Undergraduate Course: Reasoning with Precedent (LAWS10279)
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 examines the practice of justifying legal claims and conclusions by reference to precedent. It combines case law analysis and jurisprudential discussion. |
Course description |
Students will a) discuss actual judicial opinions identifying how precedent is used in legal argument; and b) familiarise themselves and engage critically with the relevant jurisprudential literature on the subject.
Topics to be covered include:
- Precedent as a source of law
- Precedents and arguments from authority
- Theoretical vs practical authority
- Binding authority vs persuasive authority
- The ratio decidendi of a case
- Deductive arguments in appeals to precedent
- Reasoning with precedent
- The structure of arguments by analogy in common law
- Inductive arguments in appeals to precendent
Please note that classes for this course will be jointly taught with Masters level students. Although students at both levels will study the same course materials, assessments will be graded according to the relevant benchmark appropriate to the level of study.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | Spaces on this course are allocated as part of the Law Honours Course Allocation process. Places are generally only available to students who must take Law courses. To request a space on this course, please email Law.UGO@ed.ac.uk
A minimum of 12 course spaces will be available to each cohort of students, in an attempt to share course spaces equally across both levels of study. The split of spaces at UG or PG level may be adjusted during the allocation process according to demand |
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisites | None |
High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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Academic year 2024/25, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 0 |
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 )
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Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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Additional Information (Assessment) |
One essay worth 100% |
Feedback |
Students will receive individual feedback on their essay |
No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Further develop their ability to engage critically with legal precedent in the context of legal reasoning in general and juidical reasoning in particular
- Further develop their ability to articulate and assess sound precedent-based legal arguments
- Further develop an understanding of the moral and political dimensions of precendent based reasoning in law
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Reading List
A full reading list will be given in the course guide in advance of the course starting |
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills |
The course will develop skills of analysis and the ability to read critically and closely, to evaluate, to debate, and to discuss relevant materials in a group, as well as an ability to write cogently in addressing such material. |
Keywords | precedent,ratio decidendi,legal argumentation,legal rhetoric |
Contacts
Course organiser | Dr Claudio Michelon
Tel:
Email: c.michelon@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Robyn Blyth
Tel: (01316) 514550
Email: rblyth@ed.ac.uk |
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