Postgraduate Course: Centralizing Justice: Scotland in Early Modern Europe (LAWS11558)
Course Outline
| School | School of Law |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
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.
Please note that classes for this course will be jointly taught with Honours 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.
|
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
|
| Academic year 2026/27, Available to all students (SV1)
|
Quota: 15 |
| 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 )
|
| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
The course will be assessed by: 2 essays.«br /»
The first essay is worth 30% of the course mark. The titles will be released in week 1. The second essay is worth 70% of the course mark.«br /»
«br /»
Essay 1 will be 2,500 words maximum, essay 2 will be 3,500 words maximum. Both are summative and both must be submitted via Learn.«br /»
|
| 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. |
| 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 context exploring the development of early modern legal systems with a critical understanding of the general issues and understanding of how the discussion is developed
- 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 in a specialized and advanced way
- Critically identify define and conceptualize complex material and issues; and demonstrate enhanced writing skills
- Present both formally and informally information and analysis of the relevant material
- Develop and consolidate awareness of their work and use oif relevant resources
|
Reading List
The main works used in the course are:
Mark Godfrey, Civil Justice in Renaissance Scotland: The Origins of a Central Court (Leiden: Brill, 2009)
John Finlay, Men of Law in Pre-Reformation Scotland (East Linton: Tuckwell Press, 2000)
Andrew R C Simpson, The College of Justice: Government and Governance in Renaissance Scotland (Edinburgh: Edinburgh Univeristy Press, 2025).
There should be no need to buy copies. Relevant sections should be available through the Resource List.
Also valuable will be:
Andrew R C Simpson and Adelyn L M Wilson, Scottish Legal History: Volume 1: 1000-1707 (Edinburgh University Press, 2017)
John W. Cairns, ¿Historical Introduction¿, in A History of Scots Private Law, ed. K.G.C. Reid and Reinhard Zimmermann, Oxford, Oxford University Press, vol. 1, pp. 14-184
Reading either or both of these in advance or early in the course will allow you to orient yourself in Scottish legal history.
|
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Curiosity: Critical Thinking; Problem Solving |
| 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 | |
|
|
University Homepage