Introduction to the Civil Law Systems (Ewald)
Faculty
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| William Ewald Professor of Law and Philosophy wewald@law.upenn.edu |
Additional Information
Skills Training
Expository Writing
Grading
10% Participation,
90% Exam,
Other (There will be an option to write a research paper instead of the exam.)
Exam
Short Answer,
Essay,
In Class,
Closed-Book
With Permission of Instructor
Class meets in person.
Course Continuity
Students are encouraged to stay home if you are ill or experience flu-like symptoms. If you miss a class for any reason, it is still your responsibility to make up the work missed.
I offer the following to students who miss class due to illness:
- Class sessions are regularly recorded. I will make these recordings routinely available on the course site to everyone in the class.
- I will make PowerPoint slides or other class materials routinely available on the course site to everyone in the class.
Meeting Times/Location
TR 10:30AM - 11:50AM
Tanenbaum Hall 320
Category
Upper-Level
Credits
3.0
The world’s legal systems can be roughly divided into two legal families: Common Law and Civil Law. The Common Law originated in the royal courts of medieval England and predominates in English-speaking countries. The Civil Law originated in ancient Rome and predominates almost everywhere else: in continental Europe, East Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and large segments of Africa.
The aim of this course is to offer a comprehensive introduction to the Civil Law. The approach will be partly historical, and partly doctrinal. The hope is to obtain a deep understanding of the evolution and present-day functioning of the systems that have historically been most influential on the growth of the Civil Law—France, Germany, and Italy.
The course will start with a brief introduction to Roman law, focusing on the procedures of adjudication, the growth of the substantive law, and the drafting of the Emperor Justinian's Corpus Juris Civilis - the most influential legal text in European history.
We next turn to medieval Europe, and to the great struggles between the emperors and the popes about the ultimate source of legal authority. These struggles introduced into Western Europe the idea of constitutionalism and of a "higher law" binding on the secular rulers.
After discussing selected topics in early-modern European legal history, we turn to the drafting of the French and German civil codes—the two most influential legal codes of modern times. That discussion will pave the way for a discussion of the functioning of the modern legal systems—their substantive laws, their rules of procedure, their constitutional and public law structures.
The course will conclude with a brief overview of the law of the European Union, and a discussion of the latest developments and their implications for the future. The emphasis throughout the course will be not so much on doctrinal rules as on the ideas underlying the legal order - that is, on the intellectual justifications the civil lawyers have provided for their approach to legal problems, and on the historical factors that have shaped the distinctive continental European approach to law.
International and Comparative Law Learning outcomes: Demonstrate a core understanding of international and comparative law, both substantively and procedurally; Perform legal analysis in the context of international and comparative law; Communicate effectively on topics related to international and comparative law; Demonstrate an understanding of the role of international and comparative law, and their interconnection with domestic law.
Courts and the Judicial System Learning outcomes: Demonstrate a core understanding of both substantive and procedural issues in the operation of our legal system; Perform legal analysis in the context of procedural issues and the judicial process; Communicate effectively on topics related to procedure and the judicial process; Demonstrate an understanding of how procedural issues and the judicial process affect all other area of our legal system.
Perspectives on the Law Learning outcomes: Demonstrate an understanding of how the law affects, and is affected by, the individual course topic; Perform legal analysis in the context of the individual course topic; Communicate effectively on the legal and other aspects of the individual course topic; Demonstrate the ability to use other disciplines to analyze legal issues relevant to the individual course topic, including economics, philosophy, and sociology, as appropriate.
Textbooks
"A Short History of European Law: The Last Two and a Half Millennia" by Tamar Herzog |