Undergraduate Course: Scottish Legal System (LAWS08128)
Course Outline
| School | School of Law |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Course type | Standard |
Availability | Available to all students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 8 (Year 1 Undergraduate) |
Credits | 20 |
| Home subject area | Law |
Other subject area | None |
| Course website |
None |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | The broad aims of the course are threefold: (1) to impart basic information about the legal system of Scotland (within the framework of the United Kingdom), including the principal sources and divisions of the law, court structures, legal history, civil and criminal procedure, and the law and institutions of the European Union; (2) to help students develop basic legal skills; and (3) to encourage students to think critically about the law, legal institutions, and the process of law-making. The course treats these three aims as inter-linked, an understanding reflected in the structure of the course. The first unit of the lectures is aimed at providing a 'map' of the law of Scotland (as well as the relationship of Scots law to other national and supranational legal orders), and at providing students with the basic knowledge required to enable them to commence their study of law in general, and with an understanding of law's systemic character. The course's second aim - to develop basic skills like summarising cases, reading them critically, understanding legislation, researching an area of law under some pressure of time, and learning to debate legal issues - is pursued in both the tutorials and in the second unit of the lectures. The third aim of the course, that of thinking critically about the law, underlies all units and tutorials. |
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
Students MUST have passed:
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| Displayed in Visiting Students Prospectus? | Yes |
Course Delivery Information
|
| Delivery period: 2013/14 Semester 1, Available to all students (SV1)
|
Learn enabled: No |
Quota: 312 |
Web Timetable |
Web Timetable |
| Class Delivery Information |
First lecture is held on Monday 16th September 2013 at 10am in LT 5 Appleton Tower. The other lectures are held on Wednesday and Friday of the same week and in the same venue. |
| Course Start Date |
16/09/2013 |
| Breakdown of Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 33,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 10,
Summative Assessment Hours 2,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
151 )
|
| Additional Notes |
|
| Breakdown of Assessment Methods (Further Info) |
Written Exam
70 %,
Coursework
30 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
|
| Exam Information |
| Exam Diet |
Paper Name |
Hours:Minutes |
|
|
| Main Exam Diet S1 (December) | | 2:00 | | | | Resit Exam Diet (August) | | 2:00 | | |
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
Having completed the course students should be able to demonstrate a basic knowledge of:
the Scottish legal system (and of legal systems and families in general) and its legal institutions;
the rule of law;
the composition, powers and functions of parliaments and governments in the UK;
the law of persons and personality;
the law of property;
the law of obligations;
criminal law;
the law and institutions of the European Union (EU);
the relationship of EU and national law;
civil and criminal justice and procedure;
the nature of case law and legislation;
the doctrine of precedent. |
Assessment Information
Degree examination: 70% of final mark. A portion of the marks in the examination may be awarded for multiple choice questions.
Statutory drafting exercise: 20% of final mark (half the marks for this exercise will be allocated to a written reflective analysis to be completed by the students. In this document they will reflect on (i) how they prepared for the drafting exercise, (ii) how they utilised the comments from their peers on the draft they produced, and (iii) how they approached the re-drafting exercise in the light of these comments).
Information Skills exercise (to be completed on computer, under supervision, in the Law School microlab): 10% of final mark. |
Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
Not entered |
| Transferable skills |
Having completed the course students should be able to demonstrate a basic ability to:
Recognise, analyse and rank arguments and evidence in terms of relevance
and importance by:
o managing volume of legal sources and select key material to construct written or oral answers to a problem.
o identifying the legal problem from information provided.
o addressing problems by reference to relevant material.
o bringing together and integrating information and materials from a variety of different sources.
o acknowledging ranking of sources and relative impact in context.
o application of the law and problem-solving in a legal context.
o presenting arguments for and against propositions.
Be aware that arguments require to be supported by evidence, in order to meet legal requirements of proof by showing awareness of the need for evidence to support arguments
Apply knowledge and analysis
o in a legal context
o creatively to complex situations in order to provide arguable solutions to concrete problems by presenting a range of viable options from a set of facts and law.
Think critically and make critical judgments on the relative and absolute merits of particular arguments and solutions
Act independently in planning and undertaking tasks in areas of law which he or she has already studied
Reflect on his or her own learning, and to seek and make use of feedback |
| Reading list |
Not entered |
| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
3 lectures per week, 10 tutorials |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Mr Martin Hogg
Tel: (0131 6)50 2071
Email: Martin.Hogg@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mrs Heather Haig
Tel: (0131 6)50 2053
Email: Heather.Haig@ed.ac.uk |
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