Scots Law and International Relations

Scots law and international relations together address the legal and political frameworks that govern life both within a distinctive legal jurisdiction and across the world's borders. Scots law is a hybrid system, drawing on both continental civil law traditions and English common law influences, and studying it in depth gives you a rigorous formation in legal reasoning, doctrine, and professional practice. International relations brings in the wider context: the diplomacy, institutions, conflicts, and cooperative arrangements through which states and other actors manage their relationships at a global scale.

At the University of Glasgow this four-year, full-time Joint Honours programme covers all the core subjects needed to qualify for entry to the Diploma in Professional Legal Practice, the next stage of professional training for a career in the Scottish legal profession. You will study contract, delict, property, constitutional law, criminal law, and legal method alongside the theories and history of international politics, the workings of international institutions, and contemporary global issues including security, human rights, development, and international law. A year abroad is built into the degree, giving you the opportunity to study at a partner university overseas and to encounter different legal and political systems from the inside.

The combination prepares graduates for a genuinely wide range of careers. Many go on to complete the Diploma in Professional Legal Practice and qualify as solicitors, with a particular advantage in fields such as international commercial law, human rights, public law, and immigration. Others move into diplomacy, the civil service, international organisations, policy research, and journalism, where both legal literacy and a sophisticated understanding of international affairs are genuine assets.

Some graduates continue to postgraduate research in international law, legal theory, or international relations, building towards academic or policy-facing research careers.