Methods of Legal Research(Open UvA college)

Studiegidsnummer	3075MET6VY
Studielast	6
Voertaal	Engels
Periode(n)	Sem. 1 Sem. 2
Onderwijsinstituut	Amsterdam Graduate Law School
Docent(en)	mw. dr. L. Guibault (coördinator) (Various teachers)
Inlichtingen	rmphdprog-fdr@uva.nl Oudemanhuispoort 4-6020 525****
Onderdeel van	Public International Law (Research Master) Information Law (Research Master)
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Leerdoelen

At the end of the course, participants

• understand the specific nature of law as a science;
• have knowledge and understanding of the main existing methodological approaches in legal research and can apply them;
• understand the consequences of the shift of one methodology to another;
• have knowledge of the main school of thoughts in law and their specific methodology;
• can identify the relevance and advantages of each of these investigational and conceptual methods for their own research.
• have acquired the ability to judge and reflect on the value of the main existing methodological approaches in legal research.

Inhoud

This course focuses on law in terms of a distinct science. It aims at positioning legal science in the broader framework of science and sheds light on the particularities of the various methods of scientific research in law.¹ It simultaneously seeks to critically assess the posited nature of (international) law as a distinct science and reviews the various theories which have been developed regarding law (including those which intertwine law and the social sciences), theories which, in turn, have a bearing on research methods. Such an assessment rests on meta-juridical perspectives (investigational methods) as well as the perspectives of legal theory and their corresponding methods of legal research (conceptual methods). The course, in short, intends to raise participants’ awareness of the dynamics of different theoretical suppositions and varying perspectives regarding (international) law and the bearings these have on the methods of legal research.

¹ ‘Legal science’ is admittedly an inept designation of the Dutch ‘rechtswetenschap’ and the German ‘Rechtswissenschaft’; the usual English translation is ‘jurisprudence’ but for continental lawyers this particular translation insufficiently connotes what is intended here.

Toetsvorm

The research master students will be assessed on the basis of a (take-home) exam.