Law LLB

The module covers the tort of negligence and other major torts.

The module provides an introduction to the basic techniques of legal study and reasoning. It familiarises law students with the main theoretical perspectives on law while connecting this knowledge to the practical operation of the law and its impact on society. It also encourages the development of a critical approach to understanding law in its context.

This module is concerned with aspects of the substantive principles of general contact law. Topics include aspects of contract formation and vitiating factors, the contents of contracts, and discharge and remedies.

This module examines the nature of constitutionalism and the structure of the UK state. Core constitutional concepts - limitations on governmental power, the rule of law, human rights - are analysed. 

The module examines changes that have taken place in relation to the traditional notion of parliamentary sovereignty with reference to the UK's membership of the EC/EU and the incorporation of the ECHR via the Human Rights Act. 

This module also covers the procedures and major principles of judicial review of administrative action and fundamental aspects of civil liberties law, including the powers of the police.

This module includes an introduction to the general principles of criminal law and the study of some offences.

This module examines the nature of land ownership in English law, and the conceptual framework of the creation and transfer of estates and interests in land. This module also examines the principal third party interests affecting land, with particular emphasis on their creation/acquisition and their protection through changes of ownership.

This module analyses the legal order established by the European Union (EU) treaties. It considers the law governing the establishment and operation of the EU, including the methods for enforcement of EU law.  This module also considers the substantive law of the European Union. It involves a detailed examination of the law relating to the internal market, and related areas of EU law. 

This module examines the classical theoretical approaches to the nature of law as a means of formal regulation, and the limitations imposed upon its operation by practical and ethical considerations. 

Employment law is concerned with redressing inequalities in the contractual bargain between the employer and worker. The module is primarily concerned with individual employment law, both common law and statute, although it must be understood in the context of the law of industrial relations and standardisation at international and European levels.

In the introduction to the module the role of the Employment Tribunal and other bodies concerned with adjudication and the resolution of employment disputes will be explained. 

This module involves a critical analysis of the law relating to spouses and cohabitants. It focuses on the definition of the family in law, on legal remedies for domestic violence, and on the regulation and legal consequences of marriage breakdown. 

This module introduces the foundations and general institutional structures of public international law as a means of regulating the conduct of States.  

It will consider the sources of public international law, the basic concepts of statehood and recognition, the subjects of the international legal system, the rise of institutions and the evolution of doctrines such as jurisdiction and state responsibility. 

This module provides an introduction to the international human rights system.

We will examine the essential elements of international human rights system - conceptual, substantive and institutional. The module will develop from an introduction and historical overview of international human rights law to consider the nature of human rights obligations in international law as well as the various mechanisms created to promote and protect human rights. Substantive rights will be used as case studies to examine each of these aspects of the international human rights system.

As well as gaining an understanding of the international system for the protection of human rights, you will also become familiar with those principles of public international law in which international human rights law is based.

This module analyses the rights of patients, in the context of treatment provision, confidentiality, and the right of free movement in the EU internal market. The module asks questions about the construction of the body, by medicine and law, and the role of the state in the provision of healthcare. 

This module considers the law regarding a number of topics relating to maritime casualties and their aftermath, such as limitation of liability, collisions, salvage and oil pollution.

This module examines the conceptual context of trusts, and the requirements for the creation and validity of express private trusts and charitable trusts. This module also examines resulting and constructive trusts, the duties of trustees and the imposition of fiduciary liability, together with associated remedies.

Building on existing foundational knowledge (Foundations of Criminal Evidence), this module will provide opportunities for more specialist, advanced studies in criminal trial procedure and evidence, involving in-depth analysis of key topics with major theoretical, policy and practical significance, and drawing out interdisciplinary links to, eg, psychology, philosophy, criminology, forensic science and socio-legal studies.

Particular topics may include:

• Common sense inferential reasoning
• Covert evidence, entrapment and PII (including CHIS; special counsel)
• Testimonial witness evidence
• Identification evidence 
• Principles of examination-in-chief and cross-examination
• Hearsay and the right to confrontation
• Vulnerable witnesses ‘special measures’
• Previous sexual history evidence
• Bad character evidence
• Forensic science evidence and expert witness testimony 
• DNA profiling evidence and probabilities

The course is divided into four sections:

1. Basic Concepts and Guiding Principles: What are the principles which guide the courts in making decisions about children? What are the legal consequences of being a parent? Do parents have rights? Do children have rights?
2. Children and their Biological Parents: What are the consequences of parenthood outside marriage? What happens if parents cannot agree about how their children should be brought up? Where do the children live if their parents separate? How is the decision made? What is the position of the non-residential parent? 
3. Children and Third Parties – Guardians, Step-parents, Relatives, Foster parents and Adoptive parents: How can non-parents obtain parental responsibility for – or even become the legal parent of - someone else’s child? 
4. Children and the State: What state assistance is available to parents temporarily unable to care for their children? When can the state take children away from their parents?

You will explore a topic of your choice under the supervision of a member of staff. The nature and topic of the dissertation will be decided by you and the proposed supervisor. The dissertation will normally be an essay of 46 pages, exclusive of bibliography.

The module examines the rationale for intellectual property rights and their commercial importance; the national, European and wider international dimensions of the legal regulation of intellectual property rights; and the law governing the acquisition, exploitation and infringement of copyright and allied rights, including the application of copyright law in the context of modern information technology developments.

Given the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services’ finding that approximately 1 million species of animals and plants are threatened with extinction, and given that a decline in abundance of native species around the globe of 20% has taken place since 1900, biological diversity is seriously in decline.

This decline is unprecedented, linked to anthropogenic threats, and driving ever more vocal public protests and direct action by groups like Extinction Rebellion. It is also taking place and continuing despite there being many international treaties in place to tackle the threats and problem.

This module sets out to examine the problem, and the legal response under the principal global treaties that are in place to protect wildlife and habitats.

This module seeks to deal with fundamental and complex issues of corporate law. In the beginning we will set 'the scene' by looking at various business mediums available while focusing on the distinction between private and public companies. 

We will examine how companies are formed, and the consequences of formation - discussing concepts such as the corporate legal personality and the corporate 'veil', and the phenomenon of the corporate group. We will also examine contractual and non-contractual liability of companies and those dealing with them; and finally we will consider various issues relating to shareholding and the share capital of companies.

This module concerns the law relating to people in the psychiatric system. Issues - including hospital admissions, treatment, competency and guardianship, and advocacy on behalf of the mad - are discussed from a variety of perspectives including patient rights, social control, and medical humanitarianism. 

Underlying the module is the question of what madness is, how it is to be responded to, and whether the existing legal provisions are sufficient or appropriate. 

The module builds on a your knowledge and understanding of Public Law, Criminal Law and Public International Law to apply it, along with Military Law, within the military context.

Focusing mainly on the status, internal and external deployment of British armed forces, the module draws on a variety of materials and case studies to examine the domestic and international legal frameworks within which the military operate.

From public inquiries into the Bloody Sunday killings in Northern Ireland, the court martial of soldiers for crimes committed in Iraq and Afghanistan, to the extension of human rights protection to soldiers as well as civilians, and the on-going debate about the prosecution of British soldiers, the module considers whether the scales of military justice are in balance.

Corporate insolvency gives rise to a number of fascinating and complex questions. Which assets can be claimed by the company's creditors? What should be done with them? How should the proceeds raised be distributed amongst the creditors? How should those responsible for the losses be dealt with? 

The module seeks to develop an understanding of the ways these issues are resolved by the current law. You will be expected to analyse and evaluate the law, and consideration will be paid to the real-world context in which insolvency disputes arise.