International Law Meets the Wizarding World

We were deligh­ted to wel­co­me inter­na­tio­nal lawy­er Frau­ke Hei­de­mann as a guest at our school. Her book An Inter­na­tio­nal Law Per­spec­ti­ve on Har­ry Pot­ter: Explai­ning Core Prin­ci­ples of Inter­na­tio­nal Law by Test­ing their Rele­van­ce in the Wizar­ding World for­med the basis for a spe­cial class­room debate.

Using examp­les from the world of Har­ry Pot­ter, our stu­dents explo­red key prin­ci­ples of inter­na­tio­nal law. One gui­ding ques­ti­on was whe­ther Gre­at Bri­tain could be con­side­red a sta­te under inter­na­tio­nal law. The dis­cus­sion quick­ly beca­me lively, and stu­dents con­tin­ued deba­ting even after the les­son had ended.

Legal deba­tes are not an ever­y­day expe­ri­ence in school, which made this pro­ject par­ti­cu­lar­ly exci­ting. We thank Frau­ke Hei­de­mann for this inspi­ring ses­si­on and hope to con­ti­nue the exch­an­ge in the future. A gre­at pro­ject that brings tog­e­ther poli­tics, law and lite­ra­tu­re in a uni­que way.


Jens Röse­ner