Undergraduate Course: Studying Law in Context (LAWS10201)
Course Outline
| School | School of Law |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
| Course type | Online Distance Learning |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course is intended for students that are studying a year abroad, and aims to extend and deepen the understanding of the cultural and socio-economic setting in which the law of a country has developed. Through their studies, students may draw on substantive or comparative elements in the law of the country in which they are studying; or the way in which specific cultural or constitutional principles have informed the development of that legal system. The course will therefore extend and deepen the understanding of the law of that country and augment the courses being taken in the host University. It will also further reinforce the underlying objectives of joint honours LLB and Languages programmes of study. |
| Course description |
1) This course offers students an opportunity to reflect more broadly on the cultural and socio-economic dimension to the law of the jurisdiction of the host institution. The course assessment will be one 3000-word essay. In devising the topic for the essay, students will be required to demonstrate a substantive or comparative contribution to understanding the context of the principles and practice of law in that jurisdiction. A substantive approach may include a detailed analysis of the substantive law of that jurisdiction or of the practice of law in that jurisdiction. A comparative approach would require the student to provide a comparison of the differences and determinants of those differences between two (or possibly more) legal jurisdictions. The learning aim is to encourage students to approach their study in a foreign jurisdiction within a broadly ¿law in context¿ intellectual setting. This will allow them both to draw on the substantive elements of law being instructed in the courses they are taking at the host institution, and to locate these principles in a wider cultural and socio-economic setting. The course will be completed over both semesters during which the student is abroad thereby affording adequate opportunity for her/him to develop a topic (in conjunction with the course organiser) that meets the objectives and learning outcomes of the course.
2) The course will be taken over two semesters and will involve preparatory work during the first semester, which will be undertaken jointly with the course organiser. That preparatory work will involve two ¿virtual¿ meetings between the student and the course organiser. Once the topic has been agreed, and the course organiser is satisfied the necessary resources are available to the student to successfully complete the assessed assignment, the second semester will be devoted to completing the assignment. One ¿virtual¿ meeting between the course organiser and the student is envisaged to take place during the second semester.
3) The method of teaching is set out above. However this course is intended to develop the independent study skills of the student. The learning outcomes will principally be determined by the quality of the assessed work.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2018/19, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: 25 |
| Course Start |
Full Year |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 2,
Feedback/Feedforward Hours 4,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
190 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
The course will be assessed by one 3000-word essay. Students will be supervised in the selection of the topic of the essay and supported in ensuring they have achieved a minimum level of understanding of the methodology of study prior to writing the essay. The formative element of the course will be conducted during the first semester where students will discuss (virtually) the selection of topic of the essay. That discussion will follow upon a student submitting three possible topics in outline for ahead of the first virtual meeting.
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| Feedback |
The summative assessment will be subject to the same standard of feedback as is applied to all Honours courses in the Law School. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Appraise in a substantive or comparative critical manner specific elements of the substance and/or practice of law in a foreign jurisdiction;
- Contextualise the cultural and socio-economic determinants of the law in that jurisdiction;
- Command a deeper understanding of the legal system of the jurisdiction of study.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
This course will contribute to the independent study skills that increasingly are regarded as pivotal to students as they progress to employment, and which employers increasingly appear to value highly.
The course will support the development of critical analysis on the part of students in that the assessment is explicitly designed to provide the student with an opportunity to contextualise and critically assess in a substantive or comparative way aspects of the legal system of a foreign jurisdiction.
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| Keywords | Law in Context |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Andrew Scott
Tel: (0131 6)50 2064
Email: Andrew.Scott@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Alex Vasepuru
Tel: (0131 6)51 4550
Email: Alex.Vasepuru@ed.ac.uk |
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