Graduate Admissions

The course is designed to prepare students for undertaking skilled and in-depth legal research mostly concentrating on English language materials. It aims to develop correct and meaningful writing and speaking ability, and students are required to continuously submit written assignments. It will also improve proficiency in giving efficient professional legal advice in the future.

Legal concepts and evolution of intellectual property law, copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret, unfair competition, geographical names and other forms of intellectual property  such as biological diversity, genetic engineering and digital environment. Analysis of intellectual property law from the economic viewpoints of both industrialized countries and developing countries. Analysis will also be made of major related international agreements, e.g. the treaties of Berne, Paris, Rome and TRIPs. This course will examine problems relating to protection of intellectual property rights and the various organizations, e.g. WIPO, the Department of Intellectual Property and the Intellectual Property and International Trade Court and will include a study of contemporary problems, e.g., licensing agreements, franchising, and parallel importation.

Fundamental principles, laws and regulations relating to international commercial transactions, international sale contracts, incoterms, transactional transportation, insurance, offshore loans, transfer of technology, customs law, law and regulations regarding import and export processes, law on currency exchange control, and the organization and structuring of international commercial transactions, together with legal problems and settlement of disputes involving international trade as a  foundation for further study of any particular subject.

Rules and regulations for international financial and banking services, money transfers, credit supply, inter-bank loans, international surety/guarantee, currency exchange and international insurance, together with related international financial and banking problems.

Background of securities markets and the institutional framework within which securities trading typically occurs, main aspects of securities regulation that are common throughout many jurisdictions around the world, mandatory disclosure on the distribution of securities and in support of ongoing trading in securities, insider trading, takeover bid regulation, securities industry regulation and mutual fund regulation, policy arguments both for and against various aspects of securities regulation, examination of the internationalization of securities markets and the difficulties created by the international context in which securities trading occurs, examination of similarities and differences in securities regulation between various countries and strategic considerations for a country to develop securities laws in the context of international securities markets.

Forms of unfair trade competition, trade blocks and monopolies both at the domestic and international level; the economic effects, concepts, policy and administration of the government in the control and prevention of monopolies, trade blocks and unfair trade competition among business activities in the private sectors; analysis of laws relating to anti-monopoly and unfair competition and the application and interpretation of such laws by way of comparing domestic and international rules and regulations, including the study of relations between anti-monopoly law, trade block law and those aspects of intellectual property law that provide certain principles of protection with respect to some aspects of monopoly.

The concept and  evolution of the European Union; various significant agreements that describe the objectives, principles, direction and framework of cooperation in economics, trade, finance, customs, transportation, industry, labor, intellectual property, environment, energy, agriculture, fishery, standard of goods and competition; together with a study of the organizing systems and various key organizations within the European Union.

Sources of International environmental law, pitfalls and promises; state responsibility for trans-boundary harm, soft law and the concept and principles of sustainable development; the legal waterfront of marine environmental protection; the evolving international law of the atmosphere; the international framework for controlling trans-boundary movements of hazardous wastes and toxic chemicals; the protection of biodiversity; the politics and prospects of a global forests convention; the law of international watercourses; polar regions and the environment of Antarctica and the Arctic; free trade and the environment.

Development of international organizations; the structures, powers and duties of the League of Nations and various organs of the United Nations such as the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Trusteeship Council, the Secretariat and the International Court of Justice; the powers and duties of specialized agencies such as the International Labor Organization, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the World Health Organization and regional organizations such as the European Union (EU), the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Organization of American States and the Organization for African Unity.

The meaning and philosophy behind human rights, the protection of human rights under the League of Nations and the United Nations, the protection of human rights at regional levels such as Europe, America, Africa, and Arab States, and the protection of human rights  under Thai law.

Concepts and principles of foreign commercial law in both civil and common law systems on the laws of sales, bills and other negotiable instruments; incorporation in comparison with respective concepts and principles of Thai law.

Theories relating to the structure of the concepts of criminal offences in Civil Law countries and Common Law countries, analysis of problems and the evolution of the concepts and theories of criminal law and  changes to criminal law that have occurred following altered social and economic circumstances, including various forms of business crime and money laundering related to conducting a crime.

Nature and modes of application of electronic commerce and electronic signatures to various business transactions instead of original forms of contract, the legal effects on the civil and commercial laws caused by the application of electronic commerce and electronic signatures in the declaration of intention by electronic data or message instead of by way of original form of documentation, problems and obstacles in the development of electronic commerce and electronic signatures both at domestic and international levels.

History and evolution of the legal principles of the law of evidence in the countries that have adopted the adversarial legal system or the inquisitorial legal system;  comparison of legal principles on admissible evidence, weighing of evidence and the burden of proof in civil cases, criminal cases, and administrative cases of France, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Thailand.

The legal system of the WTO, particularly the rules of international trade law arising from the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the supplementary agreements to and binding decisions interpreting  GATT; various permitted and prohibited distortions of free international trade that form the basic objective of GATT; analysis of the new responsibilities of the WTO arising from supplementary agreements adopted and binding decisions made at the end of the so-called Uruguay Round in 1994 in such areas as trade in services, trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights, trade-related investment measures, and the relationship between international trade and environmental protection; the WTO system for settlement of trade-related disputes; and institutional aspects of the WTO system.

Organizational development of ASEAN since its inception in 1967 by the Bangkok Declaration until the adoption of the ASEAN Charter in 2008 and beyond; evolution of the organization from diplomacy and loose political and security cooperation to a legalistic and rules-based organization; evolution of some of the fundamental principles of ASEAN,  such as the movement from an informal and non-committal diplomatic  method of conducting negations and doing businesses  via the so-called ‘ASEAN Way’ to committed legal principles contained in the Charter, with emphasis on the unique ASEAN Dispute Settlement System (DSM)  that comprises a combination of several flexible modes of settlement of disputes, and its relationship with and conformity to similar modes of settling disputes in other contexts, such as those of the United Nations (UN) and the World Trade Organization (WTO), and also how the ASEAN DSM will work in practice.

Development of trade and investment law within the context of ASEAN, including two cardinal principles of trade and investment, namely market access and non-discrimination. Market access covers ASEAN instruments that relate to reduction or elimination of tariffs  on goods and services, as well as the opening of national business sectors for FDIs (direct foreign investments), and laws, rules, regulations, requirements affecting sale, offering for sale, purchase, transportation distribution or use of products or services. Non-discrimination encompasses the National Treatment and the MFN (Most Favored Nation Treatment) and their relationship with other bilateral and multi-lateral treaties to which Thailand is a party, such as Thailand-US Treaty of Amity (Treaty of Amity and Economic Relations between the Kingdom of Thailand and the United States of America), and the Alien Business Law of Thailand 2542.

International tax systems, double taxation treaties and problems concerning double taxation; tax measures pertaining to goods, services, capital, licensing fees and remittance of profits; and problems relating to tax avoidance and tax planning.

Concept, theories and history of the fundamental principles of civil and commercial law concerning contract and tort; a comparative analysis between Thai law and foreign laws  regarding theories, practical problems and judicial decisions together with the principal practical problems in contract and tort law that arise in foreign countries.

Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) as a new efficient practice of settlement of disputes arising from international trade and investment as it has evolved over the previous decade; different methods of negotiation, conciliation and arbitration which are commonly practiced by  commercial lawyers all over the world; analysis of new optional dispute settlement focusing on problems in international trade and investment; knowledge of law and practice in international commercial litigation such as forum shopping, choice of law and enforcement of foreign judgments, with comparisons to international commercial arbitration. Students are required to continuously submit written assignments so that they can become more proficient in writing and well-prepared to provide efficient legal advice in the future.

Independent Study includes the background of the problem, a review of literature, a comparative study of the law that may include international laws or state laws, an analysis of the problem, and a summary and recommendations.

The first phase of the thesis includes the thesis problem background, objectives of the study, scope of the study, hypothesis, methodology, and expected outcomes of the study.

The second phase of the thesis includes a review of literature, a comparative study of the law  that may include international laws or state laws, an analysis of the problem, and a summary and recommendations.