June 26, 1997 was the year that the first “Harry Potter” book came out for children all over the world to enjoy. Since then, seven more books have come out and eight movies to go along with them. When you first pick up the book, you may not think about it being taught to law students. Now, a university in India offers a “Harry Potter” literature class for the students attending the university.

You may be wondering why they decided to offer an elective about the magical world of “Harry Potter.” There are actually many examples author J.K Rowling put into her books that often are parallel to the real world.

“Some of the topics mentioned in the course module point out how social and class rights in India can be equated with the “enslavement of house-elves and the marginalization of werewolves” in the fantasy series,” said BBC News.

Most of law schools teach students the basics of law and what they need to know to be successful lawyers outside of their education. After a while, the topics can make the students become bored. Shouvik Kumar Guha, a professor at The National University of Juridical Sciences, wanted more from this new program.

“… The course was an experiment in pushing law students to “come out of their comfort zones” and to learn from a fantasy series that most of them grew up reading,” said Guha.

Yale University and Georgetown University in the United States are starting to offer this elective to their students, but are taking a different approach to it.

“Many universities in the US, including top institutions such as Yale and Georgetown, did the same, but none of them offered courses in law. Their offerings ranged from courses in theology to the “scientific means” of magic,” said BBC News.

We all know that “Harry Potter” had an impact on our lives and taught us important life lessons along the way. Who knew that “The Boy Who Lived” could help impact how we think about modern law today.