Area of Concentration: Law

Learning Objectives

The learning objectives differ slightly between the individual subjects, depending on their allocation to the respective group described above.

Students are able to

• understand law and legal studies in depth which serves both the interdisciplinary as well as specialised orientation in the cultural and social space as well as in time;
• to situate and critically reflect on the applicable law and the development of the law with reference to specific norms or legal sources. References to current events and affairs are indispensable. Lecturers require in-depth knowledge of the national and international law applicable in Switzerland. At the bachelor’s level, the focus is on imparting knowledge and developing orientational and reflective competencies. At the graduate level, the focus  is on deepening reflection and practising application skills;
• acquire non-legal content-related and methodological competencies, which are, in the sense of auxiliary sciences, applied to legal questions and problems. In addition to the necessary legal and transdisciplinary knowledge, the imparted competencies also include application skills (at both bachelor’s and master’s levels). Various of these subjects are indispensable for legal practice because they enable lawyers to usefully draw on non-legal expert knowledge and make legal sense of it. Accordingly, teaching these subjects with a view to their practical relevance is of key importance. In addition, reflection skills can also be incorporated into the learning objectives.

This area of concentration¹  is taught according to legal principles and with a view to the acquisition of legal methods and instruments expected of a university education in law suitable for lawyers throughout Switzerland. It is based on the foundational legal subjects that serve to promote academic understanding, interdisciplinary orientation, and reflection on the applicable law. These are the following subject areas: history of law, philosophy of law or legal theory, sociology of law, and constitutional history. A further legally relevant group of subjects offered in this area of concentration concerns auxiliary legal studies. These subjects, too, are offered at other Swiss universities as part of the core law degree programme. Due to their interdisciplinary nature, they fit very well into the Contextual Studies programme. These subjects are of direct practical relevance to law and should therefore also be taught with a practical orientation and with a view to acquiring specific applied skills. These are the following subject areas: criminology, criminalistics, legal psychology, legal rhetoric, forensic psychiatry, forensic medicine, legal informatics, management, and law, as well as penitentiary science. The subjects of Law and Economics bachelor‘s or master‘s degree are a special case since they have a reflective function but can nevertheless be categorised here as well. The third group is made up of subjects that complement the core legal training but do not primarily serve the purpose of reflection or interdisciplinary  practical skills. These are subjects such as comparative law, introduction to Anglo-American law, canon law etc. The fourth group includes subjects that are related to law in a broader sense but are not part of the standard law degree program in Switzerland. These include subjects that reflect on the law from non-legal perspectives and do not aim to have any specific practical relevance. This includes subjects of legal relevance offered by lecturers without a legal background and especially without familiarity with national or international law relevant to Switzerland.

¹ With the introduction of the NKL in 2001, several foundational law subjects were moved from the former law degree core programme to Contextual Studies programme, since otherwise there would not have been enough ECTS available for the foundational law subjects to offer a curriculum that is suitable for lawyers.

Bachelor: The focus is on imparting knowledge and developing orientational and reflective competence.

Master: The focus should be on deepening reflection and practising application skills.

Key Topics:

BA:

• General European Legal History
• Philosophy of Law
• Sociology of Law
• Forensic Psychiatry
• Constitutional History
• Legal Informatics
• Law & Economics

MA:

• Contemporary Legal History
• Criminology
• Legal Psychology
• Forensic Medicine
• Penitentiary Science
• Legal Informatics (English)