HIST4700MM Topic Studies in Public History:
The Rule of Law in World History

    This course introduces students to the major themes and events in Western legal history, beginning with the legacy of ancient Greek and Roman law and culminating in its global legacy in the modern U.S. and Asia. It combines aspects of both the content and social history of the law (text and context) as it developed over time from antiquity to the present day. Key topics include the emergence of the Roman legal tradition, its reception in antiquity and the Middle Ages, the development of non-Roman legal systems such as English Common Law, and the spread of international and commercial law in the early modern period. It concludes by considering the impact of the various Western legal traditions in the modern world (especially contemporary China), helping students understand present-day legal changes in historical context.

Lecture 01: Introduction (Morton & McManus)

Aristotle, Politics III.16
Plato, Statesman, 294a-296a 
Endicott, “The Impossibility of the Rule of Law” 
Explore this resource: https://worldjusticeproject.org/our-work/research-and-data/wjp-rule-law-index-2019 

Lecture 02: Greece and Republican Rome (Morton)

Aristotle, The Athenian Constitution 1-11, 20-25: https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/ancient/aristotle-athcon.txt
Polybius, The Constitution of the Roman Republic: http://homepage.usask.ca/~jrp638/DeptTransls/Polybius.html
Han Feizi the Legalist, “The Five Vermin” http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/ps/cup/hanfei_five_vermin.pdf  

Lecture 03: Justinian (McManus)

Codex of Justinian, 1st, 2nd & 3rd Prefaces, Book I.1 https://droitromain.univ-grenoble-alpes.fr/Anglica/codjust_Scott.htm 
Institutes, Preamble & Book 1, titles 1-3, Book  2, titles 1-6 & 10-12 https://droitromain.univ-grenoble-alpes.fr/Anglica/iust_institut_Scott.html 
Tang Code, “The Great Abominations” http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/ps/cup/zhangsun_wuji_great_tang_code.pdf 

Lecture 04: Barbarian Codes and Post-Roman Law (Morton)

Katherine Fisher Drew (trans.), The Laws of the Salian Franks (Philadelphia, 1991), 28-39, 171-182 https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/cuhk-ebooks/detail.action?docID=3441443
Katherine Fisher Drew (trans.), The Lombard Laws (Philadelphia, 1973), 39-60 https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/cuhk-ebooks/detail.action?docID=3441539
S.P. Scott (trans.), The Visigothic Code (Forum Judicum) (Boston, 1910), 1-14 [pdf]

Lecture 05: Canon and Civil Law (Morton)

Gratian, The Treatise on Laws (Decretum DD. 1-20) With the Ordinary Gloss, trans. Augustine Thompson (Washington, D.C., 1993), Introduction (ix-xxvii), Distinction 10 (32-37), Distinctions 15-18 (53-76): https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/cuhk-ebooks/detail.action?docID=3135130

Lecture 06 Common Law (McManus)

Justice Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (Introduction part 3 “Of the Laws of England” & Book 1 Chapter 1 “Of the Absolute Rights of Individuals”) https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/b/blackstone/william/comment/contents.html 
“Entick v Carrington” https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/KB/1765/J98.html 

Lecture 07: Humanism and Natural Law (McManus)

Aquinas on Natural Law https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/aquinas2.asp 
Francisco de Vitoria, On the American Indians (extracts)

Lecture 08: Commerce and Navigation (Morton)

Hugo Grotius, The Freedom of the Seas, trans. Ralph van Deman Magoffin (Oxford, 1916), 1-10, 22-64 [pdf]

Lecture 09: The Codification Movement (Morton)

French Constitution (1791), Preamble, Titles 1-3: http://www.historywiz.com/primarysources/const1791text.html
Napoleonic Code, Preliminary Title, Book 1 Title 1, Book 2 Titles 1-2: http://www.napoleon-series.org/research/government/c_code.html 
Friedrich Carl von Savigny, The Vocation of Our Age for Legislation and Jurisprudence, trans. Abraham Hayward (London, 1999), 13-35, 41-65, 92: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/cuhk-ebooks/detail.action?docID=3117696

Lecture 10: US Law (McManus)

US Constitution, Preamble & articles 1-4 https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution 
Introduction to Property https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSNTJ8Lh6A4
Capture and Dealing with common property https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuwqzAQ0TMA 
Pierson v. Post http://www.courts.state.ny.us/reporter/archives/pierson_post.htm 

Lecture 11: British Imperial Law (Morton)

Return to An Address of the Honourable The House of Commons, Dated 14 May 1858, for A ‘Copy of Any Charter of Justice, or Orders in Council in the Nature of Charters of Justice, for the Colonies of St Helena and Hong Kong’ [pdf]

Lecture 12: Hong Kong Law Today (McManus)

The Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China https://www.basiclaw.gov.hk/en/basiclawtext/images/basiclaw_full_text_en.pdf 
Download the app: https://www.basiclaw.gov.hk/en/news/mobileapp.html 

Lecture 13: Chinese Civil Law (McManus)

General Provisions of the Civil Code, Chs 1-2 https://www.chinalawtranslate.com/bilingual-general-provisions-of-the-civil-code/?lang=en 
The Socialist System of Laws with Chinese Characteristics http://www.npc.gov.cn/englishnpc/c2761/201110/cea25fcbc9894e51861732d15bacb163.shtml 
Basic Law Quiz

Tutorial accounts for 20% of the final grade. Students have to attend 4 tutorial classes. More details will be announced.

Additional Reading

    There is no textbook. However, students looking for an introduction to the topic should refer to: Tamar Herzog, A Short History of European Law: The Last Two and A Half Millennia, 2019 [on hold in library] and Brian Z. Tamanaha, On the Rule of Law: History, Politics, Theory, 2004 [CUHK Ebook; there is also a Chinese translation with Wuhan University Press, as well as translations into several other languages].  

Attention is drawn to University policy and regulations on honesty in academic work, and to the disciplinary guidelines and procedures applicable to breaches of such policy and regulations. Details may be found at http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/.

With each assignment, students will be required to submit a signed declaration that they are aware of these policies, regulations, guidelines and procedures.

• In the case of group projects, all members of the group should be asked to sign the declaration, each of whom is responsible and liable to disciplinary actions, irrespective of whether he/she has signed the declaration and whether he/she has contributed, directly or indirectly, to the problematic contents.
• For assignments in the form of a computer-generated document that is principally text-based and submitted via VeriGuide, the statement, in the form of a receipt, will be issued by the system upon students’ uploading of the soft copy of the assignment.

Assignments without the properly signed declaration will not be graded by teachers.

Only the final version of the assignment should be submitted via VeriGuide.

The submission of a piece of work, or a part of a piece of work, for more than one purpose (e.g. to satisfy the requirements in two different courses) without declaration to this effect shall be regarded as having committed undeclared multiple submissions. It is common and acceptable to reuse a turn of phrase or a sentence or two from one’s own work; but wholesale reuse is problematic. In any case, agreement from the course teacher(s) concerned should be obtained prior to the submission of the piece of work.