730-211 European Civil Law and Impact of the EU

Legal Method and Reasoning; Principles of Public Law; Torts; Legal Theory or in each case their equivalents.

Part I of this subject consists of structure and operation of the European civil law:

• historical formation of the civil law (with special emphasis on the Romano-Germanic components of this legal family);

• codes and codification (with special emphasis on the inter-action between legislature, judiciary and scholarship in the law-making process of contemporary European civil law); and

• substantive law: selected issues from, inter alia, the law of torts, contract law, labour law.

Part II consists of legal order of the European Union:

• origins and objectives of the European Union (with focus on the distinction between the ECSC, Euratom, the EEC, the EC, and the EU);

• institutional structure (with emphasis on the role of each institution in the law-making process of the European Union);

• the European Court of Justice (with emphasis on its unique role in ensuring compliance with EU law in the various member states);

• economic dimension of the EU: selected issues from, inter alia, the so-called four freedoms, competition policy, monetary policy;

• social dimension of the EU: selected issues from, inter alia, torts (product liability), contract (consumer protection), labour law (worker participation); and

• relevance for Australia (the traditional civil/common law divide; substantive law).

Final open-book examination three hours 100%.

Printed materials will be issued by the Faculty of Law.

• Vranken, Fundamentals of European Civil Law and Impact of the European Community. Federation Press, 1997.