Law LLB (Hons) module details

Year one | Year two | Year three

Year one

Block 1: English and European Legal Systems*

This module introduces students to the main features of the English and European legal systems and the procedures and processes that are followed. This module acts as an essential foundation for all further legal study.

Block 2: Criminal Law*

This module will enable students to understand the general principles of the criminal law and the requirements of major criminal offences. It will develop your problem-solving skills in the field of criminal law and your ability to handle legal sources.

Block 3: Contract Law*

This module concentrates on the general legal principles relating to the formation, content and the regulation of contracts along with remedies or breach and vitiating factors. Many of these principles are directly applicable to everyday contracting, others provide the foundation on which specific (often legislative) rules build further.

Block 4: Constitutional and Administrative Law*

This module is designed to help students understand how the UK's system of government including Parliament, and The Courts and international obligations and to examine how the exercise of government power can be controlled. 

Year two

Block 1: Law of Tort*

This module will introduce general principles of tortious liability, including trespass to the person and land, nuisance, negligence, occupiers' liability and remedies

Block 2: Land Law*

This module will make you aware of the different legal rights to land which can exist, when these rights can be binding on others, and how they can be protected by registration. The module will focus on the wider context of land as a necessity for not only housing, but also the production of food, industry, commerce and recreation.

Block 3: Inter-Professional Legal Skills*

The module develops valuable generic skills, including those relating to employability and personal development. Students are encouraged to operate within the context of professional legal ethics. The module enables students to gain an appreciation of how lawyers use their skills in order to deal with a demanding case load. Timekeeping elements bring 'everyday reality' and an excellent opportunity to comprehend commercial awareness. An understanding of general procedural requirements and skills-based activities is provided.

Block 4: Choose one pathway from the below:

Law pathway: Family Law

This module will equip you with an understanding of the legal rules, doctrines and principles which regulate and affect the modern family, especially the relationships of spouses, civil partners and parent/child.

OR

Business Law pathway: Companies and Other Business Entities

This module will introduce students to the various ways in which it is possible to organise a business such as sole proprietorships, partnerships and companies and the law relating its regulation. This includes the law and policy governing the structure and the operation of companies.

OR

Socio-Legal pathway: Law and Religion

This module considers the role and place of religion in modern society which has been increasingly the subject of debate. The module will also examine legal developments which have directly concerned religion.  

OR

Human Rights and Social Justice pathway: Human Rights Law

This module considers the foundations of International Human Rights Law, and regional human rights protection frameworks. The module will also introduce the student to general issues concerning key qualified and unqualified rights and the international and regional enforcement mechanisms.

OR

Criminal Justice pathway: Police Power and Public Order

This module will focus on some of the more important powers which the police have for dealing with suspected crime, such as the powers of stop and search and arrest. The powers which the police have both under statute and at common law authorise what would otherwise be clear invasions of the right to liberty, and property and privacy rights and this module will examine their legitimacy.

OR

International Law pathway: International Law

This module will cover current issues in international law with a focus on the structural foundations, such as the sources of international law, subjects of international law and the way in which states interact with each other in the international sphere.

*Modules shared across all pathways

Year three

Block 1: Equity and Trusts

This module will concentrate upon the management of property (real and personal) and in particular, the management of personal property through the technical requirements of the trust relationship. It will consider the fiduciary nature of the relationship between trustees and beneficiaries and the consequences of any breach of a trustee's fiduciary duties.

Block 2: Choose one pathway from the below:

Law pathway: Law and Medicine

This module critically evaluates the relationship between law and medicine by concentrating on a number of important medicolegal topics. It focuses on issues such as consent to treatment, medical negligence, infertility procedures, abortion, meaning of death, withholding and withdrawing life-prolonging treatment, assisted suicide, euthanasia and organ transplantation.

OR

Business Law pathway: Commercial and Consumer Contracting

This module examines a range of areas which form the backbone of both domestic and international modern commercial law. It will help to facilitate an understanding of the relationships which exist between the parties to such modern commercial relationships. This module focuses on the rights and remedies which consumers have against businesses as well as the wider regulation of businesses to protect consumers.

OR

Socio-Legal pathway: Law and Gender

This module explores the relationship between law and gender (broadly defined), focussing on the role of the law in the construction, reinforcement and breakdown of gendered inequalities, as well as gendered assumptions that inform the processes of law, legal method and law making.

OR

Human Rights and Social Justice pathway: Social Justice in Law

This module complements students' previous study of human rights law with a focus on economic, social and cultural rights issues (in general) and an in-depth treatment of social housing law (in particular, to provide concrete examples in a substantial body of law and secondary literature).

OR

Criminal Justice pathway: Criminal Evidence

This module will introduce students to the various ways in which it is possible to organise a business such as sole proprietorships, partnerships and companies and the law relating its regulation. This includes the law and policy governing the structure and the operation of companies.

OR

International Law pathway: EU Law

This module examines the institutional and procedural law of the European Union. It looks at the institutions of the EU and their powers, concentrating on the powers of the Court of Justice. It also looks at the sources of EU law and the application of those laws.

Block 3: Choose one pathway from the below:

Law pathway: Intellectual Property

This module will look at the 'great' statutory types of IP such as patents, designs, copyright and trademarks and also at more general concepts such as remedies for infringement. It will focus on the fast-changing nature of this subject.

OR

Business Law pathway: Employment Law

This module explores how the law determines whether a person is an employee or an independent contractor and why this is an important distinction. The focus then moves on to the contract of employment and the protection which the law offers against discrimination - both contractual and non-contractual - on the grounds of sex, marital status, race, religion, sexual orientation, age or disability.

OR

Socio-Legal pathway: Penology and Criminology

This module will introduce students to the various ways in which it is possible to organise a business such as sole proprietorships, partnerships and companies and the law relating its regulation. This module is intended to develop knowledge and understanding of the main theories and justifications for punishment and current sentencing law.

OR

Human Rights and Social Justice pathway: Immigration and Refugee Law

This module will investigate how far border controls can (and should) operate and the extent to which people who apply for asylum are allowed to access benefits, employment and housing. It will investigate how the principles of refugee law created in the mid-20th century apply to contemporary issues.

OR

Criminal Justice pathway: Advanced Criminal Law

This module provides the opportunity to study criminal law in greater depth. It is about empowering students to critically address contemporary issues of their own choosing in criminal law.

OR

International Law pathway: International Child Law

This module introduces students to the field of international child law and policy. It focuses on critical engagement with key contemporary and substantive global policies.

Block 4: Project or SQE Preparation

Project

This module allows students to explore an area of law selected by themselves for detailed critical analysis. It allows them to work closely with a tutor-supervisor who will be able to advise and guide them through the relevant area. This module enables the synthesis of substantial legal knowledge by allowing for the functional application of law to real-life client briefing. It will empower the student by putting into practice the understanding of law and ethics which has been developed during the law degree.

SQE Preparation

This module prepares students for a career as a solicitor developing practice-ready skills building on the foundations of legal knowledge acquired within modules previously studied as part of the degree programme.