Common Law + Civil Law Double Degree Program reqirements

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Common Law+Civil Law Double Degree Program requirements

The Faculty of Law at the University of Victoria offers a program under which a limited number of Canadian Civil Law graduates may be awarded the J.D. degree. Applicants for this program must commence their studies at the University of Victoria within two years of completing their Canadian Civil Law degree. A student must successfully complete an aggregate total of 22.5 units (3 semesters of full-time study) at the University of Victoria Faculty of Law. Courses previously taken at the University of Victoria as part of an Exchange Term Program may be included in this total.

Required first-year courses

These course must be taken in the Winter (Fall/Spring) session.

Required first-year courses are: Law 100 – Constitutional Law; Law 102 – Criminal Law; Law 104 – Law Legislation and Policy; Law 108A – Contracts; Law; 108B – Property; and Law 108C – Torts. Most civil law students will already have completed the equivalents of Constitutional Law and Criminal Law. As a result, our experience has been that most students in this program are required to take:

Law 108A Contracts (2 units) - both terms
Law 108B Property (2 units) - both terms
Law 108C Torts (2 units) - both terms
Law 104 Law Legislation and Policy (LLP)** (1.5 units) Fall term only - final exam in Dec

** Students who have completed courses in statutory interpretation and administrative law may be able to establish that they have taken equivalent courses and, if so, the requirement to take LLP may be waived.

Required upper-year courses

This requirement may be waived if equivalent courses have been completed.

Law 307B Civil Procedure (2 units)
Law 309 Evidence (2 units) [may not be required if equivalent courses have already been completed]

Elective courses

In addition to required courses, the student must take a sufficient number of elective courses to meet the total unit requirements of the Double Degree Program. This includes the course in which the student completes the Faculty's major paper requirement described below. In selecting elective courses students must not duplicate the content of courses that have already completed elsewhere. If there is doubt about whether selections are duplicative of courses already taken, the student must bring this to the attention of the Associate Dean and provide enough information to determine whether he/she should be allowed to enroll in the course. Students in the program may not (as part of their program) take courses outside the Faculty of Law and are not eligible for exchange terms.

Major paper requirement

The student must complete the Faculty's major paper requirement. This means that he/she must write a research paper of at least 7,500 words in length and receive a grade of at least C+ on the paper. This requirement must be met either by writing the paper in a course that allows for such a paper as a method of evaluation or by enrolling in either Law 399 - Supervised Research and Writing, or Law 388 - Advanced Legal Research and Writing. To enroll in Law 399, the student must find a professor who is willing to supervise the paper.

Working out a program

The student must work out an acceptable program that meets the above requirements and must consult with the Associate Dean in this regard. The student will be subject to all UVic academic regulations and requirements, including those with respect to achieving standing in your program. It is the student's responsibility to become informed about those requirements.