UCL - Seminar in the History of Law and Justice

[HIST2570]

[22.5h] 10 credits

This course is taught in the 1st semester.

Teacher(s): Xavier Rousseaux

Language: French

Level: Second

Aims
Main themes
Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

Aims

This seminar is intended to train students to do research in the area of the history of law and justice. The student must demonstrate the capacity to apply historical method to a specific question. Combining a problematic based on lectures on theoretical topics, heuristic research, a project involving original documents, and interpretation and analysis of data that has been gathered for the purpose, the student must be able to synthesize questions, methods, and results in an oral presentation and a written report, and defend his or her results in a scientific discussion.

Main themes

The seminar will take the comparativist view of the " longue durée " in Western history. Students may approach this theme in terms of the historical period they prefer to concentrate on.
The theme of the course will be approached from a number of angles : cultural representations, normative attitudes, social practices and collective actors. Deciding on methods and interpreting results is a task that can be accomplished collectively.
The theme shall also be presented as it appears in connection with subjects that are closely linked by a shared problematic. For each such subject the student will construct a problematic, learn and master methods for handling data, and propose interpretations of the phenomenon under analysis.
Through better and better knowledge of the craft of the historian, and through the effort of communication this craft involves, the seminar constitutes direct preparation for final projects or Master's theses.

Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

There is no formal prerequisite but the course on the History of Law and Justice can serve as a good introduction to this area.