Apart from their assigned mod courses, 1L students may only enroll in courses offered as 1L electives. A complete list of these courses can be found on the 1L Elective Listings page. 1L students must use the 1L class number listed on the course description when enrolling.
261.76 sec. 001 - Genocide (Spring 2025)
Instructor: Phillipe Sands
View all teaching evaluations for this course - degree students only
Units: 1
Grading Designation: Credit Only
Mode of Instruction: In-Person
Meetings:
Th 6:25 PM - 9:05 PM
Location: Law 100
On 2025-03-06
F 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Location: Law 100
On 2025-03-07
F 3:10 PM - 6:10 PM
Location: Law 100
On 2025-03-07
Sa 09:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Location: Law 100
On 2025-03-08
Sa 1:30 PM - 4:10 PM
Location: Law 100
On 2025-03-08
Course End: March 08, 2025
Class Number: 33503
Enrollment info:
Enrolled: 81
Waitlisted: 1
Enroll Limit: 81
As of: 11/21 12:35 PM
This course focuses on the international crime of Genocide to enquire about the origins of modern international criminal law and their impact on current directions in law, policy, and culture. It takes the trial of Nazi leaders at the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg – with particular attention to ‘genocide’ (protection of groups) and ‘crimes against humanity’ (protection of individuals) – to explore the impact since the 1990s, when the international criminal law project was "re-born" with the creation of the ad-hoc international criminal tribunals and the International Criminal Court.
The course examines how law is created, interpreted, and represented, and how it shapes our understanding of events over time and among different communities, and through different disciplines and mediums. Using my book East West Street as a reference text, the central question is the protection of the individual and the group under international (criminal) law. We will consider the role of individuals and how the precedent of Nuremberg has been represented in law, history, literature, and film over the decades; how it has come to have different meanings at different times and in different places in the world; and how it has shaped subsequent developments, from the Yugoslav and Rwanda Tribunals, to the International Criminal Court and, going forward, the current conflicts involving Ukraine/Russia and Israel/Palestine.
The course will thus be a study of law itself: how it is made, how it operates in the world, its limits and unintended consequences, and of the origins of international criminal law.
Attendance at the first class is mandatory for all currently enrolled and waitlisted students; any currently enrolled or waitlisted students who are not present on the first day of class (without prior permission of the instructor) will be dropped. The instructor will continue to take attendance throughout the add/drop period and anyone who moves off the waitlist into the class must continue to attend or have prior permission of the instructor in order not to be dropped.
Exam Notes: (P) Final paper
(Subject to change by faculty member only through the first two weeks of instruction)
Course Category: International and Comparative Law
This course is listed in the following sub-categories:
Social Justice and Public Interest
If you are the instructor or their FSU, you may add a file like a syllabus or a first assignment to this page.
Readers:
A reader will be used in this class.
Books:
Required Books are in blue
- East West Street: On the Origins of "Genocide" and "Crimes Against Humanity"
Philippe Sands
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 9780525433729
e-Book Available: unknown
Price: To Be Determined