Important Dates in the History of Justice: Timeline of developments in Chinese law from Ancient China through the Ming Dynasty.

The Chinese Legal Tradition: A three-part discussion of the Chinese legal tradition.

First, a comparison between the main schools of Chinese legal thought, Legalism and Confucianism.

In the second part, a discussion of Chinese detective stories, including Robert Van Gulik's Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee, helps students and teachers see these theories in the context of the dynastic Chinese legal system.

Finally, a series of observations by Henry C K Liu compares Chinese perceptions of rule of law to the more familiar understanding of rule of law in Western societies.

Important Dates in the History of Justice: Timeline of developments in Western law from Hammurabi's Code to International Criminal Court.

Legal Theories of the Western Tradition: Comparison of Natural Law and Positivism.

What is Natural Law: Antiquity : Introduction to the concept of Natural law and its development from the Sophists to the Justinian Code.

What is Natural Law: The Middle Ages through the Enlightenment : Continuation of the development of Natural law to the 18th century.

Justinian Code: Background on Justinian's Code (Byzantine Empire, 534 CE). Hand-out focuses on composition of the Code, including interlinked areas of civil law, law of nations, and natural law. With direct excerpts from Medieval Legal History Sourcebook.

Declarations of Right 1215-1791: Introduction to the legal and political precursors to the U.S. Declaration of Independence and Constitution. Discusses Magna Carta (1215), Habeas Corpus Act (1679), English Bill of Rights (1689), John Locke's Second Treatise on Government (1690), Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Social Contract (1762), and The Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen (1789).

Magna Carta Connections (1215): Background on the Magna Carta (from The British Library) and exercise making connections between rights granted by Magna Carta and rights enjoyed by contemporary Americans.

Habeas Corpus Act (1679): Background on Habeas Corpus Act and paragraphs from Act that can be translated into contemporary rights.

The Second Treatise on Government (1690): Exercise in translating passages and understanding Locke's ideas about the state of nature, reasons for forming states, consent of the governed and the dissolution of tyrannical states.

The Social Contract (1762): Exercise in translating passages and understanding how Rousseau's idea of general will came to shape our own understanding of the role of the legislature in writing just laws.

International Law Background: Introduction to international law and its applications to U.S. domestic law. Asks students to consider the role of international law in the domestic legal system.

Human Rights: Introduction to different approaches to human rights advocacy through comparison of the International Committee of the Red Cross and more "activist" organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Activity asks students to consider how these organizations would respond differently to the same situation of a violation of human rights.

CSIS classroom unit on International Law from Globalization101 website.
http://www.globalization101.org/teachers/int-law.doc