Course Description

Course No.	Course Name	Course Descriptions
LAWC 101	Introduction to Law	This course deals with the following topics: Studying the theory of law where it focuses on studying the concept of the (legal fundamental, divisions, sources, interpretation thereof). In addition to its scope of application and way of cancellation; studying the theory of right in terms of concept and types thereof; as well as natural and legal persons, object of right (funds) and further studying the principle of arbitrariness in using the right.
LAWC 213	Source of obligations	This course deals in general with: First: Voluntary sources of obligation 1. Contract: Basic elements, conditions, flaws and effects thereof (contractual responsibility). 2. Unilateral will: Terms of commitment, provisions and applications thereof (promise of an award for the public). Second: Non-Voluntary sources 1. Tort (Omissive responsibility): basic elements, personal responsibility for the act, responsibility for the actions of others and responsibility for damage of things. 2. Beneficial act (Unjustified Enrichment): Terms, conditions and applications thereof (El-Fodala) undertaking by design a non-binding action deliberately for the favor of another person and recovery of payment made by mistake). Third: The law as a direct source to some obligations.
LAWC 214	Effects of Obligations	This course emphasizes on First: Effects of obligations: Natural and civil obligation, Obligatory implementation of the obligation (in kind and against a compensation) In addition to the ways of maintaining the public security. Second: Description of obligation: the condition, the term, variety of objects of obligation, alternative and elective obligations, positive and negative cooperation, positive and negative solidarity and the indivisible obligation. Third: Transfer of obligation: Transfer of right and transfer of debt. Fourth: Termination of obligation: By way of settlement, fulfillment with subrogation equivalent to the latter and elapse of the time of obligation without fulfillment thereof.
LAWC 215	Business Law	This course is intended to provide a general introduction to the legal environment that affects individuals, businesses, and business transactions. In addition to providing a general introduction to the Qatari legal system, this course will concentrate on specific legal topics such as companies, intellectual property rights, companies and contracts. Although the focus will be on the Qatari law, other countries’ laws (in particular that of the United States of America) will be referred to throughout the study.
LAWC 217	Commercial Law	This course will focus on the principles of commercial law in Qatar. It will particularly review the concept of commercial activities and distinguish it from the concept of civil activities. In addition, it will emphasize on the trader (individual or corporation) as a party in the commercial transactions. Moreover, the course will highlight major issues discussed in the Qatari Law of Commerce (27/2006) such as the types of commercial contracts, the commercial concern, and bankruptcy.
LAWC 250	Family Law	This “Obligatory” course includes an explanation of what has been mentioned in the first and second book of the family law number 22-2006; where the first includes articles (5) till (100) emphasizing on the terms and conditions of engagement, and marriage contract, types of marriage. The conditions associated with marriage contract as well as marital rights and effects of marriage. As for the second book, it includes articles from (101) to (188), where it focuses mostly on the principles of separation of the spouses, namely dissolution of marriage, divorce (for consideration payable by the wife), separation by way of courts besides to effects of this separation.
LAWC 302	Advocacy Skills	Advocacy Skills (LAWC 302) focuses on training students to serve as advocates. Students continue to develop their ability to read and analyze the law, as well as their persuasive writing skills, by preparing an appellate brief/memorial. They will also refine their oral advocacy skills in preparation for a formal oral argument before a moot court. Top advocates in this course will be invited to compete in a championship round at the end of the semester and may be invited to represent Qatar University in regional and/or international moot court competitions. The Legal English Lab, which supports the Advocacy Skills course, aims to improve the student’s ability to communicate using the English language. It focuses on terminology, grammar, punctuation, and other related English language skills that underpin the Advocacy Skills course material.
LAWC 314	Law of Civil Contract I	This course has been designed to help students know more about the fundamental elements of civil contracts (1) in the Qatari civil law which includes both lease and sale contracts. The course focuses as well on getting students acquire the essential knowledge regarding sale contracts and what relates thereto starting from concluding the contract, conditions of its validity, degree of required capacity for conclusion, to the legal effects incumbent upon the sale contract through discussing the buyer’s and seller’s obligations. Students are also familiarized in this course with the texts that govern lease contracts in general, shedding light on rules and regulations of leasing premises and buildings in Qatar where there comes an emphasis on concluding the lease contract, Identifying the scope of applicability of tenancy regulations, the effects incumbent thereupon with focusing on the development of legislations the State has witnessed, in addition to reinforcing the student’s skill to resolve problems arising from the sale and lease contracts in practical reality. The course also provides via theoretical information, analysis of legal texts, and some modern issues related to the course’s subjects in a way that focuses on the student’s activity, and their participation and interaction in the educational process.
LAWC 315	Labor Law	This course tackles the general principles and detailed provisions of the labor law in the light of Qatari legal system and the international agreements, through studying its foundation, evolution, variety of its sources and expansion of its scope. The individual labor contract comprises the core of the course and thus is one of its crucial topics. Accordingly, this course discusses the elements of individual labor contract in addition to its specified term, termination and effects related to rights and obligations arranged by the contract to be due upon both parties thereof. The course also deals with the organizational structure of the labor organizations and its role in defending the interests and rights of workers, taking into consideration the collective labor agreement in terms of parties, topics and effects thereof. Besides, the course encompasses collective work disputes along with amicable and unamicable settlements.
LAWC 316	Law of Civil Procedure I	This advanced Obligatory course considers defining the Qatari judicial system, the configuration of the civil courts and rules of its jurisdiction. In addition, this course covers the rules and procedures, which are required to be followed before the Qatari civil courts, all from the moment of filing the lawsuit, preparing the proceedings and pleas during the hearings until the pronunciation of the judicial ruling and arranging the appeal proceedings thereto.
LAWC 329	Commercial Papers and Banking Transactions	Law of Negotiable Instruments deals with legal principles of commercial papers as negotiable instruments; their definition, characteristics and types as regulated by the Commercial Code of Qatar. Based on this the course will in particular cover the following topics: The definition of negotiable instruments, characteristics of negotiable instruments, types of negotiable instruments are: bills of exchange, promissory notes and cheques. The course will also examine a number of important decisions that have been issued by the Court of Cassation in Qatar relating to negotiable instruments. This course will also focus on the legal framework of banking operations in Qatar. A commercial bank plays an important role in financially satisfying commercial transactions. However, the bank may not perform this role unless it is financed through other sources like deposits and creditable current accounts. In addition, this course will highlight the different types of banking operations and will particularly cover the following concepts in banking law: documentary credit, demand guarantees or letter of credit, current accounts, bank transfers, and deposits.
LAWC 335	Intellectual Property	The course is designed to deal with national and international legal protection of intellectual property rights. It shall introduce students to the different types of intellectual property rights, namely: patents, trademarks, geographical indications, trade names, industrial designs, layout-designs of integrated circuits and copyright and neighboring (or related) rights. Although its focus is primarily on Qatari laws, references are frequently made to the international norms as found in the TRIPs agreement and other international conventions concerning intellectual property, such as the Paris Convention and the Berne Convention.
LAWC 345	International Trade Law	This course provides an examination of private international trade law. It examines the UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION ON CONTRACTS FOR THE INTERNATIONAL SALE OF GOODS (CISG). The course examines as well other subjects of private international trade law; special trade terms in export sales, bills of exchange, letters of credit, bank guarantees and other contract guarantees in general, financial leasing and other forms of merchant finance, carriage of goods by sea, insurance of goods in transit. In addition, it examines the selection of the optimal business format for international operations, including branch, subsidiary, joint venture, technology license and distributorship. The course discusses as well international commercial litigation, international commercial arbitration, enforcement of foreign judgments and arbitral awards.
LAWC 348	Corporate Law	This course deals with the commercial company law in the State of Qatar in the light of Commercial Companies Law No. 5 of 2002 and its amendments. The course shall introduce the students to the concept of "company" as a contract and as a legal person. It shall then turn to detail the legal principles and rules that govern each type of companies. The course will also cover the rules of merger, take over and liquidation of all types of companies.
LAWC 350	Maritime Law
LAWC 353	Real and Personal Securities	This course deals with familiarizing the students with the legal ways of guaranteeing debts protecting creditors and preferring them to normal creditors. All through acquainting the student with two main types of securities by determining the detailed provisions for each according to the Qatari civil law: 1. Expanding the concept of real securities by stating the kinds of securities such as possessory lien , formal mortgage, right of privilege and franchising; 2. Expanding the concept of personal securities by stating the provisions of the personal sponsorship.
LAWC 411	Real Rights	This course tackles the important branch of the financial rights which students have examined its primary principles in a previous course, and after they have already studied the terms of obligations. This course considers deeply the said rights especially the right of ownership where it is being taught in terms of its concept, scope and denotations set on property whether the legal or the consensual ones. In addition to the legal ways aiming at protecting that right, After which students are familiarized with the types of property, methods of acquisition as well as ways of termination thereof, then the course helps them come across differentiating between movables and immovables, so the student recognizes the commercial register and the governing rules thereof, and also gets to know the real rights that branch out of the right of ownership such as rights of easement and usufruct, all according to Qatari regulations.
LAWC 413	Private International Law	This courses deals with what follows: 1. The general theory of dispute/conflict rule in terms of its concept, sources and properties, in addition to the general ideas about conflict of law such as the concept of the public system, fraud in law and the extent of observance of the conflict of laws to the judge . The course also tackles how the Qatari laws address the problem of the conflict of law in terms of persons, funds and international contracts. It also considers studying the rules of the international jurisdictional rules where it takes up the general principles pertaining to the international judicial organization and the Qatari jurisprudence for the issue of international judicial jurisprudence dispute/conflict; 2. The general theory regarding nationality and the legal status of foreigner in terms of defining nationality, its types, withdrawal of the same and denaturalization, as a general theory in addition to the Qatari application thereof. The course also deals with the legal position of foreigners in terms of its governing principles and the Qatari application thereof as well.
LAWC 414	law of Civil Contract II	This course is meant to provide students with the basics of the civil contracts II in the Qatari civil law, which comprise the insurance policy and contractual agreement. The course helps students grasp basic knowledge regarding contractual agreements and what relates thereto, taking into consideration defining the agreement and differentiating it from other agreements, in addition to stating the ways of concluding the same, its validity conditions, the degree of capacity required for conclusion and the legal effects entailing such agreement through studying the contractor’s obligations, the decennial liability insurance provisions as well the obligations of the employer. The course moreover aims at familiarizing the student with the texts that govern the insurance policy in general, through studying the way of concluding the same, in addition to the effects that entail it, stating the different types of insurance and focusing on the various activities carried out by the companies in Qatar. The course also seeks to provide the student with the skill to resolve the cases raised by the contractual agreement and insurance policy within the practical reality. All through theoretical information, analyses of legal texts and some contemporary issues related to the topics of the course, the latter intends to focus on the students’ vigor and capabilities and instill their participation and interaction in the educational process.
LAWC 433	Oil and Gas Law	This course reviews oil and gas contracts used in exploration, production, sale and operations and maintenance of oil and gas projects both in Qatar and internationally. It focuses on the current available legal instruments used in the oil and gas industry, including key terms of the proforma contracts used by Qatar Petroleum and its affiliates and subsidiaries within the State of Qatar. Included in the coverage are – briefly – concession contracts, and – in detail – joint venture agreements, exploitation, development and production sharing agreements, service contracts for operation and maintenance, key terms of sale agreements in oil and gas and the objectives and key terms of confidentiality agreements or confidentiality clauses in oil and gas related contracts. The instructor should discuss with students other oil related agreements, corporate and legal structure of various types of upstream, midstream and downstream oil projects in order to clarify those special features. Related conventions and international organizations such as OPEC, OAPEC and OECD can be covered. If time permits, the instructor may include operating agreements, facility sharing agreements and various types of time charter party agreements for transportation of LNG and other by-products by Sea to customers worldwide. The course emphasizes both fundamental principles and current issues in the petroleum industry and it touches upon topical clauses. Prerequisites and Teaching Convention: The current prerequisite is LAWC 101 (Introduction to Law). However, you are expected to have solid foundation on the concept of company as a contract, and required to use advanced commercial law terminologies such as the difference between business types and what each type entails etc. Therefore, it is recommended that you first finish LAWC348 (Corporate Law). You are required to conduct research and write papers (instead of a midterm exam) in LAWC 433. Therefore, it is also recommended that you first finish LAWC 223 (Legal Research & Writing II). Textbook: International Petroleum Transactions (20110) by Smith, Dzienkowski, Anderson, Lowe, Kramer, Weaver.
LAWC 449	Environment Laws & Regulations	This course examines international environmental law including its application to Qatar, and evaluates how Qatari national law operates to protect the environment. Primarily the course identifies the sources of international environmental law and introduces some of its most important concepts, current issues, and principles. After analyzing theoretical and ethical bases of international environmental law and principles, and understanding its application to Qatar, students are prepared for industry by examining in detail Qatari environmental legislation and regulations and how they apply and are enforced in practice.
LAWC 450	Law of Civil Procedure II	This course is considered as a complement to the law of civil procedure I which deals with rules of proof and forced execution. The general theory pertaining to proof in commercial and civil articles (articles from 211 till 361 of the Qatari law of civil and commercial procedure number 13 for the year 1990 and amendments thereof) includes each of the substantive and procedural rules of the different methods of proof which are written evidence, testimony, administering oath, confession, body of evidence/indications, expertise and checking up. As for the rules of the forced execution (articles from 362 to 518 of the Qatari law of civil and commercial procedure number 13 for the year 1990 and amendments thereof), they discuss the provisions and applications of such execution of court judgments, arbitration, commercial papers and other executive bonds before executive authorities.
LAWC 451	Alternative Dispute Resolution	Negotiation and mediation course provides an opportunity to experiment with a variety of negotiation and mediation styles. To encourage students to try out the techniques discussed in class, the quality and effort of the student’s preparation and participation in the negotiation & mediation, and the insightfulness of their analysis, will be the primary emphasis. Students will learn how to think, analysis, and evaluate like a negotiators. In addition, they will be able to develop communication and conflict resolution skills as mediators. This course will also provide a verity of cases in negotiation and mediation. During the class, students will work through a series of negotiation and mediation exercises which will be evaluated by the co-instructor.
LAWC 459	Drafting Business Contracts	This course covers skills of drafting different types of business contracts. It will concentrate on six main areas: translating the business deal into contract concepts, drafting parts of a contract, drafting clearly and unambiguously, drafting from the client's perspective, putting a contract together, and drafting ethically. The course should host experts to share their perspectives and experiences drafting contracts for their clients. The key objectives of this course are: 1. To understand the key elements of a contract. 2. To recognise and be able to use the 7 legal tools of contract drafting; and 3. To be able to draft contractual clauses clearly and unambiguously. Prerequisites and Teaching Convention: This course will host experts to share their perspectives and experiences in drafting contracts for their clients. The current prerequisite is LAWC213 (Sources of Obligation). However, it is recommended that you first finish LAWC 348 (Corporate Law). You are expected to possess good knowledge of contract and business law terminologies in addition to good English language – the course heavily involves analytical writing. You will be required to deal with extensive writing exercises in legal English language. Therefore, it is also recommended that students first finish LAWC 223 (Legal Research & Writing II). Textbook: Drafting Contacts: How and Why Lawyers Do What They Do (Aspen, 2007) by Tina L. Stark
LAWC 464	International Investment Law	International investment law addresses the regulation of the behavior of sovereign States towards foreign investors. The law on investment is known as an intersection between the domestic legal and the international regimes. Thus, this course examines the substantive law governing domestic laws on investment, and international laws and norms relating to foreign investment. Prerequisites and Teaching Convention: The current prerequisite is LAWC217 (Commercial Law). However, because you are required to use advanced commercial law terminologies such as the difference between business types and what each type entails etc., it is recommended that you first finish LAWC348 (Corporate Law). You are required to conduct research and write papers (instead of a midterm exam) in LAWC464. Therefore, it is also recommended that you first finish LAWC223 (Legal Research & Writing II). Textbook: The International Law on Foreign Investment (2010) by M. Sornarajah And Principles of International Investment Law (2012) by R. Dolzer and C. Schreuer
LAWC 499	Legal Ethics