Module Identifier LAM4020  
Module Title CROSS - BORDER LEGAL ISSUES  
Academic Year 2006/2007  
Co-ordinator Dr Uta Kohl  
Semester Intended for use in future years  
Next year offered N/A  
Next semester offered N/A  
Other staff Dr Jonathan M C Fitchen, Dr David A Poyton  
Course delivery Seminars / Tutorials   2 Hours. 11 x 2 hour seminars  
Assessment
Assessment TypeAssessment Length/DetailsProportion
Semester Assessment Two essays of 2,500 - 3,000 words (40% each) or One essay of 5,000 - 6,000 words 80%
Semester Assessment Oral Presentation  20%
Supplementary Assessment Re-submit coursework 

Learning outcomes

On completion of this module:
1. Students should be able to demonstrate an understanding of the legal framework governing regulatory competence in respect of both private/civil and public/criminal matters;
2. Students should be able to identify and explain the competing interests which rules on regulatory competence seek to balance;
3. Students should be able to critically analyze, by reference to specific rules in private and public law, how effectively they in fact accommodate these competing interests;
4. Students should be able to explain potential solutions to the shortcomings of current competence rules and the legal and political hindrances such solutions would have to overcome.

Brief description

The notion of the global village has nowhere greater validity than in the context of commerce and modern information technology, both of which form an essential part of life especially in Western democracies. While commerce and information technology effortlessly transcend national boundaries, the law has remained largely a national creature. This module examines to what extent current national law is equipped to deal with transnational commerce and with global communications generally and what adjustments, if any, have been, or should be, made to align the law and regulation with 21st century commercial realities. More specifically, this module examines the rules on regulatory competence both in respect of private/civil disputes and public/criminal prosecution and the extent to which these rules facilitate the efficient and fair application of national law to transnational commercial activity.

Content

Introduction
1. Global commerce versus national law
2. Overview of regulatory competence in private and public law
Private Law
3. Jurisdiction in contract
4. Jurisdiction in non-contractual cases
5. Choice of law
6. Transnational litigation
7. Harmonization and transnational cooperation: enforcement of foreign judgments
8. Arbitration
Public Law
9.   The extra-territorial application of US anti-trust law and the Alien Tort Statute
10. Harmonization and transnational cooperation in relation to criminal law

Aims

While some existing LLM modules touch upon the rules of regulatory competence in respect of global commercial activity, in this module these rules are moved centre-stage. In doing so, this module will provide students with a comprehensive framework for regulatory competence within which they can locate the rules applying to specific scenarios. This module will also enable students to understand the generic themes and problems underlying various competence rules, which the isolated discussion of these rules in other modules cannot adequately reveal. Last but not least, this module is designed to highlight the problems and solutions arising out of any attempt to apply national law to transnational disputes.

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 7