LW234-6-AU-CO:
Justice
2024/25
Essex Law School
Colchester Campus
Autumn
Undergraduate: Level 6
Current
Thursday 03 October 2024
Friday 13 December 2024
15
11 August 2023
Requisites for this module
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
LLB M100LD Law,
LLB M103 Law (Senior Status)
Justice is a 15 credit module providing students with an understanding of the nature of law, its relationship with society and the question of justice itself. The module introduces students to aspects of legal theory, contextualised and explains how the authority of law may be justified, as well as providing critical perspectives on law’s relationships with power, money, and socially marginalised groups. Students will apply their existing understanding of legal concepts and institutions to wider debates around the effectiveness of law in delivering social justice, connecting doctrine with broader topical debates.
The aims of this module are:
- To understand the nature of law and prevailing theories on what makes law a legitimate source of authority, the competing ways in which we can think of justice, and how law succeeds or fails in delivering justice.
- To connect knowledge of legal doctrine with underlying theoretical debates and topical issues.
- To provide the tools needed for a critical analysis of law’s relation with other societal sources of power.
By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:
- Develop a systematic conceptual understanding of the theoretical justification for law’s authority within society.
- Critically compare competing understandings of what we mean by justice, and critically evaluate arguments, assumptions and concepts.
- Utilise and compare critical perspectives on law’s relationship with money, gender and race.
- Apply their skills and knowledge to critically analyse the role of law within contemporary and contentious social issues.
The syllabus is designed to be flexible, so as to allow for timely current events to be included year-on-year. An indicative syllabus includes the following topics:
- Competing meanings of ‘justice’
- Why should we obey the law?
- Rights
- Law, money and capitalism
- Gender and the law
- Race and the law
- Access to justice
This module will be delivered via:
- One 2-hour lecture per week
- One 1-hour tutorial per week
Assessment items, weightings and deadlines
| Coursework / exam |
Description |
Deadline |
Coursework weighting |
| Coursework |
LW234 MCQs |
|
20% |
| Coursework |
LW234-6-AU - Summative Essay |
|
80% |
Exam format definitions
- Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
- In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary,
for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.
Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.
Overall assessment
Reassessment
Module supervisor and teaching staff
No
No
No
Dr Paolo Sandro
University of Salford
Lecturer in Law
Available via Moodle
No lecture recording information available for this module.
Essex Law School
* Please note: due to differing publication schedules, items marked with an asterisk (*) base their information upon the previous academic year.
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