Rule of Law, Constitutionalism and Fundamental Principles (Juristprogrammet)
Congratulations! It is with great pleasure to inform that you have been admitted to the course Rule of Law, Constitutionalism and Fundamental Principles at Umeå University. On this page you will find important information that will be useful, so please read it carefully. If you have any questions, you can use the contact form below. We wish you a warm welcome and hope that you will enjoy your period of studies here in Umeå.
The course will begin with registration and an introductory lecture on Monday, August 30th. You will find the time and the place for the course introduction in the schedule. It is important that you attend the registration in order to keep your place on the course. Please contact course administrator anna.henriksson@umu.se if you are unable to attend.
The content of the course is primarily taught through lectures and seminars. As we will approach a complex field of law from both a national, regional and international perspective, the materials and approaches used will differ. This is reflected in the design of the teaching. While some topics may be introduced through lectures, the course includes a large number of 'discussion seminars' where we will jointly explore some of the most challenging issues. To be able to effectively discuss these vast and complex issues you will need to prepare by reading and considering the most up-to-date sources in the field. To support your learning and help you prepare you will be assigned to a group of students that can prepare for the seminars together. These discussions form an important part of the course, making it vital that you have prepared for the seminars in advance by reading the necessary materials and discussed them with your group.
There are a number of databases that will help you find materials necessary for the seminars. These will be further introduced once the course starts but you may want to acquaint yourselves with them if you are not already familiar with them:
www.hudoc.echr.coe.int – HUDOC: This is the case-law database of the European Court of Human Rights. www.eurlex.europa.eu – EurLex: Here you will find both legislation and case-law from the institutions of the European Union.
The course will explore constitutional and rule of law issues using examples from many different jurisdictions around the world, but many examples and discussions will include the European context. As such, some familiarity with the European legal order (EU and European Convention law) is helpful. For students unfamiliar with this legal context, voluntary introductory lectures will be offered to familiarise you with concepts and functions we will refer to later on in the course.
In addition to the textbook, The Constitution of Freedom – An Introduction to Legal Constitutionalism, by András Sajó and Renáta Uitz (Oxford University Press, 2017), which you will be expected to acquire in advance of the start of the course, you will also be expected to read additional materials such as articles and case law, this material will sometimes be provided to you in advance of the seminars but you will also in many cases be expected to identify and read further relevant material made available to you through various databases. The course book will also be available as an e-book through the university library once you have been registered to the course.
The primary mode of examination on the course is an individual paper. To help you prepare for this writing task, there are a number of books on academic writing that may help you. A good place to start is Eugene Volokh's 'Academic Legal Writing', which is now in it's 5th edition (Foundation Press 2016). It is somewhat American in the approach to writing but contains good advice on how to find topics, structure arguments and present your findings. You can also find valuable information about academic writing on the website http://writingguide.se which is published by Swedish university libraries. Further and more course-specific advice on academic writing will be given during the course.
During the course you will find everything you need regarding the course on a learning platform. You need to activate your Umu-id in order to log in there. More information about that can be found under "Activate your user account".
Umu-id är ditt användarkonto. Det behöver du för att kunna registrera dig på utbildningen. När du är ny student får du automatiskt ett Umu-id, men du måste själv aktivera det för att det ska fungera.
Umu-id kommer du behöva när du ska: • registrera dig på kurser • lämna in tentor, uppgifter eller se dina resultat • kolla din studentmejl • skaffa Umu-kort • använda datorer i datorsalar och universitetets wifi.
För att få tillgång till ditt Umu-id behöver du gå igenom vår aktiveringsguide. Detta kan du göra en vecka innan terminsstart, men ofta går det att göra tidigare än så. Du får inget särskilt meddelande från oss när det är möjligt att aktivera ditt användarkonto.
När du är på något av våra campus kommer du behöva ett Umu-kort. Umu-kortet är personligt och fungerar som passerkort, kopieringskort och lånekort. Allt i ett. För att få tillgång till kortet måste du själv ansöka om det.
Sök det pedagogiska stöd du har rätt till på direkten. Då är det fixat när terminen börjar och du bara vill komma i gång med utbildningen.
Du kan få stöd om du till exempel har dyslexi, adhd eller nedsatt syn. Beroende på dina behov finns olika typer av stöd. Vanligt är att en får anteckningsstöd, längre skrivtid eller anpassning av sitt kursmaterial. Målet är helt enkelt att göra det lättare för dig att plugga på lika villkor.
Infocenter, möjligen de bästa vi har. De hjälper dig genom de första veckorna som ny student. Kanske behöver du hjälp med ditt Umu-id, att hitta rätt i lokalerna eller snabbt stämma av med en studievägledare? Och skulle de inte ha ett svar direkt, så vet de var och hur de vägleder dig vidare.
Infocenter håller till i Universum, huset mitt på Campus Umeå. Det är bara att du hör av dig om något krånglar.
