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The course will provide the students with the concepts and legal knowledge required to understand the scope, the reach and the meaning of application of private law rules from a comparative perspective. Hence, the courses will provide the students with the basic methodological knowledge of comparative analysis, that is typically applied in the civil law as well as in the common law systems in Europe and worldwide.

The students will be able to identify the main schools of thought of comparative law and will be able to apply their methodologies to the issues of private law. They will understand the main differences between various legal orders on specific issues of private law and they will identify the particular features of various legal cultures.

The first part of the course deals with comparative private law as such and will introduce the students to the various schools of thought and methodologies. The lectures will focus on the differences between legal families, the convergence of legal systems as well as the harmonization of private law etc.

In the second half of the course specific issues of private law will be discussed from a comparative perspective, such as contracts, property, legal personality, trusts etc. 

The course aims at direct involvement of students and it will combine the classic frontal lessons with the Socratic method. The fundamental readings provided for the students in the teaching materials will be analyzed within a cooperative argumentative dialogue between the course participants. Thus, the critical thinking of students in the field of private comparative law will be stimulated by asking and answering questions in class.

The teaching and examination language of this course is English. All communication during the lectures will be in English and all literature and teaching materials are in English.

In the open-book written exam at the end of the course the students are permitted to use any materials written on paper, such as course materials, books and the own (handwritten or printed) notes. These materials may also be marked up or highlighted by the students. Anyway, it is strictly forbidden to do any electronic research during the examination. The rules on plagiarism will apply to this open book exam. This means that students must provide a reference whenever they answer the exam questions based on the research of another author. 

Reading materials provided in class.

J. Michael Rainer, Introduction to Comparative Law (2010)

Mathias Reimann/Reinhard Zimmermann, The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Law (2019)

Rodolfo Sacco, Legal formants: a dynamic approach to comparative law, American Journal of Comparative Law 1991, 

Konrad Zweigert/Hein Kötz, An Introduction to Comparative Law (1998)

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