You’ll cover the legal aspects of banking transactions, banking regulation and the bank-customer relationship. You’ll be introduced to the concept as banks as economic and social institutions and their regulation in a domestic and global context. You’ll analyse the bank-customer relationship including the important issues of contractual fairness, the banks duty of confidentiality, and the potential for transactional and advisory liability.

In this module you’ll develop detailed knowledge of the techniques and legal context of the financing of international trade. You’ll focus on international trade finance products and methods; namely documentary collections, documentary letters of credit, standby letters of credit and bonds/guarantees, international factoring, forfaiting, international leasing, and export credit agency financing. No previous knowledge is required.

In this module you study the second most important contract in international trade, the carriage contract. You’ll develop substantial knowledge of the carriage contract and will be able to place that within the matrix of international shipment sales, including the insurance and finance of international trade. You’ll also interpret domestic and international legislation relating to the international carriage of goods by sea.

The vast increase in international trade has led to a proportionate increase in the use of arbitration as a means of resolving international commercial disputes. You’ll examine the different aspects of international commercial and investment arbitration with a view to understanding best practices in the working of the arbitral tribunals.

This module provides a comprehensive overview to the international legal framework applicable to the sea. Historically, the seas have always played an important role in the interests of States, eg exploration, navigation and trade, as well as the exploitation of resources. The delicate balance between the principles of sovereignty and freedom of the high seas is placed alongside the need for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity, raising tensions and fundamentally important questions of international law. This module offers you the opportunity to engage with the most cutting-edge developments in international law, as well as to understand the rich history that has shaped the international law of the sea. The module commences by demonstrating how the codification of the international law of the sea has been characterized by the differing interests of States, trying to achieve a sensitive balance between State sovereignty and the freedom of the high seas -- as evidenced by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea "UNCLOS" (1982). The module will then examine how UNCLOS governs different sea zones, starting from the rights and obligations of coastal States in relation to the territorial seas, contiguous zones and exclusive economic zone. The special regime of the continental shelf will also be addressed in light of the rights and powers of coastal States, eg exploitation of resources, as well as the rights and interests of third States and the international community, eg marine scientific research and protection of the marine environment. The module then moves beyond national jurisdiction by delving into the legal regime of the high seas, dealing with freedom of fishing and navigation, and with the rules permitting ships to visit and search other ships (shipping interdiction). The regime of the International Seabed Area will also be examined. Then, the module will consider States' rights, duties and obligations in relation to the conservation of marine living resources, as well as the conservation of marine biological diversity, before drawing to light the ongoing negotiations at the UN in relation to a legally binding instrument on the conservation of marine biological diversity beyond national jurisdiction. Finally, this module will expose you to the approach of international courts and tribunals to maritime delimitation claims between States. You will learn about the voluntary and compulsory mechanisms available to States for disputes on the law of the sea.

This module examines the concepts, theories, rules, models and principles of Conflict of Laws as they relate to commercial relationships, transactions and disputes. Focusing on litigation, it considers relevant international conventions, regional instruments, model laws, legal guides, restatements of law, national law and other sources of rules and principles governing transborder commercial relationships, transactions and disputes. It then investigates how Conflict of Laws has developed to balance international or transnational commercial concerns with national approaches in determining appropriate jurisdiction and choice of law and in recognising and enforcing foreign judgments. The module critically examines theoretical debates and doctrines of Conflict of Laws in the light of existing transnational and national approaches and practical cases. It draws on materials and practices from different national jurisdictions and international or transnational institutions and reflects some degrees of comparative analysis.