Student Affairs
Curriculum
Introduction to South African Law
Professor Paleker (Credits: 2)
Provides students with basic understanding of South African law, and basis for comparison to the American legal system. Topics include South African law as a “mixed” legal system (combines elements of both English common law and European civil law), the role of law in an oppressive system (law under apartheid, 1948- 1900), influence of American, Canadian and German law on the new South African constitutional order (1993-1998), and aspects of South African law of interest from a comparative perspective.
Comparative Constitutional Law
Professor Rush (Credits: 2)
This course will engage in a comparative analysis of various issues involving individual liberties. In the area of fundamental rights, we will focus on, among other areas, life and death issues, what it means to have a right to “human dignity,” and some privacy issues. In the area of equality and equal protection, we will compare and try to understand what those concepts mean under different legal systems and in different contexts. Finally, if time permits, we will explore various “social welfare rights” issues at the center of economic inequality.
Comparative Cultural Property
Professor Price (Credits:2)
As ethnic groups, tribes, indigenous peoples, and later waves of settlers identify past natural, archeological, architectural and artistic objects and ideas as part of their natural heritage, they seek to possess and control them--often in opposition to others who have placed them in faraway museums, collections, and galleries. Using national, comparative and international law, we will look at the interplay of moralist, internationalist, nationalist, property, scientific, and market theories to determine who should own the past as represented by the physical relics defined groups use to define themselves. Ethical issues arising from antiquities trade and current attempts to enforce both cultural property laws and codes of practice will be considered. South African examples will be emphasized to show issues arising from layered settlements with their varying cultures.