Undergraduate Course: Centralizing Justice: Scotland in Early Modern Europe (LAWS10192)
Course Outline
| School | School of Law |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| 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 examine the development central institutions of justice in Scotland in the early modern period, as influenced by the Renaissance and the growth of royal government. As well as looking at the development of the College of Justice in a comparative European context, the course will consider the development of a central criminal court. Other key institutions will be discussed and analyzed, notably the role of Parliament as court and legislature and it changing nature. The impact of these changes and their interrelationship with other courts in Scotland will be a major theme. The development of a legal profession as well as the impact of the ius commune and the Reception of civil law will also be reflected on, as will that of the Reformation on the law and ist institutions. |
| Course description |
The course aims to allow students to explore and reach their own understandings of the mechanisms of development of these institutions and their impact on law and society. They should have an understanding of the nature of the relevant institutions and their impact on and role in Scottish society in a Renaissance and comparative European context.
|
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | This course is only open to visiting students coming through a direct exchange with the School of Law (including Erasmus students on a Law-specific Exchange). Exchange students outside of Law and independent study abroad students are not eligible to enrol in this course, with no exceptions.
**Please note that 3rd year Law courses are high-demand, meaning that they have a very high number of students wishing to enrol in a very limited number of spaces.**
Priority will be given to students studying on exchange within the Law department, and it is highly unlikely that there will be additional spaces for general exchange students & independent study abroad students to enrol; we will look into this on a case-by-case basis in September/January. Visiting students are advised to bear in mind that enrolment in specific courses can never be guaranteed, and you may need to be flexible in finding alternatives in case your preferred courses have no available space.
These enrolments are managed strictly by the Visiting Student Office, in line with the quotas allocated by the department, and all enquiries to enrol in these courses must be made through the CAHSS Visiting Student Office. It is not appropriate for students to contact the department directly to request additional spaces.
|
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
|
| Academic year 2019/20, Available to all students (SV1)
|
Quota: 14 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 20,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
176 )
|
| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
The course will be assessed by two essays, one due in the middle of the course (30%), the other at the end of the course (70%). Both are summative. |
| Feedback |
The first essay will be formative as well as summative. Feedback will be provided to the students after the first essay, which has a much lighter weighting in overall assessment, but also with an element of feed-forward to assist in preparation of the second essay. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Have acquired a knowledge of the development of central courts in Scotland, their relationship to other courts, and all in a comparative contex exploring the development of early modern legal systems.
- Demonstrate the ability to explore relevant source material about historic courts and their operation, and awareness of comparative issues; ability to read and develop knowledge of existing secondary literature, and to write about a complex topic.
- Concentrate on and understand complicated material and issues; and demonstrate enhanced writing skills.
- Develop critical reasoning, and analyse and expound complex matters.
- Develop and consolidate awareness of the differing sets of values.
|
Reading List
A.M. Godfrey, Civil Justice in Renaissance Scotland: The Origins of a Central Court, Brill 2009
John Finlay, Men of Law in Pre-Reformation Scotland, East Linton, 2000
R.K. Hannay, The College of Justice (1932; repr Stair Society Supp Vol. 1)
L. MacFarlane, William Elphinstone ad the Kingdom of Scotland, 1985; repr 1995
T.M. Green Consistorial Decisions of the Commissaries of Edinburgh, Stair Society 2014
Michael Wasser, Violence and the Central Criminal Courts in Scotland, Coumbia Univ PhD theses 1995, copy Law library
J.W. Cairns, Law, Lawyers, and Humanism EUP, 2015
Various essays in periodicals and collected volumes
|
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Justice,Legal History,Early Modern Europe,Scotland |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof John Cairns
Tel: (0131 6)50 2065
Email: John.Cairns@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Krystal Hanley
Tel: (0131 6)50 2056
Email: Krystal.Hanley@ed.ac.uk |
|
|
University Homepage