LLAW6036 & JDOC6036 – Course Profile

General Course Information

1.1 Course details

Course code:	LLAW6036 / JDOC6036
Course name:	International Criminal Law
Programme offered under:	LLM Programme / JD Programme
Semester:	June
Prerequisites / Co-requisites:	Not applicable
Credit point value:	9 credits / 6 credits

1.2 Course description

International criminal law is an extremely topical, relevant and increasingly controversial area of international governance. This course explores the rationale, origins, normative development, and institutional mechanisms of international criminal law, and discusses its current state and place in the modern international legal system in light of important recent developments. The course comprises three parts. The first part discusses the historical development of international criminal law, introducing students to early attempts to enforce rules prohibiting war crimes before the Second World War, the establishment of various international criminal tribunals in the second half of the 20^th century, and the evolution of rationale and sources of international criminal law. The second part of the course discusses principles of international law, particular international crimes (i.e., war crimes, crimes against humanity, crimes of aggression and genocide), modes of criminal liability, and defences developed by recent jurisprudence of international criminal tribunals. In the final part, the course considers contemporary politics and anxieties surrounding international criminal law and examines various backlashes, critiques and crises faced by international criminal law and tribunals.

1.3 Course teachers

	Name	E-mail address	Office	Consultation
Course convenor	Daqun Liu	TBA	N/A	By email

Learning Outcomes

2.1 Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs) for this course

CLO 1 To have a better understanding of how to study law and to hone the students’ skills of researching, reading, thinking, writing and presentation.

CLO 2 To gain the basic knowledge of international criminal law.

CLO 3 To understand the components of international crimes, such as mens rea, actus reus and contextual elements.

CLO 4 To understand the history of international law and international criminal law.

CLO 5 To apply the knowledge you gained at class to current international situation.

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
To be confirmed	TBC	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 the 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 seminars in an intensive mode in June semester
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 convenor(s).

Learning Resources

5.1 Resources

Reading materials:

Reading materials are posted on Moodle

Core reading list:

International Criminal Law, Antonio Cassese, Oxford University Press, 2003.
Or International Criminal Law: Cases and Commentary. Antonio Cassese, Guido Acquaviva, Mary Fan and Alex Whiting, Oxford University Press, 2013.
Smith and Hogan, Criminal Law, David Ormerod, Oxford, 12^th Edition. 2008.
Brownlie’s Principles of Public International Law, James Crawford, Oxford, 2013
Legal Reasoning and Legal Theory, Neil MacCormick, Clarendon Law Series, Dec 8, 1994
The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, Triffterer/Ambos, Third Edition, 2016