Fall 2010 Course Schedule

Comparative Constitutional Law (LAW-707-004)
Chaskalson

Meets: 03:00 PM - 04:50 PM (W) - Room 526

Enrolled: 13 / Limit: 14

Administrator Access


Notices

Students enrolling for the course should be familiar with the basic principles of United States constitutional law.

Description

This will be an interactive course in which the focus will be on discussion of the approach of courts in different jurisdictions to hard cases arising under their bills of rights. Jurisdictions that in the main will be the subject of discussion will be the United States, South Africa, Canada and the United Kingdom. We will look at the structure of the various bills of rights, the context in which they were adopted, and the approach taken to the use of comparative law in dealing with hard cases.

The issues to be considered will include the distinction between formal and substantive equality, discrimination on the grounds of race, gender, and sexual orientation, same sex marriages, affirmative action, religious exceptions to laws of general application, laws proscribing the use of religious symbols, hate speech in the context of national laws and the internet, and socio-economic rights.

This outline is not written in stone and may be developed, added to or possibly changed in the light of issues that surface during discussions.

Textbooks and Other Materials

The textbook information on this page was provided by the instructor. Students should use this information when considering purchases from the AU Campus Store or other vendors. Students may check to determine if books are currently available for purchase online.

A course packet of reading materials must be purchased from the Handout Room on the 4th floor of WCL.

Additional materials may, from time to time, be posted on MyWCL.

First Class Readings

How About a Bill of Rights, A. Chaskalson (Posted on MyWCL)

Section 2 and 172(1) of the South African Consitution (Posted on MyWCL)

From the course packet:

  • Constitutional Rights in Two Worlds: South Africa and the United States, pp. 169-170;
  • European and US Constitutionalism G. Nolte, pp. 165-167;
  • Corder, pp. 172-174;
  • and sections 7(2), 8, 36, 38, 39, and 172(1) of the South African Bill of Rights;
  • Articles 1,14, 32 and 33 of the Canadian Charter of Rights;
  • and sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 and 10 of the UK Human Rights Act, all in the first chapter of the course packet that contains the relevant bills of rights.

Syllabus

Use your MyAU username and password to access the syllabus in the following format(s):