Not available in 2020/21
LL4AN Half Unit
International Business Transactions: Conflict of Laws, Extraterritoriality, and Global Governance
This information is for the 2020/21 session.
Teacher responsible
Dr Jacco Bomhoff NAB 6.09
Availability
This course is available on the LLM (extended part-time), LLM (full-time) and University of Pennsylvania Law School LLM Visiting Students. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.
This course is capped at 30 students. Students must apply through Graduate Course Choice on LSEforYou.
Pre-requisites
Knowledge of conflict of laws (private international law) would be useful but is not essential.
Course content
States often aim to regulate activities that transcend their own borders. When such measures are challenged or enforced through litigation, domestic courts become important sites of global governance. This course brings together perspectives from tort & company law, private international law (conflict of laws), public law, and regulation theory, to study such forms of extraterritorial and transnational regulation. Questions for discussion include: What law should a court in England apply to a case involving environmental damage allegedly caused abroad by a multinational mining company? Should companies operating in China ever be bound by US competition law rules or other US regulations? Should the UK Human Rights Act apply to actions by British soldiers in a foreign country? Topics to be studied throughout the course are: (1) Choice of law in tort law and in company law (especially in Europe and the US); (2) Extraterritorial application of statutes (incl. competition law, securities law, and environmental regulations); (3) extraterritorial application of constitutional- and human rights law; (4) theories of transnational regulation (e.g. institutional roles of courts, regulatory arbitrage).
Teaching
20 hours of seminars in the LT. 2 hours of seminars in the ST.
There will be a reading week in week 6.
Formative coursework
All students are expected to produce one 2,000 word formative essay during the course.
Indicative reading
Core textbook: Trevor C Hartley, International Commercial Litigation (Cambridge University Press, 2nd edn, 2015, or newer) (specified chapters only). Further reading: Christopher Whytock, Domestic Courts and Global Governance, 84 Tulane Law Review (2009); Campbell McLachlan, Foreign Relations Law (Cambridge University Press, 2016); Brilmayer, Goldsmith & O’Hara O’Connor, Conflict of Laws: Cases and Materials (7th edn., 2015).
Assessment
Exam (100%, duration: 2 hours, reading time: 15 minutes) in the summer exam period.
Important information in response to COVID-19
Please note that during 2020/21 academic year some variation to teaching and learning activities may be required to respond to changes in public health advice and/or to account for the situation of students in attendance on campus and those studying online during the early part of the academic year. For assessment, this may involve changes to mode of delivery and/or the format or weighting of assessments. Changes will only be made if required and students will be notified about any changes to teaching or assessment plans at the earliest opportunity.
Key facts
Department: Law
Total students 2019/20: Unavailable
Average class size 2019/20: Unavailable
Controlled access 2019/20: No
Value: Half Unit
