Majors and Areas of Study

Faculty of LAW

Fostering the conceptual ability to lead in the design and operation of systems and organizations

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Fostering talent for business, law, government, and many other spheres of society

The name "Faculty of Law" often makes people think of a place for the training of professional lawyers such as law schools in the United States. However, faculties of law in Japan have long functioned as places to foster talent for the business world. At most, only one in every four graduates from the Kyoto University Faculty of Law enters the legal profession. Most of the remaining three quarters pursue careers in private companies. Many have taken up executive posts at major Japanese corporations to become leaders of Japanese industry. This is one of the reasons that the Kyoto University Faculty of Law has gained an excellent reputation in the business world.

Studying major courses in law and political science

The Faculty of Law offers introductory major courses during the first-year, and students start to take most of their major courses in the second year. The curriculum centers on courses in law and political science (in the ratio of around three to one), but students can also take a variety of courses from the Faculty of Economics. These courses aim to allow students to gain broad insights into society, the corporate world, and the nation-state, and especially to understand the rules that govern them. As mentioned above, most graduates of the Faculty of Law go on to work in the business world as Japanese companies place a high value on students who have undergone this type of training.


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Honing your research, presentation, and debating skills in seminars

The Faculty of Law offers small-group courses called "seminars" for students in their third and fourth years. In seminars, all students pursue research on a predetermined theme, report their findings to the class based on a research paper, and discuss their report with the instructor and other students in the class. By proactively engaging in these courses, students can expect their skills of research, presentation, and debating to improve dramatically. For this reason, the Faculty of Law strongly encourages students to take seminar courses, and in fact almost all students do (it is possible to take one seminar course each semester with a maximum of up to three in total). English is the designated language of instruction in some seminars.

Solid, incremental curricular requirements combined with respect for students' autonomy in learning choices

In order to encourage solid progress through the curriculum, the Faculty of Law sets limits (caps) on the number of credits students can take each semester. With a view to incremental learning, the major curriculum available to second-year students focuses on a range of foundational courses. However, as none of the major courses are mandatory, students are free to make their own course choices in line with their individual plans for the future. In this way, students take the initiative for selecting their courses and planning their studies based on the idea that "all students design their own future." This is another distinctive feature of the Faculty of Law at Kyoto University.

Overview of Major Courses

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Major Subjects

The Faculty of Law at Kyoto University offers the following elective major subjects aimed at broadening students' horizons and developing individuals capable of re-evaluating the concepts of the state and society, and taking leadership roles in organizations:

●Legal / Legal Philosophy, Sociology of Law, Japanese Legal History, European Legal History, Roman Law, Chinese Legal History, Introduction to Anglo-American Legal Systems, German Law, French Law, Constitutional Law I, Constitutional Law II, Administrative Law I, Administrative Law II, Tax Law, International Law I, International Law II, Law of International Organizations,
Civil Law I, Civil Law II, Civil Law III, Civil Law IV, Commercial Law I, Commercial Law II, Economic Law, Intellectual Property, Law of Civil Procedure, Private International Law, International Trade Law, Labour Law, Social Security Law, Criminal Law I, Criminal Law II, Criminal Procedure, Criminology, Introduction to Law I, Introduction to Law II, Family and Law

Faculty of Law -授業の様子.jpg●Political Science / Principles of Political Science, Political Process, Comparative Politics, American Politics, International Politics, Analysis of International Political Economy, Political History, Political and Diplomatic History of Japan, History of
Political Thought, Public Administration, Public Policy Analysis, Introduction to Political Science I, Introduction to Political Science II

●Research on Foreign Literature / Research on Foreign Literature (English/ German/French)

●Special Classes / Civil Execution and Civil Provisional Remedies, History of Japanese Political Thought, Diplomatic History, Introduction to European Law, Japanese Politics from a Comparative Perspective, International History 1900 to the Present, Modern Society and Justice, Modern Society and Lawyers, Practice and Law in Asset Management, Practice and Law of Life Insurance, Financial Law and Banking Business, Theory and Practice of Trust Law, A Practical Guide to International Business Practice and Law

●Economic Relations / Microeconomics 1, Microeconomics 2, Political Economy 1, Political Economy 2, Public Finance, Economic History 1, Economic History 2, Tax System, Money and Banking, Monetary Policy, Basic Statistics, Economic Statistics, Accounting 1, Accounting 2, History of Economics, Economic History of Japan, Theory of Social Policy

Seminars

Our seminars prepare students to engage in vigorous debates and discussions and have been a prominent feature of the Faculty of Law since its very foundation. Seminars can be taken in the following areas:

Legal / Sociology of Law, Japanese Legal History, Roman Law, Anglo-American Legal Systems, German Law, Constitutional Law, Administrative Law, Tax Law, International Law, Law of International Organizations, Civil Law, Commercial Law, Economic Law, Intellectual Property Law, Law of Civil Procedure, International Trade Law, Labour Law, Private International Law, Social Security Law, Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure Law

Political Science / Principles of Political Science, Political Process, Comparative Politics, American Politics, International Politics, Analysis of International Political Economy, Political History, Political and Diplomatic History of Japan, History of Political Thought, Public Administration

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