Course name | Comparative Criminal Law |
Course code | JUR 8013 |
Number of credits |
The scope of the course is 3 credits, which equates to a workload of 75-90 hours. This includes preparation for (work on literature and other types of expected preparation) and participation in the teaching, as well as any supplementary work. |
Type of course |
Open for students admitted to a PhD programme in Law. |
First term for instruction |
2024 Autumn |
Language | English |
Required prerequisite knowledge |
This course is aimed at students admitted to the PhD programme in Law. Application code: 9301. |
Course content |
Comparative law research aims to identify modern trends legal systems and to look for convergences and divergences. A meaningful implementation of elements of foreign legal systems at the national level and the smooth realization of the objectives of international and supranational justice require a mutual understanding between legal systems that adhere to different traditions in their normative foundations. The first part of the PhD course on comparative criminal law will provide an introduction on general socio-legal and legal theoretical observations on criminal law and its role in democratic societies. The second part of the PhD course on comparative criminal law will be dedicated to comparative criminal law not only as a research method within legal scholarship in crime control and criminal law - but it will focus also on “comparative criminal law” as a central research object itself. Therefore, the PhD course will discuss a universally valid meta structure of criminal law as the basis for a worldwide, systematic and functional comparison of criminal law. This comparative meta structure – which stands above the national legal systems - will be presented and applied for the systematic analysis of national criminal law, the comparative analysis of the solution models existing worldwide, the determination of general legal principles and for the development of international criminal law doctrine. The third part focuses on the methodological questions of basic comparative research in the field of crime control/criminal justice. This part will address the general problem of defining the aims and methods of a comparative research project in the field of criminal justice and crime control and will continue to explore the research method of functional comparison and its application to the analysis of judgments rendered by supranational and international courts. The PhD course will discuss the possible construction and application of ideal types for the purposes of analysis and comparison, using the examples of criminal prosecution and procedure. |
Learning outcomes |
Knowledge Having actively participated and submitted all deliverables, the PhD student shall have acquired:
Skills Having passed the course, the student is able to:
General Competence: Having passed the course, the student can:
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Teaching,working methods and structure |
The PhD course will be a three-day event with obligatory in-class attendance. The course will be structured into two main parts. The first day will consist of three teaching units that mirror the above-mentioned content of the PhD course. Within the second and third day the PhD students will give their obligatory oral presentation of their papers which will be followed by a discussion that will be chaired by another predetermined PhD student. The invited PhD students are obliged to read in advance the distributed literature and must prepare a draft paper on a topic related to comparative criminal law. This paper can either be a part (chapter) of the PhD thesis or a planned stand-alone publication. Active participation is required, meaning that all students must present and discus their own projects, but also have to comment on the projects of others. Furthermore, the course will provide one-on-one breakout session on the last day. Within the breakout sessions the students will have the chance to discuss specific problems and/or new ideas with the course lecturers. |
Examination and assessment |
There is no formal examination in this course. To put this into context, after completing the required courses, the students must submit one or more works that will be assessed for the PhD degree in Law by an assessment committee appointed by the faculty. |
Grading system |
Passed/Failed |
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