General Course Information
1.1 Course details
| Course code: | LLAW3191 |
| Course name: | Comparative Family Law |
| Programme offered under: | LLB Programme |
| Semester: | Second |
| Designated research course: | Yes |
| Specialization: | Not applicable |
| Prerequisites / Co-requisites: | No |
| Course offered to non-law students: | No |
| Credit point value: | 6 credits |
1.2 Course description
The course focuses on family law issues in a comparative and international context and prior knowledge of family law or comparative law is not required. Topics include: property and maintenance on divorce; the grounds for divorce; the legal status of cohabitants; legal regulation of adult relationships and changing family constructs; marital agreements (i.e. pre-nuptial, post-nuptial and separation agreement), the relevance of gender in family law and changing one’s legal gender; the legal relationship of parents and children (including multiparenting, surrogacy, adoption and parental responsibility).
All topics are covered from a comparative perspective.
This course will be taught as an intensive course, and active student participation is expected. For all sessions mandatory and voluntary additional reading will be set. Participants are expected to have done the mandatory reading in advance to be able to participate and discuss the material.
This course will be of interest to students and practitioners wanting to acquire an up-to-date understanding of current policy and issues in family law around the world and anyone with an interest in family law, comparative law and social policy.
1.3 Course teachers
| Name | E-mail address | Office | Consultation | |
| Course convenor | Weilin Xiao | TBA | N/A | By email |
Learning Outcomes
2.1 Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs) for this course
CLO 1 Be familiar with the way certain core areas of family law are approached in different jurisdictions.
CLO 2 Have gained an awareness of the underlying social issues and the policies pursued with the different legal rules.
CLO 3 Be able to assess critically the approaches taken in the various jurisdictions based on the respective legal, cultural and social environment.
CLO 4 Be better placed to identify relevant legal problems not only in national and international family law cases, but also when advising commercial and corporate clients (who, after all, will also face family law problems which might affect their investments or corporate structures).
2.2 LLB Programme Learning Outcomes (PLOs)
Please refer to the following link: https://course.law.hku.hk/llb-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 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Assessment(s)
3.1 Assessment Summary
| Assessment task | Due date | Weighting | Feedback method* | Course learning outcomes |
| Class participation | N/A | 25% | 1 | 1, 2, 3, 4 |
| Research paper | TBC | 75% | 1 | 1, 2, 3, 4 |
| *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 October / November 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/