Introduction to Law

Objectives of the course
After this course, the student is able to:

• understand law not as mere regulation, but as a normative fabric, with principled foundations and strong historical ties, allowing for the preservation of the status quo as well as change;
• identify the various sources of law, such as legislation, case law and scholarly literature, and understand their relationship to factual reality, at the microlevel (`applying law’) and macrolevel (`making law’);
• understand the essence of legal methodologies and apply basic legal reasoning skills, particularly by identifying legal issues and applying legal concepts to solve introductory cases;
• understand the relationship between law and economics as sibling domains, yet methodological antipodes in the human quest for justice;
• understand core legal concepts in their systemic structure, or in their casuistry, such as persons, property, obligations, contract, tort and actions;
• Engage sensibly and prudently in scholarly conversation on matters of life and law, including by understanding, systematising and presenting the key findings of a case.

The aim of this course is to introduce students to law, its substance and its methodologies. Just like economics, law is a domain that seeks to understand and to order societies, whether large or small. The legal paradigm, whether national or European, has traditionally had its foundations in justice, expressed through principles, concepts and rules received and transformed over time in line with the evolution of society.
For anyone engaging with the law as it stands, it is thus essential to depart from key legal concepts as derived from scholarly as well as customary legal craftsmanship (like person, property and contracts). Law, in its broadest normative sense, sets the scene and draws the lines of human (inter)actions and (trans)actions, within a public arena of scholarly as well as judicial debate. Economists should thus feel at home in this domain.
The course exposes students to different legal sources and to legal methodology, with particular focus on methods of legal interpretation and the application of the law to the facts of a case. Following an overview of legal reasoning, students will explore core concepts in fundamental areas of law, like contract and tort. As national legal systems are increasingly interconnected and embedded within a supranational order, the course will also provide an opportunity to reflect on the interplay between the domestic, EU and international levels in regulating our modern society and markets.