Brief guide to the Faculty of Law at the University of Zaragoza for International Students
Welcome to the Faculty of Law at the University of Zaragoza. We hope this brief guide will provide you with basic information about our University and our Faculty. You can expand on it if you wish by consulting our institutional websites:
Table of Contents
3.-Services to help you in your arrival and in your life in the Faculty
4.-Studying Law at our Faculty
a) First semester of the first year
b) Second semester of the first year
c) First semester of the second year
d) Second semester of the second year
e) First semester of the third year
f) Second semester of the third year
g) First semester of the fourth year
h) Second semester of the fourth year
1.- Introduction
The University of Zaragoza is one of the most prestigious Spanish Public Universities. We have almost five centuries of history (it was founded in 1542) and our international ranking has increased over the last few years. We now rank in the top 2% of the most prestigious Universities in the world and we are one of the 10 best Universities in Spain. Within the University of Zaragoza, The Faculty of Law is one of the faculties with most prestige and tradition.
Together with the Public University of Navarre, the University of La Rioja and the University of Lleida, the University of Zaragoza forms part of the Campus Iberus Campus of International Excellence.
We are strongly committed at the University to international mobility and do in fact have nearly 2,000 agreements with institutions all over the world. This means that more than a thousand of our students participate each year in international exchange programmes and we receive nearly a thousand other international students each year. We are also a pioneering university and a benchmark in the teaching of Spanish to foreign students from all over the world.
All of the above means that you will find a dynamic, diverse and open environment at the University of Zaragoza campus and the Faculty of Law.
2.-Where are we?
The University of Zaragoza is located in the Autonomous Community of Aragón. Aragón is one of the seventeen Autonomous Communities that make up Spain and consists of the provinces of Huesca, Teruel and Zaragoza. It is a very large Autonomous Community (almost 10% of the surface area of Spain), with a rich heritage and enormous territorial diversity, which does in particular include two mountainous systems to the north and to the south (the Pyrenees and the Iberian system) and the valley of the river Ebro (the second longest river and the second biggest by discharge volume on the Iberian peninsula).
The city of Zaragoza is the capital of the Autonomous Community of Aragón and has a population of almost 700,000 inhabitants, making it the fifth most populous city in Spain. It has an unbeatable location, being situated in the centre of the hexagon formed by Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Bilbao, Bordeaux and Toulouse. Thanks to high-speed trains we are only 75 minutes from Madrid and 90 minutes from Barcelona. And Bilbao and Valencia are just three hours away by motorway. The border with France, where some of the most important ski resorts in Spain are located, is only 168 km away.
Its Iberian, Roman, Muslim and Christian past make Zaragoza a city with great heritage and artistic value.
The Faculty of Law at the University of Zaragoza is located on the San Francisco Campus, which is located in the heart of the city of Zaragoza and enjoys excellent public transport links with the rest of the city through numerous bus lines and tram line 1.
Our Faculty occupies three interconnected buildings: one of them is mainly occupied by classrooms and other work and study areas, another is mostly occupied by the teachers’ offices and the third houses the Faculty’s Dean’s Office, the Academic Secretariat and the library. The Faculty of Law library currently has some 170,000 volumes (case studies and journals) and numerous electronic resources via the main national and international bibliographic, legal and case law databases. Its website (http://biblioteca.unizar.es/biblioteca-derecho/derecho-inf-gral) includes information on how to access and use these resources. The Faculty does in addition teach all students how to use them in the first week.
3.-Services to help you in your arrival and in your life in the Faculty
The University of Zaragoza, and its Faculty of Law, has numerous services whose purpose is to serve all members of the university community.
Of these, the following are of particular interest for international students:
-The University of Zaragoza's consultancy services (Legal, mobility, career guidance, psychological and sexual health areas): https://asesorias.unizar.es/
- Accommodation Service: http://alojamiento.unizar.es/
- Cultural Activities Service: https://cultura.unizar.es/
- Sports Activities Service: http://deportes.unizar.es/
We are in addition deeply committed at the University to diversity and equality, areas in which we carry out intensive work, mainly through the University diversity support office (http://ouad.unizar.es/) and the Equality Observatory (https://observatorioigualdad.unizar.es/)
Within the Faculty of Law, our International Relations Office, located next to the Academic Secretary's Office in the main building of the three that make up the Faculty, will be of special help to you. Here you will be able to consult any administrative questions you may have regarding your stay at our Faculty. Their e-mail address is: interder@unizar.es.
There is also a Faculty professor responsible for coordinating each exchange programme and who you can contact to resolve any questions of an academic nature. You can find out which professor is responsible for the mobility programme with your home university in the following list: /programa-erasmus (click on the link “Oferta plazas Erasmus”)
4.-Studying Law at our Faculty
A.-Introduction
Law at our Faculty is taught through theoretical-practical and practical classes that take place throughout the week (from Monday to Friday).
The total number of weekly class hours for each subject depends on the number of ECTS credits it has, but normally involves three or four hours of theoretical-practical classes and two hours a week of practical classes in each one.
Subjects at our Faculty are taught on a semi-annual, non-annual, basis. So, the first semester subjects are taught between mid-September and mid-January and the second semester subjects between February and June. Exams for each subject are taken at the end of their respective semesters and if you do not pass one there are a second round of exams during the first fortnight of September.
The timetables for the different subjects offered by our Faculty can be consulted at the following link: /node/1513. You can also find out the dates of the exams for each subject at /node/452
Our teaching is dynamic and we attach great importance to the use of new technologies, especially through the Moodle platform. Please also bear in mind that an important part of the grades for each subject are through continuous assessment activities such as practice, opinions, seminars, role-play, etc.
C.-Subjects you can take
This is a list of the subjects offered by our Faculty in each year and semester, together with a brief description of their contents.
You can find more detailed information at https://estudios.unizar.es/estudio/asignaturas?anyo_academico=2019&estudio_id=20190132¢ro_id=102&plan_id_nk=421&sort=curso
a) First semester of the first year:
-The History of Law in Spain (6 ECTS): this aims to examine and understand the evolution of legal culture in Spain from the past to the present.
-Roman Law (6 ECTS): this is dedicated to the study of Roman public and private law as a common substratum for all European legal systems.
-Introduction to Economics (9 ECTS): the aim is for law students to understand the fundamentals of economic science, assess how it applies to the legal field and understand the behaviour of the real economy, including the application of various economic policies.
-Fundamentals of Constitutional Law (6 ECTS): studies focus on elements of the contemporary constitutional State and the origin, meaning and function of the Constitution as a legal standard.
-Theory of Law (6 ECTS): this analyses what the Law is and what its basic functions are. It examines different theories about the rule of law, the legal system and legal decisions, and the fundamental concepts and distinctive features of the different sources of law.
b) Second semester of the first year:
-Civil Law (Natural Person and Assets) (9 ECTS): this subject initially studies regulations in the private legal field and the role they play in the Spanish legal system as a whole. Secondly, it studies the series of rules that regulate the situation of the natural person (birth, death, nationality, marital status, etc.). It finally studies the rule of law in property, subjective law and rights in rem.
-Public International Law (6 ECTS): the functioning of international society, the role of its main players (Countries and international organisations), their relations and the main rules governing their behaviour are studied in this subject.
-Constitutional Law I (6 ECTS): this subject studies the current Spanish Constitution of 1978, with special focus on the constitutional system of sources of law, the system of fundamental rights and freedoms and constitutional jurisdiction (Constitutional Court).
-Freedom of Beliefs and Intercultural Awareness (6 ECTS): this studies the legal consequences of the presence of different cultures and beliefs in today's society and the legal mechanisms to ensure peaceful coexistence among individuals and groups.
-Ecclesiastical Law of the State (6 ECTS): the aim of this course is to analyse the specific legal system of religious freedom in its individual and collective dimensions (religious beliefs and groups).
c) First semester of the second year:
-European Union Institutions (6 ECTS): this examines the basic elements of the legal system of the European Union, which involves both the supranational legal aspects that govern the internal functioning of the Organization, as well as questions relating to the phenomenon of European integration and its basic problems, especially those relating to the alteration of the national legal-political structures of Member States.
-Constitutional Law II (9 ECTS): deals with the analysis of constitutional bodies (the Crown, Parliament, Government and the Judiciary) and the territorial organisation of the State (National Authorities, Autonomous Communities and local bodies) in the Spanish Constitution of 1978.
-General Criminal Law, General Part (9 ECTS): its fundamental aim is to ensure that students know how to attribute criminal responsibility to a subject who has committed a criminal act.
-Civil Law (Obligations and Contracts) (9 ECTS): this studies the contents, function, structure and effect on the legal system of the basic rules of civil law relating to obligations, contracts and non-contractual liability.
d) Second semester of the second year:
-Individual and Collective Labour Law (9 ECTS): this course is aimed at studying the legislation regulating specific labour relations; the essential elements of the employment contract as well as its various types, contents and duration; the fundamental right to freedom of association; and the administrative and judicial bodies with competence in employment matters and their functions.
-General Administrative Law (9 ECTS): this is devoted to the study of the organization and functioning of the various public authorities and their employees, administrative acts and administrative procedures, as well as the system of public guarantees with respect to public administration.
-Criminal Law, Special Part (9 ECTS): all the offences in the Spanish criminal legal system are studied through this subject.
e) First semester of the third year:
- Social Protection Law (6 ECTS): this is dedicated to the study of the Spanish Social Security system, its area of protection, its different systems (general and special ones) and its management bodies.
-Procedural Law I (9 ECTS): this aims to study the judiciary and the legal system, and institutions of civil procedure, within the scope of the Spanish legal system,
-Commercial Law I (9 ECTS): this analyses the legal system of the economic activity carried out in the market, the legal status of parties who carry out this activity professionally (businessmen), the regulation of the means or instruments used to carry it out and the actual trade this activity consists of.
-Family Law and Inheritance (6 ECTS): this focuses on the institutions and actual legal rules of civil law relating to family relations and inheritance as a consequence of the death of a person, taking into account the diverse legal and private systems provided for in the Spanish Constitution: the general national system and that related to the Autonomous Communities with their own civil law.
f) Second semester of the third year:
-Financial and Tax Law I (9 ECTS): this basically studies the legal system for financial activity, its main institutions and the different procedures for management, verification, collection, imposition of penalties and tax claims.
-Administrative Law, Special Part (6 ECTS): this subject is dedicated to the study of the different types of activity carried out by public authorities, sanctioning and expropriation powers of the authorities, contractual activity performed by the public sector and the legal system for public property.
-Commercial Law II (9 ECTS): this analyses the legal system of the means or instruments necessary for the economic activity performed in the market as companies, the actual trade that activity consists of and crisis and insolvency situations that may affect them.
-Aragonese Civil Law (6 ECTS): this focuses on the actual institutions and legislation in the regional law in the Autonomous Community of Aragon, regulated in the Aragon Regional Law Code and structured into five blocks: sources of Law, personal law, family law, inheritance law and property law.
g) First semester of the fourth year:
-Law and Ethics (6 ECTS): this studies the values contained in legal standards and the importance of conflicts of values in contemporary society in the regulation and application of law, together with problems relating to obedience to the law, civil disobedience and conscientious objection.
- Financial and Tax Law II (9 ECTS): studies the Spanish tax system and the legal system of the different taxes that make it up.
-Procedural Law II (9 ECTS): examines the exercise of criminal law powers and criminal procedure in the Spanish legal system.
-Environmental Law (6 ECTS): this is a specialist subject that studies one of the major areas of Administrative Law and which aims to learn about the most significant forms of environmental action and protection by Public Authorities.
-Regional Economic-based Administrative Law (6 ECTS): this is another specialist subject in Administrative Law studying public intervention and the promotion of private activity in the industrial sector, the regulation of markets and their supervisory bodies and urban planning law.
-Fundamentals of Law (3 ECTS; taught in English): its aim is to familiarise students with basic specific legal vocabulary in the English language, especially through texts and legislative and case law materials.
h) Second semester of the fourth year:
-Private International Law (9 ECTS): this studies the legal system of relations between private individuals and foreign elements, in addition to having a special part devoted to International Civil Law, International Commercial Law and International Labour Law.
-Economic Techniques for Legal Professionals (3 ECTS): this is a specialist subject that deals with the study of economic agents and markets, economic information, financial institutions and instruments and the position of the Spanish economy in the world.
-Accounting for Legal Professionals (3 ECTS): this is a specialist subject that provides law students with a basic understanding of accounting, auditing and finance, accounting and financial regulations and accounting software applications.
-Competition Law (3 ECTS): this is a specialist subject that studies the fundamentals and relevance of the provisions that regulate competition in its various aspects: free competition, unfair competition and industrial and intellectual property.
-Legal Sociology (3 ECTS): the aim is for law students to acquire the conceptual tools and basic techniques that enable them to analyse, criticise and reflect on the social dimension of legal phenomena and institutions.
-Legal Interpretation and Arguments (3 ECTS): this studies the legal methodology and arguments used by legal practitioners in their decisions, especially by judges in their rulings, as well as the theories of interpreting legal standards and their applicability to real specific cases.
-Communication and Expression Techniques for Legal Professionals (3 ECTS): this course aims to analyse and express legal discourse and aims to improve the oral and written expression skills of law students.