SOC015 Czech Legal Culture

Faculty of Law
Spring 2025
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 6 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Taught in person.
Teacher(s)
JUDr. Bc. Terezie Smejkalová, Ph.D. (lecturer)
JUDr. Bc. Markéta Štěpáníková, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
JUDr. Bc. Terezie Smejkalová, Ph.D.
Department of Legal Theory – Faculty of Law
Contact Person: Tereza Buchalová
Supplier department: Department of Legal Theory – Faculty of Law
Prerequisites
There are no special requirements or prerequisites. The course is suitable also for students of non-legal disciplines.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

The capacity limit for the course is 20 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/20, only registered: 0/20
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 21 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
The aim of this course is to provide for a systematic introduction to the Czech legal culture.
Learning outcomes
At the end of the course, the students should be able to: - to understand the concepts of culture and legal culture and what they entail
- understand the historical, political and social foundations of the Czech legal environment
- to understand the manner in which the legal system (or specifically judiciary) builds its legitimacy
- to understand organisational and ethical aspects of Czech legal professions
- to critically assess the specifics of legal language with respect to the legal expertise
Syllabus
  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. What is culture? What is legal culture?
  • 3. Theoretical and historical background: Austro-Hungarian roots
  • 4. Theoretical and historical background: Normative theory and Socialist law
  • 5. Theoretical and historical background: Trial with Milada Horáková and others
  • 6. Reading week: Central European legal style
  • 7. Construction of legitimacy of the judiciary in the Czech legal setting
  • 8. Legal Education and Legal Professions
  • 9. Ethical aspects of legal professions
  • 10. Cases II: I. ÚS 2617/15 - Restriction of Judges' freedom of expression; I. ÚS 3018/14 - Scope of Parliamentary indemnity
  • 11. Lawyers as gatekeepers of symbolic capital of law
  • 12. Visit to court
Literature
  • veškerá studijní literatura bude studentům poskytnuta prostřednictvím interaktivní osnovy / all readings will be provided within the interactive syllabus
Teaching methods
Interactive seminars - students will prepare and submit assignments related to the topics of the lectures
Assessment methods
- at least 10 out of 11 assignments submitted (each 0-10 points); final grade will be calculated by adding up points awarded for the individual assignments
Language of instruction
English
Further Comments
The course is taught each semester.
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2004, Spring 2005, Autumn 2005, Spring 2006, Autumn 2006, Spring 2007, Autumn 2007, Spring 2008, Autumn 2008, Spring 2009, Autumn 2009, Spring 2010, Autumn 2010, Spring 2011, Autumn 2011, Autumn 2012, Autumn 2013, Autumn 2014, Spring 2015, Autumn 2015, Spring 2016, Autumn 2016, Spring 2017, Autumn 2017, Spring 2018, Autumn 2018, Spring 2019, Autumn 2019, Spring 2020, Autumn 2020, Spring 2021, Autumn 2021, Spring 2022, Autumn 2022, Spring 2023, Autumn 2023, Spring 2024, Autumn 2024.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2025, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/law/spring2025/SOC015