Comparative Law Spring 2003

COMPARATIVE LAW

SPRING 2003

Professor Susanna Fischer

Office: Room 412

Phone: 202-319-5568

COURSE OUTLINE

Welcome to the study of comparative law! This is an exciting time to be studying this important subject. We are living in an era of globalization, and an understanding of other legal systems is increasingly critical for most attorneys practicing law in the United States.

This course will study systems of law that are different from the United States. We will focus on certain European civil law systems (particularly France and Germany), as well as the English common law system, but the course will also include some more limited study of non-Western legal systems (Chthonic/Tribal, Islamic, Hindu, Asian, and Jewish).

We will investigate some of the following issues in our study of different legal systems: legal training, legal actors (e.g. lawyers, judges, legal scholars, notaries), legal training, constitutional law, procedure, substantive law, judicial review, sources of law, and the court structure. We will also explore the historical development of the French and English legal systems, though to a limited extent only. Students who are interested in a more detailed historical analysis of the civil law may wish to supplement this course by taking Law 508, The Comparative Foundations of Modern Law, taught by Dr. Kenneth Pennington. To access Dr. Pennington's Law 508 course website, click on: http://faculty.cua.edu/pennington/Law508/Law508.html

A. Course Materials

There are three required books. All of them are available for purchase in the Catholic University bookstore, located in the Przybola Center. They are: Patrick Glenn, Legal Traditions of the World (Oxford 2000), Catherine Elliott and Catherine Vernon, French Legal System (Longman 2000), and Catherine Elliott & Frances Quinn, English Legal System (4th edition) (Longman 2002).

From time to time, articles and other reading materials will be assigned. They will be distributed via the course mailbox on the fourth floor opposite the elevators, or links will be provided on the reading list.

Additional recommended reading is noted on the Reading List, and in many cases links are provided to online readings.

B. Attendance

Class attendance is mandatory. This law school’s Academic Rules provide that "[r]egular and punctual attendance at class meetings or equivalent course exercises is a condition of receiving credit in all courses." (See Academic Rules V.1) You will be required to sign in at every class to record your attendance. If you fail to sign in, I will regard you as absent. Be aware that if you miss "more than two hours of course work for each credit hour assigned to the course", you may be excluded from the course. (See Academic Rules V.1)

I also expect you to be on time for every class. Tardy students are highly distracting to the rest of the class. I reserve the right to treat late arrival as if you were absent from the class.

C. Class Participation

I expect all students to be prepared (see section D below for the meaning of "prepared") for all class sessions and will therefore feel free to call on students randomly. This applies even if I ask some students to bear primary responsibility for initiating discussion on particular material - these requests will not exclude others from being randomly called on for further discussion or elaboration of that same material. Nor does the fact that you have recently been called on immunize you from potentially being called on again during the same class period.

Your class participation can affect your final course grade, either adversely or favorably (see Academic Rules V.3). Please bear in mind that my standard of excellence for class participation is not based on quantity, but rather the quality of your contributions to class discussion.

In the class setting of this seminar course, which emphasizes learning through discussion, you must learn to tolerate and appreciate each of your classmates. You can learn a great deal from listening to each other. Many of your classmates’ backgrounds or particular skills may help you to see things in a way that you could not by yourself.

You should exercise consideration for your classmates by carefully assessing your own behavior in class. Try to view yourself objectively. Are you talking too much and monopolizing the discussion? If so, try to refrain from talking for a while to let someone else have a chance. If, on the other hand, you have been too silent and passive in class, please make the effort to volunteer to speak.

D. Preparing for Class

The Reading List is posted on the class Web site. Any revisions to the Reading List or to this Course Outline will be announced in class and via e-mail. If you are confused about the assignment for a particular class, please contact me. I strongly prefer e-mail contact over using the telephone.

It is your responsibility to prepare adequately for each class. To be prepared, you should read the assigned material carefully and think about any discussion questions that I assign.

E. Exams and Grading

There will be a final examination at the end of this semester. It will last two hours and will be administered at the law school. I will provide more an exam memo with more specific information later in the semester on the form and content of the exam. However, its questions are likely to include problems, essay questions, and short answer questions.

The exam will be 75% of your final grade. The remainder of the course grade (25%) will be a research project designed to create a useful resource on global legal systems for the general public. This project requires you to build a web site about one jurisdiction's legal system. The web site must include the following: a short paper (7-15 pages) on the legal system of one jurisdiction and a bibliography of at least resources on that jurisdiction's legal and political system. Your paper can focus on a particular aspect or aspects of the legal system, but should generally also include some general background information designed for lawyers unfamiliar with that system. The due date for the web site is Wednesday, April 16 2003. All the technical assistance that you will need for building the web site will be provided. Building the web site is not difficult. If you know how to use WordPerfect or Word you will have no problems. You are encouraged to be as creative as possible in developing your web site, though you will be graded on content and research rather than web design.

By Tuesday, January 14 2003, you will be required to submit to me a list of three jurisdictions that you would like to focus on for your web project. You may choose any jurisdiction except those listed on the class home page, one of the U.S. states, England or France. By Friday January 17 2003, I will distribute a list of jurisdiction assignments for the web projects. I will make every effort to accommodate your preferences, but cannot guarantee that you will be able to work on a particular jurisdiction.

This law school's mandatory grading curve for an upper-division seminar class like this one requires a mean falling within a range of 3.0-3.6 and a median or B/B+.

F. Finding Me

My office is located on the fourth floor of the law school and is room number 412. My office telephone number is 202-319-5568 and my e-mail address is fischer@law.edu

My office hours are on Tuesdays from 2:00-3:00 p.m. I am happy to schedule appointments at other times that may be more convenient for you. I also strongly encourage you to communicate with me via e-mail. It is often the most efficient means of communication and I strongly prefer it over telephone communication.

G. Prohibition of Tape or Video Recording Without Prior Permission

Unless you receive prior express permission, I do not authorize any tape or video recording of my classes by or on behalf of any student in this course.

H. Class Web Pages

The class Web pages can be accessed via the class home page at: comphome2003.htm I will update the content of the Web site throughout the term. Please check the class Web site regularly!

I. Class Listserv

You are required to send me an e-mail at fischer@law.edu by Friday January 10 2003, using your preferred e-mail address. This is to ensure that I will have no difficulty contacting you by e-mail. Your e-mail address will be added to a class listserv to enable e-mail messages to be sent to all members of the class. It is a requirement of this class that you check your preferred e-mail account on a regular basis (i.e. at least once every weekday). If your e-mail address changes, it is your responsibility to send an update to me at fischer@law.edu

J. Class Written Assignments and/or Exercises

From time to time you may be required to complete some written assignments and/or exercises, including problem questions and/or in-class quizzes. These will not be formally graded, although I will either discuss them or provide model answers in class or on the Web site. However, your performance on any such assignments or exercises may affect your final course grade in that they are considered part of your classroom performance. Under the Academic Rules, I may include your performance on any and/or all such written assignments and/or exercises in my assessment of whether to exercise my discretionary power to raise or lower your final examination grade. See Academic Rule V.1(2) and (3).