• Descripción

This course offers an introduction to the Common Law systems and, particularly, the USA legal system -as a key example. The course covers the conceptual ground of the common law tradition and refers to its key features. The objective is to familiarize students with the concept of common law and its basic distinction from the civil law tradition.

This is an elective subject within the Degre of Law (Grau en Dret).

In the currently globalized context of markets and international laws, it is fundamental that a law graduate has a basic knowledge of the Common law systems.

The course will offer very practical guidance to any future lawyer and legal professional and will prepare him/her for a better understanding of judicial rulings and contracts coming from Common-Law countries.

The student needs to have a sufficient knowledge of the English language in order to be able to follow the course. Specifically, it is necessary that the student has successfully followed the courses "Idioma modern I (English)" and "Idioma modern II (English)" or has an equivalent certificate in English language. 

In addition, it is advisable that the student has some previous knowledge of the basics of the law. Accordingly, it is recommended (albeit not required) that the student has already taken the following courses within the law degree: 

6 Fundamentos históricos del derecho Derecho 

6 Introducción al derecho Derecho

6 Política y sociedad Ciencias políticas 

6 Sistema constitucional español Derecho 

Nevertheless, it is only logical that the higher the student's legal knowledge, the more he/she will be able to enjoy the course and draw parallelisms and differences about the civil and common law systems. For this reason, it is advisable that this elective course is taken during the final stage within the Law Degree curriculum.

Students must be fluent in English, since all the materials and the exercises in this course will ONLY be in English.

• Objetivos y competencias

The course covers the conceptual ground of the common law tradition and refers to its key features. The objective is to familiarize students with the concept of common law and its basic distinction from the civil law tradition, with a specific exam of the USA legal system.

By the end of this course, the student should be able to know and answer to the following: 

- What is common law? How does the common law tradition differ from the civil law tradition? 
- Which are the main characteristics of the current Common-law systems? 
- What is the basic structure of the American (USA) Common law system?
- Which are the fundamental features of the main areas of private and public law in the USA? 

 Learning objectives: 

- Identify the legal principles and the legal institutions of Common law systems. 
- Interpret legal texts of Common law systems. 
- Apply some basic Common Law principles to practical scenarios

• Contenidos

After a brief introduction to the main characteristics, historical origins and development of the common law tradition, the student will be ask to familiarize himself with the specifics of the USA common-law system. 

We will see how specific historical conditions in England resulted in the emergence of the common law tradition, which developed in parallel with but in a distinct manner from the legal organization of the continental Europe. Later, we will study how the English common law is exported to its colonies, most of them which currently form the "Commonwealth". 

We will examine the current Common law systems existing nowadays and give a brief outline of each of them (historical facts) and its political regime, together with the basics of its government, parliament and judicial structure, as well as some key elements of the legal profession and judicial terminology and citation norms. 

The second part of the course will be devoted to learning the basics of the different fields of private and public law in the USA, and applying some of the  concepts learned in the first part of the course into specific scenarios. 

The course materials consist of: 

- a module "Introduction to Common Law" with the history and main elements of the Common Law systems, and which includes an annex with the most common legal terms in Common law; This module is available online (Resources) 

- the book by A. Farnsworth, An Introduction to the Legal System of the United States; This book is available for download on ProQuest Ebook Central (link and instructions on Resources). 

- some additional readings, available online (Resources).

The studying schedule is structured in three units: 

UNIT 1 - Common Law: basic features, history and current regimes. Introduction to the US legal system -- PAC1 

UNIT 2 - The US regime: Judicial (Caselaw) and Legislative (Statutes) systems -- PAC2

UNIT 3 - The US regime: Procedure and Substance (Private and Public Law) --PAC 3 

Overall Study - PAC4

• Consulta de los recursos de aprendizaje de la UOC para la asignatura

• Informaciones sobre la evaluación en la UOC

El proceso de evaluación se fundamenta en el trabajo personal del estudiante y presupone la autenticidad de la autoría y la originalidad de los ejercicios realizados.

La falta de autenticidad en la autoría o de originalidad de las pruebas de evaluación; la copia o el plagio; el intento fraudulento de obtener un resultado académico mejor; la colaboración, el encubrimiento o el favorecimiento de la copia, o la utilización de material, software o dispositivos no autorizados durante la evaluación, entre otras, son conductas irregulares en la evaluación que pueden tener consecuencias académicas y disciplinarias graves.

Estas conductas irregulares pueden comportar el suspenso (D/0) en las actividades evaluables que se definan en el plan docente -incluidas las pruebas finales- o en la calificación final de la asignatura, sea porque se han utilizado materiales, software o dispositivos no autorizados durante las pruebas, como por ejemplo redes sociales o buscadores de información en internet, porque se han copiado fragmentos de texto de una fuente externa (internet, apuntes, libros, artículos, trabajos o pruebas de otros estudiantes, etc.) sin la citación correspondiente, o porque se ha llevado a cabo cualquier otra conducta irregular.

Así mismo, y de acuerdo con la normativa académica, las conductas irregulares en la evaluación también pueden dar lugar a la incoación de un procedimiento disciplinario y a la aplicación, si procede, de la sanción que corresponda, de conformidad con lo establecido en la normativa de convivencia de la UOC.

En el marco del proceso de evaluación, la UOC se reserva la potestad de:

• Solicitar al estudiante que acredite su identidad según lo establecido en la normativa académica.
• Solicitar al estudiante que acredite la autoría de su trabajo a lo largo de todo el proceso de evaluación, tanto evaluación continua como evaluación final, por medio de una prueba oral o los medios síncronos o asíncronos que establezca la universidad. Estos medios tendrán por objeto verificar los conocimientos y las competencias que garanticen la autoría; en ningún caso implicarán una segunda evaluación. Si no es posible garantizar la autoría del estudiante, la prueba será calificada con D, en el caso de la evaluación continua, o con un Suspenso, en el caso de la evaluación final.

  A estos efectos, la UOC puede exigir al estudiante el uso de un micrófono, una cámara u otras herramientas durante la evaluación; será responsabilidad del estudiante asegurar que tales dispositivos funcionan correctamente.

• Consulta del modelo de evaluación