Course Offerings

University of Baltimore School of Law  |  University of Aberdeen School of Law

All students take two 3-credit courses. The courses have no prerequisites. To orient students on Scots laws and institutions, the program includes several field trips and guest speakers.

Comparative Family Law (3 credits) This course is for students interested in the international and comparative aspects of family law, as well as for students interested in comparative and international law more generally.  It examines family law issues from a global and comparative perspective and explores the influence and limitations of international law in resolving familial conflicts. The course includes a mixture of comparative, international, and transnational family law.  Topics covered included the regulation of marriage and its dissolution, emerging rights and duties of non-marital intimate partners, child custody and international child abduction, financial support of children, and international adoption. Papers may be used to satisfy the advanced writing requirement.  Previous exposure to family law is recommended, but not required.  No previous course work in either international or comparative law is required. This course is team taught by Professor Leigh Goodmark (UB) and Professors Justin Borg-Barthet and Musbasher Chourdy (Aberdeen).

Comparative Environmental and Land Reform Law (3 credits)  This course compares how legal institutions in the U.S., Scotland and the U.K. have addressed environmental and land use issues.  Legislatures, executive agencies, courts and nongovernmental organizations all have played and will continue to play important roles in this area.  The history and development of legal regulation of land, water and the environment generally will be covered and compared.  Specific topics will include public access to private land, government taking of private land for development, protection of beaches and coastal areas (e.g., Donald Trump's Scottish golf course), claims of native and indigenous peoples to land and water, regulation of the oil and energy industries (Aberdeen is the :Oil Capital of Europ" because of the North Sea oil), regulation of the fishing industry, and recent decisions of the highest courts of the U.S. and Scotland. This course is taught by a team led by Professor Garrett Power (UMD) and Professor Douglas Bain (Aberdeen).