Module descriptions

This module will introduce you to the law of contract. It will look at the different stages of the ‘life’ of a contract; its formation, its content and its ending, by performance or termination. During each of these stages, specific problems can arise which contract law has to provide an answer for. Apart from the normal two-parties-situation, tripartite relationships will also come under consideration.

The aims of this unit are:

• understand the requirements of an enforceable contract
• understand the different types of terms within a contract and their validity
• understand the effects of any problems in the formation process
• understand the effects of any problems in the performance of the contract.

Criminal law regulates individual conduct at its worst, prohibiting some of the most harmful uses of individual violence, and at the same time it regulates the violence of the state in controlling and punishing individuals for breaking the rules. As such, criminal law is deeply connected not only to moral and ethical ideas, but to political power and social justice. The course examines both the general principles of the criminal law, and its specific substance in particular offences, from a theoretical and contextual perspective, encouraging students to reflect on a broad range of interpretive approaches to criminal law issues. We seek not only to understand the detail of criminal doctrine, but also to ask how the detailed structure of criminal law doctrine may be connected to wider the ethical, political and social realities.

This is an introductory course for level 1 students on English Legal Institutions and Legal Method (ELIM). It is intended to familiarise students with the theoretical and practical foundations of the English legal system and legal decision-making. Students will be exposed to the operation, effects and recent changes within a range of legal institutions and agencies, including the key personnel within them, and so increase their understanding and appreciation of how the civil and criminal justice systems work. It also aims to provide a foundation for developing legal and academic skills. Students will be introduced to a number of such skills, including how to find, interpret and apply primary sources of law. Thus the ELIM module is designed to give students an overview and good grounding in the institutions and agencies that provide the bedrock to civil and criminal justice, and on which they can develop and build their legal knowledge and understanding.

The focus of this course is, first, the constitutional law of the UK and, second, administrative law. Constitutional law essentially deals with the system of government of a country or State. It deals with the ‘rules about rules’: how ordinary laws (e.g. road traffic law, family law, criminal law etc) are passed and how a country is managed and administered by a defined political system – in other words with the organisation of and limits on political power. Constitutional law falls in to the category of ‘public law’: public law deals with defining the powers and role of the State as opposed to regulating legal relations between individuals (e.g. contract law is primarily ‘private law’). The second part of the course is focused on the legal procedure and principles for holding to account, and within the rule of law, government and other public bodies, e.g. it examines judicial review of administrative action.

Since the UK’s accession to the EEC in 1972 (now the European Union), European Community Law has had a dramatic and ever increasing influence over the English legal system. Not only has EC Law fundamental constitutional implications for the UK, it also brings with it numerous important rights for European Union citizens.

This course offers an outline of the principles and basic rules governing the ownership and enjoyment of land, and the major interests, which may exist in land. They are examined in their historical and social contexts. Conveyancing practices are introduced where they contribute to an understanding of the law, or to current problems.

A tort is a civil wrong. Tort law is concerned with the circumstances in which a person who has suffered harm at the hands of another can bring proceedings and receive compensation. The course examines selected areas of tort law (such as negligence, nuisance and also looks at the role of tort as part of the total system of accident compensation.

The trust is an arrangement by which the control of property is put in separate hands from the right to benefit from the property. It arose out of the division of English law into the two jurisdictions of law and equity. It is a common means of providing for complex forms of ownership or specialist or discretionary management of property, or for requiring one party to use or hold property for the benefit of another. The same body of law in principle governs family trusts, pension funds, unit trusts, charitable trusts, various forms of commercial trust and various remedial techniques for recovering misappropriated property, including the proceeds of money laundering.

The module intends to help students to understand legal issues, which are associated with banking and credit markets. The law and regulations of banking includes the laws setting the conditions for establishing banks, the legal framework for transactions between banks and their customers and the regulatory laws which control the banking activities and the credit market. Banking is essentially concerned with the borrowing and lending of money, a depositor lends money to the bank which in turn it lends it to borrowers in search of loan capital. The bank charges its borrowers an interest, which may be used to pay interest to the bank's depositors and produce a profit for the bank's owners. The bank thus effectively puts those in search of capital for investment or spending in touch with those with spare capital to investors. The module investigates the legal environments within which the above activities take place.

This module deals with the law relating to children and young people who are in need of protection or support and/or who are involved in anti-social behaviour or offending as well as further family –focused issues not dealt with in LX3058. Consequently it covers, inter alia, public law relating to child abuse, the duties of local authorities to children, decision-making and representation in relation to minors and non-biological parenthood in the context of assisted reproduction and adoption. It also examines the procedures for responding to minors who engage in criminal behaviour. In particular, it focuses on police reprimands and warnings, the youth court, referral orders, community orders and detention. Throughout it includes discussion of rights issues, particularly in relation to identity rights, the right to be ‘heard’ in the family justice and care systems, and conditions in detention.

A company is an artificial legal entity whose function is to enable a number of people to be involved by ownership or management in a business or other activity. The company is the medium through which most business is carried on in this country and elsewhere. We will consider the nature of the company, including the concepts of separate legal personality and limited liability; the particular features of large companies whose shares are available on the stock market and of family and partnership companies running small businesses; and the internal relations between the participants in the company (the shareholders and directors), and the external relations between the company and outsiders who deal with the company’s business.

Competition law of the UK and the EU is concerned with governmental regulation of the marketplace, both to ensure fair dealing between businesses and protect consumers. Anti-competitive practices undermine the benefits derived from the free market, and each kind of possible anti-competitive behaviour is addressed by specific provisions. Increasingly, this is an area heavily influenced by European Union Law.

This course is primarily concerned with consumer transactions between business suppliers and private customers viewed from the consumer's perspective. The obligations of suppliers of goods and services and of producers are considered along with the corresponding rights and remedies of consumers.

The aim of this module is to introduce students to current criminological discourses that focus primarily on the causes of and control of crime. Students will develop an understanding of the main theoretical perspectives and theories of crime, and they will gain an appreciation of how the perceived causes of, and perceived solutions to, crime interlink. A key aspect will be to highlight crime problems of topical concern that include how much crime there is and how best to measure it; drugs, alcohol and crime; media and crime; youth crime; organised and e-crime; risk management and surveillance; gender and crime; ethnicity and crime; and road crime.

Students will be introduced to the inter-relationships that exist between the formal and informal sources of employment law, provided with detailed knowledge of its relevant core concepts, rights and obligations and acquainted with the principles of collective organization and collective representation.

This option is essential to students who desire to obtain a deeper understanding of criminal trials. In particular, students taking evidence will study the rules pertaining to the admissibility of evidence in court (witnesses, confessions, identification evidence, evidence of prior convictions, evidence obtained by telephone interceptions and surveillance). They will also examine the issue of how the jury evaluates the weight of evidence admitted in court and will study the fundamental rules relevant to who bears the burden of proof in criminal trials. Most importantly, students will seek to explore the theoretical principles underpinning the law of evidence. In that respect, the focus will be on the perennial criminal justice dilemma between convicting the guilty and protecting individual rights of those involved in the criminal process.

This course examines the law regulating family relationships. It covers marriage, civil partnership and cohabitation and explores not only the law itself but also the social context within which it has developed. It examines the nature of the family and issues such as domestic violence. It also looks at the breakdown of relationships and the consequences of breakdown, both financial and child-related.

This course is intended to provide the student with a working knowledge of the major areas of intellectual property law. Intellectual property can be described as the valuable intangible products of human thought and endeavour, including works of art, literature, music and drama, artistic and functional designs (protected through the law of copyright and design), technological inventions (protected through the law of patents), and business reputation or goodwill (protected through the law of passing off and trade marks). Intellectual property is of increasing commercial importance as the economy becomes more and more dependent on the exploitation of new ideas and information.

What do international human rights standards say about the prohibition of headscarves at schools? Are restrictions on asylum against human rights? Is the United Nations adequate in dealing with the current international challenges? This module will explore the above and similar questions. It will introduce students to the idea and approaches towards human rights, the sources of human rights and the three generations of rights. It will discuss the structures of the international human rights system, especially the United Nations, and focus on important human rights, including the right to life, prohibition of discrimination, women’s rights and minority rights. It will initiate critical understandings of current challenges in human rights, including the debate on cultural relativism and collective rights and develop students insights in current challenges in human rights, such as terrorism, trafficking and development projects.

You all probably have views about international law. You may think that in the absence of a world state or a world police force, international rules – such as those against the use of armed force – are not worth the paper they are written on. You may believe that international law is not law at all. Or you may think that it simply reflects the interests of powerful governments. The purpose of this module is to put these thoughts to the test by deepening and broadening your understanding of the nature and working of international law. We will ask: how is international law made? What are its basic rules and principles? Is it really binding? What is the relationship between rules of international law – such as human rights law – and English law? In tackling these questions, our module will focus on the core topics of international law, including the creation of States; the nature of customary international law; the law governing agreements between States; the relationship between States’ rights and human rights (e.g., a state’s right to territorial integrity vs. peoples’ right to self determination); the responsibility of States for their wrongful acts and the various peaceful and forcible methods of international dispute resolution and enforcement.

This module encourages critical reflection on the nature of law, the central issues of jurisprudence and the concepts and techniques used in the operation of the legal system. Topics to be covered may include some of the following: the relationship between law and morality, natural law, legal positivism, Ronald Dworkin’s jurisprudence, justice, liberty, rights, adjudication and legal reasoning, critical legal studies and feminist jurisprudence.

This module examines the theory and practice of sentencing and punishment. This entails an analysis of the nature of the sentencing process, the rules constraining the discretion of those who sentence and the range and use of outcomes, as well as an examination of the main theories of punishment. In addition there will be discussion of community and custodial penalties in practice. The module will be taught by lectures and seminars covering topics such as the development of penal policy, seriousness and dangerousness, restorative justice, prisons and the death penalty.

This module presents an analysis of the general principles of income tax law. It involves a detailed examination of the legal principles (legislation and case law) relating to the taxation of business and personal income. The module’s emphasis is on the analysis of legal rules and principles, and not on tax calculations. Specific skills sought to be developed in the module include legal research and writing, case analysis, statutory interpretation and problem solving."