Professor Luzius Wildhaber

The Law School is pleased to announce that Professor Luzius Wildhaber will teach the course European Human Rights Law & Institutions (LAWS4157) as an intensive course on 25, 26, 30 November and 1 December 2009 in Summer Session.

Professor Wildhaber was the first President of the European Court of Human Rights, a position he held from 1998 to 2007. He is currently a visiting Professor at Yale Law School. He is the author of nine books and 200 articles and has participated extensively in human rights activities. He has been a professor for 30 years, a part-time judge for 23 years and a full-time judge for 8 ˝ years. During this course, Professor Wildhaber will endeavour to present both academic and judicial perspectives and to explain not only the wording of European Human Rights Law but also the genesis of judgments and the management problems of an overloaded court.

Why study European Human Rights Law?
Europe enjoys the world’s most advanced regional human rights system. The development of European human rights law has profoundly changed the ways in which governments, individuals and groups of the nations of Europe interact at the domestic level in relation to political rights, civil rights, social, economic, and cultural rights, as well as in relation to poverty and the distribution of socio-economic resources. The European experience demonstrates how human rights norms and practices can impose vital checks on the exercise of power and the pursuit of national interest. Those wishing to work in the field of human rights will benefit from having a knowledge of the European system, its jurisprudence and its practice.

European Human Rights Law & Institutions (LAWS4157)
The course introduces students to the history and changing views about the European Convention on Human Rights and European Court of Human Rights. The principles and institutions of European human rights law are examined in detail, as are the individual rights and guarantees, including the ‘absolute’ guarantees (right to life, prohibition of torture), the rights to privacy and family life and to property, freedoms of expression, multiculturalism and reform of the system. Students will become familiar with the case law and with the ways in which the principles and institutions apply in practice.

To apply
Masters enrolment: www.apply.unsw.edu.au
Single course non-award or Cross-institutional enrolment: www.law.unsw.edu.au/singlecourse