International Law

PROFILE

The master degree program entitled International Law is designed for overseas students with interests in financial, investment, business, and commercial law in a transnational context. Through intensive coursework, students develop an intellectual toolbox for future careers in an age of economic globalization.

EDUCATION OBJECTIVES

The master degree program focuses on international law as well as transnational litigation and international arbitration. The degree program provides considerable scope for specialization, but also ensures that students see a wider context so as to allow them to be prepared to craft innovative solutions and think imaginatively about issues and challenges arising in an international business context.

PRACTICAL TEACHING
The master program will help students develop the ability of drafting of arbitration agreements, appointment and challenge of arbitrators, attending preliminary and evidentiary hearings. Also, written advocacy in international arbitration will be provided. We will provide students opportunities to put the newly acquired knowledge from the first section into practice. 

JOB PROSPECTS

The master degree program will train students to seek for the position as advisers to governments, international organizations or NGOs, or experts on the multi-jurisdictional and global regulation of trade in goods, investment

DURATION
3 years.

CORE COURSES
Commercial Sales Law: Domestic and International, International Litigation and Arbitration, International Investment Law and Arbitration, International Criminal Law

• Course Title Commercial Sales Law: Domestic and International 

Credits: 4
Credit Hours: 64
Semester: Fall
Instructor: Yiyan ZHOU
Course Description:
This course examines the law governing the domestic and international sale of goods as regulated by PRC Contract Law and the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods ("CISG"). The course will emphasize the use of statutory default rules to define the commercial relationship and to allocate commercial risks. Specific topics include acceptance and rejection of goods contract interpretation in business transactions, formation of contract issues, including the issue of battle of forms, warranty liability, damage rules, risk of loss, and commercial impracticability. During this course, the solutions provided by the PRC Contract Law and the CISG will be compared. The course will also deal with contracts concluded via electronic means and will, to some extent, also examine consumer transactions.

• Course Title: International Investment Law and Arbitration 

Credits: 4
Credit Hours: 64
Semester: Fall
Instructor: Xinhao MIAO
Course Description:
This course will deal with both the substance of international investment law and the modern regime of international investment treaty arbitration. We will first examine the evolution of investor protection from custom to an institutionalized legal regime governed by multiple international instruments, including the ICSID and New York Conventions. We will then consider the substantive protections for foreign investors that are frequently found in bilateral investment treaties and similar instruments- including provisions on expropriation, fair and equitable treatment, full protection and security, and national treatment, as well as various exceptions or limitations on these obligations, particularly related to national security and other vital public policy interests. We will also examine the arbitration process, including jurisdiction issues, the structure of arbitration proceedings the role of arbitrators and counsel, the relationship between contract and treaty claims, provisional measures, and enforcement of awards.

• Course Title: International Litigation and Arbitration

Credits: 4
Credit Hours: 64
Semester: Spring
Instructor: Chuanfang ZHANG
Course Description:
The course explores, in a litigation context, current developments in private international law, cross-border jurisdiction, international arbitration, foreign sovereign immunity, and human rights from both a Chinese and comparative perspective. The first part of the course involves the traditional reading and discussion of cases and other materials covering important issues involved in transnational litigation, including jurisdiction to prescribe, judicial jurisdiction of courts, international arbitration, recognition and enforcement of judgments, litigation against foreign governments, human rights, and transnational discovery. The last five weeks of the course consist of simulations that involve student submission of briefs and oral arguments of actual cases designed for the course.

• Course Title: International Criminal Law

Credits: 4
Credit Hours: 64
Semester: Spring
Instructor: Zhiou WU
Course Description
This course consists of four sections. First, we will begin with a general introduction to the historical evolution of international criminal law over time including a discussion of the development of the four primary crimes of“international concern"- war crimes, crimes of aggression, crimes against humanity and genocide. Second, we will focus on a number of Chinese domestic statutes that criminalize internationa conduct. These will include laws covering foreign bribery, antitrust and securities violations, and money laundering, piracy, terrorism, torture, and human trafficking. Third, we will examine the application of the Chinese Constitution and Chinese rules of criminal procedure to international criminal cases. Fourth, towards the end of the semester, we will examine more closely the evolution of international tribunals to prosecute crimes of "international concern" and learn more about the elements.