Undergraduate Course: Death and the Law (LAWS10238)
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 explores the relations between law and death. It explores different conceptions of death and their legal consequences and examines the extent to which individuals can shape what happens after their death and influence the lives of those whom they leave behind.
Students will thus study when human beings are dead for the purposes of the law but also ways in which law enables certain dimensions of the personhood of a person who is biologically dead to live on (including but not only through their digital presence). Students will further explore how far private autonomy reaches not just in determining their own afterlife (e.g. through decisions about posthumous procreation, organ donations, burial matters and the disposition of their estate), but also in determining the life of others (for instance through dead hand control).
The course thus complements other courses, including those on the law of succession by inviting students to take a more holistic approach to death. In doing so the course draws on historical, comparative and theoretical source material. Students will gain an understanding of the principles, policies and values underlying the laws dealing with death across different areas of the law, and will reflect on the impact of such principles and policies on both the dead and the living, and on matters of intergenerational equality. |
| Course description |
This course will be taught in 10 seminars. Below is an outline of the provisional teaching programme:
Seminar 1: Introduction - Defining the boundaries between life and death
Seminar 2: Different conceptions of death
Seminar 3: Being biologically alive but dead for the law
Seminar 4: Posthumous interests/rights beyond biological death?
Seminar 5: Digital life beyond biological death
Seminar 6: Life after death: body parts
Seminar 7: Life after death: the body
Seminar 8: Life after death: the estate
Seminar 9: Dead hand control
Seminar 10: The vulnerable dead?
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
Students MUST have passed:
Succession and Trust Law (LAWS08130) AND
Property Law (Ordinary) (LAWS08133)
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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.courseselections@ed.ac.uk |
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.
Succession and Trusts (LAWS08130) and Property Law (LAWS08133) or equivalent |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
|
| Academic year 2026/27, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 0 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
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
100 %,
Coursework
0 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
The course is assessed 100% by a 5,000-word essay. A choice of topics will be given. |
| Feedback |
All students will be expected to be prepared to give a brief oral presentation concerning a particular paper on the reading list or a specific topic. This will not be part of their summative assessment but will enable them to develop important soft skills and to explore certain topics in greater depth. It will also teach them how to read carefully. The Course Organiser will provide brief feedback on the presentation, including the handout which students have an option to prepare, either at the end of the seminar or in an email. In addition, students will be given the opportunity to submit a piece of formative written work in the form of an essay of up to 1500 words. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Students will obtain a critical understanding of the core principles and debates surrounding matters of death and the rationale underpinning current laws across more than one area of the law.
- Students develop an ability to engage with theoretical questions, as well as with policy debates and to learn to reflect on what values and interests the law seeks to protect and why.
- Students will develop the skills of working independently in the critical analysis of legal materials across different jurisdictions and periods of time. They will also become familiar with reading literature from other disciplines.
- Students will learn the value of shared dialogue to the formation and refinement of their thinking. By interactive discussion, they will also develop an ability to formulate considered questions, to articulate connected explanations, and a sensitivity to terminological issues in the field.
- Students will develop confidence in articulating the meaning of complex legal materials both orally and in writing.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | law,death,succession,burial matters,organ donations,dead hand control,posthumous rights,autonomy |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Alexandra Braun
Tel: (0131 6)51 5560
Email: Alexandra.Braun@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Susie Morgan
Tel: (0131 6)50 2339
Email: susie.morgan@ed.ac.uk |
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