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DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2019/2020

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Law : Law

Undergraduate Course: Succession and Trust Law (LAWS08130)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of Law CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 8 (Year 2 Undergraduate) AvailabilityAvailable to all students
SCQF Credits10 ECTS Credits5
SummaryThe aim of the course is to provide an introduction to the law of succession and the law of trusts under the law of Scotland. These two subjects have close connections, so that grouping them in a single course is makes sense. Both are necessary for admission to the legal profession in Scotland, so that the course is intended to play a part not only in the academic development of students but also in their professional formation.
Course description Not entered
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Students MUST have passed: ( Contract and Unjustified Enrichment (LAWS08094) AND Family Law Ordinary (LAWS08101)) OR ( Contract and Unjustified Enrichment (LAWS08127) AND Family Law (Ordinary) (LAWS08126))
Co-requisites Students MUST also take: Property Law (Ordinary) (LAWS08133)
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisitesStudents must have passed Contract and Unjustified Enrichment (LAWS08127) AND Family Law Ordinary (LAWS08126) or comparable courses already taken in the home institution. Students must also take Property Law Ordinary (LAWS08133) alongside this course.
High Demand Course? Yes
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2019/20, Available to all students (SV1) Quota:  306
Course Start Semester 2
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 100 ( Lecture Hours 22, Seminar/Tutorial Hours 5, Summative Assessment Hours 1.5, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 69 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 100 %, Coursework 0 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) 100% unseen final examination lasting 1.5 hours, mainly using problem-type questions.

Feedback Not entered
Exam Information
Exam Diet Paper Name Hours & Minutes
Main Exam Diet S2 (April/May)1:30
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. (a) The law of liferent.
  2. (b) The law of succession, including both testate and intestate succession (and thus including both legal rights and prior rights). The coverage of testate succession includes material on testaments, including home-made testaments. The course includes the basic principles of the law concerning the winding up of estates, including the law relating to executors, such as the nominate/dative distinction, decerniture (in dative cases) and confirmation. The course covers not only the effect of death in relation to married persons and civil partners, but also cohabitants. The basic principles of private international law in relation to succession are covered. Students are made aware that great differences exist between different legal systems in the field of succession law.
  3. (c) The law of trusts, including both private trusts and public trusts. The juridical nature of the trust is considered. The various different uses of trust are explained. The course covers the birth (creation), life (administration) and death (termination) of a trust.
  4. The course, in both its parts, has numerous links with the law of persons, the law of property, and the law of obligations, thus enabling the LLB student to attain a sound grounding in the core of private law.
  5. In both parts of the course the students are expected to use both primary and secondary sources.
Reading List
None
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Having completed the course students should have, and be able to demonstrate, the following skills:

- Ability to think creatively by applying knowledge to multifaceted problems and provide accurate answers in written and oral form
- Ability to present arguments for or against a proposition in a dispassionate manner
- Complex evaluative and critical problem solving
- Numeracy skills. Succession law presupposes a basic level of numeracy: as in insolvency law, there is an estate to be distributed between a variety of potential claimants.
- The use of electronic and print resources
- Development of doctrinal and taxonomical reasoning skills
- Leading on from the foregoing, succession law calls for precise solutions. Its study encourages habits of accuracy. Mere waffle is exposed and penalised.
- The drafting exercise likewise assists the students to develop the ability to express themselves clearly and unambiguously
- Ability to weigh up the relative strengths that different arguments have in relation to one another
- Leading on from the foregoing, students should gain intellectual strength in reflecting on the competing policy arguments that exist within succession law, such as the interests of dependent children, non-dependent children, other relatives, dependent spouses, non-dependent spouses, cohabitants, society as represented by the state, the interest of the individual in relation to her or his autonomy (freedom of testation)
KeywordsSuccession and Trusts
Contacts
Course organiserProf Alexandra Braun
Tel: (0131 6)51 5560
Email: Alexandra.Braun@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMs Angela Jones
Tel: (0131 6)51 4550
Email: Angela.Jones@ed.ac.uk
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