Global Law

Global law is a relatively new but rapidly growing field that addresses the legal frameworks, institutions and processes that operate at the transnational and international level, where no single national legal system holds authority and where the interaction between different legal orders, including international treaties, regional bodies like the European Union, trade agreements and customary international law, creates a complex and contested landscape. It is a discipline well suited to a world in which the most significant legal questions, from climate change to trade, human rights and digital regulation, do not respect national borders.

The University of Edinburgh offers this four-year full-time degree, which is designed to give students a thorough grounding in legal method and reasoning alongside a genuinely international perspective from the outset. Edinburgh's strong research profile in public international law, human rights, environmental law and the law of the European Union provides an exceptionally rich academic context. You will study the foundational principles of law, including constitutional and administrative law, alongside the core doctrines of international and transnational law, human rights law, international trade and investment law, and the legal dimensions of global governance.

The four-year structure allows you to develop both breadth and depth, and the curriculum connects legal doctrine to the political, economic and social contexts in which global legal frameworks operate.

The degree trains precise legal reasoning, the ability to analyse complex normative frameworks from multiple jurisdictions, and the capacity to engage with law as a social and political phenomenon as well as a technical system.

Graduates pursue careers in international law firms, public international law, international organisations including the UN and its agencies, governmental foreign affairs and trade functions, human rights organisations, NGOs, arbitration and regulatory bodies. Postgraduate study in international law, human rights law or comparative law is a natural next step for many graduates.