International Summer School

This module offers a comprehensive introduction to the intersection of Business Law and Technology. In today's rapidly evolving business landscape, understanding the legal implications of technological advancements is essential. Participants will delve into key aspects of business law that pertain to technology.

This session provides a foundational understanding of the legal landscape that governs the business-technology interface. The module is designed to equip participants with the knowledge and legal acumen necessary to navigate the dynamic intersection of business, law, and technology.

Week one:

• Introduction to Business Law and Technology
• Introduction to Digital Innovations in Trade Finance Law
• Introduction to Intellectual Property Law and Technology
• Introduction to Privacy, Data Protection and Cybersecurity Law
• Introduction of Dispute Resolution and Technology

Week two:

• Introduction to Competition Law
• Introduction to Business and Human Rights Law
• Introduction to Fintech and Financial Services Law
• Introduction to Contract Law and Technology
• Introduction to Corporate Governance and Compliance

Recognition is fundamental to the law; it is also a fundamental human need. When denied recognition, human beings struggle, even risk their own lives, to achieve it. But what is recognition and why is it so highly valued? How has it been theorised and operationalised? What are the micro- and macro-practices of recognition and misrecognition? How can a better understanding of recognition inform strategies of advocacy, activism or law reform?

This International Summer School module offers an advanced introduction to the theory of recognition in philosophy and in law. To be recognised can give us self-respect and self-esteem, and without it we will struggle to make our voice heard or make sense of our lives. What are the origins of the concept of recognition? How does it work? What does it mean to be mis-recognised? And how can we use the concept of recognition to understand social and political problems?

We will consider the historical and theoretical foundations of recognition in modern European philosophy (from Westphalia and Rousseau to Hegel and Honneth) and apply it to some of the most pressing legal problems and social challenges of our time.

Week one: Historical and theoretical foundations

• Westphalian recognition
• “Don’t tread on me” – Fichte and the summons
• The master-slave dialectic – Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit
• The struggle for recognition – Honneth on the modern recognition order
• Competition for social esteem

Week two: Legal applications

• Equal recognition before the law
• Language, ethnicity and the struggle for cultural recognition
• Furiosi voluntas nulla est: disability and interdiction
• Misrecognition: the case of sexual objectification
• Student presentations

Teaching team

Timo Jütten is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Essex and a member of the Essex Human Rights Centre. His principal research interests are in Critical Theory, and he directs the Competition and Competitiveness Project, which examines the role that competition plays in social life.

Wayne Martin is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Essex and a member of the Essex Human Rights Centre. His historical research interests include Rousseau and German Idealism. He directs the Essex Autonomy Project and is actively involved in reform initiatives designed to achieve more inclusive regimes of legal recognition for persons living with disabilities.

Law and literature brings together different ways of thinking about interpretation and story-telling. Readers of literature often inadvertently encounter the relationship between law and literature in life-writing, poetry, drama, and crime fiction. Literature has been used to represent the law, crime, rights, injustice, and ethical issues. Novels which deal with inheritance, marriage, scientific experiments, or war, can be interpreted through the lens of law and literature. This module will reflect on the relationship between law and literature, language and power, texts and readers.

During the module we will spend time in the University of Essex’s archive, Special Collections in the Albert Sloman Library, to look at some unique documents related to the crime writer, Margery Allingham.

At the end of this module you will therefore have experience of working with archives as well as studying law and literature. An optional task during the module will be to create your own research diary or poster as a record of what you have discovered.

This module explores the following questions:

• How has literature been used to raise awareness about legal issues and to campaign for changes in the law?
• What insights are to be discovered in records of trials and writings about the prison experience?
• How has literature represented crime, the workings of the legal system and its representatives?

The module will involve the study of:

• Close readings of a variety of texts (short stories, autobiographies, novels, plays)
• Online resources (transcripts of court trials; newspaper reports)
• Manuscripts and documents in the archive

Week one: Law Making

• Extending the Vote
• Staging law and Justice (drama and women’s suffrage)
• Autobiography and legislative campaigns
• Literature and Law in Wartime

Week two: Law Breaking

• Crime Fiction
• Crime Fiction in the Archive (Visit to Special collections on Margery Allingham)
• Records of Crime: The Newgate Calendar and the Old Bailey
• The Prison Experience
• Censorship

This module is about the basic methods and analysis of data within Economics, and the interpretation of empirical results.

More specifically, the module aims are:

• To provide an introduction to data analysis in economics. How to find and create datasets and how to describe the main features of economic data;
• To develop an understanding of simple statistical and econometric techniques used in economics that complement the theoretical treatment in Introduction to Quantitative Economics;
• To provide an introduction on how economic models are tested using data and how to interpret results both statistically and economically;
• To provide an introduction to policy evaluations in Economics.

Upon completion of this module, students will be able to apply basic data analysis to address economic issues. Each student will be aware of the main sources of economic data; how to construct and interpret graphs of the data; how to construct summary statistics and how to interpret statistical regressions in relation to economic issues. Their ability to read, understand and properly manipulate data will be strongly enhanced, especially from an empirical point of view. Students are introduced to the knowledge of widely used computational packages and plenty of examples from real datasets.

Textbooks:

• Lind, Douglas; Marchal, William; Wathen, Samuel. (2018) Basic Statistics for Business and Economics, OH: McGraw-Hill Education.
• Gertler, Paul; Martínez Wilde, Sebastián; Premand, Patrick; Rawlings, Laura; Vermeersch, Christel; World Bank Group; Inter-American Development Bank. (2016) Impact evaluation in practice, Washington, DC: IDB, Inter-American Development Bank.
• Asteriou, Dimitrios; Hall, S. G. (2016) Applied econometrics, New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Griffiths, Alan; Wall, Stuart. (2012) Applied economics, Harlow: Pearson Education limited.

Week one:

• Day 1: Introduction to the economic data
• Day 2: Randomised experiments
• Day 3: Instrumental variables
• Day 4: Regression discontinuity
• Day 5: Difference in differences

Week two:

• Day 6: Education
• Day 7: Gender Discrimination
• Day 8: Employment
• Day 9: Health

Language is an essential component of human communication, shaping our thoughts, relationships, and cultures. In this module, we will delve into the fascinating field of Language and Linguistics, exploring their various intersections with law.

Join us for a series of engaging lectures, interactive workshops, and thought-provoking debates that will provide you with a comprehensive understanding of the complex relationship between language, including different aspects of its use, and the relationship with law and policy. You will be offered opportunities to explore the intricate connection between language and law from different perspectives, primarily by tackling the following questions:

• How do language policies and social perceptions of language impact forensic investigations and the pursuit of justice?
• How does the understanding and accurate translation of legal texts contribute to the administration of justice and cross-border communication?

We will have a taste of forensic and sociolinguistics, multilingualism, language policy and the impact that language policies have on diverse communities. We will critically analyse the potential of language policy to perpetuate inequalities and affect language rights. We will discuss the impact of language on education and social perceptions, considering inclusive language policies for social justice. We will examine the influence of language on forensic analyses, such as voice identification and authorship attribution.

Naturally, we will delve into the complexities of translating and interpreting legal documents in police and court settings. We will analyse legal language, its formal nature, precise terminology, and the complex structures found in contracts, treaties, and statutes. We will explore challenges faced by translators, like the loss/distortion of legal concepts, linguistic ambiguity, and nuanced interpretation of terms. Using case studies and exercises, we will examine strategies translators and interpreters  employ to overcome these challenges.

Some of the topics we will cover in this module include:

1. Language in education policy and multilingualism, with a specific focus on African contexts.
2. Games for Social Justice Education: Exploring how language can be used as a tool for promoting social justice.
3. Legal Document Language and Their Translation: Analyzing the intricacies of legal language and the challenges involved in translation.
4. Interpreting and Cross-Cultural Mediation in Legal Contexts: Examining the role of interpreters in legal proceedings and the cultural complexities they navigate.
5. Forensic Sociolinguistics: Investigating how language analysis can contribute to forensic investigations.

Assessment:

As part of the module, you will have the opportunity to create your own research diary or a poster to document your discoveries.