Module LAW2221: CRIMINAL LAW

Department: Law

LAW2221: CRIMINAL LAW

Prerequisites

• Introduction to English Law and Legal Method (LAW 1121) [OR Legal Skills (LAW 1107) AND Legal System of England and Wales (LAW 1117); OR Legal Skills (LAW 1041)]; and UK Constitutional Law (LAW 1091) and Individual and the State (LAW 1081).

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• To provide a general understanding of the nature and functions of the criminal law (to include both an understanding of the general principles of criminal law and the principles governing selected crimes).

Content

• Introduction to the criminal justice system; the general elements of criminal liability; modes of participation; inchoate offences; defences; and the elements of selected offences.

Learning Outcomes

• Students should be able to demonstrate a detailed knowledge of the criminal justice system; the general elements of criminal liability; modes of participation; inchoate offences; defences; and teh elements of selected offences in English and Welsh criminal law.

• Students should be able to demonstrate a capacity to apply the subject knowledge to factual situations raising issues of law which may be uncertain and complex, and to evaluate critically the doctrinal coherence and consistency of English and Welsh criminal law.
• The intellectual and practical skills needed to research and analyse the law from primary resources on specific matters; to construct appropriate arguments both where the law is disputed and where it is clear; and to apply the findings of such work to complex factual situations to produce solutions to legal problems.
• The ability accurately to identify which legal issues require reserach, to retrieve the primary and secondary sources relevant to those issues, and to evaluate critically and work from those materials to arrive at a clear and defensible opinion on the issues.
• The ability to communicate legal arguments, findings, and solutions, both orally and in writing, appropriately to the needs of a variety of audiences.
• The ability to use the English language and legal terminology with care and accuracy.

• Students will be able to demonstrate sound analytical and writing skills as well as the ability to engage in unsupervised research and work independently and to take responsibility for their own learning.
• Students will be able to apply knowledge to complex situations, to recognise potential alternative conclusions for particular situations, and to provide supporting reasons for them.
• Students will be able to demonstrate enhanced independent reserach skills, and the ability to apply transferable generic research skills to new scenarios and in the context of advanced and innovative forms of assessment.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Lectures are used primarily to impart knowledge and also to suggest approaches to evaluation and critical analysis;
• Seminars will be used to develop and enhance students' capacity for legal-problem solving in a particular factual situation, evaluative critical analysis and their appreciation of laws' linkage with broader fields of enquiry;
• There will be a formative assignment designed to prepare students for the summative assignment explained below. This will take the form of a plan or outline of the summative assignment, with a working bibliography. The formative assignment will allow students to develop the research planning skills needed for the summative assignment, and to receive feedback ensuring that they understand what is expected for the summative.
• The examination questions will provide the means for students to demonstrate the acquisition of subject knowledge and the development of their problem-solving skills; it will specifically test the ability to apply law to complex factual situations as opposed to theoretical understanding assessed in the summative essay, and hence only contain problem questions.
• The summative essay will provide an opportunity for research-led teaching and require students to address questions about which they have not been taught, such as new case law, law reform issues etc., thereby employing transferable analytical and conceptual skills. The essay will use innovative forms of assessment testing the required enhanced independent reserach skills, such as, for example:
• drafting a case note on a new case which has not been covered yet in the literature on an essay on its potential impact on the existing law and practice;
• drafting a piece of legislation on a particular issue and provide a supporting explanatory note, or;
• drafting a submission on a legal topic eg in the context of an actual ongoing Law Commission consultation, or;
• drafting an appellate judgment based on a given set of facts around a controversial area of law, etc.
• The purpose of the summative essay is to introduce students to, and to equip them with the skills to meet, the enhanced requirements of independent advanced research necessary for the compulsory dissertation in their final year. This is reflected in the weighting given to the essay in the overall assessment. The summative essay will be returned with formative feedback.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

One outline/plan for the summative essay, of no more than 500 words plus a working bibliography.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University