Public International Law LLM

Module credits: 60

Written work on a legal topic of the your choice resulting from individual research and normally based upon material falling within the area covered by the degree for which you are registered.

Module credits: 15

This module considers how business increasingly conducts its operations with responsibility to its stakeholders and to society at large. It examines the emergence of the business and human rights regime, which forms the basis for addressing both legal developments and voluntary initiatives across a spectrum of business and industry sectors and different types of business, operating both globally and locally.  

Module credits: 15

This module begins with a consideration of the historical origins and philosophical underpinnings of economic and social rights (ESR). Key themes that will be developed throughout the course include perceptions of the nature of such rights and the related question of the extent to which such rights are, and should be, justiciable.

You will evaluate the different ways in which ESR are protected and implemented, both domestically and internationally. The module will consider litigation and judicial enforcement of ESR in various jurisdictions.

The module will equip you with the knowledge and understanding necessary to engage in, and critically analyse, the debates surrounding ESR that exist both amongst legal commentators and at a broader societal level.

Module credits: 15

This module is concerned with the substantive area of European Union single market law - the four economic freedoms of goods, persons, services and capital. It includes an introduction to the EU institutions and the powers of the EU to construct the single market as a core element of Europe's "economic constitution". It assesses the effectiveness of regulation and harmonisation as the main tools of market construction.

Each of the four economic freedoms is analysed in depth using case studies to focus on issues such as the tension between economic freedoms, or "market rights" and other rights and values concerning the public interest, such as economic and social rights and environmental protection. The methods adopted by the Court of Justice to strike a balance between these interests is evaluated. Cross-cutting issues across the four freedoms are explored.

Module credits: 15

This module is concerned with the European Union's (EU) status as a global trade power and explores its relations with other countries, including the United Kingdom Post-Brexit, the EU, the United States and China. It also includes the role that the European Union plays within the World Trade Organisation.

Subjects examined include:

• the EU's competence to conduct trade policy and its effectiveness to achieve objectives beyond trade
• the scope of Common Commercial Policy, EU/WTO relationship
• trade and human rights
• trade and development cooperation
• EU-UK trade relations in the wake of Brexit

Module credits: 15

This module provides an introduction to energy law. Through scholarly works and practical case studies, it will address some of the most important legal issues which relate to energy such as: the exploration of natural resources in disputed areas; transparency and control of oil revenues; environmental law issues; and justice and gender in energy transitions. Although both fossils and low carbon/renewable resources will be examined, considerable attention will be paid to hydrocarbons, as they still dominate the energy sector. 

The module will be taught through the following seminars:

1. Energy law: what, why, how?
2. Regulation of hydrocarbons: legal regime and exploratory permits
3. The ‘‘resource curse’’
4. Exploration of hydrocarbons in contested and transboundary waters
5. Human rights in extractive industries
6. Energy dispute resolution: Lex Mercatoria, Lex Petrolea and the way forward
7. Low carbon and renewable resources: contribution to energy transition and associated challenges
8. Environmental issues and legal regulation
9. Energy transition aspects

Module credits: 15

An introduction to international criminal law issues, with particular emphasis on institutions (such as Nuremberg and Tokyo IMTs, the ad hoc Tribunals and the International Criminal Court) as well as substantive and procedural aspects of international criminal law.

The module focuses on the institutional developments in international criminal law as well as the definition and application of the crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and aggression. Principles of liability and defences will also be covered.

International disaster law is an emerging field of international law, which is seeing growing prominence within international legal research, international law and policymaking, not least since Coronavirus emerged. States, international organisations, NGOs and community actors are increasingly addressing the effects of disasters in terms of human rights law, refugee law, and international humanitarian law, particularly when it comes to laws regarding humanitarian assistance.

In addition, international conferences on disaster risk reduction including the Sendai conference in 2015, and arguably the Paris Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals, show appetite within the international community to develop a unified ‘International Disaster Law’.

This module addresses international disaster law both as the application of existing international law as applied to disasters, and as a new legal field, which draws on, and adds to, existing principles. This module addresses current issues affecting all actors and people within the international community from humanitarians, to politicians, to economists, to academics, to the people on the ground affected by disasters.

Module credits: 15

International Environmental Law in Practice is a foundations module on international environmental law (IEL). It will provide a broad overview of IEL and allow you to develop a number of research-related skills.

At the start of the course, you will study the basic principles of IEL. The next block of seminars cover some major multilateral environmental agreements, primarily concerned with pollution, climate change, and biodiversity. You will develop an in-depth knowledge of these instruments: their key mechanisms, institutional architecture, and related legal/policy frameworks.

In the final set of seminars, you will apply this knowledge by researching how contemporary and emerging issues of IEL are addressed through the law. The selected topics will cut across two or more environmental treaties and so you will develop a deep understanding about the connections between different areas of the law.

Module credits: 30

This module will introduce you to the law and practice related to international human rights. You will be encouraged to explore the foundations of international human rights law. The global, regional and national mechanisms of human rights protection will be introduced and evaluated.

A selection of substantive human rights will be examined and contemporary challenges to human rights protection will be discussed.

Module credits: 30

This module examines the legal constraints of international and national warfare. It traces the historical and contextual development of the law and focuses upon the principles which govern warfare. During the module, you will also study the mechanisms for the enforcement and the implementation of international humanitarian law.

Module credits: 15

This module deals with key aspects of the international system for the regulation of foreign investment. The module focuses mainly on issues arising from investor-host state relations under Bilateral Investment Treaties or BITs but also touches upon international investment contracts. Special attention will be given to the means of regulating investment using BITs, including standards of treatment, such as fair and equitable treatment, full protection and security, national treatment and MFN, and breaches thereof, the taking of foreign property and the settlement of investment disputes by means of third party dispute settlement.

Attention will focus on the substantial and procedural aspects of international investment arbitration with specific reference to ICSID, as well as ad hoc arbitration, using UNCITRAL arbitration rules or the rules of other relevant arbitral fora.

Module credits: 15

This module looks at principles and laws governing unilateral and multilateral resort to force by states under the United Nations Charter and in customary international law. Instances where force is permissible will be considered as well as the more controversial claims to use force.

Module credits: 15

This module examines the body of rules and principles governing international sales transactions under two prominent legal regimes of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (Vienna, 1980), and English Sales Law.

Module credits: 15

This module examines some of the relationships between law and development. After examining both the notion of development per se and the right to development as a human right, the module moves on to cover a number of individual issues where the relationship between law, development and human rights can be explored.

Subjects covered include:

• the concept of development and the role of international law in promoting "development"
• the regulation of aid
• the WTO and developing countries
• intellectual property and access to medication
• the protection of traditional knowledge
• agriculture
• food aid and food security
• sustainable development
• gender and development

Module credits: 15

The module is primarily concerned with those customary and treaty rules governing relations between States. This module aims to give candidates a thorough grounding in the principles of PIL. The basic topics include:

• nature of international law
• sources
• actors in the international legal system
• jurisdiction and state responsibility

International law recognises a human right to seek asylum. Nonetheless, states are increasingly labelling asylum seekers as “illegal” immigrants and responding to asylum seekers through the criminal law. This interdisciplinary module combines international law with theoretical insights from criminology to explore state responses to asylum seekers.

Module credits: 15

The module will explore the rights of the child in international human rights law, focusing on topics such as the concepts of childhood and the best interests of the child, family rights and the right to family life, education, child soldiers, child labour, gender and the rights of the girl child.

Module credits: 15

This module deals with key aspects of World Trade Organisation law. The module focuses on:

• the institutional and organisational structure of the WTO and its dispute settlement system
• GATT 1994 (dealing with tariffs and other barriers to import of goods)
• GATS (the agreement regulating international trade in services)
• rules on unfair trade such as anti-dumping, subsidies and safeguards

Some attention is paid to the relationship between multilateral and regional and preferential trade and the relationship of trade to sustainable development, as well as consumer health and safety.

Module credits: 15

This module offers an in depth examination of the laws and regulatory perspectives relating to the digital economy. It explores the implications of UK, European and international rules that apply to digital platforms and Big Tech, and their impacts on end-users and digital consumers. The module engages with a series of themes and topics like privacy and commercial surveillance in data-driven economies, cybersecurity, social media and online harms, algorithmic governance and automation. participation for digital citizens. 

Module credits: 15

This module aims to develop an understanding of the legal and ethical challenges posed by AI and robotics technologies, along with consideration of appropriate legal and regulatory responses. It provides a philosophical and legal framework for considering concepts and principles that relate to the development and use of such technologies. It also considers legal and regulatory governance at the international, regional, and national levels.  

Module credits: 15

This module addresses the private law relating to the financial aspects of international trade, especially payment mechanisms and guarantees. Emphasis is placed upon the rules promulgated by the International Chamber of Commerce.

The module also explores important international trade finance mechanisms such as documentary credits and demand guarantees. These include Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits (UCP 600) and Uniform Rules for Demand Guarantees.

Module credits: 15

This module examines issues relating to the regulation of public procurement from perspectives other than trade liberalisation. Issues covered include:

• the pursuit of value for money through competition
• avoidance of corruption
• outsourcing
• procurement for privately-financed infrastructure projects

The module pays particular attention to the UNCITRAL Model Law on procurement and the procurement rules for developing countries' projects financed by the World Bank.

Module credits: 15

This module gives a broad-based introduction to the philosophical foundations of human rights and criminal justice, emphasising the moral and political underpinnings of legal rules, doctrines and principles. It considers key issues and questions in contemporary debates surrounding human rights and criminal justice through the contrasting lenses of two rival philosophical perspectives, utilitarianism and liberal deontology. 

Module credits: 15

The module will deal with special issues in copyright and designs and their international exploitation at an advanced level. The British, European and international law relating to these rights will be studied in detail. Comparison will also be made with national Member States laws.

Special topical issues in copyright and designs law will be studied including the protection of computer programs, databases and technological protection measures. National and Community unregistered and registered design rights. Finally you will be given an insight as to the future of copyright and designs at EU and international level.

Module credits: 15

This module offers the fundamentals of international commercial arbitration, the most important dispute resolution mechanism for international business transactions.

The module begins with the legal framework of international commercial arbitration. It then deals with jurisdiction of arbitration tribunals and certain procedural issues arising in arbitration practice. The module ends with the setting aside and recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards. 

The module focuses mainly on English law of arbitration which is put in comparative perspective and compared and contrasted especially with the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration.

Module credits: 15

This module will offer an in-depth analysis of the relationship between intellectual property and private international law. It will cover all aspects of jurisdiction and choice of law.

Module credits: 30

The module examines the legal regulation of competition within the single and free market of the EU and serves as an introduction to basic legal and economic principles as well as to detailed study of the rules of Union law which seek to outlaw competitive behaviour.

Module credits: 15

This module will examine theories of equality to understand how equality is conceptualised, protected and promoted in law. It will also examine the interaction of individuals with protected characteristics including gender, race, disability and sexuality as both victims and defendants with the criminal justice system. It will critically evaluate the discrimination and barriers to justice they experience and the extent to which law and policy effectively prevents discrimination and promotes justice for these groups. 

Module credits: 15

This module critically considers the concept of ‘fair (criminal) trial’ in theory and practice. International human rights law, particularly as it derives from Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, will naturally be central to this inquiry. But the law of human rights is neither our starting point nor our final destination. More ambitiously, this module draws on criminal justice, socio-legal, and comparative approaches and perspectives in order to place the law and practice of English and Welsh criminal trials in their broader legal, political, social, and moral contexts.

Although some points of law and practice will be treated in detail, developing an exhaustive account of English criminal trials is not the principal objective. Rather, we will use these details as examples and case-studies to illustrate methodological issues, broader themes and trends in criminal policy, and international comparisons highlighting the ways in which western democracies have attempted, successfully or otherwise, to meet the challenges of integrating human rights law into their domestic criminal trial processes.

Module credits: 15

The module will deal with the basic principles of trade mark law and it will do so from an international and comparative perspective. Special attention will be paid to European and US trade mark law before attention will turn to passing-off and comparative advertising issues.

Module credits: 15

The module will deal with the basic principles of patent law and it will do so from an international and comparative perspective. Special attention will be paid to European and US patent law before attention will turn to biotechnological inventions and a case study on stem cell patents.

Module credits: 15

The module examines the global competition law development from the perspective of international business. In summary it uses the US, EU and Chinese competition regimes and high profile international business cases as targets for analysis.

It first critically examines the origins of global competition rules against international business, by focusing on EU, US and Chinese competition regimes on the one hand and international organizations on the other hand. It then examines in-depth the challenges faced by international business in the areas of international price cartel regulation, multiple regulations on abuse of market dominance and cross-border mergers. It further critically examine the public and private enforcements of competition rules against international business in the global context.

By critically examining the challenges faced by international business in both the substance and enforcement of global competition regulation, the module aims to engage and motivate you to undertake original thinking and explore innovative solutions to tackle the challenges.

Module credits: 15

This module takes an interdisciplinary approach, combining philosophical, doctrinal, and socio-legal perspectives to examine the question “what conduct is a legitimate target for the criminal law?”. The first half of the course critically considers several theories of criminalisation which offer ‘in principle’ justifications for criminalising conduct. The second half examines other factors relevant to criminalisation decision-making, including: human rights, enforceability, discrimination, and politics.

Though some English and Welsh criminal offences will be examined in detail, the main objective of the module is to provide you with the critical tools with which you will be able to scrutinise the legitimacy of criminal offences in any jurisdiction.

Module credits: 15

This module introduces students to broader perspectives on the history, nature, scope, meaning, function, and critique of criminal justice. It adopts a critical and interdisciplinary approach to the study of criminal justice (drawing from insights in sociology, race and gender studies, postcolonial thought and global law, psychology, and criminology). In doing so, it critiques the concept of criminal justice, its institutions, methods, aims and objectives, from a variety of social justice perspectives.