This course will explore the evolution of modern legal orders, with a focus on the connections between contemporary law, empire, European colonization and the development of modern states. The course will begin with a consideration of theoretical materials that investigate the nature of law and its relationship to the modern state, including explorations of the ideas of the ‘rule of law’ and ‘liberalism,’ and of the nature of ‘empire’ and its relations to both concepts. Following that, the course will explore several important episodes relating to the development of modern legal systems, including the significance of pirates and contestations over the law of the sea to the formation of the contemporary international legal order; the manner in which the colonial office in Britain attempted to expand its authority across an increasing extensive British Empire, including through the appointment of powerful chief executives and the use of demonstrative trials and commissions of inquiry; the legal evolution of the United States from settler colony to global power, and some of the unique features of the system that arose as a result; and select topics pertaining to the formation of the contemporary legal orders in Mainland China and Hong Kong. Alongside the lectures and discussions, students will develop independent research projects, which they will have a chance to present and share in the latter part of the course.