One 200 or 300 course (or two half courses) from any Selection group

The UK constitution is famously ‘unwritten’ and thus contrasts with other constitutional models. Analysing key issues of sovereignty and the division of powers between legislature, executive and administration, one key question is how far the UK lives up to classic doctrine. Equally, membership of the European Union, and the Human Rights Act 1998, aff ect the overall picture of the relation between citizen and the state. To fully engage with this subject, students need to take an interest in current affairs and debates about what is involved in constitutional issues and reforms.

Contracts are the legal basis of all commercial transactions. Covering the core topics – including formation of contracts, capacity to contract and privity, performance and breach of contract and remedies for breach of contract – the emphasis is on understanding the key underlying principles of English law. This is very much a case law subject, with judicial precedents stretching back nearly 400 years in some instances (but more usually of 19th- and 20th-century origin) and a small number of statutory provisions, as well as the impact of EU law. An understanding of what factors judges may, or must, take into account when exercising their discretion is crucial.

A part of Equity law, the law of trusts deals with the rules and principles governing the creation and operation of trusts – a particular method of holding property that developed historically primarily to preserve family wealth, particularly by minimising liability to taxation. The syllabus focuses on three broad areas: 1) the requirements for establishing a valid trust (including express private trusts; charitable trusts; implied and resulting trusts; constructive trusts); 2) the powers and obligations of trustees under a valid trust (including appointment, retirement and removal of trustees); 3) the remedies available when trustees act improperly.

Focused on the substantive issues and values that underpin Civil and criminal procedure, the course is divided equally between Civil and criminal procedure. Students will be expected to compare and contrast Civil and criminal procedure and will need to have a good working knowledge of the court system and the way in which civil and criminal justice is organised and dispensed. Specific topics include: civil process before trial, commencement of proceedings, jurisdiction, responding to a claim, case management, summary disposals and trials, remedies and criminal procedure, police powers and bail, commencement of proceedings, pleas and plea bargaining, ID and other evidence and sentencing.

The law of evidence governs what facts may be presented – and contested – in the courtroom, the techniques for eliciting evidence, and the role of the lawyers, jury and judge in an adversarial system. The subject is an attractive mixture of the intensely practical (e.g. how is cross-examination controlled? what is a jury permitted to hear? when has the burden of proof been discharged?) and the abstract and academic (what is a ‘fact’? what does ‘relevance’ mean? when is evidence prejudicial?). Highly relevant to actual day-to-day legal practice, the subject will appeal especially to students intending to practise in court.

Full understanding and enjoyment of studying legal history develops both historical and legal skills. Thanks to the large amount of surviving materials, the origins of the common law may be traced in considerable detail from its effective beginnings as the body of customary laws applied in the royal courts during the first two centuries following the Norman Conquest in 1066. The institutions of the common law courts, procedure and modes of trial are traced through to the early modern period, followed by an examination of the historical development of the substantive law of land law, contract and tort. This course will appeal to students who enjoy exploring a wide range of reading materials for themselves.

Also known as private international law, this is the body of rules applied by the English courts to cases with a foreign element, dealing with core issues of jurisdiction, substantive decision-making and recognition of the laws of other jurisdictions. Existing case law has been developed in recent years with the statutory implementation of International Conventions and Law Commission reports – yet there are questions as yet unsettled, which increases the importance of academic writing and also gives students the chance to present their own solutions. The course covers all English domestic law.

Commercial law is concerned with obligations between parties to commercial transactions and the relationship with rules of personal property. Students are expected to become familiar with the significance and implications of: ownership of or title to goods; the transfer of title and its effect on third parties; the passing of property between buyer and seller; the significance of possession; and responsibility for risk of loss of or damage to goods and its transfer from one party to another. Familiarity with the general ideas underlying contract, tort and trust law will provide a useful background. Emphasis is placed on both knowledge of principles and the ability to apply the rules of law to achieve practical solutions to practical problems.

Family law affects every member of society, from conception to the grave. Originating in religious law, today the legal regulation of family relationships involves a complex relation between the family and the state. Marriage and divorce and the legal status of offspring are intertwined with questions of financial provision and child protection, not to mention public policy issues arising from advances in biological science or the rise of children’s rights. Family law is highly porous in relation to expert knowledge from disciplines such as psychology and sociology, which means that understanding the statute and case law is not a discrete or isolated study.

[EU law is a required course by the professional bodies in England and Wales for the LLB as a Qualifying Law Degree.]

The European Union (EU) is a relatively new legal system that combines characteristics of international law and national legal systems. EU institutions and law-making powers are examined as well as the key questions of the impact of EU law on national law and its overall consequences for a) business enterprises and b) individuals. As EU law is highly responsive to economic and social changes, legal rules and judicial decisions are studied in their wider context. The subject will appeal to students who enjoyed studying Public law or who have an interest in public affairs, politics, economics or international relations.

Intellectual property is a rapidly expanding body of law that has come into increasing domestic and international prominence. Involving both artistic and scientific concerns, intellectual property underpins a wide variety of everyday activities for individual consumers – hence in turn its immense economic and industrial significance. The law of intellectual property rights seeks a difficult balance between rewarding the right owner and the needs of society to gain access to scientific, technological or cultural benefits. It includes copyright, patent and trade mark law. The course examines the range of different domestic and international legal categories involved
in regulating this form of intangible property, and pays specific attention to the ways in which English law, lacking any discrete law of unfair competition, frequently relies on ‘press-ganging’ a range of independent rights (such as confidentiality) to serve that purpose.

International protection of human rights law concerns protection afforded to individuals. This course seeks to instil a holistic and critical awareness of the fundamental concepts, principles, theories and philosophies underlying international human rights as well as an understanding of the principal internal mechanisms installing and enforcing/monitoring these rights. Specific topics covered include: the individual in international law; debates about universalism vs cultural relativism; genocide; the history, politics and specific human rights legal enactments instituted by the United Nations; enforcement mechanisms; a review of the systems by reference to key vulnerable groups, notably refugees; the evolution of international individual responsibility for acts such as crimes against humanity and war crimes.