Justice for all: Access to Justice across Jurisdictions
Course Level
intermediate - advanced / 3rd - 4th year
Course Language
English
Course Classification
This is a Themis course. It is also open to non-Themis students.
Teaching Mode and Time Schedule
online (live course)
Students have to be present online during the class hours indicated in the electronic course catalogue.
Contact Hours
2 hours per week
ECTS-credits
5 (if course has been attended regularly and exam has been passed)
Frequency
This course will be taught at irregular intervals. It will be available in the winter term 2024/25.
Course Content
This course in comparative law examines the legal aid that states provide their citizens and how access to justice is reconceptualized through alternative dispute resolution and online dispute resolution. By looking closer at constitutional provisions, legal documents, and essential readings on the subject, we will explore cases from Brazil, the United States, and across Europe to better understand how different jurisdictions dialogue and what potentialities and limits exist for further extending access to the court system. We will also think more broadly about access to justice, revisiting now-classic theoretical writings on the theme (Mauro Cappelletti and the Florence project), paradigmatic cases in the United States, and more recent international documents demanding legal aid in and for developing countries.
Under U.S. Law, institutes such as plea bargaining and plead guilty have been highly criticized by scholars advocating for social change. In light of this literature on access to justice and judicial retrenchment, this course will expose students to cases such as Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335 (1963), Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544 (2007), Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662 (2009), as precedents for the right to counsel under criminal charges and the limits of pleading under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Using the Brazilian scenario, this course will present the students with the challenges of access to justice in developing countries— of ensuring fundamental rights, fighting police brutality, and enforcing rights before the courts. Cases will include challenges to human rights violations of incarcerated populations, lawsuits against land expropriation, claims for compensations for environmental damage, rearrangements in family law, and other landmark cases before the Supreme Court and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. By featuring leading cases on how different parties have access to the courts, students will engage in critical debate over the relationship between access to justice and incarceration rates, the role of lawsuits in fighting inequality, and the unprecedented changes facing courts as they adapt to technological change. We will close by exploring the trends of digitalization and online dispute resolution and to what extent they promise to expand access.
For more information, please see the course instructor's syllabus. [to be confirmed shortly]
Restricted Enrollment
no (that means that everyone who signs up for this course on time can take part in this course)
Course Registration
Please sign up for this course under the module "Study Program for Exchange Students - Module 5".
registration period: 1 October 2024, 9 a.m. - 1 November 2024, 12 a.m. (midnight)
De-Registration from this Course
regular drop period: 1 October 2024, 9 a.m. - 1 November 2024, 12 a.m. (midnight)
After the regular drop period you can only drop this course with a valid cause until 14 days prior to the exam. Please contact the International Office at the Law Department if you have to use this option.
Type of Exam and Exam Period
The final grade for the course will be determined as follows: a) preparation for classes; b) participation in classes; c) attendance to special guest lectures; d) final oral presentations in classes on the analyzed topics; e) handling written papers of students' presentations.
[to be announced shortly]
Registration for the Exam
International exchange students will automatically be registered for the exam when they sign up for this course.
De-Registration from the Exam
Students who drop this course via Campus Management are automatically de-registered from the exam. Students who do not drop this course via Campus Management and do not take part any longer, are going to finish this course with a non-passing grade (0 points).
Grade Release