Comparative Private Law

Catalog description

Although the seminar is called Comparative Private Law and indeed we will discuss fundamental issues in property, contract, torts, trust, and civil procedure in detail, the methodology explored in this seminar is useful for comparative public law, and in fact, any legal studies. The legal methods covered in the seminar may differ from a more conventional comparative law course in two ways: Wesley Hohfeld's analytical jurisprudence and social science approaches. It has been more than 100 years since Hohfeld advanced his powerful insights: all legal relations can be reduced to one of the four jural correlatives. The Hohfeldian method is useful in guiding jurists through the maze of comparative law. Using the Hohfeldian method, comparative lawyers may uncover unnoticed similarities or identify critical differences across legal systems. Believe me: the Hohfeldian method will help you win a case or two in your legal career by enabling you to see through the conceptual confusion made by your opponent or made in the key legal documents. In addition, this seminar will explore how economic theories and statistical methods (including artificial intelligent algorithms) change the way jurists use foreign materials. Positive social science methods provide a new normative foundation for comparative law exercises: for domestic lawmakers and courts, how foreign laws have worked provides a valuable real-world examination of whether a certain legal rule would produce normatively desirable outcomes.