- Docente: Alais Brechet
- Docente: Julien Danneau
- Docente: Doris Forster
- Docente: Selen Ozdemir
This course seeks to provide a global overview of various private law systems and their shared historical heritage, going much beyond Europe. In an effort to understand the development of modern legal doctrines from a global perspective, we will examine the extent to which these doctrines are based on a common ground and the interconnections between the different systems, thus also highlighting when and why different national systems have taken different turns. We will further look at various attempts that have been made to unify private law, with a critical assessment of the proposed new laws and the methods used to get there. This approach will also reveal that 'legal pluralism' is a constant phenomenon in global legal history, as will be illustrated by religious law.
In the second main part of the course, we will compare selected legal concepts of different national legal systems to discuss their similarities and differences.
By the end of the semester, students are expected to have developed an awareness of a fundamental intellectual unity based on a common tradition, but also of the need for further reflections on the theoretical, cultural and political dimensions of legal pluralism and the unification of law.