Undergraduate Legal Studies 2022-2023

The UK Constitution has long been shrouded in controversy and uncertainty. Through an exploration of some of some of the key aspects of, and issues arising under, the UK Constitution, this course will seek to evaluate critically the nature of the contemporary constitution, with a particular emphasis on the desirability of its arrangements in the twenty-first century.

The course aims to introduce students to the legal challenges raised by Artificial Intelligence. It aims at offering an overview of the applicable legal framework, critically discussing its potential shortcomings in concrete case scenarios. The course will focus on the UK context, but – given the cross-border nature of the topics involved - it will be open to a comparative perspective.

This course engages students with the economic underpinnings of different aspects of the law. Why and when should property be privately, communally, or publicly owned? How can a legal system minimise the social costs of accidents? Why and to what extent do we need the law to regulate contracts? These are some of the questions that the course will address. Each seminar will focus on a legal topic that will be analysed through an economic lens. No prior knowledge of economics is needed.

This course will focus on how the basic theoretical concepts underpinning contract law have been developed historically, in both common law jurisdictions and continental Civilian tradition. Students will be shown how the historical development of these concepts continues to influence contemporary debates on contract law, such as the place of relational contracts and the extent to which courts should intervene in unequal exchanges.

The course aims to introduce students to the legal aspects of the digital economy. The course will first explore the historical and economical dimension of the ‘platformisation’ of the digital market, to then dig into the relevant areas of law invested by the “disruptive” intervention of online platforms. The course will have a focus on domestic and European Law.