General Course Information
1.1 Course details
| Course code: | LLAW3282 |
| Course name: | The Economic Analysis of Law |
| Programme offered under: | LLB Programme |
| Semester: | Second |
| Designated research course: | Not applicable |
| Specialization: | Not applicable |
| Prerequisites / Co-requisites: | No |
| Course offered to non-law students: | No |
| Credit point value: | 6 credits |
1.2 Course description
Judges make policy through their decisions in individual cases. This observation is especially true of jurisdictions that recognize opinions as authoritative sources of law. To distill precedents and extract from them a rule to govern future cases, skillful lawyers imbue doctrine with spirit and purpose. Are case outcomes best explained by the economic notion of efficiency? How should legal regimes be designed to maximize welfare? Finally, should social efficiency and welfare—as defined by the economist— be the normative goal of law and its institutions? This lecture-based seminar will introduce students to the economic analysis of the common law, including property, contracts, and torts. It will also cover public law themes such as voting and delegation. Finally, challenges to the neo-classical law and economics tradition will be considered. Students should come to each meeting prepared to discuss the assigned readings. This course is self-contained, and no prior knowledge of law or economics is assumed or required.
1.3 Course teachers
| Name | E-mail address | Office | Consultation | |
| Course convenor | Derek Ritzmann | TBC | TBC | By email |
Learning Outcomes
2.1 Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs) for this course
TBA
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 | Weighting | Feedback method* | Course learning outcomes |
| Mid-year examination | 50% | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 | |
| Research paper | 50% | 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 hours / class intensive course in March and April 2026 |
| 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: | A Burrows, Remedies for Torts, Breach of Contract, and Equitable Wrongs (4th edn, OUP 2019) |
5.2 Links
Please refer to the following link: http://www.law.hku.hk/course/learning-resources/