Dr. Stephen Swann

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Im Sommersemester 2022 biete ich folgende Lehrveranstaltungen an: 

Constitutional Law (198420)

Di. 14 - 16 Uhr (SR 4119)

This course explores fundamental elements of British constitutional law, starting with essential tenets including the doctrine of Parliamentary sovereignty and the rule of law. A particular focus will be on the legislative and executive institutions serving the UK as a whole and the devolution of power to the nations and regions. In this review of how power is (or may be) controlled within the UK’s present constitutional structure, the course will highlight the pressure points in the edifice. Alongside learning the detail of Britain’s constitutional rules and practices, emphasis will be placed in the course on debate, examining topical points from a questioning standpoint. The course will assist students in undertaking an informed critical appraisal of the extent to which constitutional rules and practices may protect human rights and prevent abuse of power.

Recommended reading:

A L Young, Turpin and Tomkins' British Government and the Constitution: Text and Materials, 8th edition, Cambridge University Press (2021)

In addition, students may wish to purchase a copy of a statute book, such as John Stanton (ed.), Blackstone's Statutes on Public Law & Human Rights 2021-2022, 31st edition, Oxford University Press (2021)

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Corporations and Associations (198419)

Mo. 10 - 12 Uhr (SR 4119)

This course considers how English law resolves some of the central questions of legal personality and governance concerning profit-making and not-for-profit entities in private and public law. Initial sessions will provide a broad overview of the forms of legal persons in English law as well as an historical introduction to English company law. In this context a first focus will be questions of limitation of liability and the ramifications of legal personality (such as the permissibility of ‘piercing the corporate veil’). Further select topics will touch on the regulation of (i) the capacity and powers of the body, (ii) its representation, management, and governance, and (iii) distributions of its assets. While the contemporary black letter rules will be the focus of study, aspects of legal history, comparative legal material from other common law jurisdictions, and legal theory will be introduced by way of context. Besides providing a commercially useful grounding in some of the fundamentals of business structures in England and Wales, the course will probe the goals and values underpinned by rules on legal forms and on agency and liability in the context of group enterprise.

Recommended reading:

Specific reading material will be indicated on Moodle and in course literature.

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Drafting Legislation (198416)

Di. 10 - 12 Uhr (SR 274)

This course is concerned with the drafting of legislation in the Anglophone legal systems of the common law in general and England and Wales in particular. It aims to provide participants with practical experience as well as theoretical insight into the mechanics of turning proposals for legal change into effective legislation and the difficulties associated with the drafting process. Using a blend of ‘learning by doing’ and supportive guidance, students may acquire the skills needed to develop their chosen legislative project over the course of the teaching sessions from an outline idea to draft statutory form. Against the background of drafting manuals and rules of interpretation, specific instruction will guide students through fundamental drafting matters such as issues of style, problems of stipulation (such as questions of time and definitions), and the formulation of rules creating powers, duties or offences.

Recommended reading:

Specific reading material will be indicated on Moodle and in course literature.

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Introduction to the Law of Obligations (198415)

Mi. 14 - 16 Uhr (HS 9)

This course provides an overview of the basic structure of the law of obligations which has evolved in the legal systems of the common law and introduces some of its key concepts and methods. The primary focus of the first half of the course will be to outline in broad terms how English law approaches and organises core questions of liability across the fields of contract law, tort law, and residual areas of private law obligations, such as the law of unjustified enrichment. Within this broad overview lectures will touch on aspects of legal history and proposals for reform of the law to illuminate the path and possible future trajectory of legal development.

The second half of the course will address selectively some aspects of the law of obligations in more depth. Reviewing these aspects of the law provides further insight into (i) the common law’s use (and perhaps misuse) of general concepts as ‘multi-purpose tools’ of private law and (ii) the converse problem of fragmentation of the field of liability into separate causes of action. They will also shed further light on the tensions within common law liability law in developing doctrine and policy by judicial techniques and the values underpinning normative choices. In this context attention will be given to agents and fiduciaries, third party interference in obligations, and responsibility for the conduct of others.

Besides facilitating a deeper understanding of the legal debates and methods of the common law in its private law context, this introductory course provides a helpful foundation for further study of the law of obligations in modules on contract law and tort law in the common law.

Recommended reading:

Specific reading material will be indicated on Moodle and in course literature.

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Trust Law (198417)

Mi. 12 - 14 Uhr (SR 124)

This course considers both theoretical and practical aspects of the law governing the creation and operation of express trusts. After reviewing the myriad forms and functions of express trusts, attention in the first half of the course will concentrate on requirements for creation of a valid trust. Intrinsic and drafting issues regarding the declaration of trust, the trust terms and the subject-matter of the trust will be a particular focus. This review of the law will consider the problems which arise when the law’s requirements are not satisfied and the extent and manner in which the courts seek to ‘make the best of a bad job’ in such circumstances. A recurrent theme will be how questions of the law’s response to ‘misadventures’ in drafting or formalising the trust expose profound conceptual questions about the nature of the trust as a legal construct.

The second half of the course considers, firstly, trusts which are created to advance purposes (rather than ‘classical’ private benefit of persons) - both in not-for-profit and in commercial settings. Here too attention is divided between both the practical issues – of how the rules work and their problems ‘escaped’ – and the theoretical debates about criticisms of the ‘stringency’ or ‘generosity’ of the law in recognising such trusts. Finally, the course considers the core principles concerning the administration of the trust, such as the appointment and removal of trustees, their powers and duties, and the consequences of a breach of trust.

Recommended reading:

J E Penner, The Law of Trusts, 12th edn, Oxford University Press (2022)

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