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Literature and the law have intertwined institutional histories: the study of rhetoric was originally designed to develop the oratory skills of practitioners in the courts; legal themes and issues have long attracted the attention of writers such as William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, and E.M. Forster, and novelists such as William Thackeray and Franz Kafka began their careers as students of law.

In light of the many commonalities between the two disciplines, the Faculty of Law and the Faculty of Arts jointly offer a new double degree in Law and Literary Studies. The five-year programme will be introduced in September 2011, and will have an initial intake of 20 students.

The programme is designed to foster skills in both legal argumentation and literary analysis. In addition to taking individual courses in both faculties, students will be required to take interdisciplinary seminars which bring together legal and literary texts. A number of such cross-listed seminars have already been developed, including ‘Law and Literature’; ‘Law and Film’; and ‘Law, Meaning and Interpretation’.

This double degree will prepare students for a variety of careers, including those in law, academia, journalism, politics, and beyond.

Year 1
Legal Research and Writing I	6 credits
Law & Society	6 credits
Legal Systems	6 credits
Law of Contract I and Law of Contract II	12 credits
Arts subjects	12 credits
Introduction to English Studies	6 credits
Common Core courses	12 credits
Academic English for Arts	3 credits
Total	63 credits

Year 2
Legal Research and Writing II	6 credits
Law of Tort I and Law of Tort II	12 credits
Constitutional Law	6 credits
Introduction to Chinese Law	6 credits
Law elective	6 credits
Writing solutions to legal problems	3 credits
Literary Studies courses	18 credits
Interdisciplinary course	6 credits
Professional English for Arts	3 credits
Practical Chinese language requirement	3 credits
Total	69 credits

Year 3
Criminal Law I and Criminal Law II	12 credits
Business Association *	6 credits
Law elective	6 credits
Literary Studies courses	30 credits
Interdisciplinary course	12 credits
Total	66 credits

Year 4
Commercial Law	6 credits
Administrative Law	6 credits
Introduction to Legal Theory	6 credits
Land Law I and Land Law II	12 credits
Civil Procedure *	6 credits
Criminal Procedure *	6 credits
Evidence *	6 credits
Mooting	6 credits
Law electives	6-12 credits
Literary Studies courses	6 credits
Total	66-72 credits

Year 5
Equity and Trusts I and Equity and Trusts II	12 credits
Land Law III *	6 credits
Law electives	33-36 credits
Interdisciplinary course	6 credits
Total	57-60 credits


* Only required for those who will proceed to do the PCLL Programme.

BA in Literary Studies Electives:
LIST A:
CLIT2001 Comparative studies of narratives CLIT2005 Literary and Cultural Theory CLIT2008 Film Culture II CLIT2014 Feminist Cultural Studies CLIT2028 The City as Cultural Text CLIT2045 Colonialism/Postcolonialism CLIT2061 Narratives of the past in contemporary culture CLIT2065 Hong Kong culture: representations of identity in literature and film CLIT2079 Traumatic Events CLIT2087 Modern Chinese Culture and Society: Rebellions and Revolutions CLIT2090 Orientalism, China, and Globalization CSIE2001 Cross-cultural issues and theories CSIE3001 Cross-cultural issues and theories 2 ENGL1009 Introduction to English studies ENGL2010 English novel I * ENGL2011 English novel II ENGL2012 Contemporary Literary Theory ENGL2022 Women, feminism and writing ENGL2033 English novel III ENGL2035 Reading Poetry ENGL2036 Science Fiction ENGL2040 Asian American literature ENGL2045 Travel Writing ENGL2055 American Gothic ENGL2059 American drama and American film ENGL2061 British and American literary culture ENGL2065 Meaning and metaphor ENGL2074 Postcolonial Readings ENGL2075 The Idea of China ENGL2076 Romanticism ENGL2078 The novel today ENGL2079 Shakespeare ENGL2080 Women, feminism and writing II ENGL2082 Modern literary criticism ENGL2084 Modernism and short fiction ENGL2087 Persuasion ENGL2089 Making Americans: Literature as ritual and renewal ENGL2092 Postcolonial English ENGL2093 Literary islands: English poetry and prose from the South Pacific and the Caribbean ENGL2095 The East: Asia in English writing ENGL2097 Imagining Hong Kong ENGL2114 Cross-cultural issues and theories I ENGL2121 Comedy, renewal, and cross-cultural drama ENGL2122 Victorians at home and abroad ENGL3038 Cross-cultural issues and theories II HIST2070 Stories of self: history through autobiography PHIL2380 Philosophy and Literature EUST2030 The modern imagination in Europe * prerequisite ENGL1009 for all ENGL courses

LIST B:
#LANG3059 Modern French literature LANG3072 Francophone literatures and identities LANG3048 Fairytale princes, nature lovers and revolutionaries: the German Romantics JAPN2003 Introduction to Japanese literature #All LANG and JAPN courses have prerequisites which may be waived in exceptional circumstances to be decided case by case


Law Electives:


LLAW3113 Advanced issues in information technology law LLAW3007 Alternative dispute resolution LLAW3140 Animal law LLAW3112 Arbitration law LLAW3164 Arbitration in Greater China LLAW3008 Bank security LLAW3009 Banking law LLAW3010 Business associations LLAW3138 Carriage of goods by sea LLAW3046 Child and the law LLAW3153 China investment law LLAW3154 China trade law LLAW3173 Chinese family law in comparative perspective LLAW3011 Chinese laws governing foreign investments LLAW3097 Civil procedure LLAW3148 Clinical legal education LLAW3198 Clinical legal education (China) LLAW3015 Company law LLAW3125 Comparative constitutional law LLAW3144 Comparative environmental law LLAW3016 Comparative law LLAW3191 Comparative family law LLAW3156 Comparative remedies in trust law LLAW3123 Competition law LLAW3098 Constitutional and administrative law in the PRC LLAW3196 Constitutionalism in merging states LLAW3067 Construction law LLAW3017 Copyright law LLAW3183 Corporate conflicts LLAW3137 Corruption: China in comparative perspective LLAW3184 Credit and security law LLAW3099 Criminal procedure LLAW3018 Criminology LLAW3182 Cross border corporate finance: issues and techniques LLAW3066 Cross-border legal relations between the Mainland and Hong Kong LLAW3195 Current issues in Chinese Law LLAW3100 Current issues in comparative commercial law LLAW3092 Current issues in insolvency law LLAW3019 Current legal controversies LLAW3101 Cybercrime LLAW3127 Dealing with legacies of human rights violations LLAW3179 Digital copyright LLAW3088 Dispute resolution in the PRC LLAW3119 Dispute settlement in the WTO: Practice & procedure LLAW3151 E-business law LLAW3020 Economic analysis of law LLAW3117 Economic, social and cultural rights LLAW3063 Emerging markets: finance and investment LLAW3071 Equality and non-discrimination LLAW3091 Ethnicity, human rights and democracy LLAW3124 European economic regulation LLAW3102 Evidence I LLAW3103 Evidence II LLAW3165 Global business law I LLAW3166 Global business law II LLAW3169 Globalisation and human rights LLAW3080 Governance and law LLAW3133 Healthcare law LLAW3047 Hong Kong Basic Law LLAW3083 Human rights: history, theory and politics LLAW3110 Human rights and cyberspace LLAW3168 Human rights and governance LLAW3062 Human rights in China LLAW3022 Human rights in Hong Kong LLAW3065 Information technology law LLAW3023 Insolvency law LLAW3024 Insurance law LLAW3084 Intellectual property and information technology LLAW3087 Intellectual property law in China LLAW3104 Intellectual property, innovation and development LLAW3155 Intellectual property policy and practice LLAW3085 International and comparative intellectual property law LLAW3086 International and regional protection of human rights LLAW3111 International commercial arbitration LLAW3025 International commercial litigation LLAW3076 International commercial transactions LLAW3057 International criminal law LLAW3078 International economic law LLAW3134 International environmental law LLAW3026 International human rights LLAW3175 International humanitarian law LLAW3157 International law and modernity for a multipolar world LLAW3158 International law in a world of crises LLAW3058 International mooting competition LLAW3027 International organisations LLAW3135 International protection of refugees and displaced persons LLAW3136 International securities law LLAW3028 International trade law I LLAW3029 International trade law II LLAW3160 Interpretation of statutes, contracts and treaties LLAW3170 Introduction to Chinese law and legal system LLAW3150 Introduction to information technology law LLAW3120 Introduction to international human rights law LLAW3159 Introduction to negotiation theory and practice LLAW3030 Introduction to private international law LLAW3032 Issues in family law LLAW3033 Issues in intellectual property law LLAW3059 Jessup international law moot court competition LLAW3034 Labour law LLAW3105 Land law III (Conveyancing) LLAW3130 Law and development in the PRC LLAW3141 Law and film LLAW3128 Law and literature LLAW3174 Law and policy LLAW3142 Law and politics of constitutions LLAW3118 Law and religion LLAW3172 Law and social theory LLAW3035 Law in East Asia LLAW3145 Law, economics, regulation and development LLAW3036 Law, justice and ideology LLAW3161 Law, meaning and interpretation LLAW3037 Law of agency LLAW3056 Law of international finance I – debt LLAW3048 Law of restitution I LLAW3121 Law of restitution II LLAW3049 Law of the sea LLAW3061 Law, the individual and the community: a cross-cultural dialogue LLAW3090 Legal aspects of white collar crime LLAW3162 Legal translation LLAW3073 Media law LLAW3192 Mediation LLAW3040 Medico-legal issues LLAW3146 Multiculturalism and the law LLAW3178 Online dispute resolution LLAW3042 Planning and environmental law LLAW3041 PRC civil and commercial law (1) LLAW3107 PRC civil law (in Putonghua) (2) LLAW3081 PRC commercial law (in Putonghua) (3) LLAW3108 PRC criminal law and procedure LLAW3109 PRC economic law LLAW3089 PRC information technology law LLAW3181 PRC security and insolvency law LLAW3177 PRC taxation law and policy LLAW3129 PRC tort law LLAW3167 Preventative law: approach to conflict prevention LLAW3043 Principles of family law LLAW3072 Principles of Hong Kong taxation on income LLAW3075 Privacy and data protection LLAW3194 Property protection in China: law, politics and culture LLAW3044 Public international law LLAW3163 Public international law in domestic courts LLAW3180 Regulation of cyberspace LLAW3069 Regulation of financial markets LLAW3045 Remedies LLAW3115 Rights and remedies in the criminal process LLAW3068 Rights of the child in international and domestic law LLAW3050 Securities regulation LLAW3077 Selected issues: WTO and China LLAW3116 Selected legal issues in commercial practice LLAW3051 Selected problems in international law LLAW3053 Sociology of law LLAW3147 Space law and policy LLAW3054 Succession LLAW2010 Summer internship (3 credits) LLAW3139 Telecommunications law LLAW3171 Topics in English and European legal history LLAW3143 Topic in law and literature: flaubert & eilot LLAW3176 Trademarks and unfair competition LLAW3055 Use of Chinese in law I LLAW3004 Use of Chinese in law II LLAW3070 World Trade Organization: law and policy (1) Students taking this course may not take “PRC civil law (in Putonghua)” or “PRC commercial law(in Putonghua)”. (2) Students taking this course may not take “PRC civil and commercial law”. (3) Students taking this course may not take “PRC civil and commercial law”.

Frequently Asked Questions

Question: What are the entry requirements for the double degree programme?
Answer: This is a competitive programme, and we expect our applicants to have grades in the ‘A’ and ‘B’ range.

Question: How many students will be admitted?
Answer: We will admit a maximum of twenty students in the inaugural year of the programme.

Question: Are there quotas for Non-JUPAS students?
Answer: No, there are no quotas.

Question: I am a science student and I have very little background in either literature or law. Would that affect my chances of being accepted into the programme?
Answer: No. You will be taught the basics of legal and literary analysis in the first year, and we welcome applications from students from a wide range of backgrounds.

Question: Since I complete two degrees in five years in the double degree programme, will I be studying any less law than a student doing the four-year single LLB?
Answer: No. While students doing the four-year LLB will take more electives, students enrolled in the double degree programme will take more than enough law courses to allow them to enter the PCLL and to practise law.

Question: What is the best way of preparing for the programme?
Answer: The best way of preparing for the programme is to read as widely as possible, not only in law and literature but also in other fields such as politics, economics, history, philosophy etc. We are looking for students who are enthusiastic readers and independent thinkers.

Programme Co-ordinator (Arts): Professor Elaine Y.L. Ho
Programme Co-ordinator (Law): Dr Marco M.H. Wan

Programme website by the Faculty of Arts