Law - Political Science - Administration

Master's degree in the history of law and institutions

  • ECTS

    120 credits

  • Duration

    2 years

  • Training structure

    Faculty of Law and Political Science

Presentation

 To understand the interest of the history of law it is enough to read these few lines of introduction of the Dalloz Repertory of the 19th century! "There are few studies as interesting and as useful as the history of law. It is full of fruitful teachings for the philosopher, the historian and the jurisconsult (...) But the knowledge of it is especially necessary to the true jurisconsult, to penetrate the true meaning and to understand the real scope of the civil institutions of his time; because the present, even after the deepest moral or social revolutions, is always attached to the past by powerful links, which one cannot break without reducing it to being itself an enigma".

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Objectives

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

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Know-how and skills

Know the basic research methods in legal science
Master the foundations of legal reasoning, be able to refine legal concepts.
Be able to implement techniques developing legal rigor and logic.
Know how to use all available sources of law.
Know how to identify legal problems in order to mobilize one's knowledge.
Situate legal concepts and public institutions in time and space.
Master the auxiliary sciences necessary to carry out one's personal research work.
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 must do personal research (under the direction of a research professor) in order to write a dissertation on the history of law (on a theme chosen in agreement with a professor on 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 of 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 Engagement

        • Memory

          26 credits
  • Sources du droit - Contemporary sources

  • Optional

    • Tutored project

Admission

Recommended prerequisites

Candidates must have a good legal culture and have shown 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 the History of Law who have produced a good research paper may continue their studies in a thesis.

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Professional integration

The opportunities offered therefore go beyond the strict domain of teaching and research (teacher-researcher, research director, research fellow). On the contrary, the graduating classes of the last few years show the diversity of the legal professions that are accessible. Of course, most of the jobs in the public sector are accessible after competitive examinations or specific exams. Master's graduates choose to work in the sectors of local government (attaché, editor), the Ministry of Culture (archivist, documentalist, librarian), and decentralized administration (IRA). The most sought-after sectors are justice (magistrate, clerk) and security (police, gendarmerie, prison administration, etc.). The liberal professions, and in particular that of lawyer, have also been widely favored, with the EFACS being integrated either after passing the pre-CAPA exam or, after 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 companies).

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