Teaching

GLOBAL AND COMPARATIVE LAW

Spring 2025

This course introduces students to the legal institutions, systems, and traditions significant to Japan within the broader context of globalization. It is not just a course on foreign law; instead, you will learn about the functions of various legal institutions from a global perspective, transcending national boundaries. Topics will include courts, judicial review, criminal justice, and the legal professions. The course will also introduce you to the key features of major legal systems worldwide, examining their historical traditions and contemporary practices, including the Chinese and Islamic legal systems, the common law system, and the European legal order. Furthermore, we will explore the structure and operation of international institutions and their role in the era of globalization.

COMPARATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL LAW

Autumn 2024

This course aims to survey the major topics in the scholarship of comparative constitutional law. Instead of focusing purely on constitutional doctrines, we will take a functional viewpoint to discuss the design and functions of different constitutional institutions, including constitutions, courts, political parties, legislatures, and executives. We will explore the implications of these constitutional institutions on constitutional developments. To facilitate this goal, we will study recent developments in constitutional law and politics in different countries, including constitutionally influential countries, as well as those outside the scope of our traditional focus.

INTRODUCTION TO LAW, LETTERS, AND SOCIETY

Autumn 2021 & 2022

Instructor: Dr. David Lebow

The course considers law from a wide range of methodological perspective including anthropology, sociology, jurisprudence, constitutionalism, history, and political science. We ask abiding, fundamental questions including: What is law? Does law require a state? What makes law legitimate? Does law secure freedom or domination? Does law constrain official decisions? Is there a necessary relation between law and morality? Should law defer to private social ordering or facilitate transformative public intervention? How should law limit and respond to politics? What are the bases, limits, and purposes of rights? Can legal change bring about social change? How do different social domains regulated by law interrelate?