on that, the course covers such topics:

• Digital assets: notion, types, legal landscape
• Digital owner­ship: European and American perspectives
• Digital assets and data: the basics of data protection
• 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 covers basics of privacy law, data protection, gives understanding of Big Data, Internet of Things (IoT), the link between data and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Issues of correlation between information and data concepts will be discussed in this section.
The fourth chapter looks into the current legal regulation of personal data and machine-generated data, aiming to describe the concept of data owner­ship and its correlation with digital owner­ship.
The fifth 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.

Exam type: essay
Special Requirements: participation in discussions, presentation of the key topics during the course is required.

Prof. Dr. Kateryna Nekit

Vorlesung

10.0

Bachelor

deutsch

3

Präsenz live

Prof. Dr. Benjamin Straßburger

Vorlesung

8.0

Bachelor

deutsch

2

Präsenz live

Prof. Dr. Michael Müller

Vorlesung

6.0

Bachelor, Master

englisch

Präsenz live

The course will deal with issues of regulatory law, thereby constituting a useful supplement to the European Competition and the European Union Law. Regulatory law aims at creating competition on (formerly) monopolistic network infrastructure markets, such as the energy  or telecommunications markets. Hence, typical subjects of regulatory law are the energy law, the telecommunications law (including issues of digitization and media), the postal law and the railway law. In Europe, these areas of law are strongly influenced by EU law.

Prof. Dr. Ralf Müller-Terpitz

Übung

6.0

Bachelor

deutsch

2

Präsenz live

Prof. Dr. Ulrich Tödtmann

Übung

6.0

Bachelor

deutsch

2

Präsenz live

Prof. Dr. Achim Schunder

Vorlesung

8.0

Bachelor

deutsch

2

Präsenz live

Prof. Dr. Stefanie Egidy

Vorlesung

8.0

Bachelor

deutsch

2

Präsenz live

Vorlesung

8.0

Bachelor

deutsch

2

Präsenz live

Dr. Georg Streit

Vorlesung mit Übung

8.0

Bachelor

deutsch

2

Jeannette Staudt

Vorlesung

8.0

Bachelor, Master

englisch

2

Präsenz/Online live

This course will examine all major aspects of cross-border litigation as the conventional and most important method of international dispute resolution between private parties. Primary emphasis is on the conduct of international litigation in EU Member States, but there will also be comparative treatment of other major jurisdictions (notably the UK and the U.S.).

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

Dr. Torsten Andreas Kindt

Vorlesung

8.0

Bachelor, Master

englisch

Präsenz/Online live

International Humanitarian Law (IHL) is a body of rules that seeks to limit the effects of armed conflict. IHL protects those who are not participating in hostilities, and those who are no longer participating in hostilities. This body of law imposes limits on the methods and means of warfare. IHL forms part of public international law and is largely based on treaties and rules of customary international law. 
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.

Marelie Manders

Vorlesung

6

Bachelor, Master

englisch

2

Präsenz live

Dr. Bajar Scharaw

Vorlesung

6.0

Bachelor, Master

englisch

2

Präsenz live

Learning outcomes and qualification goals:

Long before the word “globalization” was coined, economic activities were no longer, if ever, confined to the national markets of States. However, since the beginning of the 21st century, the intensity of global trade and commerce has increased at an unprecedented rate. Thereby, international organisations have played a crucial role in the efforts of States to enable, enhance or control international economic activities, and have proven to be more than mere forums for inter-state negotiations. As the course will show, international organisations have emerged as global governance actors in their own right, exercising regulatory or even adjudicative powers, and regulating trade and business at regional and universal levels.

✓ Economic relevance of international organisations (selected examples, e.g. WTO, UN, OECD, ILO)
✓ Creation, development and institutional structure of international organisations
✓ International organisations as forums for negotiations
✓ International organisations as law-makes and standard-setters
✓ Monitoring and dispute settlement functions of international organisations
✓ Interaction between international, EU and national legal norms
✓ Accountability of international organisations

Learning outcomes and qualification goals:

Long before the word “globalization” was coined, economic activities were no longer, if ever, confined to the national markets of States. However, since the beginning of the 21st century, the intensity of global trade and commerce has increased at an unprecedented rate. Thereby, international organisations have played a crucial role in the efforts of States to enable, enhance or control international economic activities, and have proven to be more than mere forums for inter-state negotiations. As the course will show, international organisations have emerged as global governance actors in their own right, exercising regulatory or even adjudicative powers, and regulating trade and business at regional and universal levels.

Written examination

Dr. Mateja Steinbrück-Platise

Vorlesung

6.0

Bachelor, Master

englisch

2

Präsenz live

The International Trade Law course seeks to familiarize students with the numerous legal issues that commonly arise in the context of the trade in goods and services between and among nations. In addition, the course provides students with the economic theories underlying international trade and the history of international trade. The areas of coverage during the course include the following:

• The theory of „comparative advantage“ developed and popularized by the Eighteenth Century British economist, David Ricardo, along with subsequent critiques and modifications of this theory.
• The beginnings of trade between nations beginning in ancient times and its expansion, development and increasing sophistication during the subsequent centuries.
• The continuing conflict between the principles and practices of „free trade“ and those of „mercantilism,“ sometimes described as „import substitution.“
• The development of free trade agreements („FTAs“) during the previous 300 years and the relatively recent phenomenon of „trade blocs“ and „customs unions“ involving groups of nations pursuing common economic and political objectives. Examples of these latter types of trade combinations are the European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations („ASEAN“)
• The establishment of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade („GATT“) after World War II and its trans­formation into the World Trade Organization („WTO“) in 1995.
• The structure, operations and goals of the WTO and the various trade agreements that bind all WTO members („Multilateral Agreements“) and those agreements that only bind those nations acceding to their terms („Plurilateral Agreements“).
• The future of the WTO and trade blocs in the Twenty-First Century.

Written examination

Ricarda Fahrbach, Dr. Jörg Fischer

Vorlesung

8.0

Bachelor

deutsch

2

Präsenz live

Prof. Dr. Moritz Renner

Vorlesung

8.0

Bachelor, Master

englisch

Präsenz/Online live

The course provides a general introduction to German Constitutional Law i.e. the constitution, its background and contents and methods to work with constitutional legal texts.
The German Grundgesetz (Basic Law) which up to this day forms the formal constitutional document of the Federal Republic of Germany has its roots in the allied occupation of Western Germany after World War II. It has proven to be a reliable foundation for the development of the German democratic system and the federal state. The provision of fundamental rights (Art. 1 – 19) puts the Grundgesetz in the tradition of European and North American human rights thinking. It has had an enormous impact on all German law.
Although experiencing some changes throughout the years – especially during the process of the German reunification – the general structure and main provisions of the Grundgesetz remained unchanged.
The course will cover the structure of the German Grundgesetz and its most important provisions while putting a particular focus on the first chapter containing the fundamental rights provisions. Additionally, students will learn about constitutional law in general, the federal structure and the fundamental constitutional principles of the Federal Republic and its integration in the European Union legal system as well as understand the function of the constitutional organs and the legislative process.

Contents:
•    The German legal system
•    Constitutional Law
•    The Grundgesetz and the European Union
•    Fundamental Rights
•    Fundamental Constitutional Principles
•    The Federal State
•    Constitutional organs
•    Legislative procedure
•    Public administration
•    The judicial system

Learning Target:
Students will be able to understand the basic principles and most important provisions of the Grundgesetz and solve simple cases regarding fundamental rights. They will be familiar with the structure of the federal state and its function as well as its most important constitutional, administrative and judicial organs. Students can assess by way of comparison similarities and dissimilarities in other legal systems.

Literature:
No specific textbook is required. Additional reading recommendations will be given in the lecture.

Examination:
Oral Exam

Lecturer:
Katharina Longin

Katharina Longin

Vorlesung

8.0

Bachelor, Master

englisch

2

Online live

Raphael Oidtmann

Kolloquium

8.0

Bachelor, Master

deutsch

2

– eine Außen­perspektive auf das Recht gewinnen;
– am Beispiel nachvollziehen, wie man über Recht „reflektieren“ kann;
– mit rechts­philosophischen Texten arbeiten lernen: Begriffe erschließen, Argumentationen nachvollziehen, durchdringen und kritisieren können;
– Zugang zu rechts­philosophischen Texten und Fragestellungen finden.

Ergänzend: Seelmann/Demko, Rechts­philosophie, 7. Aufl. 2019; Volkmann, Rechts­philosophie, 2018.

Vorlesung

6.0

Bachelor

deutsch

1

Präsenz live

Prof. Dr. Andreas Pentz

Vorlesung

6.0

Bachelor

deutsch

1

Präsenz live

Prof. Dr. Lea Tochtermann

Vorlesung

8.0

Bachelor, Master

englisch

2

Präsenz/Online live

The course ‘Law and Climate Change’ will explore the relations­hip between law and environmental challenges. It will examine the legal responses to the climate crisis by providing an overview of the various German and international laws that are meant to combat climate change and discussing specific legal issues raised by this legislation.

Participants will first be introduced to fundamental rights and the role they play for climate protection. Thus, the German Federal Constitutional Court has made it clear that the constitution itself obliges the state, including all three powers, to take measures to protect the climate and future generations.
The course will analyse how climate change impacts legislation, the interpretation of the law and courts’ decision-making. On the one hand, the legislature can directly regulate certain behavioural obligations in order to protect the climate. It has done so in the area of global supply chains: The Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, which has been in force since July 2024, implements defined due diligence obligations and makes all companies within its scope liable for failure to comply with them. On the other hand, the legislature can also choose to sanction harmful behaviour through tort law or the more specific law of environmental liability.

Furthermore, litigation is more and more used as a tool to address the causes and impacts of climate changes. The number of climate change cases is rapidly increasing around the world, and their purpose is not only to obtain compensation for damage induced by climate change. Instead, these cases are also filed against governments and companies to oblige them to do more for climate protection. In these cases, climate change litigation not only raises questions of tort law and, in cross-border situations, private international law, but also challenges the very authority of courts. Thus, some argue that courts lack the power to hear those cases because the climate crisis presents nonjusticiable political questions. Another newly emerging but related field is microplastic litigation, which deals with liability for the release of microplastic particles that are harmful to the environment and human health.
Moreover, EU legislation causes environmental protection to frequently have an impact on contractual relations­hips as well. This includes the so-called ‘right to repair’, which seeks to reduce waste and obliges manufacturers to produce certain goods in a way that allows consumers to have them repaired. Consumer protection law may also help prevent greenwashing, which consists of dis­information regarding a company’s environmental practices or the environmental impact of a product or its production.

Finally, law and climate change are also linked on a completely different level: To draw attention to the dangers of climate change and protest against the use of fossil energy, activists from campaign groups such as Last Generation, Just Stop Oil or Oil Kills carry out controversial protest actions by, e.g., throwing soup at paintings in museums or blocking roads and airport runways. Are they liable for the damage thus caused, or are those actions justified based on a higher cause?

Oral Examination

Silvia Deuring

Vorlesung

Bachelor, Master

deutsch

Online live

Dr. Clemens Christoph Birkert

Vorlesung

8.0

Bachelor

deutsch

2

Präsenz live

Prof. Dr. Mark Makowsky

Vorlesung

8.0

Bachelor

deutsch

2

Präsenz live

Prof. Dr. Oliver Brand

Vorlesung

8.0

Bachelor

deutsch

2

Präsenz live

Prof. Dr. Georg Bitter

Vorlesung

6.0

Bachelor

deutsch

1

Präsenz live

Dr. Hans-Christoph Ihrig

Vorlesung

Bachelor

deutsch

1

Präsenz live

Prof. Dr. Ralph Landsittel

Vorlesung

8.0

Bachelor

deutsch

2

Präsenz live

Prof. Dr. Benjamin Straßburger

Vorlesung

8.0

Bachelor, Master

deutsch

Präsenz live

Prof. Dr. Benjamin Straßburger

Vorlesung

6.0

Master

deutsch

2

Präsenz live

This course is dedicated to the art and science of communication as a lawyer. How do you  convince a judge that your client is in the right? What can you do to really impress in a courtroom or as a speaker at a conference? How do you draft a memo so that it is easy to understand? How do you prevail in a negotiation over a multi-million Euro contract?

Vorlesung

8.0

Bachelor, Master

englisch

2

This course will introduce students to distinctive aspects that comprise the law and legal system of the United States. Topics will examine the interplay between state and federal court systems, as well as sources of law and lawmaking, the American legal education and becoming a lawyer. We will explore key subjects from first-year law school curriculum, including torts, contract, property, constitutional law, criminal law, and criminal and civil procedure. Other topics will include the jury trial, class actions, punitive damages, and practical aspects of the law in the United States, such as rules of discovery and the basics of legal research, writing and trial advocacy.

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. 

Sheila O'Laughlin

Vorlesung

6.0

Bachelor, Master

englisch

2

Präsenz live

The class Comparative Law II – The Common/Civil Law divide will focus on the Common/Civil Law divide and in particular compare aspects of the legal system in Germany on the one hand, and Australia/the United States on the other hand. Methodological differences between the Civil law and the Common law systems will be pointed out, and subjects of particular importance for daily business, such as formation of contracts, agency, contract interpretation etc., will be treated in greater detail.

The course has three main components. The first part of the course will consider the origins and utility of comparative law, its aims, tools and methods. The second part of the course will review and analyse the two main legal traditions in the world, Common Law and Civil Law. The objective will be to understand differences and similarities between these two ways of understanding law and organizing legal institutions and procedures, on the other hand. In this context, an overview on the differences with regard to the rule of law, judicial review and the legal profession will be provided. The third part of the course will focus upon applying comparative legal analysis to actual cases and international disputes and show how the results differ depending on which legal order is applied.

 

• Basic features, tools and methods of comparative law
• Development and current status of Common Law as a legal family
• Development and current status of Civil Law as a legal family
• The education and role of lawyers
• Judges and judiciaries, lay judges and juries
• Legal reasoning
• Statutes and their construction
• Judicial precedents
• Particular legal institutions and instruments in a comparative assessment

Learning outcomes and qualification goals:
The course Comparative Law II constitutes the basis for all M.C.B.L. courses in the area International
& Comparative Business Law (taught in Mannheim during the Spring-Summer-Term). It deals with nature, technique and purpose of legal comparison both from a theoretical and from a practical point of view, but with a particular focus on the differences and common features of the world’s two major
legal families, Civil law and Common law. In doing so, it supplements and further enhances the content of the course Comparative Law I (taught during the Fall-Winter-Term). The aim is to provide students with the necessary analytical background allowing them to carry out sophisticated comparative legal analysis in their respective further fields of studies, and make them familiar with the most important aspects of the proverbial (but sometimes overstated) “Common/Civil Law divide”.

Written examination

Prof. Dr. Oliver Brand

Vorlesung

8.0

Master

englisch

2

Präsenz live

The course offers an introduction to the economic theory of corporate governance and its application to corporate law, including aspects of insolvency, securities, and tax law. To obtain a thorough understanding of the theory, students are asked to read classic contributions to the corporate governance literature and to discuss them in class.

✓ Key features of business corporations
✓ Historical development of the modern business corporation
✓ Corporate governance as a functional perspective
✓ Economic theory of the firm
✓ Agency cost view on corporate governance: agency costs of equity and debt
✓ Trans­action cost view on corporate governance: bargaining over quasi-rents of the firm
✓ Legal institutions to minimize the agency costs of equity: constraints on management and dominant shareholders in the public corporation
✓ Legal institutions to minimize the agency costs of debt: legal capital; piercing the corporate veil
✓ Legal institutions to minimize the costs of rent-seeking: management independence
✓ Control trans­actions and the market for corporate control 

Lukas Hennig

Kurs

6.0

Bachelor, Master

deutsch

Präsenz live

F. E. Schnapp, „Stilfibel für Juristen“, Münster 2004.
M. Schmuck, „Klare Sprache für Juristen“, in: Römermann/Paulus: „Schlüsselqu. für Jurastud., Examen und Beruf“, München 2003
oder M. Schmuck, „Deutsch für Juristen“, 3. Aufl. Köln 2010/11.
T. Walter, „Kleine Stilkunde für Juristen“, 2. Aufl. München 2009.
W. Schneider, „Deutsch für Profis“, seit 1984 immer wieder...

Vorlesung

10.0

Bachelor, Master

englisch

2.5

Präsenz live

The amount and value of new digital objects appeared due to the ongoing development of information technologies and covered by the concept “digital assets” is constantly and impressively growing.  However, the legal landscape for such objects is still under considerations. The main issue that needs to be resolved to ensure rights of digital assets’ holders is which legal provisions are the most appropriate for the regulation of relations regarding digital assets.
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. It is also important to understand the border between data and digital assets, how these two groups of digital objects are correlated and what are the differences in their protection. That is why the course embraces also the basics of data protection. Based on that, the course covers such topics:

• Digital assets: notion, types, legal landscape
• Digital owner­ship: European and American perspectives
• Digital assets and data: the basics of data protection
• 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 covers basics of privacy law, data protection, gives understanding of Big Data, Internet of Things (IoT), the link between data and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Issues of correlation between information and data concepts will be discussed in this section.
The fourth chapter looks into the current legal regulation of personal data and machine-generated data, aiming to describe the concept of data owner­ship and its correlation with digital owner­ship.
The fifth 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.

Exam type: essay
Special Requirements: participation in discussions, presentation of the key topics during the course is required.

Prof. Dr. Kateryna Nekit

Vorlesung

8.0

Master

deutsch

2

Präsenz live

Dr. Jörg Stalleiken

Vorlesung

6.0

Master

deutsch

1

Präsenz live

Prof. Dr. Friedemann Kainer

Vorlesung

12.0

Master

deutsch

4

Präsenz live

- Über­blick über das Recht der EU; – Kenntnis der grundlegenden Organisations­struktur der EU (einschließlich wichtiger Verfahren); – Verständnis der Wirkungen des EU-Rechts sowie der Ein­wirkungen des EU-Rechts auf das Recht der Mitgliedstaaten; – Über­blick über ausgewählte Verfahren vor dem Gerichtshof der EU.

Vorlesung

6.0

Bachelor, Master

englisch

Präsenz live

The course will deal with issues of regulatory law, thereby constituting a useful supplement to the European Competition and the European Union Law. Regulatory law aims at creating competition on (formerly) monopolistic network infrastructure markets, such as the energy  or telecommunications markets. Hence, typical subjects of regulatory law are the energy law, the telecommunications law (including issues of digitization and media), the postal law and the railway law. In Europe, these areas of law are strongly influenced by EU law.

Prof. Dr. Ralf Müller-Terpitz

Vorlesung mit Übung

8.0

Master

englisch

2

Präsenz live

Intellectual property is an indispensable tool to foster innovation and assure protection of achievements. They are an important factor for remaining competitive in the global knowledge-based economy. The shift from corporal goods to intellectual property however has many implications for today’s businesses: they have to play the system to gain from it, have to develop new business models, acquire rights by contract and closely watch the market and competitors to avoid liability. The course accordingly is designed to provide an overview on the concept of intellectual property and the practical implications for businesses.

Students will familiarize themselves with the multi-level system of IP-protection on a worldwide (TRIPS and WIPO-Treaties), European (EU-legislation) and national level. With regard to the latter the trans­formation of international and European requirements into national law, German intellectual property law will be taken as an example. Participants from other jurisdictions however will be encouraged to analyse differences to the corresponding legal concepts in their home jurisdictions.

The course will cover the legal concepts of patent protection and utility models, the rules on the protection of trademarks and designations of origin, the basics of copyright law and of design protection. Where appropriate the course will also highlight certain rules under unfair competition law providing ancillary remedies for avoiding unfair exploitation of work results.

The course devotes to the co-existence of national and Community IP-rights. The advantages and disadvantages of the existing unitary Community concepts, i.e. the Community Trade Mark and the Community Design as compared to national IPRs will be discussed in the light of relevant case law.

Furthermore, the conflicting aims of freedom of competition (and in particular free movement of goods) on the one hand and strict IP-protection on the other hand will be tackled. This gives the opportunity to discuss current trends to narrow the scope of protection by means of compulsory licences, FRAND-licences and similar limitations imposed by cartel and competition law.

• Concept of IP-law
• The legal sources (TRIPS, WIPO-Treaties, EU-Regulations and Directives)
• The distinct IP-rights: patent, utility model, trademark, design & copyright
• The impact of competition law on intellectual property protection
• Contractual exploitation of IPRs (trans­fer and licence agreement)
• Enforcement of IP-rights (remedies and procedural strategies)

 

Learning outcomes and qualification goals:
The course is designed to provide an overview of the principles of intellectual property law and its importance in our knowledge-based society. The teaching and case studies will enable students to understand the relevance of IP-law for businesses, both as a means of protecting their own innovation and to be aware of liability risks, which always accompanies placing new products in the market. A thorough knowledge of the legal framework at the same time is the indispensable basis for successful contract negotiations, which will be tackled by group exercises.

Oral examination

Dr. Simon Apel, Leander Jérome Kommer, Dr. Martin Schmidhuber

Vorlesung

8.0

Master

englisch

2

Präsenz live

The course addresses the particularities and pitfalls of international trade trans­actions. It focuses on international aspects of business trans­actions and their legal and commercial backgrounds, and allows students to get an initial understanding of what legal advice in practical terms is like. In this context, the course will focus on legal as well as on non-legal institutions that can help solving problems of cross-border trans­actions. At the end of the course, students will participate in a simulated negotiation of an international contract.

• Pitfalls of cross-border trans­actions
• The role of contracts in international business
• Legal and non-legal means of contract enforcement
• Financing of international trans­actions
• European regulations on cross-border trade
• International Conventions related to cross-border trade
• Trans­national Law
• Dispute resolution
• The enforcement of court decisions and arbitral awards
• Distribution networks
• Regulatory issues in international business
• Accountability in international trade

 

The course will scrutinize processes of contract drafting and highlight the institutional framework, national and international as well as legal and non-legal, of international business trans­actions.

Students will learn to analyse pitfalls from an interdisciplinary perspective and create sustainable solutions for cross border trade. The course will give a comprehensive overview over legal, ethical, political, economic, environmental, societal, and strategic questions of international trade. Students will acquire skills to negotiate, develop, design, finance, and implement sustainable business partner­ships.

Learning outcomes and qualification goals:
At the conclusion of the course, students will be expected to have a comprehensive understanding of the legal issues appertaining to the trade of goods across national borders.

Oral examination

Prof. Dr. Andreas Maurer

Vorlesung

8.0

Bachelor, Master

englisch

2

Präsenz/Online live

This course will examine all major aspects of cross-border litigation as the conventional and most important method of international dispute resolution between private parties. Primary emphasis is on the conduct of international litigation in EU Member States, but there will also be comparative treatment of other major jurisdictions (notably the UK and the U.S.).

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

Dr. Torsten Andreas Kindt

Vorlesung

8.0

Bachelor, Master

englisch

Präsenz/Online live

International Humanitarian Law (IHL) is a body of rules that seeks to limit the effects of armed conflict. IHL protects those who are not participating in hostilities, and those who are no longer participating in hostilities. This body of law imposes limits on the methods and means of warfare. IHL forms part of public international law and is largely based on treaties and rules of customary international law. 
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.

Marelie Manders

Vorlesung

6

Bachelor, Master

englisch

2

Präsenz live

Dr. Bajar Scharaw

Vorlesung

6.0

Bachelor, Master

englisch

2

Präsenz live

Learning outcomes and qualification goals:

Long before the word “globalization” was coined, economic activities were no longer, if ever, confined to the national markets of States. However, since the beginning of the 21st century, the intensity of global trade and commerce has increased at an unprecedented rate. Thereby, international organisations have played a crucial role in the efforts of States to enable, enhance or control international economic activities, and have proven to be more than mere forums for inter-state negotiations. As the course will show, international organisations have emerged as global governance actors in their own right, exercising regulatory or even adjudicative powers, and regulating trade and business at regional and universal levels.

✓ Economic relevance of international organisations (selected examples, e.g. WTO, UN, OECD, ILO)
✓ Creation, development and institutional structure of international organisations
✓ International organisations as forums for negotiations
✓ International organisations as law-makes and standard-setters
✓ Monitoring and dispute settlement functions of international organisations
✓ Interaction between international, EU and national legal norms
✓ Accountability of international organisations

Learning outcomes and qualification goals:

Long before the word “globalization” was coined, economic activities were no longer, if ever, confined to the national markets of States. However, since the beginning of the 21st century, the intensity of global trade and commerce has increased at an unprecedented rate. Thereby, international organisations have played a crucial role in the efforts of States to enable, enhance or control international economic activities, and have proven to be more than mere forums for inter-state negotiations. As the course will show, international organisations have emerged as global governance actors in their own right, exercising regulatory or even adjudicative powers, and regulating trade and business at regional and universal levels.

Written examination

Dr. Mateja Steinbrück-Platise

Vorlesung

6.0

Master

englisch

2

Präsenz live

This course aims at studying the law of international sales agreements based on the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG), which entered into force in 1988 and today has almost eighty Contracting States world-wide. It is the most important uniform private law Convention in practice, covering potentially more than 80% of global trade. Since the CISG was influenced by both the common law and civil law systems of contract law, the course will furthermore, focus on the basic principles of the law of contract of both systems in a comparative approach, where appropriate.

✓ Scope of application of the CISG
✓ Hierarchy between the CISG and national sales law provisions
✓ Interpretation of the CISG and the aim of uniform application
✓ Formation of contracts under the CISG
✓ Obligations of the seller and the buyer
✓ Remedies in case of non‐ performance
✓ Damages under the CISG
✓ Relations­hip between the CISG and other current/future uniform law instruments

Learning outcomes and qualification goals:
This course aims at studying the law of international sales agreements based on the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG), which entered into force in 1988 and today has almost eighty Contracting States world-wide. It is the most important uniform private law Convention in practice, covering potentially more than 80% of global trade. Since the CISG was influenced by both the common law and civil law systems of contract law, the course will furthermore, focus on the basic principles of the law of contract of both systems in a comparative approach, where appropriate.

Written examination

Prof. Dr. Lea Tochtermann

Vorlesung

6.0

Bachelor, Master

englisch

2

Präsenz live

The International Trade Law course seeks to familiarize students with the numerous legal issues that commonly arise in the context of the trade in goods and services between and among nations. In addition, the course provides students with the economic theories underlying international trade and the history of international trade. The areas of coverage during the course include the following:

• The theory of „comparative advantage“ developed and popularized by the Eighteenth Century British economist, David Ricardo, along with subsequent critiques and modifications of this theory.
• The beginnings of trade between nations beginning in ancient times and its expansion, development and increasing sophistication during the subsequent centuries.
• The continuing conflict between the principles and practices of „free trade“ and those of „mercantilism,“ sometimes described as „import substitution.“
• The development of free trade agreements („FTAs“) during the previous 300 years and the relatively recent phenomenon of „trade blocs“ and „customs unions“ involving groups of nations pursuing common economic and political objectives. Examples of these latter types of trade combinations are the European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations („ASEAN“)
• The establishment of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade („GATT“) after World War II and its trans­formation into the World Trade Organization („WTO“) in 1995.
• The structure, operations and goals of the WTO and the various trade agreements that bind all WTO members („Multilateral Agreements“) and those agreements that only bind those nations acceding to their terms („Plurilateral Agreements“).
• The future of the WTO and trade blocs in the Twenty-First Century.

Written examination

Ricarda Fahrbach, Dr. Jörg Fischer

Vorlesung

8.0

Master

deutsch

Präsenz live

Dr. Nils Häck

Vorlesung

8.0

Bachelor, Master

englisch

Präsenz/Online live

The course provides a general introduction to German Constitutional Law i.e. the constitution, its background and contents and methods to work with constitutional legal texts.
The German Grundgesetz (Basic Law) which up to this day forms the formal constitutional document of the Federal Republic of Germany has its roots in the allied occupation of Western Germany after World War II. It has proven to be a reliable foundation for the development of the German democratic system and the federal state. The provision of fundamental rights (Art. 1 – 19) puts the Grundgesetz in the tradition of European and North American human rights thinking. It has had an enormous impact on all German law.
Although experiencing some changes throughout the years – especially during the process of the German reunification – the general structure and main provisions of the Grundgesetz remained unchanged.
The course will cover the structure of the German Grundgesetz and its most important provisions while putting a particular focus on the first chapter containing the fundamental rights provisions. Additionally, students will learn about constitutional law in general, the federal structure and the fundamental constitutional principles of the Federal Republic and its integration in the European Union legal system as well as understand the function of the constitutional organs and the legislative process.

Contents:
•    The German legal system
•    Constitutional Law
•    The Grundgesetz and the European Union
•    Fundamental Rights
•    Fundamental Constitutional Principles
•    The Federal State
•    Constitutional organs
•    Legislative procedure
•    Public administration
•    The judicial system

Learning Target:
Students will be able to understand the basic principles and most important provisions of the Grundgesetz and solve simple cases regarding fundamental rights. They will be familiar with the structure of the federal state and its function as well as its most important constitutional, administrative and judicial organs. Students can assess by way of comparison similarities and dissimilarities in other legal systems.

Literature:
No specific textbook is required. Additional reading recommendations will be given in the lecture.

Examination:
Oral Exam

Lecturer:
Katharina Longin

Katharina Longin

Vorlesung

8.0

Bachelor, Master

englisch

2

Online live

Raphael Oidtmann

Kolloquium

8.0

Bachelor, Master

deutsch

2

– eine Außen­perspektive auf das Recht gewinnen;
– am Beispiel nachvollziehen, wie man über Recht „reflektieren“ kann;
– mit rechts­philosophischen Texten arbeiten lernen: Begriffe erschließen, Argumentationen nachvollziehen, durchdringen und kritisieren können;
– Zugang zu rechts­philosophischen Texten und Fragestellungen finden.

Ergänzend: Seelmann/Demko, Rechts­philosophie, 7. Aufl. 2019; Volkmann, Rechts­philosophie, 2018.

Vorlesung

6.0

Master

englisch

2

Präsenz live

The course provides an introduction to “law and economics” (also known as the “economic analysis of law”), i.e. the application of concepts and methods from economics to legal problems.
Legal methodology does not offer the tools to describe or predict human behaviour. When interpreting legal provisions in light of their real world purpose or when conduction functional legal comparisons knowledge on how the law affect human behaviour is indispensable. Economics provides a behavioural theory to predict how people respond to laws. In this course, we will apply this theory to consider the respective effect of diverging interpretations of legal rules. This will allow us to fine-tune legal interpretations to the goals that the law promotes or the purpose it serves.

Foundations of law and economics
✓ What individuals strive for: Utility maximization under constraints
✓ What society strives for: Pareto and Kaldor-Hicks efficiency

Property law and economics
✓ Why we need property rights: The Coase Theorem and the Tragedy of the commons
✓ Why we need intellectual property rights: Fostering innovation

Tort law
✓ Why we need tort law: Minimizing accident costs
✓ Comparing the effects on behaviour of negligence liability vs. strict liability

Contract law
✓ Why we need contract law: Minimizing trans­action costs
✓ Why we need laws against fraud: Avoiding a Market for Lemons
✓ The effect of legal remedies on contract performance: The concept of efficient breach of contract

Learning outcomes and qualification goals:
The course provides an introduction to “law and economics” (also known as the “economic analysis of law”), i.e. the application of concepts and methods from economics to legal problems.
Legal methodology does not offer the tools to describe or predict human behaviour. When interpreting legal provisions in light of their real world purpose or when conduction functional legal comparisons knowledge on how the law affect human behaviour is indispensable. Economics provides a behavioural theory to predict how people respond to laws. In this course, we will apply this theory to consider the respective effect of diverging interpretations of legal rules. This will allow us to fine-tune legal interpretations to the goals that the law promotes or the purpose it serves.

Written examination

Paula Drabant

Vorlesung

8.0

Bachelor, Master

englisch

2

Präsenz/Online live

The course ‘Law and Climate Change’ will explore the relations­hip between law and environmental challenges. It will examine the legal responses to the climate crisis by providing an overview of the various German and international laws that are meant to combat climate change and discussing specific legal issues raised by this legislation.

Participants will first be introduced to fundamental rights and the role they play for climate protection. Thus, the German Federal Constitutional Court has made it clear that the constitution itself obliges the state, including all three powers, to take measures to protect the climate and future generations.
The course will analyse how climate change impacts legislation, the interpretation of the law and courts’ decision-making. On the one hand, the legislature can directly regulate certain behavioural obligations in order to protect the climate. It has done so in the area of global supply chains: The Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, which has been in force since July 2024, implements defined due diligence obligations and makes all companies within its scope liable for failure to comply with them. On the other hand, the legislature can also choose to sanction harmful behaviour through tort law or the more specific law of environmental liability.

Furthermore, litigation is more and more used as a tool to address the causes and impacts of climate changes. The number of climate change cases is rapidly increasing around the world, and their purpose is not only to obtain compensation for damage induced by climate change. Instead, these cases are also filed against governments and companies to oblige them to do more for climate protection. In these cases, climate change litigation not only raises questions of tort law and, in cross-border situations, private international law, but also challenges the very authority of courts. Thus, some argue that courts lack the power to hear those cases because the climate crisis presents nonjusticiable political questions. Another newly emerging but related field is microplastic litigation, which deals with liability for the release of microplastic particles that are harmful to the environment and human health.
Moreover, EU legislation causes environmental protection to frequently have an impact on contractual relations­hips as well. This includes the so-called ‘right to repair’, which seeks to reduce waste and obliges manufacturers to produce certain goods in a way that allows consumers to have them repaired. Consumer protection law may also help prevent greenwashing, which consists of dis­information regarding a company’s environmental practices or the environmental impact of a product or its production.

Finally, law and climate change are also linked on a completely different level: To draw attention to the dangers of climate change and protest against the use of fossil energy, activists from campaign groups such as Last Generation, Just Stop Oil or Oil Kills carry out controversial protest actions by, e.g., throwing soup at paintings in museums or blocking roads and airport runways. Are they liable for the damage thus caused, or are those actions justified based on a higher cause?

Oral Examination

Silvia Deuring

Vorlesung

Bachelor, Master

deutsch

Online live

Dr. Clemens Christoph Birkert

Vorlesung

8.0

Master

deutsch

2

Dr. Kerstin Reiserer

Vorlesung

4.0

Master

deutsch

2

Präsenz live

Prof. Dr. Andreas Schumacher

Vorlesung

8.0

Bachelor, Master

deutsch

Präsenz live

Prof. Dr. Benjamin Straßburger

Vorlesung

8.0

Master

deutsch

2

Präsenz live

Christian Arnold