Majors
History, Law & Society
Undergraduate Program
Major Overview
The HLS major is an innovative, cross-disciplinary program grounded in the conviction that law cannot be understood outside of history and society. Too often, law is taught in a conceptual vacuum. In response to this, the History, Law, and Society major provides multidimensional—historical, philosophical, political—perspectives on law, explains the intricate dynamics between social and legal institutions, and equips students with a holistic skill set essential to facing 21st-century challenges.
Graduates of the HLS program have continued their studies at prestigious institutions in France, the United Kingdom and the United States, including Sciences Po, Cambridge, LSE, Columbia U, and MIT.
The HLS program approaches law both as a profession and as a field of inquiry enmeshed with the humanities and social sciences. HLS students study law as a body of ideas and practices that are shaped by forces beyond the courtroom. In small seminars, students become lawyers, legal historians and legal philosophers, decoding and reconstructing the meaning of legal norms, their aims, their flaws, and their impact.
Whether you are considering law school or another professional path, the HLS major is the best gateway to understanding the relationship between law and morals, society, politics, and economics.
The program includes:
- An introductory course to History, Law, and Society, a History Workshop with an emphasis on research methods, and an HLS Capstone
- Law courses covering topics in human rights, constitutional and international law, advanced seminars in comparative law, criminal law, environmental law, humanitarian law, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and law in relation to gender and education
- Participation in practical Democracy Labs
- A prison education workshop
- A legal writing workshop.
Skills and knowledge acquired in the program:
- Legal research and writing
- Critical thinking
- Understanding case-law and legal literature
- Ability to deconstruct and evaluate the quality of a legal argument
- Trace the implementation of constitutional, legal, and executive norms in politics and society
- Navigate among legal systems and political institutions
Our law classes encourage students to explore the most pressing issues in the arenas of social and economic justice. Enter any law class at AUP and you will engage with issues such as the evolution of abortion jurisprudence in the United States, Argentina or Germany; the role of British and French Empires in today’s violation of LGTBQ+ rights in the Global South; the racial bias in state regulations of AI and Big Data analysis; or the application of human rights frameworks to the protection of animals and the environment.
Furthermore, HLS courses are designed to nurture your understanding of how lawyers and judges think, why courts choose to protect or infringe upon the rights of women, children, and minority groups. You will tackle questions surrounding the moral foundations of law, the impact of legal doctrines on democratic resilience, and the ways in which legal institutions are designed to drive progressive or reactionary causes.
HLS graduates are eligible to apply for JD degrees in the United States as well as for legal graduate studies in France, the United Kingdom, Canada, and other countries in Europe and beyond. This means HLS students could obtain a master’s degree in law in one or two years (depending on the school) upon graduation from AUP.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
The educational goals for this major are as follows:
- You will gain fluency in legal issues and reason.
- You will understand connections between law and history.
- You will develop an interdisciplinary understanding of law and its social impact.
- You will integrate law into the liberal arts curriculum.
Learning Environment
In keeping with our University’s commitment to a liberal arts education, we support the ideal of law as a “liberal profession”, wherein free thinking, academic mastery, and intellectual rigor are encouraged through a multitude of disciplines. In small seminars you will be asked to contemplate historical and contemporary cases, engage in mock trials, and share what you learn and discover with students and professors who hail from around the world. You will also be exposed to readings that relate to the many relevant disciplines that make up the major, including History, Literature, and Sociology.
Student Activities
We are a club focused on helping pre-law students prepare for law school admission, connect with current lawyers or law students, discuss their legal interests, gain writing experience, and meet students with similar interests.
Our activities will include:
- Holding mixers and panels between students and legal professionals
- Sharing information, resources, and tips for law school admissions
- Offering LSAT/LNAT test preparation support
- Organizing events from amateur moot court competitions to more casual discussions of current legal issues
- Collaborations with other student organisations
While we aim to support students curious about Law School, we welcome students from all departments, interested in any career field.
Contact Email: lawsociety@aup.edu
Are you interested in human rights and/or global news? Do you want to be a part of a community of individuals who are driven to bring awareness to global humanitarian issues? If so, this club is for you! The goal of GHAC is to educate and engage the university community on global humanitarian rights issues, fostering a deeper understanding of the philosophical and political contexts that shape these events. While this club is new (fall 2024), we already have fun events and weekly meeting ideas to educate students in an engaging way. Some of these events include Human Rights Awareness Week, fundraising events, Cultural Exchange nights, advocacy campaigns, collaborations with other clubs, volunteer opportunities, and more to come… The vision of this club is to create a well-informed and empathetic community that actively participates in global humanitarian efforts and advocates for human rights, promoting a world where every individual is treated with dignity and respect. We welcome anyone from any background, as every individual perspective will be treated with respect and understanding. If this sounds like something you would be interested in, please reach out to me or sign up through engage. Join us in making a difference!
Contact Email: ghac@aup.edu
Hibou magazine is a student-run online magazine on politics and culture. It is designed to create vibrant, nuanced dialogue on far-ranging topics. We provide a platform and community for writers of all backgrounds to voice their experiences, investigate social issues, and pursue their artistic endeavours.
Major Components
Build Your Degree
With every single one of our majors, you’ll find a carefully curated medley of core courses and electives, which will provide you with the tools you need to establish an unshakeable foundation in the principles and concepts fundamental to your growth within your disciplines of choice. Many majors also enable you to specialize further within the broader area of study.
-
Core Courses
-
Core Courses
We aim to help you develop a range of skills, capacities, and modes of inquiry that will be crucial for your future since employers and graduate schools are looking for the critical thinking and innovative problem-solving skills that are associated with a liberal arts education, including sophisticated writing abilities, willingness to pose difficult questions, and an understanding of the historical and cultural contexts surrounding a topic or decision.
-
Electives
-
Electives
With the three courses that you choose from one of the following seven disciplines, you’ll be able to take a different critical approach towards your degree, thus allowing you to uncover interdisciplinary nuances and new distinctions within both history and law.
You can choose from Comparative Literature, Computer Science, Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Psychology and Sociology.
Core Courses
The History, Law & Society core courses, which you must take as part of the major requirements, will provide you with the tools you’ll need to ground your present and future studies. Your introduction to the fundamentals of History, Law & Society will help pave the way for your successful completion of other History, Law & Society courses.