General Course Information
1.1 Course details
| Course code: | LLAW6215 / JDOC6215 |
| Course name: | Seminar on Human Rights and Constitutionalism in Asia |
| Programme offered under: | LLM Programme / JD Programme |
| Semester: | Second |
| Prerequisites / Co-requisites: | No |
| Credit point value: | 9 credits / 6 credits |
| Cap on student numbers: | 30 |
1.2 Course description
The Seminar on Constitutionalism and Human Rights in Asia offers an opportunity to explore human rights in its social and institutional contexts. Students will explore the important themes of constitutionalism and human rights in Asia, a region that houses nearly two-thirds of the world’s population and includes a wide range of cultures and developmental contexts.
This course adopts an interdisciplinary and comparative approach to analyze the interaction between constitutional law and politics in Asia. We will examine communist regimes (China, Vietnam), dominant party democracies (HKSAR, Singapore), and liberal democracies (Taiwan, South Korea), and explore how the regime-type of the constitutional system impacts human rights enforcement by the courts.
1.3 Course teachers
| Name | E-mail address | Office | Consultation | |
| Course convenor | Po Jen Yap | pjyap@hku.hk | CCT 510 | By email |
Learning Outcomes
2.1 Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs) for this course
CLO 1 Describe and explain the political systems in China, Vietnam, HKSAR, Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea.
CLO 2 Critically examine how the political system affects judicial behavior and the enforcement of human rights.
CLO 3 Apply and demonstrate one’s understanding of how constitutionalism in Asia converges and diverges from the West.
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 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Assessment(s)
3.1 Assessment Summary
| Assessment task | Due date | Weighting | Feedback method* | Course learning outcomes |
| Class presentation | TBC | 25% | 1, 3, 4 | 1, 2, 3 |
| Research paper | TBC | 75% | 1, 3, 4 | 1, 2, 3 |
| *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 / 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
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/