Law - Political science - Administration

Master's degree in legal and institutional history

  • ECTS

    120 credits

  • Duration

    2 years

  • Training structure

    Faculty of Law and Political Science

Presentation

 To understand the value of legal history, just read these introductory lines from the 19th-century Répertoire Dalloz! "There are few studies as interesting and useful as the history of law. It is full of fruitful lessons for the philosopher, the historian and the jurisconsult (...) But knowledge of it is above all necessary to the true jurisconsult, to penetrate the true meaning and understand the real scope of the civil institutions of his time; for the present, even after the most profound moral or social revolutions, is always linked to the past by powerful ties, which cannot be broken without reducing it to being itself an enigma".

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Objectives

The course is designed to provide students with a fundamental grounding in legal history research, to give them a legal culture of French law and other European legal systems, and to enhance their knowledge of the foundations of legal institutions and techniques. This course enables students to complement the strictly technical knowledge of positive law acquired during their legal training, by broadening their field of reflection on the concepts and techniques they will have to apply in their professional lives.

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Know-how and skills

Know the fundamental research methods in legal science
Master the fundamentals of legal reasoning, and be able to refine legal concepts.
Be able to apply techniques that develop legal rigor and logic.
Know how to use all available legal sources.
Know how to identify legal problems in order to mobilize your knowledge.
Situate legal concepts and public institutions in time and space.
Master the auxiliary sciences needed to carry out personal research.
Master the art of written and oral expression.

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Organization

Program

The Master's program is organized into courses and seminars.

In addition to these compulsory courses, students are required to carry out personal research (under the supervision of a research professor), with a view to writing a dissertation on the history of law (on a theme chosen in agreement with a member of the teaching staff).

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Select a program

Master 1 History of law and institutions

  • History of property law (ST)

    2 credits
  • UE Language

    • Choice: 1 of 3

      • English

      • German

      • Spanish

  • Criminal Procedure 1 (ST)

  • UE History of labour law

    6 credits
    • TD History of labour law

      2 credits
    • CM History of labor law

      4 credits
  • History of medical law (ST)

  • UE History of legal thought

    6 credits
    • CM History of legal thought

      4 credits
    • TD History of legal thought

      2 credits
  • Civil law: Matrimonial property regimes group 2 (ST)

  • UE History of family property law

    6 credits
    • CM History of family property law

      4 credits
    • TD History of family property law

      2 credits
  • Digital skills - In-depth documentary research

  • Optional

    • Legal clinic (F)

    • Memory (F)

    • Internship (F)

    • Work integration workshops (F): CV/LM

    • Tutored project (F)

    • Apprenticeship (F)

    • Legal watch (F)

  • Civil law: Inheritance (ST)

    3 credits
  • UE History of public law

    6 credits
    • TD History of public law

      2 credits
    • CM History of public law

      4 credits
  • Criminal Procedure 2 (ST)

    3 credits
  • Memory

    2 credits
  • Digital skills - Pix+Droit preparation

  • Practice of constitutional litigation (ST)

  • UE History of business law

    6 credits
    • TD History of business law

      2 credits
    • CM History of business law

      4 credits
  • EU History of justice

    6 credits
    • TD History of justice

      2 credits
    • CM History of justice

      4 credits

Master 2 History of law and institutions

  • Sources of law Antiquity

    2 credits
  • History of written law

    3 credits
  • Seminar on the history of public law

    2 credits
  • Methodology seminar

    1 credits
  • History of private law seminar

    2 credits
  • History of colonial law

    2 credits
  • History of private law

    3 credits
  • History of criminal law

    3 credits
  • Seminar on the history of criminal law

    2 credits
  • History of public law

    3 credits
  • Legal culture (codification)

    2 credits
  • Language

  • Elective UE

    • Your choice: 1 of 2

      • Criminal procedure law and practice

        2 credits
      • Law and literature

        2 credits
  • Internship

    2 credits
  • Choice of UE list

    • Your choice: 1 of 2

      • Memory

        28 credits
      • List of choices Memory/Commitment

        • Student involvement

        • Memory

          26 credits
  • Sources du droit - Contemporary sources

  • Optional

    • Tutored project

Admission

Recommended prerequisites

Candidates must above all have a good legal culture and an interest in the history of law taught in law schools.

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And then

Further studies

Graduates of the Master 2 in Legal History who have produced a good research paper can continue their studies with a thesis.

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Professional integration

As a result, the opportunities offered go beyond the strict confines of teaching and research (teacher-researcher, research director, research fellow). On the contrary, the graduating classes of recent years testify to the diversity of the legal professions available. It goes without saying that most jobs in the public sector are open to those who have passed a competitive examination. Graduates of the Master's program tend to choose careers in local government (attaché, redactor), the Ministry of Culture (archivist, documentalist, librarian) and local government (IRA). The most sought-after sectors are justice (magistrate, court clerk) and security (police, gendarmerie, prison administration, etc.). The liberal professions, and in particular the legal profession, were also widely favored, with the EFACS being integrated either after passing the pre-CAPA exam, or, on completion of a thesis, as a doctor of law (history of law). Some M2 graduates have gone directly into the private sector (insurance, real estate, mutual insurance).

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