Critical Approaches to Law module (LW22015)

Learn different approaches to thinking about and working with law, to build upon your previous studies.

Consider how you can combine both to think about legal institutions, concepts and the discipline of Law in general.

Develop your thinking skills, learning how to critique law and justice. Examine the social, political, economic, and moral structures and contexts of western law.

This module will prepare you for the critical legal study you need in other modules,. It will help you develop responsible, theoretically informed, and self-aware practices beyond university.

What you will learn

In this module, you will:

• develop knowledge and understanding of a range of legal, social and political theories
• critically reflect on the structures and contexts of western law
• learn the values and ideologies which underpin western law and justice.

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

• retrieve information from a range of legal sources, including secondary and theoretical sources
• construct and present legal arguments by utilising these resources and applying them in detail to core problems of law and legal study

Assignments / assessment

• critical summary (40%)
• cultural legal analysis essay (60%)

This module does not have a final exam.

Teaching methods / timetable

This module will be delivered by a combination of lectures and seminars.

Lectures will be used to present information and structure learning, with some interaction.

Seminars will be student-led and allow for fuller discussion of the issues.