International Law and Comparative Law

About this programme

This innovative degree provides a unique student learning experience through the comparative study of legal cultures, institutional and intellectual expectations of law, and state and international orders. It teaches law at a conceptual level, without focusing on one specific jurisdiction, and can help develop careers across international bodies, non-profit organisations, multinational companies and arbitration. Applicants interested in a career as a Scottish solicitor are directed towards our other LLB programmes. This degree does not qualify candidates to take the Diploma in Professional Practice with a view to entry to the Scottish legal profession. Law is often seen from largely or purely from a particular jurisdictional or cultural standpoint. The LLB (Hons) International Law and Comparative Law programme is different. At the outset of their studies, students become familiar with the levels at which law operates in a global context, including individual jurisdictions, states and the international order. Students then discover the ways in which cultural ideas about law cross traditional jurisdictional and state boundaries, dynamically shaping and reshaping notions of justice and legal practice in the process. Using the tools of comparative law, students are trained to see law from a variety of different perspectives. Seeing law from such different perspectives fosters understanding and respect for the radically different assumptions of other legal traditions and cultures, enabling students to recognise and question the Euro-centric, Western assumptions that often un