LAWS 780 - Comparative Law

This year, the course will focus on comparative constitutional law.   Students will deepen their practical and theoretical understanding of U.S. constitutional doctrine and politics by undertaking a detailed comparative study of the enforcement of constitutional rules and values in the U.S. and other leading democratic states committed to the rule of law, including prominently Canada, France, Germany, and South Africa.   Topics studied will include constitutionalism and the rule of law, judicial review, separation of powers, federalism, protection of human dignity, privacy and autonomy, constitutional enforcement of social and economic rights, including education, old age pensions, and health care, equality, freedom of expression, the relationship between religion and the state, constitutional guarantees of democracy, and constitutionalism in times of emergency.   The course will enhance the ability of students to participate in constitutional politics, reform, and litigation on the state, federal, and transnational levels, and enable participants to develop a more sophisticated understanding of constitutional restraints on and interactions with other substantive areas of law.  Students will write a paper on a comparative topic of their choice, selected with the advice of the instructor.   A principal purpose of the course is to help participants realize that no constitutional mechanisms, including those existing in the U.S., are permanently settled, and that constitutional law, like other forms of law, is fluid and historically contingent, subject to shaping by human hands and lawyerly and political agency, with future states and outcomes always contested and in constant flux.

Prerequisites: Constitutional Law I and II

Note: This course satisfies the perspective course requirement.

Basis of Grade: Research Paper

Form of Grade: Letter