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Duplicate of Theories of Law and Justice

When you'll study it
Semester 1
CATS points
15
ECTS points
7.5
Level
Level 6
Module lead
Mark Telford
Academic year
2025-26

Module overview

This module will provide you with a developed understanding of what is law; how much law can be justified; how law relates to morality and justice, indeed whether there is any morality that is unique to law. The first part of the module will canvass what is unique about legal obligation and law’s claim to authority. In the second part of the module you will look at different theories of justice and the tension they pose between individuality and community. The third part of the module will apply the work from the first two parts towards examining how we might the law be used to promote justice. The theory and practice of law will be examined and reflected upon in a slower and more advanced way than in the LAWS1012 Legal System and Reasoning module taken in Year 1 of the Programme. The module will be taught in holistic way, so that theories of law and theories and justice can be seen in the way they relate and complement one another to reflect both justification and limits for good governance. As a prospective lawyer, it is believed that significantly better and more sophisticated legal analysis and argument can be formed once central legal concepts and principles can be seen in the way they relate to theories of law and justice. As such, this module will deeply inform your doctrinal study of law with the conceptual analysis which underpins law’s search for justice.