Transsystemia

[GreyDude]

McGill students, past and present: I have read up on transsystemia, and I think I get the concept. I find it very appealing. But what is it like to take a transsystemic law class? How does it translate into the actual work you do? 

Edited September 27, 2021 by GreyDude

[ccq35]

This varies quite a bit depending on the class and the professor. My contracts class was taught pretty comparatively: learn the common law, then read a case or two in the civil law. Extra-contractual obligations/torts, on the other hand, was a more critical analysis of why the private law of civil wrongs exists, what its advantages and limitations are, with examples from both traditions (plus doctrine and Indigenous sources) to illustrate these ideas. Again, depending on the class/professor, in an exam, this could mean approaching a fact pattern (1) from a common law perspective and then (2) from a civil law perspective (i.e. more comparatively), or writing an essay on a specific area of private law where you pull in examples from both major Canadian legal traditions with less concern for their differences. 
 

I hope this helps a bit; I’m happy to go into more detail if you have more specific questions!

[GreyDude]

This sounds very much like what I was expecting, though perhaps with a little less "world law" than I thought the concept of transsystemia implied. As I said, I find the approach really fascinating—one of the most appealing aspects of McGill's program. It really looks like it would match my learning style.

Thanks!

[artsydork]

My experiences (albeit dated) are identical to @ccq35. Some profs did it better than others. It's supposed to be more than simply comparative and drawing from each tradition - some profs would lecture 1 week on the common law version and follow it up later with "this is the CCQ version" while others compared and contrasted. Other profs didn't even bother though (ahem, Judicial Procedure was taught solely in the civil tradition despite being a transsystemic class). Other profs made it more localized in their fact patterns - It certainly made for an interesting ECO exam (CCQ didn't have Prof Saumier, I take it, who expressed her horror at people calling her class "Torts") where a guy essentially lost his whole family from a flu shot in Gatineau and in Ottawa...

To be honest, I don't use transsystemia in practice. It was a useful way of approaching law and, as a philosophical tool, teaches McGill grads to approach the law differently than other schools. I got to write a fun paper for Prof Leckey through ccq's second method.