Course 2007-2008 a.y.

Course Objectives

This course aims to provide a solid overview on central topics of international and European law. It is intended to familiarize students with the particular features of the international legal system, its subjects, its sources and basic principles. It continues to outline the history and development of the European Community/Union, its institutional structure and legislative role as well as its main policy areas, the Four Freedoms, the Common Commercial Policy and competition law. Particular emphasis is put on the economic aspects of both international and European law.

Course Content Summary

First part: International Law

• Basic concepts and historical overview
• Sources of International Law: custom and general principles of law, soft law and equity
• Treaties: the principles of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties
• International law and National Legal Systems: direct applicability vs. incorporation
• The subjects of International Law
• International organizations: membership, structure, and functions. Overview over WTO, World Bank, IMF, OECD
• The United Nations and the law governing the use of force
• Principal duties of states and settlement of disputes
• State responsibility and expropriation law
• The status of the individual in PIL and Human Rights

Second part: European Law

• History of European integration
• The institutional framework
• The making and effect of Community Law: the main legislative procedures in the EC
• Judicial control and the protection of fundamental rights within the Community
• The four freedoms (goods, services, persons and capitals)
• Competition Law: EC cartel law and its territorial reach
• Other selected community policies: Intellectual Property, the Common Commercial Policy
• The EC/EU as international actor in the economic and in the political sphere: the international legal personality and treaty-making power of the EC
• The Community and third states and international organizations (WTO)
• From European political cooperation to a common foreign and security policy

Detailed Description of Assessment Methods

Oral exam

Textbooks

• M. DIXON, Textbook on international law, London, Blackstone Press/Oxford University Press, 2004, 5^th ed. (380 pages).
• E. DEARDS, S. HARGREAVES, European Union law: textbook, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2004 (347 pages). 

Additional reading material will be distributed during lectures, the list of which will be available on line at the start of the course