All VLS Courses

Comparative Law: Comparative Legal Systems

Germany's constitutional court is a model for post-dictatorial states in the New Europe.  The legacy of France's Code Civil continues to evolve in dozens of countries worldwide. Canada is breaking new ground with bi-jural legal education.   While practicing lawyers still talk about perceived differences between the Common Law and Civil Law,  legal theorists debate whether the distinction was ever valid.    We look at both approaches to understand what these different legal traditions and diverse national legal systems have to teach each other, and what a U.S. lawyer can learn for his or her practice, whether stateside or abroad.

We begin by examining comparative law's purposes and methods.  Then we devote several weeks to exploring how different countries within our own Western Legal Tradition understand sources of law, the relationship between codes and cases, and constitutional design, including questions of federalism, judicial review and balance of powers.  We also look at civil and criminal procedure, legal education and the role of various legal actors.  We study selected aspects of legal systems, focusing on France and Germany, with some discussion of "mixed" common/civil law jurisdictions (e.g. Louisiana, South Africa). We also study aspects of the European Union and, time permitting, an emerging legal system chosen to complement student paper topics and to contrast to the Western tradition. 

Method of Evaluation:  1) Class participation, 2) a short, preliminary paper using the comparative method, and 3) a longer paper comparing how two different legal systems address the same legal question. This course is particularly recommended for students participating in any of the Vermont Law School study abroad programs.

Satisfies perspectives requirement and a distributional course requirement for the Certificate Program in International and Comparative Law, and may be used to satisfy the Advanced Writing  Requirement.

Law of International Organizations

Disaster relief, climate change adaption, controls on shipping emissions, human rights gains and setbacks, curbs on illegal and unreported fishing, development assistance, nuclear inspections, peacekeeping: this partial list only begins to suggest the range of activities that connect the world's 190+ countries in a web of institutions to regulate matters of common concern.

This two-credit seminar introduces treaty-based intergovernmental organizations (IGOs), from the laws that constitute them and govern their internal functioning, to the "laws" they promulgate in the form of binding and non-binding agreements and regulations. We study individual organizations within the larger context of legal issues relevant to all IGOs, regardless of scope or function: Can we define international organizations? What legal personality do they possess? How and when are they responsible for their actions, and to whom? How do their activities relate to your work as a Vermont Law School student/graduate? We begin with the United Nations and its specialized agencies and examine other IGOs in the environmental, economic, financial, and other fields. We discuss non-governmental organizations (NGOs) only tangentially, as their work interfaces with that of IGOs.

Method of evaluation: Class participation and a seminar paper presented in class. Students choose an organization to track and report on throughout the term, and select aspects of its work as the core of their seminar papers. Basic familiarity with public international law is helpful.

Public International Law is not a prerequisite, but strongly encouraged as a co-requisite
A basic familiarity with public international law is helpful and, although not required, students without that familiarity are strongly encouraged to take Public International Law as a co-requisite.

The Law of International Organizations: The Arctic, The Law of the Sea, and The Environment

States come together in a variety of organizations to regulate matters of common concern. This seminar will focus on the law of treaty-based intergovernmental organizations (IGOs), including their constitutive laws, the laws governing their internal functioning, and the "laws" they promulgate in the form of binding and nonbinding agreements and regulations. The course will begin with the United Nations and its specialized agencies and examine other IGOs in the environmental, economic, financial, and other fields. Nongovernmental organizations will be covered only tangentially.