General Course Information
1.1 Course details
| Course code: | LLAW6156 / JDOC6156 |
| Course name: | Comparative Constitutional Law |
| Programme offered under: | LLM Programme / JD Programme |
| Semester: | Second |
| Prerequisites / Co-requisites: | No |
| Credit point value: | 9 credit / 6 credits |
1.2 Course description
This course provides an introduction to comparative constitutional law with a focus on systems of rights protection. After introducing the basic features of modern constitutions, with their emphasis on rights and judicial review, we will focus on the consolidation of the proportionality framework as the dominant, best-practice standard for rights adjudication. Proportionality analysis is a highly intrusive mode of judicial supervision: it permits government to limit rights, but only when necessary to achieve a sufficiently important public interest. Since the 1950s, virtually every powerful domestic and international court has adopted proportionality analysis as the central method for protecting rights. The result has been a massive – and truly global – transformation of law and politics. While there is variance in the intensity of proportionality-based dialogues, such interactions are today at the very heart of governance in the modern constitutional state and in regional human rights regimes.
1.3 Course teachers
| Name | E-mail address | Office | Consultation | |
| Course convenor | Moshe Cohen-Eliya | Moshe.cohen.eliya@clb.ac.il | TBA | By email |
| Course convenor | Iddo Porat | poratiddo@gmail.com | TBA | By email |
Learning Outcomes
2.1 Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs) for this course
CLO 1 Compare and critically evaluate competing descriptive theories of constitutional drafting.
CLO 2 Apply social science theories to describe and explain the behavior of courts.
CLO 3 Describe and explain competing views of the impact of globalization on constitutional law.
CLO 4 Critically evaluate constitutional jurisprudence and make constitutional arguments from a comparative perspective.
CLO 5 Critically evaluate constitutional jurisprudence and make constitutional arguments from a comparative perspective.
2.2 LLM and JD Programme Learning Outcomes (PLOs)
Please refer to the following link:
LLM – https://course.law.hku.hk/llm-plo/
JD – https://course.law.hku.hk/jd-plo/
2.3 Programme Learning Outcomes to be achieved in this course
| PLO A | PLO B | PLO C | PLO D | PLO E | PLO F | |
| CLO 1 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 2 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 3 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 4 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 5 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Assessment(s)
3.1 Assessment Summary
| Assessment task | Due date | Weighting | Feedback method* | Course learning outcomes |
| Take home exam | 10 Mar 2024 | 100% | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
| *Feedback method (to be determined by course teacher) | |
| 1 | A general course report to be disseminated through Moodle |
| 2 | Individual feedback to be disseminated by email / through Moodle |
| 3 | Individual review meeting upon appointment |
| 4 | Group review meeting |
| 5 | In-class verbal feedback |
3.2 Assessment Detail
To be advised by course convenor(s).
3.3 Grading Criteria
Please refer to the following link: https://www.law.hku.hk/_files/law_programme_grade_descriptors.pdf
Learning Activities
4.1 Learning Activity Plan
| Seminar: | 3 hour-seminar in an intensive mode in January / February 2023 |
| Private study time: | 9.5 hours / week for 12 teaching weeks |
Remarks: the normative student study load per credit unit is 25 ± 5 hours (ie. 150 ± 30 hours for a 6-credit course), which includes all learning activities and experiences within and outside of classroom, and any assessment task and examinations and associated preparations.
4.2 Details of Learning Activities
To be advised by course convenor(s).
Learning Resources
5.1 Resources
| Reading materials: | Reading materials are posted on Moodle |
| Core reading list: | TBA |
| Recommended reading list: | TBA |
5.2 Links
Please refer to the following link: http://www.law.hku.hk/course/learning-resources/