Legal System and Reasoning [AJ]

Learning Outcomes

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• the English Legal System's structures and personnel, as well as its relation to other legal systems.
• an understanding of the doctrines, principles and values underpinning legal practice, including the various contexts in which law is found.
• a number of the important contemporary debates in the practice of legal decision making, in order to better understand both the scope and the limitations of that practice.

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• read and critically evaluate cases.
• appreciate what is meant by a statement of law.
• identify and apply the principles of effective legal argument.
• appraise how the courts interpret legislation, including European legislation, and legislation giving effect to international conventions.

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• apply the necessary skills which have been developed thoroughly, to engage fully in legal argument by using a variety of different materials.
• engage with your own personal and professional development, and academic integrity.

The module covers the sources of law, the doctrine of precedent, interpretation of legislation, and legal reasoning. It addresses the issue of how to discover what the law is, and develops the skill of legal argument.

Both the structure of the module and its content reflect a commitment to attaining and developing legal skills as an essential aspect of both academic and professional legal life.

Teaching for the module is delivered via weekly lectures and tutorials.

The tutorial works alongside the lectures, offering an opportunity for you to engage in detailed discussion of specific questions relating to the broader issues covered throughout the course. In tutorials you will be introduced to skills that you will be expected to practise and develop throughout the module and which also provide an essential common foundation for your work in all other modules. They also provide an opportunity for you to ask questions about, and obtain feedback on, your progress. Details of individual tutorial assignments, together with readings and questions for guidance, will be placed on Blackboard in advance.

Learning activities include

Lectures will develop:

• the structure of the subject and the key doctrines and principles, institutions, practices and procedure of the English legal system
• major issues and areas of controversy in relation to law and legal reasoning
• complexity and contestability of legal argument, bringing together writings from a variety of different perspectives

Preparation for, and participation in, tutorials will enhance:

• your ability to engage effectively with key legal research skills such as reading, summarising and interpreting sources of law
• your ability to challenge widely held assumptions about the decision-making process and how these impact on the practice of judicial decision making

your ability to assess and comment critically on the effectiveness of others’ legal argument

• your ability to discuss and defend your own argument among your peers
• your time management and individual research skills

Formative

This is how we’ll give you feedback as you are learning. It is not a formal test or exam.

Tutorial

• Assessment Type: Formative
• Feedback: Feedback will be provided, in accordance with Law School policy.
• Final Assessment: No
• Group Work: No

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Repeat

An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.