Introduction to Private Law
Full course description
This course offers an introduction to private law as a system focusing on the fields of family law, contract law, property law and tort law. In this introductory course, students will become aware of the core principles and fields of private law, learn how to apply legal rules from diverse sources of private law to the core legal issues in private law, and learn how to analyse the facilitative and regulatory role of private law in society. The aim of this course is to provide students with an understanding of the fundamental building blocks that constitute the underlying system of private law. The approach of this course is comparative throughout, using examples from diverse jurisdictions such as Germany, England, France and the Netherlands to illustrate the main rules and principles from family law, contract law, property law and tort law.
Assessment methods;
Mid-term assignment and end of term written exam
Course objectives
Following successful completion of this course, students will:
- Understand the foundational principles of private law and analyse how they are reflected in specific concepts and rules of private law.
- Understand and analyse the system of private law comprised of family law, contract law, property law and tort law.
- Understand the purpose of private law in society in the context of the facilitative and regulatory role of private law in society.
- Be able to analyse and apply foundational concepts and rules of private law to a basic case to provide a critical analysis and solution to the problem(s) presented in that case.
- Be able to analyse private law as a system and apply legal rules from diverse sources of private law to the core legal issues in private law.
- Be able to compare some foundational normative choices made in relation to the two dimensions of facilitation and regulation in different legal systems.
Prerequisites
None, other than that students were admitted to the bachelor European Law School
Recommended reading
See Canvas for more information
- K.E. O'Reilly