General Course Information
1.1 Course details
| Course code: | LLAW3277 |
| Course name: | Seminars in Private Law |
| Programme offered under: | LLB Programme |
| Semester: | Second |
| Designated research course: | Not applicable |
| Specialization: | Commercial corporation and financial law |
| Prerequisite: | Contract Law |
| Course offered to non-law students: | No |
| Credit point value: | 6 credits |
1.2 Course description
The course examines cutting edge and fundamental issues in private law (including Contracts, Torts, Unjust Enrichment, Property, Trusts, and Companies), and aims to deepen student knowledge in these areas and plug gaps of knowledge. Through doing so, this course hopes to provide a solid foundation for postgraduate studies and legal practice. It also hopes to equip students with useful skills for application to postgraduate programmes.
While the course develops the knowledge students have acquired in core courses such as Contracts and Torts, it is intended to be free-standing. The course begins with a discussion of the basic values and principles of the main branches of private law, followed by paper presentations by the course teachers and outside speakers (scholars and/or practitioners who are experts in the relevant issues). Students will be well prepared for each presentation by a guided study of the topic concerned in advance, to ensure that they benefit from the presentations.
1.3 Course teachers
| Name | E-mail address | Office | Consultation | |
| Course convenor | Lusina Ho | lusinaho@hku.hk | CCT 614 | By email |
| Course convenor | Peter Chau | pscchau@hku.hk | CCT 706 | By email |
Learning Outcomes
2.1 Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs) for this course
CLO 1 Describe and explain the core values and principles of private law, and the interconnection between different areas of private law.
CLO 2 Describe and explain the theories, doctrines, and debates pertaining to topics on private law presented in the course.
CLO 3 Examine the limitations of current principles in tackling new forms of economy and wealth, and globalization of the world.
CLO 4 Engage with academic writing and discussion about legal controversies.
CLO 5 Demonstrate an awareness of the impact of private law doctrines on their broader economic and socio-cultural contexts.
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 | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
| CLO 5 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Assessment(s)
3.1 Assessment Summary
| Assessment task | Due date | Weighting | Feedback method* | Course learning outcomes |
| Class participation | N/A | 20% | 4 | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
| Oral presentation | TBC | 40% | 4 | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
| Response essay | TBC | 40% | 5 | 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
The assessment will comprise of: (1) class participation (20%); (2) one written response of about 1,200 words to one of the papers presented (40%); and (3) an oral presentation of about 20 minutes (40%). In detail, they involve the below activities:
- Class participation;
- Response essay: students may respond to any of the papers presented by teachers/visitors; and
- Oral presentation: students may present on any core area of law (contracts, torts, etc) that is discussed in the course and does not fall within the core area of their response essay.
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 hours / week for 12 teaching weeks |
| 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
Reading; class discussion; presentation
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/