030579 KU The International Law of Territory (2020W)

The course is designed to furnish students with a basic understanding of past territorial disputes and an introduction to primarily oral advocacy skills, while allowing them to apply the knowledge gained to current, unresolved disputes.

A. Aims
Upon completion of this course, students will have acquired:

(1) A basic understanding of certain rules of public international law relevant to territorial disputes
(2) Knowledge of individual judicial decisions concerning past territorial disputes
(3) The ability to identify legal issues of and apply rules learned to current, unresolved territorial disputes and
(4) Written and oral advocacy skills

B. Contents
Units will be devoted to the following topics:

(1) Introduction
-Basic features and rules of public international law
-Past judicial decisions concerning territorial disputes
-Fundamental legal issues and rules relevant to territorial disputes
-Selection of unresolved territorial disputes to be considered throughout the course

(2) Test, Topics, Advocacy
-Limited test on the content of the first unit
-Distribution of chosen disputes to groups of four
-Explanation of formalities of the written outline
-Introduction to advocacy skills

(3) Outlines, Roles, Oral Advocacy
-Submission of written outlines
-Role allocation within groups (illustration of dispute, applicant and respondent)
-Introduction to oral advocacy skills

(4) First Round of Oral Arguments
-First half of groups present dispute, applicant and respondent arguments
-Brief feedback session

(5) Second Round of Oral Arguments
-Second half of groups present dispute, applicant and respondent arguments
-Brief feedback session

C. Methods
Seeking to convey both substantive knowledge and practical skills, the course will combine blended e-learning methods with frontal and interactive lectures, group research and drafting as well as individual oral argument exercises.