06260285 - Legal environments

This course will introduce legal frameworks relevant to the conduct of business across the world. Participants will learn key differences in contract law between the main legal traditions, as well as the legal frameworks for contractual relations across borders, including mechanisms for commercial arbitration

Estimation of private study (outside of contact hours): 10 hours

TARGETED KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS 

KNOWLEDGE
-  The key rules to be found in each of the common-law, civil-law and Islamic-law traditions as regards formation, validity, breach and termination of contracts
- The problems and solutions related to making and application of contracts across borders
- The available regimes for resolution of international business disputes via private arbitration
- The current environment for business provided by European Union treaties, legislation and case-law

SKILLS
- Appreciation of the different outcomes to be expected in contractual relationships and disputes that occur in jurisdictions belonging to different legal traditions
- Knowledge of the basic legal issues that will need to be taken into account in international contractual relations
- Understanding of the prevailing mechanisms for conflict-of-laws resolution and international commercial arbitration
- Appreciation of the specificity of European Union law as regards oportunities for, and demands on, business
- Ability to explain how these legal principles would apply in given practical scenarios

COURSE OUTLINE

CM no. 1 - Basic principles of contract in the three main legal traditions

TD no. 1 - Workshop on case-studies of contractual disputes

CM no. 2 - International contracts and conflict-of-laws mechanisms

TD no. 2 - Workshop on case-studies concerning problematic international contracts

CM no. 3 - International Commercial Arbitration

TD no. 3 - Workshop on case-studies of international arbitration

CM no. 4 - European Union law on business

TD no. 4 - Final exam (written individual answers about case-studies relating to all course aspects)

PRESCRIBED TEXTS AND PUBLICATIONS :

J.M. Smits, Contract Law: A Comparative Introduction (Cheltenham: 3rd edition, Edward Elgar, 2021)

M.L. Moses, The Principles and Practice of International Commercial Arbitration (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012)

Bhatti, M., Islamic Law and International Commercial Arbitration (London: Routledge, 2018)

Individual grade
Answers to short written case-studies of contract-law problems, 2h

Other grade(s)
Grading during class 
Problem-solving of contract dispute scenarios

Weight: 50% / 50%

TEACHING METHODS

The basic grounding in the differences of legal tradition relating to business, as well as in the international structures affecting business, will be delivered via lectures. For the tutorial sessions, the students will be divided into groups and asked to examine case-studies dealing with particular contractual disputes and arbitration cases across borders, and to apply what has been covered in the lectures to those circumstances.

PRE-REQUISITES IN TERMS OF KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS

No formal background in law is required.
Relevant reading will be advised as the course progresses.