Dr. Stephen Swann

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In Summer Semester 2025 I am offering the following courses:

British Constitutional Law (241385) 

Wed. 10:00 - 12:00 (SR 206)

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. In considering controls on power in the UK’s modern constitutional structure, the course will illuminate contemporary strains in the edifice. Besides knowledge of Britain’s constitutional rules and practices and insight into relevant legal and political history, students on this course will profit from considering topical debate and controversy arising out of competing conceptions of how modern British democracy should function. 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.

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Drafting Legislation (241389)

Fri. 10:00 - 12:00 (SR 227)

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 can acquire skills needed to transform a legislative project 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.

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English Trust Law (241387)

Thurs. 14:00 - 16:00 (SR 227)

This course considers both theoretical and practical aspects of the law governing the creation and operation of express trusts in England and Wales. After reviewing the myriad forms and functions of express trusts, attention 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, 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 (lack of) ‘generosity’ of the law in recognising such trusts.

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Introduction to the Law of Obligations (241386)

Wed. 12:00 - 14:00 (SR 206)

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 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 touching on contract law and tort law in the common law.

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In Winter Semester 2025/26 I plan to offer the following:

• British Legal Systems
• Common Law Legal Sources
• Interests in Goods
• Transactions in English Private Law

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In Summer Semester 2026 I plan to offer the following:

• British Constitutional Law
• Introduction to Property Law
• English Criminal Law
• Property in Law and Theory (Seminar, 5 ECTS)

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