0General Course Information
1.1 Course details
| Course code: | LLAW6260 / JDOC6260 |
| Course name: | Law of State Immunity and Sovereign Debt |
| Programme offered under: | LLM Programme / JD Programme |
| Semester: | Second |
| Prerequisites: | Competence in the common law of contract or a civilian law of obligations; LLAW6055 Law of International Finance 1 for LLM & MCL candidates |
| Credit point value: | 9 credit |
| Cap on student numbers: | 30 |
1.2 Course description
This is a topical course which is a capstone for full–time LLM(CFL) students, and will also be of interest to JD, MCL and LLM(CR) candidates concerned with developing topics in private and public international law. It deals with recent conflicts arising between state immunity or foreign acts of state, customary international law, and the private law of contract, especially in cases of distressed foreign currency sovereign debt.
SISD will address the results of two modern developments, the widespread adoption of the doctrine of restricted sovereign immunity in the engagement of states with commercial actors; second, a long–term transition in foreign currency borrowing by central governments from being evidenced by inter–state treaties to private law contracts. The results include private litigation involving state debtors, and renewed discussion of the scope of state immunity.
These changes have contributed to increasing conflicts between official interests and diffuse creditor groups in cases involving delinquent or distressed debt; by protracted creditor litigation, for example involving Argentina, Greece, Ukraine and Venezuela; an erosion of engagement among previously–cooperative commercial creditors; and a lack of international consensus in dealing with the odious debts of impoverished states in political flux.
The course will examine all aspects of these issues, in a seminar setting with a high–degree of class participation through weekly discussions of specific course topics, supported by guided readings and issues introduced each week by class members.
1.3 Course teachers
| Name | E-mail address | Office | Consultation | |
| Course convenor | Paul Lejot | plejot@hku.hk | CCT 304 | Tue-Fri 1500-1800 by appointment |
Learning Outcomes
2.1 Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs) for this course
CLO 1 Understand critical and conflicting issues of current commercial practice and international law.
CLO 2 Understand and critically assess an example of stress between the expectations of public policy with regard to economically weakened states, and how public international law is challenged by the use of private law to govern sovereign borrowing.
CLO 3 Apply insights from the course to questions arising in commercial and advisory practices, including contract drafting and multicreditor negotiations.
CLO 4 Understand and interpret the value of accepted rules of bankruptcy or restructuring in complex cross order workouts.
CLO 5 Critically evaluate aspects of financial sector innovation.
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 |
| Coursework and class participation | TBC | 40% | 2, 5 | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
| Take home research paper | TBC | 60% | 1, 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
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: | Posted regularly at Moodle during the course |
| Core reading list: |
|
| Recommended reading list: | Further source material will be posted at Moodle |
5.2 Links
Please refer to the following link: http://www.law.hku.hk/course/learning-resources/