Philosophical Perspectives on the Common Law

Learning Outcomes

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• construct, communicate and defend your own argument through a piece of independent research in a specific area under pressure of time;
• identify and summarise different types and forms of argument;
• locate and analyse relevant primary and secondary resources, together with relevant philosophical, ethical and political materials;
• think critically and contribute to informed debate on a wide variety of current issues.

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• analyse the strengths and weaknesses of different arguments and perspectives and their relative merits for promoting and securing meaningful change within and across different areas of law.
• assess critically the fundamental concepts and principles and key theoretical perspectives that emerge in the philosophical approach of the study of law;
• evaluate the potential of legal philosophical study for helping to understand, explain and address contemporary legal problems, issues and tensions;

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• the conceptual and normative underpinnings of central concepts and principles of the common law;
• the importance of philosophy and theory in understanding law’s development.
• the major questions, issues and conflicts that have shaped the philosophical development of the common law;

The subject areas covered during the module may differ from year to year but may include:

• Private vs. public
• Doctrine of precedent
• Coercion
• Desert and entitlement
• Justice
• Ownership
• Duties and rights
• Promises and agreements
• Causation
• Responsibility
• Community
• Authority
• Sex/gender
• Violence
• Power
• Language
• Codification
• Jurisdiction
• Discretion
• Complicity
• Necessity
• Duress
• Consent

Teaching methods include:

The teaching programme comprises ten 2-hour weekly lectures and five 2-hour fortnightly tutorials.

Learning activities include:

• Directed reading assisted by reading lists.
• Providing an interdisciplinary approach from law, politics, philosophy, literature and film.
• Drawing on the rich resources on the Web.
• Conducting two tasks of critically exploring and applying key notions to a specific case.
• Conducting group presentation on a specific legal problem.

Preparation for, and participation at, seminars will develop:

• Knowledge of the contestable understanding and relationship between key notions and the significance to the construction of original legal argument.
• Appreciation of constructive criticism of the background justification of legal rules linking this criticism to these basic notions.
• Ability to manage and access diverse and interdisciplinary materials and its effective deployment in a legal case.
• Ability to structure and express thoughts in logically coherent way.
• Ability to prioritise problem construction to problem solving through engaging with key notions.

Formative

This is how we’ll give you feedback as you are learning. It is not a formal test or exam.

Essay

• Assessment Type: Formative
• Feedback: You will receive written feedback on one 1,500 word formative essay on a standard School form and, where appropriate, your answers will also be annotated. Additionally, a feedback session will be provided where general essay questions, approaches and answers will be discussed more fully.
• Final Assessment: No
• Group Work: No

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Repeat

An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.