European Tort Law
Full course description
No education will be offered. Students who are enrolled in the European Law School programme as of September 2022 or earlier are entitled to two additional assessment opportunities in 2024/2025 to complete the respective programme components of year 2.
The course discusses the central subjects of tort law from a comparative perspective and in the light of developments in supranational law (European Union and European Convention on Human Rights).
Course objectives
The main objective of the course is to provide students with cases, materials and comparative literature, allowing them to learn and discuss the main differences and similarities between English, German, and French tort law. Specific attention is paid to the increasing intertwinement between national tort laws on one hand and European Union law and the European Convention on Human Rights on the other.
Successful completion of the course will allow students to describe the main elements of fault and strict liability, identify the relevant facts of a tort law case and apply tort law rules and standards, discuss current issues of European Tort Law orally and in writing, and apply appropriate methodologies for the purpose of comparing the tort laws of England, Germany and France. Students also acquire practical problem solving skills, by applying tort law norms from the above-mentioned jurisdictions to hypothetical cases during the tutorials.
Prerequisites
None
Recommended prior knowledge
Basic knowledge of English, German and French legal systems
Recommended reading
Basic literature for this course:
- Cees van Dam, European Tort Law, Oxford (Oxford University Press) 2013 (approx. € 45), ISBN 0-19-929071-7.
- Case law and other additional materials on Eleum/Blackboard or the course book.
- C.C. van Dam