Historical Trials
Course, Master's level, 2JS533
Autumn 2024 Autumn 2024, Uppsala, 100%, On-campus, English For exchange students
- Location
- Uppsala
- Pace of study
- 100%
- Teaching form
- On-campus
- Instructional time
- Daytime
- Study period
- 11 November 2024–19 January 2025
- Language of instruction
- English
- Entry requirements
-
In general, Swedish students must have attained five passes out of the six courses given at undergraduate level of the LL.M. programme. All the obligatory phases of the course in which the student has not attained a pass must have been fulfilled. Foreign students shall have studied law for at least two years. If special reasons exist, the board of exemption may grant exemption from the acceptance requirements.
Admitted or on the waiting list?
- Registration period
- 2 November 2024–7 November 2024
- Information on registration from the department
About the course
The course is not limited to a theoretical study of "law in the books", as we want to study "law in action", in order to get a better understanding of the "law in the minds". Therefore, the course studies 1) a number of historical trials, 2) within their contemporary context, and 3) as exponents of their legal tradition.
There are a number of lectures, but the main part of the course consists of seminars, with a clear hands-on approach with discussions and presentations by the students themselves.
Each seminar has a specific topic, which serves as a common thread between the discussed historical trials. The (preliminary) topics and trials are the following:
- To Impeach or Not to Impeach: is That the Question? (with the Johnson and Clinton impeachment trials)
- Terrorists or Freedomfighters? (with the Rivonia trial, the Moussaoui trial and Guantanamo trials)
- Unjust Justice? (with the Louis XVI trial, the Dreyfuss trial and Dingo trials)
- Show Business? (with the Stalin trials, the Gang of Four Trial and the Khodorkovsky trial)
- God on Trial? (with the Galileo trial, the Scopes trial and the Whitehouse vs Lemon trial)
- War on Trial? (with the Nuremberg trials, the Eichmann trial and the My Lai trial)
- It is never black or white… or is it? (with the Brown vs Board of Education trial and the OJ Simpson trial).
Instruction
Presence at the seminars and lectures is obligatory. In case of absence, you have to write a replacement paper. In exceptional circumstances, the teacher may exempt a student from the attendance requirement. You have to prepare at least one presentation. You also have to participate actively in the discussions at the seminars.
Examination
After the seminars, you will get a take-home assignment to write a paper, discussing a historical trial, its historical context, central phenomena, issues and questions, as an exponent of its legal tradition. In special circumstances, the course director can decide to have another type of examination.