Undergraduate Course: Global Environmental Law (LAWS10168)
Course Outline
| School | School of Law |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course will give students the opportunity to understand how the interactions between international, European and national laws impact on the level of environmental protection ensured in practice. Throughout the semester, EU environmental law will be used as a starting point because it perfectly exemplifies the dependence, cross-fertilisation and conflicts between national, regional and international levels.
In order to achieve this, students will analyse not only the reciprocal influences between Member States and EU environmental law, but they will also study how the latter intends to, and often succeeds in, influencing non-member states environmental law (while being influenced by them in return). Furthermore, students will explore how EU environmental law is deeply influenced by international environmental law, while at the same time it has quite often been a source of inspiration for it. Finally, students will evaluate how other branches of law - trade, development, investment, agriculture, and human rights - impact the level of environmental protection, considering that they must be taken into account when adopting and applying environmental law.
The concept of global environmental law refers to ża field of law that is international, national and transnational in character all at onceż (R.V. Percival, T. Yang). By studying the national and international significance of EU environmental law, students will acquire a concrete grip on a concept which encompasses the most interesting and the most recent evolution of environmental law.
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| Course description |
The course will cover a range of issues including:
- The concept of global environmental law
- The development of international environmental law
- Key issues in international biodiversity law
- Key issues in international climate change law
- Compliance with international environmental law
- International organizations and international environmental law
- Business and international environmental law
- The development of EU environmental law
- Enforcement of EU environmental law
- Key issues in EU biodiversity law
- Key issues in EU climate change law
- The EU as a global environmental actor
- Introduction to comparative environmental law
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Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Previous knowledge of EU and International Law |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2014/15, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 26 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 20,
Summative Assessment Hours 2,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
174 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Essay 80% and Oral Participation 20% |
| Feedback |
Not entered |
| Exam Information |
| Exam Diet |
Paper Name |
Hours & Minutes |
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| Main Exam Diet S2 (April/May) | | 2:00 | |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- 1. Knowledge and Sources of Law:
- Advanced knowledge of international law and EU law;
- Specialized knowledge of environmental regulation and governance at different levels;
- Critical understanding of current academic and policy debates on the legal dimension of global environmental challenges;
- Critical understanding of the implications arising from the interaction between EU and international environmental law.
- 2. Subject-specific Skills:
- The further development of an ability to analyse, evaluate and interpret legal materials;
- The further development of an ability to identify the legal issue under discussion;
- An advanced approach to addressing critically complex legal questions;
- The further development of an ability to provide evidence for assertions and in argument, in particular appropriate legal authority;
- The further development of an ability to critique possible avenues for legal development, and to assess their merits.
- 3. General Transferable Intellectual Skills:
- complex evaluative and critical reasoning;
- creative thinking;
- an ability to apply knowledge outcomes to complex questions in written and oral form;
- an advanced ability to present arguments for and against a proposition in a dispassionate manner; and
- an advanced ability to use electronic legal and other resources.
- 4. Key Personal Skills:
- advanced written communication, including the ability to compose written work in conformity with a prescribed format;
- oral communication skills developed in seminar discussions;
- an appreciation of different dynamics within a group and respect for the opinions of other people even if there is disagreement.
- 5. Subject-specific Legal and Ethical Values:
- ability to exercise independent judgement and operate in relative autonomy for the purpose of seminar preparation and production of written work;
- ability to identify key legal issues and articulate legal standards, on the basis of caselaw and policy documents, destined to resolve these issues.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Global Environmental |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Apolline Roger
Tel:
Email: Apolline.Roger@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mrs Heather Haig
Tel: (0131 6)50 2053
Email: Heather.Haig@ed.ac.uk |
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