Prague Study Abroad Program

July 8 to July 27, 2013

This three-week program looks at the legal systems being developed in European Union.

Charles University, founded in 1348, is Europe's fifth oldest university and the site of the program. The law school is located on the bank of the Vltava (Moldau) River, a five-minute walk from Prague's spectacular Old Town Square. Student housing is available in a university dormitory within a 20-minute walk.

Virtually untouched by World War II, Prague is one of Europe's most beautiful cities. With a population of more than one million and a history reaching deep into the Middle Ages, it offers the visitor an inexhaustible variety of crooked streets, architectural surprises, tucked away pubs, and musical and theatrical events.

In past summer programs, students in Prague met with the Czech Minister of Justice, the President of the Supreme Court, the U.S. ambassador to the Czech Republic, and the Rector of Charles University. They also enjoyed field trips to the Czech countryside led by Czech faculty members.

Courses

European Union Economic Law (Prof. Kral)The course will explain how EU functions as Customs Union, Common Market and Monetary Union. Therefore the course will primarily deal with following areas of EU Economic Law - EU Competition Law, EU Common Market Law, Euro currency Law. The issue of enforcement of EU Economic Law by European Commission and Court of Justice of the EU will be tackled as well.

European Constitutional Law (Prof. Kühn)This course will explain the divergence between judicial review as practiced in the United States and centralized judicial review in Central Europe. We will explore constitutional transnational law in Europe and its impact on Central European countries and discuss substantive issues of constitutional law in Germany and post-communist Europe. We will read and analyze decisions of European courts relating to topics such as abortion, role of religion, criminal process, etc.

Comparative Law: Legal Systems of the World (Prof. Donovan) This course will focus on the European civil law tradition, examining its present-day reality in Europe (Czech Republic), Latin America and Asia (China).  The course will also look briefly at non-U.S. common law systems (Ireland). 

Comparative Immigration Law (Prof. Hing): Using United States immigration and refugee policies as the basis for comparison, this course will explore migration policies in the European Union, Canada, and selected countries of Latin America and Asia. For example, while nationals of European Union countries enjoy free movement and labor migration within the EU, other migrants—such as north Africans—attempting to enter from outside of the area face rigorous challenges. Similarly, while much is made of the challenges that Mexican migrants face in the United States, Mexico has been criticized for its harsh treatment of Guatemalans who have entered into Mexico. Different questions, such as whether any countries are being creative in their visa issuance to enhance their economies or accommodate multi-national individuals as well as corporations will be explored. The course will also review international asylum and refugee conventions, the conditions in refugee camps throughout the world, and contrasting immigrant experiences in various countries.

Faculty

Dolores A. Donovan, BA (Stanford University), JD (Stanford University) - Professor and Director of International Programs Development

Professor Donovan specializes in constitutional and comparative law. Her publications deal with the legal systems of developing nations and criminal justice systems. Her articles can be found in domestic and foreign law journals, ranging from peer-reviewed publications such as the American Journal of Comparative Law to the Ethiopian Law Review. Donovan is a consultant to foundations and government international development agencies. She was the South Asia regional senior equity advisor to the U.S. Agency for International Development, a senior Fulbright Professor at the Ethiopian Civil Service College, a visiting scholar at Harvard Law School, and a visiting professor at the UC Hastings College of Law and the East China Institute of Politics and Law in Shanghai.

Bill Ong Hing, AB (UC Berkeley), JD (University of San Francisco) - Professor of Law

Throughout his career, Professor Bill Ong Hing pursued social justice through a combination of community work, litigation, and scholarship. He is the author of numerous academic and practice-oriented publications on immigration policy and race relations, including Ethical Borders—NAFTA, Globalization, and Mexican Migration (Temple University Press, 2010), Deporting Our Souls-Morality, Values, and Immigration Policy (Cambridge University Press, 2006), Defining America Through Immigration Policy (Temple University Press, 2004), and Making and Remaking Asian America Through Immigration Policy (Stanford University Press, 1993). His book To Be An American: Cultural Pluralism and the Rhetoric of Assimilation (NYU Press, 1997) received the award for Outstanding Academic Book by the librarians' journal Choice. At UC Davis, Hing directed the law school clinical program. He was also co-counsel in the precedent-setting U.S. Supreme Court asylum case, INS v. Cardoza-Fonseca (1987). Hing is the founder of the Immigrant Legal Resource Center in San Francisco and continues to volunteer as general counsel for this organization. He serves on the National Advisory Council of the Asian American Justice Center in Washington, D.C.

Richard Kral, JUDr, LLM (Charles University) - Law Professor at Charles University

Professor Kral lectures and writes on European Union law at Charles University. He also has a master's degree in European Union Law from the University of Amsterdam.

Zdenek Kühn, JUDr (Charles University), PhD (Charles University), SJD/LLM (University of Michigan-Ann Arbor) - Law Professor at Charles University

Professor Kühn is an associate professor of legal theory and political science at Charles University Law School. He has served as a justice to the Supreme Administrative Court of the Czech Republic since Jan. 1, 2008. He received the The Hessel Yntema Prize, in Berkeley, Calif., for the best article by a scholar up to the age of 40 published in vol. 52 of the American Journal of Comparative Law.