LAWS7970 Comparative Criminal Law
This course offers a comparative and critical investigation into criminal law and criminal justice as it is conceptualised and also how it operates within the main legal traditions of the world. The course explores the relationship between law, justice, crime and punishment and how each is manifest within contemporary legal systems. The course uses comparative methodology to highlight similarities and differences between and within legal traditions. It also will assess the different criminal law processes and their outcomes and how these can inform criminal law reform in a global context.
In this course we explore the legal traditions, criminal justice institutions and offences through a case study approach, including:
- UK and Germany
- Dayaks of Borneo
- Confucianism in Korea
- Syariah in Saudi Arabia & Brunei
- Socialism in PRC
- Colonialism in Indonesia
- Pluralism in Malaysia
- Military in USA & Australia
- Morality: adultery & prostitution
- Genocide & crimes ag humanity
- Human Rights including death penalty, lèse majesté; honour killings; anti-terrorism offences
Associate Professor Ann Black
Ann Black teaches and researches in the field of comparative law and legal pluralism. She has a strong research focus on the law and legal cultures of Asia, and in the role of Shari’a law in Australia and other nations of the Asia-Pacific, in particular, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam. Ann’s book, Modern Perspectives on Islamic Law, co-authored with Nadir Hosen and Hossein Esmaeili, contributes to scholarship in these topical matters. She is also the co-author of Law and Legal Institutions of Asia: Traditions, adaptations and innovations.
Ann is Deputy Director of the Centre for Public, International and Comparative Law.