This course is a bridging course for students admitted to the LLM programme and with their LLB obtained from non-common law jurisdictions so as to equip them to embark on their LLM study under the common law jurisdiction.  There are three principal objectives. 

The first objective is to introduce students to the common law system in Hong Kong under the following themes: 

(a) The sources of law, their hierarchy, and their makers;

(b) A brief history of the common law system, and its emphasis on precedents; and

(c) An overview of the key elements of the legal system in Hong Kong.

The second objective is to equip students with skills in reading and interpreting the different parts of any given judgment. Examples will be drawn from both private and public law so that students acquire a sense of how public law analyses differ from private law analyses, and how ratio decidendi is distinguished from obiter dictum.

The third objective is to equip students with the skills for reading and interpreting statutes.  Students will be taught the legislative process so as to enhance their application of such skills in relation to statute law.  They will be introduced to the general principles of statutory interpretation with focus on the development of the conventional rules to the contextual/purposive approach adopted in the more recent cases, and the relevance of legislative intent that could be ascertained from the statutes and official record of legislative proceedings.  They will be required to apply these principles to selected statutes in class discussions.

The course will be conducted through the Socratic Method.