Master of Law

Master of Law program at the Islamic Azad University (IAU)-UAE Branch focuses on international commercial Law and corporate regulations. The course will equip the graduate students with fundamental disciplinary knowledge on critical Iranian and international legal systems and recent professional practice developments in the field.

This degree aims to develop a comprehensive knowledge of international public Law. Graduates will achieve an advanced theoretical understanding of rationales underpinning the legal status of international organisations and their role in settling international disputes.

The course covers new developments in the law sub-disciplines, i.e. Criminal Law, International Law, and Private Law.

Program Aims

Master of Law program aims to enhance Graduate students’ in law understanding of international and national business practices.

• Develop their knowledge of international laws and treaties,

• Understand the essential legal principles, theories, and processes,

• Learn about the role of law and legal systems in the social and political context

• Enlarge juristic knowledge.

This program also aims to develop graduate students’ professional development skills in Law by improving their academic performance and problem-solving skills in an international context. Graduate students in Law will also improve their academic research skills in legal contracts, policymaking, international transaction and dispute, corporate (business) law, international trading law, civil rights law, tax law, international peace and security, etc.

Program Learning Objectives (PLO)

Program Learning Objectives (PLO)- International Law (Discipline)

 By the end of the program, graduates are expected to be empowered of:

• PLO1: Developing knowledge of Iran’s constitutional and regulatory Law.

• PLO2: Analysing and Applying the principles of Law and legal reasoning.

• PLO3: Demonstrate a basic understanding of the theories, principles, historical development, and customary legal systems application in international trading.

• PLO4: Evaluating the legal principles and processes of diverse legal systems in Iran and international societies.

• PLO5: Demonstrating their understanding of international Law and its impact on international relations and contemporary concerns such as globalisation, armed force, international trade, governance and the territory, and the Law of treaties.

• PLO6: Developing their academic and practical research skills in Law.

Program Learning Objectives (PLO)- Private Law (Discipline)

By the end of the program, graduates are expected to be empowered of:

• PLO1: Enhancing the students’ ability to carry out scientific and legal research studies in private Law

• PLO2: Developing the students’ ability to apply national legislation and international agreements in the various fields of private Law

• PLO3: Developing the students’ ability to compare the legislation with judicial decisions to evaluate the national Law

• PLO4: Developing the students’ ability to provide legal consultation and contribute to the country’s social, economic, and political developments

• PLO5: Developing the students’ skills in utilising the various available sources of information and knowledge to solve the issues related to private Law

Program Career Outcomes:

Upon completing the Master’s Program in Law, graduates will be prepared for career job opportunities in commercial and legal fields and/or private and public sectors. National and international organisations require a law framework directing their business transactions. Graduates of Masters in Law are advantageous over another specialist in landing a senior position job in a competitive and lucrative job hunting market. Positions such as human resource managers, lawyers, corporate paralegals, financial analysts, compliance officers, etc., are among few positions that graduates can stand out.

Core Courses (All Disciplines)

1. Private International Law

The course, “Private International Law”, aims to provide a rationale for private international Law across civil and commercial matters, focussing primarily on jurisdiction, recognition and enforcement and choice of Law, and discussion of practical examples and the characteristic concepts of private international Law, such as renvoi, characterisation and incidental question, which will be taught in the context of the conflict of laws rules.

2. The Review of Law Texts

The course “The Review of Law Texts” is designed for graduate students who require to improve their skills in the critical areas of technical Law Texts. This course includes discussions about legal contracts.

3. Research Seminar in Law

The course “Research Seminar in Law” is designed for the Master of Law students. This course advances a framework, a process, and compositional approaches for designing a proposal for qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods research in the human and social sciences. The ascendency of qualitative research, the emergence of mixed methods approaches, and the continuing use of the traditional forms of quantitative designs among the graduate degree students have created a need for this course’s unique comparison of the three approaches to inquiry. This comparison begins with a preliminary consideration of the research paradigm, a literature review, and an assessment of the use of theory in research approaches. The course then addresses the elements of the research process: writing an introduction, stating a purpose for the study, identifying research questions and hypotheses, and advancing methods and procedures for data collection and analysis.

4. Research Methodology in Law

The course “Research Methodology in Law” is designed for Master of Law students. This course introduces you to the nature of business and management research and the tools often used. In addition, the course prepares you for applying your dissertation in an organisational or industry context and for undertaking management interventions in the workplace.

Core Elective Courses (International Law Discipline)

1. The Law of Treaties

The course “The Law of Treaties” provides graduate students with an understanding of the theory and practice of the Law of treaties. Treaties are the basics of international Law.

2. The Law of International Responsibility

The course, “The Law of International Responsibility”, is designed for graduate degree law students. This course introduces the students to their rights in the international context and the cases of implementations and violations concerning the rules of international Law by states and other subjects. This course familiarises the students with international responsibility in violating the obligations in different states of a country.

3. The Law of the Sea

The course “The Law of the Sea” is designed for graduate degree students of low. This course includes a body of customs, treaties, and international agreements about the states in maritime environments by which governments maintain order, productivity, and peaceful relations on the sea.

4. The International Economic Law

The course “The International Economic Law” is designed for graduate degree students of Law. It includes the historical development of the subject and refers to the principal organisations related to International Economic Law. Broadly conceived, international economic Law is a field of international Law that encompasses both the conduct of sovereign states in international economic relations and the conduct of private parties involved in cross-border economic and business transactions.

5. The Law of International Organisation

The course “The Law of International Organisations” provides graduate degree students of Law with an understanding of international organisations’ legal and institutional structures and their legal status and powers, membership and participation, decision-making procedures, norm-creation, dispute settlement, enforcement of decisions, peace and security activities, and the organisations’ privileges and immunities.

6. The International Islamic Law

The course, “The International Islamic law”, is designed for graduate degree law students. This course introduces the origins of Islamic Law through its sources, terminologies, methodologies. It aims to acquaint students with a critical overview of Islamic law and jurisprudence principles and practices from a predominately historical and sociological perspective. It also focuses on some of the challenges that international Islamic Law faces concerning legal systems, especially in personal status law, criminal Law, public international Law and Law of war.

7. The Legal Methods of the International Dispute Settlement

The course “The Legal Methods of International Dispute Settlement” is designed for graduate degree students of Law introduces peaceful means for dispute resolution in the current legal framework. Students will be guided through the techniques and institutions to overcome tensions and conflicts, primarily from the public international Law. Theories and concepts are introduced and reinforced during the course through simulation exercises based on real-world dispute scenarios.

General Elective Courses (International Law Discipline)

1. Contemporary Issues in International Law

The course “Contemporary Issues in International Law” is designed for graduate degree students of Law. This course provides the students with critical knowledge of sophisticated issues in international Law through an in-depth review of several complex problems facing the subjects of international Law. The students will become acquainted with the practical application of fundamental rules and principles of Public International Law, and the functioning of its law-making process and institutions in various fields of international relations, including but not limited to sources and subjects of international Law, the relationship between international Law and municipal Law, international institutions, economic development, sovereignty, jurisdiction and territory, state responsibility, use of force and dispute settlement.

2. The International Air and Space Law

The course “International Air and Space Law” is designed for graduate degree students of Law. This course provides an in-depth study of the various aspects of international air and space law, including the contemporary aviation environment, institutional framework, and fundamental legal principles set out in the Chicago Convention and other multilateral bilateral instruments. This course also explains the international legal regime relating to activities in or involving outer space. The course will provide specialised knowledge of crucial United Nations-sponsored treaties relating to outer space and the legal rules and principles relating to space objects and commercial and military use of outer space.

3. The Law of Armed Conflict

The course “The Law of Armed Conflict” is designed for graduate degree students of Law. This course aims to promote general knowledge of international Law related to armed conflict. This body of Law includes two distinct areas of international Law, i.e. international Law & the use of armed force and international humanitarian Law. The course will introduce students to the basic principles and legal concepts relating to armed forces and the conduct of warfare. It will also enable students to discuss contemporary legal issues regarding the basic principles and concepts.

4. The International Criminal Law

The course “The International Criminal Law” is designed for graduate degree students of Law. This course examines the historical origins of the fundamental principle of international criminal Law and the development of international criminal tribunals (from the Nuremberg and Tokyo Trials to the ad hoc International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the Former Yugoslavia), other hybrid tribunals and the International Criminal Court. The subject focuses on the crimes articulated in the Rome Statute, specifically aggression, war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.

5. The International Trade Law

The course “The International Trade Law” introduces graduate degree students of Law to the fundamental principles of international trade law and discusses international trade regulation’s legal framework.

It also examines the areas of the Law particularly relevant to the conduct of international trade, including the Law of contract, finance, competition law, foreign investment law; in addition, this unit will review the legal vehicles available to facilitate international dispute resolution methods for governments and business entities.

Specific attention is paid to the dispute resolution mechanism in the World Trade Organization, the International Centre for Settling Investor-State Disputes and International Commercial Arbitration.

Core Elective Courses (Private Law Discipline)

1. Civil Law I

The course “Civil Law I” is designed for graduate degree students of Law who require to improve their skills in the critical areas of Private Law, such as Civil Law, focusing on Contract law. This includes some analytical discussions on General Principles of Contracts.

2. Civil Law II

The course “Civil Law II” is designed for graduate degree students of Law who require to improve their skills in the critical areas of Private Law, such as Contract Law, focusing on sale contracts. This includes some analytical discussions on the contract of sale.  

3. The Review of Jurisprudence Texts

The course “The Review of Jurisprudence Texts” is designed for graduate degree students of Law who require to improve their skills in researching the jurisprudential text. This includes the rules governing sale contracts and options.

4. The Principles of Jurisprudence

The course “The Principles of Jurisprudence” is designed for graduate degree students of Law who require to improve their skills concerning the principles of Islamic jurisprudence. This includes the discussion about the general regulation of some jurisprudence rules.

5. The Rules of Jurisprudence

The course “The Rules of Jurisprudence” is designed for graduate degree students of Law who require to improve their skills in Islamic Jurisprudence and technical analysis and interpretation of jurisprudence texts. This includes the concepts on principles of jurisprudence and the interpretations of the texts in Islamic Law.

6. The Commercial Law

The course “The Commercial Law” is designed for graduate degree students of Law who require to improve their Securities and Exchange law skills. This includes securities and exchange law concepts and resolving securities disputes and obligations under governing regulations for these assets.

7. The International Arbitration

The course “The International Arbitration” is designed for graduate degree students of Law who require to improve their skills in alternative disputes resolution and arbitration. This includes alternative disputes resolution methods and the rules of international arbitration.

General Elective Courses (Private Law Discipline)

1. The Civil Procedure

The course “The Civil Procedure” is designed for graduate degree students of Law who require to improve their skills in transnational civil procedure, including comparative study in the civil procedure of Iran. This includes discussing various aspects of civil procedures, such as global principles that govern the procedures.

2. The Commercial Comparative Law

The course “The Commercial Comparative Law” is designed for graduate degree students of Law who require improving their organisational law skills. This includes discussing the main elements of company law such as capital, rights and shareholders obligations.

3. The Comparative Civil Law

The course “The Comparative Civil Law” is designed for graduate degree students of Law who require to improve their skills in Comparative Study in Civil Law. This includes the general principles of contracts.

4. The International Trade Law

The course “The International Trade Law” is designed for graduate degree students of Law who require to improve their skills in international trade law and related contracts, transportation, insurance, agency.

5. The Civil Liability

The course “The Civil Liability” is designed for graduate degree students of Law who require improving their civil liability skills. This includes the essence of causation and its effects on civil liability.

6. The Enforcement of Judgements and Registered Deeds

The course “The Enforcement of Judgements and Registered Deeds” is designed for graduate students who require to improve their skills in enforcing judgments and Deeds regulation. This includes the rules of judgment Enforcement, deeds and arbitral awards.

7. The Maritime Law

The course “The Maritime Law” is designed for graduate degree students of Law who require to improve their skills in the essential legal issues in maritime Law.

8. The History of Law

The course “The History of Law” is designed for graduate degree students of Law who require to improve their skills in the history of contract law and tort law in the medieval age and recent centuries.

9. The Philosophy of Law

The course “The Philosophy of Law” is designed for graduate degree students of Law who require to improve their skills in the philosophy of Law. 

Entry Requirements:

All students will need to meet the minimum English Language Requirements, university general entry requirements, and course-specific requirements such as pre-requisite subjects.

English Language Requirements

This degree requires a minimum of an/a

• IELTS (Academic) of 5.5, with no Writing and Speaking band less than 5.5, or

• PTE Academic score of 45, with no score lower than 40, or

• TOEFL (iBT) of 53, with no individual band less than 50

For students who do not meet the English Language Requirement through citizenship or prior studies in English in an approved country, an approved English language test completed within the last two years must be provided.

General Entry Requirements

• Admission to the graduate program at the Islamic Azad University-UAE Branch requires the completion of an undergraduate program (Bachelor’s degree).

  • Students must have a bachelor’s degree in Law to be admitted to the Master of Law program. If the applicant holds an undergraduate degree in other programs, or disciplines other than Law, they need to complete some foundation courses in the first semester of their studies.

Course Specific Requirements

This course does not have any course-specific requirements.