This course offers an introduction to the study of comparative constitutional law. The course focuses on the central issues of constitutional law across six jurisdictions – the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands and the European Union. This guarantees an insight into both common law and civil law systems, federal and unitary states, and parliamentary and presidential systems. The course follows the logic of the principle of separation of powers and examines in particular the roles and functions of the legislative, executive and judicial branches of government in these systems. This approach permits one to understand the differences and similarities between national systems, evaluate their characteristics and appraise the impact thereof on the operation of the legal systems concerned. The topics covered in this course revolve around the following themes:  Introduction to comparative constitutional law and method Key constitutional features, systems of government and the notion of sovereignty Federalism, unitarism and decentralization Legislative branch: parliaments, election systems and lawmaking Executive branch: governments and heads of state, and their relationships to parliaments Judicial branch: courts and judicial review Human rights protection EU and ECHR law in national legal orders (UK, France, Germany, NL). Format   Each of the 12 weeks of the course, there will be two teaching moments. During the general lectures, the lecturers will outline and discuss the theme of the week. This discussion is continued during tutorial sessions. In these small-group sessions, students are expected to engage actively with their lecturer and fellow students in discussions on the basis of questions which are supplied in advance. The students are expected to prepare these tutorial questions before coming to class. To this end, apart from the book by Heringa, additional materials (articles, legislation, case law) will be provided each week. The examination for this course is composed of three parts: two papers (each paper 30 % of the final grade) and a written exam (40 % of the final grade). Papers are written on a topic in the area of comparative constitutional law. The aim of writing the paper is to show that you are able to tackle a question of public law on your own.