A law school in India has chosen a literally magical way of teaching its students, offering an exclusive comparative law course based on JK Rowling’s world-acclaimed Harry Potter series.
The class is being offered by the University of Kolkata and requires students to have read the Harry Potter books at least twice. That’s because it uses the parallel universe of witches and wizards to instruct students on how to adapt “muggle” legal principles to alien situations.
"This course is meant to be more of an experiment. It will take both me and the students out of our comfort zones," Assistant Professor Shouvik Kumar Guha said in a phone interview to the Telegraph of India.
The winter term course, being offered to senior students as part of the law program at the National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS), also highlights the shortcomings of law and institutions, according to a statement by the institution.
From unforgivable curses to the guilt of Tom Riddle, students will draw from the wizarding world of the Potterverse to gain an understanding of how to apply law to different situations in an ever-changing legal, political and societal environment.
In the Potterverse, for example, the Ministry of Magic uses its officials to torture children who dare to tell the truth in what is strikingly reminiscent of George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984. Freedom of speech is also stifled, with the newspaper ‘The Daily Prophet’ acting as a propaganda tool.
The curriculum comprises of a wide range of topics, from Wizengamot trials to the accusations against Sirius Black, Quidditch and sports law at Hogwarts.
“Then they can see when they encounter scenarios in the real world, maybe it will help them think a little bit,” Kumar, who said he is familiar with each and every line of the seven books, told the Guardian.
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