Marine Environmental Law

Learning Outcomes

Knowledge and Understanding

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

• Describe and assess existing areas of debate regarding shipping, other offshore activities and the environment, as to what the law is and what it ought to be, both in the UK and internationally.
• The main principles which govern the international law of the marine environment as it applies to shipping and other offshore activities, and the extent to which English law is influenced by internationally accepted principles.

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Think critically, develop coherent arguments in writing.
• Display clarity and objectivity in written discussion demonstrating an awareness of issue of academic integrity.
• Distinguish relevant from irrelevant materials.
• Identify and analyse key issues.

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Analyse relevant legal materials, including conventions and statutes.
• Appraise and criticise existing debates in a national setting, using appropriate legal research skills.
• Identify and explain the main internationally accepted principles underpinning the law relating to the marine environment.
• Locate and analyse relevant legal and other source materials including contracts and industry forms.

The module covers the legal obligations imposed on States in relation to marine environmental protection and enforcement rights under the current treaty framework regarding the regulation of shipping and other offshore activities through a range of IMO specialised international conventions and other regional arrangements. The module syllabus considers the principles of marine environmental liabilities and the role of the shipping industry and the marine offshore industry at large, and addresses key factors preventing effective enforcement.

Using case studies for selected contemporary environmental issues, the module discusses how shipping, offshore and seabed activities could or should be regulated through the prism of a holistic approach towards the conservation and management of biodiversity and minimising the effects of climate change.

This module is taught through seminars (10 x 2hours) which will combine lecture-style and interactive tutorial-style teaching. You are expected to prepare for the seminars by completing allocated reading or any other task.

The most important part of learning is your own independent study. This will, however, be closely guided, and firmly tied into the lectures, seminars and assessment. In the seminars you will have the opportunity to present arguments orally to a group of peers and defend your position under challenge.

Formative

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

Essay or problem question

• Assessment Type: Formative
• Feedback: You will receive feedback in accordance with the applicable Law School Rules and via the Law School Feedback sheets, through comments written on the formative work, and orally in a class discussion of the formative work.
• 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.