Global Law 2024-2025

Global Week 2024-25

The Global  Week will be organised in the week of 18-22 november 2024. All Global Law Professors are listed below. More detailed information about the sessions will follow soon :

1. Janice Bellace
2. Francesco Costamagna
3. Jianlin Chen
4. Carys Craig
5. Rashmi Dyal-Chand
6. Dimitrios Giannoulopoulos
7. Ann-Katrin Kaufhold
8. Karolina Kremens
9. Kasey McCall Smith
10. Tamio Nakamura
11. Emery Nukuri
12. Nathaly Papadopoulo
13. Mathias Schmoeckel
14. Lin Zhou

​The Impact of International Labour Law on Global Business

Prof. dr. Janice Bellace - University of Pennsylvania (USA)

The ILO 1998 Declaration of Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work was designed to gain the commitment of all ILO Member States to certain principles as further detailed in eight conventions.  In 1999 these four principles were set out in the UN Global Compact to which thousands of companies subscribed.  In 2011 the UN Human Rights Council’s Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights identified the four principles as human rights and linked them to the eight core conventions.  This course will examine these documents and will explore how they influenced business through the lens of corporate codes of conduct.  It will look at how the focus on decent work in global supply chains has led to calls for more effective enforcement through human rights due diligence legislation, proposals for a global supply chain convention, and other national legislative approaches.

Conditionality as a governance tool in the EU legal order

Prof. dr. Francesco Costamagna - University of Turin (Italy)

​The course outlines the rise of conditionality as a governance tool within the EU legal order and, more specifically, in the relationship between the EU and its Member States. The aim is to provide students with the analytical tools to critically address the main institutional and constitutional challenges posed by this evolution. The first part of the course sets the scene, by identifying the main features of conditionality, its functions and possible implications. The second part looks at the use of conditionality in the context of the financial assistance programs put in place in response to the financial and economic crisis that hit the EU – and, in particular, some of its Member States – in the 2010s. The third part addresses the evolution of conditionality’s content and tools with regard to EU cohesions funds, with a specific focus on the Next Generation EU and just transition mechanisms. The final part looks at the recourse to conditionality as a tool to protect EU fundamental values.

Comparative Sexual Offences Law

Prof. dr. Jianlin Chen - University of Melbourne (Australia)

This course utilizes sexual offences as a focal point to appreciate the different manifestations, evolution logic, and normative considerations of criminal law around the world. Sexual offences, being the most ardent manifestation of state regulation of sexual activity, are deeply connected to the underlying socio-political context. Unsurprisingly, there is great divergence in both the structure and specifics of sexual offences around the world. This course engages in a comparative and critical examination of sexual offence law that connects the main source jurisdictions (i.e., England, India and Germany) with the transplanted jurisdictions in Asia (i.e., Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and China). Students will learn about the legal doctrines of the surveyed jurisdictions within a theoretical framework that 1) identifies the underlying socio-political context, and 2) normatively evaluates the design and implementation of the law. Students will also gain insights on the methods, values and challenges of comparative legal analysis.

Copyright Theory and Technological Change​

Prof. dr. Carys Craig - Osgoode Hall Law School, York University (Canada)

​Recent years have seen the rapid development of digital, network, and AI technologies. These technological changes have posed both opportunities and challenges for creators, publishers, and users of intellectual works. For the most part, copyright law (although developed in the heyday of the printing press) has simply expanded to embrace new media. But how well do traditional justifications for copyright protection apply in the AI age? How should lawmakers respond to demands for the copyright system to “catch up”? In the first part of this course, students will explore and critically evaluate the theoretical justifications and policy rationales that underpin the modern copyright system (from natural rights theories to economic utilitarianism, and from social planning theories to social justice rationales). In the second part, these contested copyright theories will be brought to bear to examine and debate some of the pressing copyright policy conundrums posed by today’s new technological tools.

​Sharing Property​

Prof. dr. Rashmi Dyal-Chand - Northeastern University​ (USA)

​Many Western lawyers and legal scholars believe that the right of exclusion is at the core of property law – the instrumental tool for protecting the rights associated with property ownership. This course explores the possibility of developing legal rules, and even a legal system, in which sharing – the opposite of exclusion – is the central tenet of property law. We will read legal rules, policy and advocacy documents, and scholarship to examine the idea of sharing as a core norm in property law. We will explore the developing “right” to share as a response to a range of contemporary challenges such as climate change and housing instability. We will scrutinize its doctrinal development through property rules such as servitudes and zoning. The course will be discussion-focused, and students should be prepared to share their reactions to the readings both in class discussions and in writing throughout the course. ​

​Comparative criminal procedure, technology and human rights: modern transformations, opportunities, risks​

Prof. dr. Dimitrios Giannoulopoulos - Goldsmiths University of London (United Kingdom)

​In bridging Continental European and Anglo-American law, this module focusses on modern transformations of pre-trial procedural rights, opportunities to protect rights more efficiently (e.g. through technology and improving the quality of legal assistance) and novel risks inherent in the use of AI in criminal investigations and pre-trial processes. It uniquely combines domestic, comparative, transnational and international human rights law perspectives, to expose the influence of ECHR jurisprudence and EU law, but also shed light on the antagonism between legal cosmopolitanism and legal nationalist attitudes feeding into populist attacks upon international human rights. Following an introductory discussion on modern transformations of adversarial and inquisitorial ideals, the course contextually analyses custodial interrogation rights, exclusionary rules and the emerging use of AI in criminal justice.   The module uses experiential teaching techniques such as participation in a fictional pre-trial (exclusionary rule) exercise and debating, and enables active participation through oral presentations and blog posts. ​

​Climate protection through climate litigation?​

Prof. dr. Ann-Katrin Kaufhold - Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München​ (Germany)

“Climate litigation” is becoming (or at least: is said to become) a key instrument of climate protection at the national, European and international level. Within the last ten years, the number of cases has risen from under 20 to over 2.000 worldwide. Climate litigation has developed into a legal subdiscipline and a practice area of specialized law firms. Climate lawsuits are raised both against governments as well as against corporations and financial institutions, aiming at reductions for GHG-emissions and/or compensation for damages caused by climate change. The ECB has thus recently qualified climate litigation as a major financial risk.  In the suggested course we will systematically analyze the different types of climate law cases on the national, European and international level, discuss the (dis)advantages of climate protection through court decisions and strategic litigation and take a closer look at the effects on the financial system. ​

Comparative Criminal Procedure

Prof. dr. Karolina Kremens - University of Wroclaw (Poland)

The purpose of the course is to analyze and compare the two major legal systems of criminal procedure: common law (Anglo-American, adversarial) and civil law (Continental, inquisitorial). The basic issues of both systems will be analyzed, including the principles of criminal proceedings, structure of criminal process and concepts of basic institutions. Topics covered in the course: 1) Determination of truth in comparative criminal procedure; 2) The prosecutor and the role of investigation in criminal proceedings; 3) The structure of the trial and the presentation of evidence; 4) The role of the parties; 5) Negotiated justice. Course objectives: 1) To provide students with information on the basic differences between major systems of criminal procedure; 2) To enable students to conduct comparative research; 3) To open students to other systems of criminal procedure and increase their future legal practice in a globalized world. Upon completion of the course, students should be able to identify the differences between institutions, compare and evaluate them.

Introduction to the US Legal System

Dr. Kasey McCall Smith - University of Edinburgh (United Kingdom)

Introduction to the US Legal System will introduce students to the core elements of the US Constitution and the particularities of the federal system established through it. In looking briefly at the history of the US Constitution, patterns of historic tension will be highlighted and traced through to the present day. Additionally, the key sources, hierarchy among the sources and interpretation of different materials will further ground students’ understanding of US approaches to developing the law since its inception. In particular the class will focus on the ways in which US common law has shaped current understandings of constitutional principles and protections. Using recent US caselaw, the class will consider how general principles of law and fundamental rights protections are continuously challenged. Readings for this course will be supplemented by podcasts.  

Modern Japanese Law in Context

Prof. Dr. Tamio Nakamura - Waseda University (Japan)

In this course, we explore to what extent modern Japanese law shaped modern Japanese society. The course consists of lecture sessions and case study sessions (the latter include discussion in the class). By comparing broadly, the pre-Modern government (Tokuwaga Shogunate) and Modern Meiji constitutional monarchy, and also by comparing Imperial Modern Japan under Meiji constitution and Post-war Democratic Japan under the current constitution, we will explore how far Japanese people have accommodated Western legal concepts such as individual freedom and equality. Or can we perceive traditional collective practices surviving despite individual rights and freedoms in law? We will discuss the point through some case studies. Finally, we will analyse some contemporary challenges that Japan face since the 1990s. Issues such as labour force shortage and immigration policy, or the constitutional reform agenda advocated by the ruling political party, may be analysed as case studies.

Le droit en République Démocratique du Congo, au Rwanda et au Burundi, anciennes possessions belges.

Prof. Dr. Emery Nukuri - University of Burundi

Le Cours de Global Law sera centré sur le droit dans la région des Grands Lacs Africains spécifiquement en République Démocratique du Congo, au Rwanda et au Burundi, anciennes possessions belges. Ce cours s’étendra aussi au droit de l’intégration régionale au sein de l’East African Community et l’action de l’East African Court of Justice (EACJ) dans la protection des droits fondamentaux. Le premier Chapitre sera consacré à la réception de l’ordre juridique belge dans les grands lacs africains, son implantation et l’évolution vers le pluralisme juridique. Le Deuxième chapitre traitera de l’influence juridique belge dans le contexte d’après l’indépendance et même en droit positif. Le troisième chapitre est consacré au droit au développement économique et de l’intégration régionale en particulier le droit des investissements dans la région des grands Lacs.   Le quatrième chapitre analyse de l’EACJ dans la promotion des droits fondamentaux et l’harmonisation du droit.

This module will be taught in French.

The ‘end-of-life’: legal, ethical, social, and comparative perspectives

Dr. Nathaly Papadopoulo - University of Leicester (United Kingdom)

The ‘end-of-life’ covers different topics including palliative care, advance decision-making, withdrawing or withholding life-sustaining treatment from adults, minors, or infants, suicide, assisted death. These matters do not only raise legal questions, but also medical, social, political, philosophical questions. Medical and technological advances have considerably increased life expectancy. People live longer, and arguably have a better-quality life than in the past. At the same time, the increased importance placed on the principle of autonomy means that more and more people are thinking about ‘the end of their lives’, especially choices ‘at the end’. We take a ‘case study approach’ looking at six end-of-life topics with the UK as a starting point: 1. Defining ‘death’; 2. The incompetent adult patient: withdrawal of treatment; 3. The incompetent minor patient: withdrawing of treatment; 4. The competent patient: refusals and requests; 5. The competent patient: advance-decision making; 6. The competent patient: assisted death.

French Reformation in the 16th Century and the Perfection of the Modern State.

Prof. dr. Mathias Schmoeckel - Bonn University (Germany)

The Protestant Reformation spread from Germany to France already in 1520 and was widely received, when the first interdictions were issued. Marguerite d’Alençon, this sister of François, was its protector also in the University of Bourges. In order to preserve the unity of France, endangered by the protestant provinces of the South, France learnt to conceal private convictions in order to ensure peace and public order. The civil wars from 1560 to 1590 enforced this lesson. As a compromise, the public order of France was changed to ensure fundamental rights to all citizens. For this reason, the national order had to be stabilized drawing on the growing numbers and ranks of French Magistrates. This exemplifies the stabilization of a modern state in the European history. 

The readings of this module will be in French.

Art law in China in the Context of New Technology

Prof. dr. Lin Zhou - China Academy of Social Sciences (China)

Unit 1: Theory of art law: concept of art law; theory of art law ; art law theory applied in real cases.
Unit 2: Information law: origins of information law (from the beginnings of art); objects, goals and methods of study on information law; some hypotheses of information law theory; the nature of information technology and the Law.
Unit 3: A calm reflection on a hot topic: The bottom line and limits of the copyright system in the widespread application of information technology; origin of the problem; two case-studies of AI in art in China and the United States; limitations of the copyright system.