Undergraduate Course: Scottish Legal System (LAWS08128)
Course Outline
| School | School of Law |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 8 (Year 1 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | 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. |
| Course description |
Not entered
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | Whilst this course is available to all undergraduate students, it is designed primarily for (i) students who are taking the LLB, and (ii) students who are taking some other degree programme that has a substantial component of law courses. |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2019/20, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 330 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| 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 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
90 %,
Coursework
10 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Degree examination: 90% of final mark. A portion of the marks in the examination may be awarded for multiple choice questions.
Information Skills exercise (to be completed online via Learn): 10% of final mark. |
| Feedback |
Not entered |
| Exam Information |
| Exam Diet |
Paper Name |
Hours & Minutes |
|
| Main Exam Diet S1 (December) | | 2:00 | | | Resit Exam Diet (August) | | 2:00 | |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate a basic knowledge of the following:
- 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.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and 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. |
| Keywords | Scottish Legal System |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr David Fox
Tel: (0131 6)50 2054
Email: D.Fox@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Tracy Noden
Tel: (0131 6)50 2053
Email: Tracy.Noden@ed.ac.uk |
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