030005 VO Comparative Private Law (2025W)

The course shall introduce students to foreign legal systems and legal ways of thinking and familiarise them with the comparative law method. This is particularly useful as a preparation for a later professional activity in an ever more globalised world, such as a top law firm, an exporting company, an international organisation, or in academic research. At the same time, dealing with foreign legal systems sharpens the understanding of one's own law; it therefore also benefits law studies.
The course focuses on private law. During the course, major legal systems will be presented, many of which have had an outsized influence on the development of the legal systems of other countries. The historical, economic and cultural background and its importance on the development on the respective legal system will be emphasied. Specific legal problems will be discussed and their respective solutions in the different legal systems are contrasted and compared.
Method:
The course combines the content of a lecture with the style of an interactive seminar. While information will be given, students will be asked to contribute and draw comparisons with their own law. The course is not limited to the study of black-letter-rules, but attempts to embed them in the historical, social, cultural and economic context of the respective country. A primary goal is to give a sense for the "flair" of respective legal systems that allows for a better understanding of its general characteristics. Readings will be given, typically a court judgment from the country, in the original or in English translation.