FREE ESSAY ON PROSPECTUS OF HONOURS

PROSPECTUS OF HONOURS

PROSPECTUS OF HONOURS COURSES
2000/2001
This document contains information on all Honours courses on offer next year together
with important information about admission to Honours and assessment in Honours courses.
Please retain it for reference throughout the session.
Douglas Brodie,
Associate Dean.
ADMISSION AND APPLICATION PROCEDURE 2
LIST OF COURSES ON OFFER AND NOT ON OFFER IN 2000/2001 4
COURSE ENTRIES
A) COURSES ON OFFER 2000/2001 5 - 23
B) COURSES NOT ON OFFER 2000/2001 25 - 28
HONOURS TIMETABLE 24
INFORMATION FOR HONOURS STUDENTS 29 - 35
The Common Marking Scheme
Ill Honours Students
Oral Examinations
Appeals Against Marks or Classification of Degrees
Statement about late presentation of Essays
Quotations
Notification of Honours Results
Appendix - Specimen Illness Self-Certification Form
N.B. ALL HONOURS STUDENTS MUST BE IN RESIDENCE AND AVAILABLE TO SEE THEIR DIRECTOR OF
STUDIES BY THURSDAY 5TH OCTOBER 2000.
PLAGIARISM
Plagiarism is the appropriation without attribution of another person's thoughts or
words. As a denial of that independence of thought which it is the aim of higher
education to inculcate it is naturally a grave offence against University discipline. At
best, the work in which it features is unlikely to contribute any marks to assessment; at
worst it could merit expulsion from the University. See the fuller statement on the
inside back page.
RULES GOVERNING ADMISSION TO HONOURS 
AND TO INDIVIDUAL COURSES
1. With effect from session 1998-99 Faculty has altered the rules governing admission to
Honours. The new rule is that all students who apply for admission to Honours will be
admitted if they:
(a) have completed two years of study towards graduation, or, in the case of graduates,
have completed one year of study within the Faculty; and
(b) by the end of the September diet of examination they have failed to pass not more
than one of the courses (whether a half or a whole course) prescribed for their study in
their years or, as the case may be, year in the Faculty.
2. Students who are not admitted to Honours may appeal if there has been a procedural
irregularity. Students who wish to appeal should discuss the matter as soon as possible
with their Director of Studies and give notice of appeal to the Faculty Officer no later
than five days before commencement of the Autumn Term.
3. Application for admission to Honours is made on a form available in the Faculty
Office. Applications should be made by the end of July in the year of study in which
admission is sought. On the same form students are asked to choose the Honours courses
they wish to take. This choice may only be altered by notification to the Faculty Office
in writing.
4. In August those who are refused entry to Honours will be advised of the fact. Their
cases will automatically be reconsidered following the resit diet of examinations. If
they are admitted, only then will their application for entry to particular courses be
considered.
5. Candidates entering the final year of Honours may apply for admission to Honours
courses on forms available in the Faculty Office from the beginning of May. These
applications must be submitted by Friday, 28th July and the choice then made can only be
altered by notifying the Faculty Office in writing.
6. Where applications for a course exceed its quota, selection will be made on the
grounds of general academic merit with any special criteria noted in the individual
course entry. 
7. Points are awarded for each degree course passed, whether by examination or exemption.
No points are awarded for a pass obtained other than in a first diet of examination
(Summer diet) unless the applicant had good reason to sit an examination in the Autumn
diet. Previous failure in the course or disinclination to take an examination will not be
considered good reason, but illness or extenuating circumstances will be so considered.
If you are thinking of adopting this course talk to your Director of Studies in advance.
Resitting exams to improve the grade is not permitted. Each pass is awarded points on the
following scale:
A grade 4 points
B grade 3 points
C grade 2 points
D grade 1 point
A half course is awarded half the number of points stated above. (An A grade pass in a
half course would therefore attract 2 points, for example). 
Information on grades is available from Directors of Studies.
APPLICATION FOR AND ALLOCATION OF PLACES IN PARTICULAR COURSES
Once all forms have been received indicating course choice, the Faculty Office makes a
list for each course indicating all the students who have put that course as one of their
first choice courses. If the total number of students wishing to take the course as a
first choice is less than the quota for that course, all those students are given a
place. If the total is more, the students are selected up to the quota in order of
academic merit. 
Those students who have not been successful are then entered into their reserve courses,
if there are still spaces left. If there are spaces, but the number of students exceed
the spaces, again selection is made on the basis of academic merit. It is possible that
some students will not have gained entry into a sufficient number of their first choice
and reserve courses, in which case they will then receive a letter from Faculty Office
indicating what courses still have places available and asking the student to make a
choice from these. Students who are admitted to Honours only after resits in October will
miss out on this first round of allocation of places.
. In the past, courses which have been regularly oversubscribed include: Commercial Law,
Company Law, Criminal Law, Criminology, Information Technology and Law, Intellectual
Property, Media Law, Medical Jurisprudence, Property Law, Taxation. Courses which are
generally round about quota are: Comparative Criminal Procedure, Contract, Constitutional
Law, Delict, International Private Law, International Law.
Also, . If the entry for a particular course says that performance in a particular
Ordinary course will be looked at in selecting Honours students and your performance in
that Ordinary course was not good it is pointless to apply for it. Likewise, if your
overall performance in your first two years is not very good, remember that by putting as
first choice one of the most popular courses (probably in vain) you may miss out
completely on second preference courses to friends who took a more realistic estimate of
their chances of selection.
EXEMPTION FROM THE COMMON PROFESSIONAL EXAMINATION (CPE)
The Law Society of England and Wales have agreed that those students from Edinburgh who
have studied Contract, Commercial, Delict, Constitutional and European Community Law (all
Ordinary) together with Delict Honours will be exempt from two out of the eight
examinable subjects of the CPE including the "other area of Legal Study". Accordingly,
those students who are contemplating entering the solicitors' branch of the legal
profession in England should seek entry to Delict Honours.
It is unlikely that the Council of Legal Education, which governs admission to the
English Bar, will recognise our courses.
COURSES OFFERED IN 2000-2001 QUOTA
Civil Law 25
Commercial Law 25
Comparative Criminal Procedure 25
Contract 25
Competition Law 25
Delict 25
EC Substantive Law 25
European Community Regulation of
Culture and the Mass Media 25
20 (plus 10 non-law)
European Institutions 20 (plus around 20 non-law)
Family Law 25
French Law
Gender and Justice
German Private and Commercial Law
History of Scots Law
Human Rights
Information Technology and Law
Intellectual Property
International Law A
Jurisprudence of Legal Concepts
Justice, Ethics and Law
Labour Law 25
20 (plus 10 non-law)
25
25
25 
25 
25
25
20 (plus 10 non-law) 
20 (plus 10 non-law)
25
Legal Process
Law, Democracy and Citizenship
Media Law
Medical Jurisprudence
Property Law
Punishment and Society
Taxation
15 (plus 10 non-law)
20 (plus 10 non-law)
25
25
25
20 (plus 10 non-law)
25
COURSES NOT AVAILABLE IN 2000-2001
Administrative Law
Agricultural Law
Company Law
Comparative Law
Constitutional Law
Criminal Law
Criminology
Environmental Law
European Legal History
German Constitutional Law and Government
History of Legal Ideas
International Law B
International Legal Order of the Environment and World Economy
International Private Law
Law and European Economic Integration
Theories of Law and Society
Welfare Law and Administration
COURSE ENTRIES
A) COURSES ON OFFER IN 2000-2001
CIVIL LAW
The course is divided into one major and two minor units. The major unit (ten two-hour
seminars) will be The Roman Law of Damage to Property, based on the Digest title 9.2. (on
the Lex Aquilia). The minor units (five two-hour seminars each) will be Law Making in the
Later Roman Republic and Early Roman Law. These two units will be linked by focusing to a
certain extent on the development of the law on debt.
Recommended advance reading:
O.F. Robinson: The Sources of Roman Law (1997)
B. Nicholas: An Introduction to Roman Law (1962) 
Assessment will be by two essays each of about 5,000 words and an oral exam. One essay
must be based on the work of the major unit, the other on one of the minor units. Each
counts for 50%.
Further details, including a list of the topics to be covered in each seminar, are
available from the department, as also advice as to the need for Latin. Many people have
successfully taken the course with very little or no Latin. Nor is it necessary to have
taken Civil Law Ordinary. Anyone, who has doubts on this score, or on any other, should
come along and talk them over.
Course Organiser/Teacher
Mr. G. McLeod.
COMMERCIAL LAW
In this course, we analyse, in depth, selected topics in commercial law. Topics may
include securities for advances, personal and corporate insolvency, ranking, loans,
banking, guarantees, performance bonds and partnership. Selected aspects of company law
may also be considered. Where appropriate, the international aspects of commercial law
will be referred to.
Teaching 
One two-hour meeting each week, in the form of a seminar. A worksheet is issued the week
before each meeting, containing reading references and questions for consideration.
Assessment 
Examination 60% and essay 40%.
Requirements 
Pass in Commercial Law Ordinary
The course presupposes a sound understanding of property law and contract law.
Reading
There is no textbook for the course. Useful background reading: 
Professor Wilson's Debt; 
R. M. Goode's Commercial Law (1995) 2nd edn.
Michael Brett's How to Read the Financial Pages.
Course Organiser/Teacher 
Professor W. McBryde
COMPARATIVE CRIMINAL PROCEDURE
Comparative criminal procedure will examine the situation of an accused person from the
moment of arrest until sentence and the whole process of the state's dealing with an
accused. This course will mainly concentrate on the Scottish, English and French criminal
systems.
No knowledge of a foreign language is required, but those students who have a reading
knowledge of French will have access to a wider range of reference material.
Guest speakers, video films, visit to institutions (police station, prison, crown office
etc.) will illustrate the theory with the practice.
Topics will be drawn from the following:
(a) Aims of the criminal process
(b) Police powers/the rights of the accused (right to silence, access to lawyer....)
(c) Prosecution: decision to prosecute, criteria, relation with the police
(d) Investigation
(e) Evidence
(f) The legal profession (the judiciary and the defence lawyer)
(g) The trial
(h) Sentencing: aims and objectives, sentencing powers
(i) The criminal process and human rights
(j) Justice and media
Seminars
There will be one two-hour seminar each week. 
Assessment
By mean of an essay (counting 1/3) and a three-hour written examination (counting for
2/3).
Preliminary Reading
M. Zander, Cases and Materials on the English Legal System (1999)
A. Stewart, The Scottish Criminal Courts in Action (1997) 
J. Hatchard, B. Huber, R. Vogler, Comparative Criminal Procedure (1996)
Course Organiser/Teacher
Maitre J. Godard
COMPETITION LAW
The purpose of the course is to develop an understanding of the rationale behind
competition (or 'antitrust') regulation in a free market economy, primarily the rules
governing competition law in the European Community and the United Kingdom. It will
therefore consider cartels and other contractual restraints, monopolies, oligopolies and
mergers, and the administrative and civil enforcement of the rules. The Community rules
have applied since 1962 and constitute the bulk of our present understanding of the
discipline; substantive British rules (closely mimicking the Community rules) came into
force only in March 2000, which is why the course is offered for the first time in Autumn
2000. The opportunity exists for consideration of the development of a new body of law in
its early (faltering?) stages. Throughout there will be comparative consideration of the
Community and the British rules; there will also be occasional reference to the
comparable principles to be found in American and German law.
Most of the reading will be of primary legislation and case law. There will be some
consideration of economics in the course but none which requires more than reasonable
common sense.
Prerequisites
A pass in Contract (Ordinary); a pass in European Community law (Ordinary) concurrent
matriculation in that course
Suggested Reading
D. Swann, The Economics of the Common Market (most recent edition)
Assessment
One essay (30%) and one written examination (70%)
Course Organiser/Teacher
Dr. R. Lane
N.B. A student who completed the course in EC Substantive Law (Honours) prior to Autumn
2000 will not be admitted to Competition Law
CONTRACT
At least since 1681, when Viscount Stair published his Institutions, Scotland has had a
general law of contract. The course will examine this general law from a number of angles
to see how the different principles interrelate and are applied in practice.
Topics will be drawn from the following:
(a) Obligations: the place of contract in the law of obligations; its relationship with
delict and unjustified enrichment; the function of promise; third party rights.
(b) Formation: Offer and acceptance; intention to create legal relations; certainty;
formalities; unilateral obligations.
(c) Grounds of Challenge: error and misrepresentation; force and fear; undue influence of
bargaining power; unlawfulness.
(d) Contractual Terms: express and implied terms; interpretation; the effect of
particular terms (restrictive covenants, retention clauses, arbitration clauses, penalty
clauses, exclusion and limitation clauses).; mutuality of terms.
(e) Breach of Contract: recission and repudiation; non-judicial remedies; specific
implement and interdict; damages.
(f) Termination: payment and performance; prescription; frustration.
In discussing the substantive law, two general themes will predominate. First, how far
has the general law been croded by the incursion of delict and the growth of detailed
rules for individual contracts, and to what extent is a developing law of unjustified
enrichment providing solutions to problems previously regarded as contractual? Secondly,
to what extent has judicial intervention in reforming the terms the parties themselves
have entered into diluted the principle of freedom of contract? At various points, recent
initiatives on uniform principles of European contract law will also be discussed.
Seminars
There will be one two-hour seminar each week. Students are expected to contribute to
group discussion.
Assessment 
(a) Examination. 60% (including compulsory 'seen' problem)
(b) Essay. 40%
Student Selection 
Selection is made on the basis of general academic merit except that performance in
Contract Ordinary is used as a 'tie-breaker' where necessary when allocating the final
places.
Preliminary Reading
MacQueen & Thomson, Contract (2000) and Gilmore: The Death of Contract (1974)
Pre-requisite course
Contract (? course)
Course Organiser/Teacher
Mr. M. Hogg
DELICT
Rather more than half the course will explore the major concepts of the law of negligence
such as fault, duty, causation and remoteness. The objects in this part is to go behind
material already encountered in the Ordinary course. It seeks to analyse what the
concepts mean, their relationship to each other and their implications for the developing
law. Topics include, for example, pure economic loss and the role of statutes in the Law
of Delict. Negligence law is at present in a state of continuous change and is giving
rise to a large quantity of new case law, ideas and academic literature, which are
studied in the course.
Pre-requisite course 
Delict (? course)
Textbook
Fleming: Law of Torts {9th ed.)
Assessment
Essay (1/3); Exam (2/3)
Preliminary Reading
P.S. Atiyah: The Damages Lottery
Course Organiser
Dr. D. Brodie
Members of staff teaching on the course
Dr. D. Brodie and Mr. M. Hogg
EC SUBSTANTIVE LAW
The aim of this course is to develop knowledge and understanding of the legal issues
arising from the concept of the single internal market of the European Community and
related policy issues. 
The Autumn term is concerned essentially with economic activity: the Community as an
actor in international trade, the internal movement of goods, monetary movements and the
development of EMU. The Spring term is concerned more with the human element of the
single market, in areas such as freedom to provide services, free movement of the
employed and the self-employed, recognition of qualifications, citizenship and gender
discrimination. The course will also look briefly at the CAP as an example of sectoral
policy.
Prerequisite
A pass in European Community Law (Ordinary)
Suggested Reading
Green, Hartley and Usher: The Legal Foundations of the Single European Market (OUP 1991)
- 
now rather out-of-date, but useful background 
Weatherill and Beaumont: EC Law (3rd ed. 1999) 
Craig and De Burca: EU Law - Text, Cases and Materials (2nd ed. 1998)
Assessment
One essay (30% of grade); one written examination (70% of grade).
Course Organiser
Professor J.A. Usher
Staff Teaching the course
Professor J. Usher, Dr. N. Nic Shuibhne and Dr. R. Lane 
EUROPEAN COMMUNITY REGULATION OF CULTURE AND THE MASS MEDIA
This course will explore European Community law's impact on the cultural life of the
Member States. Itaims to develop an understanding of: (a) the legal basis for European
Community involvement in thecultural domain, focussing, in particular, on the impact of
the Treaty articles relating to the Internal Market and competition on key cultural
activities suchas sport and television broadcasting; (b) the various regulatory options,
ranging from harmonisation to financial assistance, open to the European Community when
intervening in the cultural field; and (c) therespective roles of the Member States, the
European Community and other international organisations such as the Council of Europe
when addressing cultural issues. The course examines whether the application of European
Community law has led to greater cultural diversity within the Member States as well as
whether it is encouraging the development of a new and distinct sense of European
identity. Special attention will be given to initiatives in education and to European
citizenship.
Prerequisite Courses
A pass in European Community Law (Ordinary) or a comparable course in European Community
law.
Assessment 
One essay (30% of total); one written examination (70% of total).
Course Organiser
Dr. R. Craufurd Smith
EUROPEAN INSTITUTIONS
The consititutions and methods of operation of contemporary European institutions,
particularly the European Union. The principles and operation of the Treaty of Rome; the
Single European Act; the Treaty on European Union. The pillar structure of the Treaty on
European Union; the European Communities pillar; Common Foreign and Security Policy;
Justice and Home Affairs. The theory and practice of European political, economic and
legal integration The policies of the European Union. The European Union in the global
context. The role of the institutions of the European Union; the European Commission; the
Council of the European Union; the European Parliament; the European Court of Justice.
The course will throughout be concerned with examining the progress towards economic and
political integration in Europe. Current topics will be considered, inter alia,
enlargement, montery union, Treaty reform. The course is explicitly inter-disciplinary in
nature.
Books
Dinan, D.: An Ever Closer Union (MacMillan, 1995)
Lodge, J.: The European Community and the Challenge of the Future (3rd Edition, Pinter)
Assessment
One essay (30% of total); written examination (70% of total)
Course Organiser/Teacher
Mr. A. Scott
FAMILY LAW
This course covers the law relating to 'family relationships', in the broadest sense, and
the resulting effects on individuals inter se and in society. In the first term, the law
relating to husband and wife and to cohabitation will be considered. In the second term,
the law relating to the child within the family and state intervention in respect of
children will be considered. For each meeting of the class, students are expected to read
the prescribed materials (often quite substantial) - books, articles, statutes, cases and
law reform reports. This preparation will provide the background for a discussion of the
selected topic. This course should be avoided by students who are not willing both to
prepare the materials and to participate in discussion.
Pre-requisite course
Family Law (? course)
Assessment
10,000 Essay (50%), Unseen Examination (50%)
Student Selection
General academic merit with a preference for students who have a merit in Family Law
(Ordinary)
Preliminary reading
Donzelot, The Policy of Families
Glendon, The New Family and the New Property
Gittnes, The Family in Question
Course Organiser/Teacher
Dr. A. Griffiths
FRENCH LAW
French Law provides students with an understanding of the logic of French law, a working
knowledge of its sources and an ability to provide solutions to practical cases.
The course is divided into two parts
-  A general introduction: history of civil law, sources of the law, court systems
(judicial and administrative) and the legal profession
-  An application of French Law (law of persons, right to privacy, succession, obligation
etc. and any 
topics which the class has a particular interest in).
Seminars
There will be one two-hour seminar each week
Assessment
By means of an essay (counting for 1/3) and a three hour written examination (counting
for 2/3).
Student Selection
General academic merit. Knowledge of French is not essential but some French would be
beneficial.
Preliminary reading
Bell (J), Boyron (S), Whittaker (S), Principles of French Law (1998)
Course Organiser/Teacher
Maitre J. Godard.
GENDER AND JUSTICE
The main aim of the course is to examine crime, the criminal law and the practice of the
criminal justice system in relation to gender.
The first term examines differential patterns of criminal involvement between men and
women and assesses explanations for these patterns. It also provides an overview of the
operation of the criminal justice system as it relates to gender.
The second term provides a more detailed examination of specific types of crime such as
homicide, incest and child sexual abuse. (This will include consideration of: patterns of
victimisation; characteristics of perpetrators and explanations for their behaviours; and
the nature and effectiveness of specialist programmes which have been developed to deal
with perpetrators). It also examines the social and political processed underpinning the
sanctioning of behaviours. Particular topics will include: prostitution; homosexuality;
pornography and obscenity.
Preliminary Reading
A. Morris, Women, Crime and Criminal Justice
F. Heidensohn, Women and Crime
C. Smart, Feminism and the Power of Law
Assessment
By a three hour unseen examination (75%) and a course essay (25%). Oral examinations will
be used on a selective basis. Non-law students taking the course as a one term module
will be assessed by means of a course essay (see below).
Student Selection
Admission to the course will depend upon past academic record. Students who are not
registered for an LL.B. may study the course for the first term only but preference will
be given to those candidates who wish to study the course for two terms; students will
not be allowed to join the course in the second term
Course Organiser/Teacher
Mrs. L. McAra
GERMAN PRIVATE AND COMMERCIAL LAW
The course aims to give students a basic understanding of German private law and to
enable them to carry out independent research in German law to the extent necessary for
problems in international private law or cross-border commercial negotiations. Knowledge
of German is not a prerequisite. The course will cover: Introduction to the German Legal
system in a European and comparative context. History of German law. Studying law in
Germany and the legal profession. Basic notions of property law, contract and delict.
Partnerships and Companies. Credit security and insolvency; corporate governance. Labour
law.
Pre-requisite Courses
Property Law and Contract 
Preliminary Reading
Nigel Foster: German Legal Systems and Laws, chap. 1
Assessment
By 5000 word essay (1/3) and written exam (2/3)
Quota 
This course has a quota of 15 Law students and 10 non-Law students - Total 25.
Course Organiser 
Mr. B. Schafer
Members of staff teaching on the course 
Mr. B. Schafer and Professor G. Gretton
HISTORY OF SCOTS LAW
The aim in the first term of this course is to introduce the student to the techniques of
historical scholarship and to consider in outline the development of Scots law until the
16th century. In the second term it is possible to study some areas of legal history in
greater depth. Topics considered in the past have included Celtic law, legal writers, and
areas of substantive law such as the constitution and dissolution of marriage,
landownership, succession and homicide.
Students are encouraged to study law in its wider social context and, wherever possible,
to make use of primary source material. A number of formal lecture-type sessions are
unavoidable, but the preferred teaching method is by way of informed group discussion.
Assessment
The method of assessment is by unseen examination and one class essay of about 5,000
words. Essay topics are agreed at the end of the first term for submission at the start
of the third term.
Preliminary reading
There is no set preliminary reading but a list of useful background material is available
from Mr. Sellar. Although some acquaintance with the general course of Scottish history
is an advantage it is not essential.
Course Organiser/Teacher
Dr. J.W. Cairns
HUMAN RIGHTS
This course begins with the conceptual analysis of human rights and proceeds to a
consideration of important case studies in international human rights law (a background
knowledge of public international law would be an advantage in this regard). In the
second half of the course, the principal focus is on the European Convention on Human
Rights and (to a lesser extent) protection of rights in the European Union and by other
European instruments.
Assessment
By essay (33%) and written examination (67%), with oral examinations only as deemed
necessary by the examiners.
Course Organiser
Mr. S. Tierney
Members of staff teaching the course
Mr. S. Tierney and Mr. W. Finnie 
Preliminary Reading
While preliminary reading is not essential, students might consult, for example:
F.G. Jacobs & R.C.A. White, The European Convention on Human Rights (2nd ed., 1996)
Selection criterion
Academic merit as evinced by all earlier results in the degree course, including third
year results when applicable (but with no preference as between third and fourth year
students). Performance in other courses will be given extra weight only if necessary as a
tie-breaker.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND LAW
This course has two parts. The first part is concerned with the substantive legal issues
associated with software, hardware, the computer industry and in particular the Internet.
Particular topics of current interest will be selected for in depth analysis, drawn from
areas such as e-commerce; computers and intellectual property rights (e.g. copyright on
the Web); electronic contracting and terms in software contracts; free speech on the
Internet; crime on the Internet; and privacy rights in relation to electronic
information. The need for a "law of cyberspace" will be considered. The second part of
the course deals with how computer technology can assist lawyers and judges in advising
and deciding on solutions to legal issues. Students will emerge with both theoretical
knowledge about AI and law, and the practical ability to build a legal knowledge based
expert system. A small expert system built mainly during four class hours in a specified
legal domain will be assessed as course work. Students will critically examine whether
computer programmes can successfully model legal reasoning strategies such as deduction
and analogy.
Teaching
Weekly 2 hour seminars
Assessment
Examination 60% 
Students can choose either to write a 6,000 word essay to build an expert system in an
approved legal domain with notes on the implementation methodology not exceeding 6,000
words. In either case this element is worth 40% of assessment.
Pre-requisites
Sudents taking this course must have a pass in Commercial Law Ordinary and Contract Law
Ordinary. An interest in technology/artificial intelligence is desirable but no knowledge
of computer programming is required.
Preliminary Reading
Edwards and Waelde (eds.), Law and the Internet: Regulating Cyberspace (Hart Publishing
1997)
Law and the Internet: A Framework for Electronic Commerce (Hart Publishing 2000)
Zeleznikow and Hunter, Building Intelligent Legal Information Systems (Kluwer, 1994)
Course Organiser
Ms. L. Edwards
Members of staff teaching the course
Ms. L. Edwards, Ms. C. Waelde and other members of the Law Faculty.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW
Intellectual Property is the generic term for patents, copyright, trade marks, design
rights and various other branches of law such as breach of confidence and passing off.
The subjects has always been one of intrinsic interest, and its commercial significance
has grown greatly in the last 20 years. The course will focus on UK law, but will also
deal with international and EC aspects. Emphasis is given to current issues, including
copyright in computer programs and databases, biotechnology patents, and the scope of
design protection.
Seminars
Weekly 2 hour seminars - Fridays 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Assessment
Examination 60% and Essay 40% (7,500 words)
Preliminary Reading
Phillips & Firth, Introduction to Intellectual Property, (4th edition 1999/2000)
Course Organiser
Dr. G. T. Laurie
Members of staff teaching on the course
Dr. G. T. Laurie, Mrs. C. Waelde and Professor H. MacQueen
INTERNATIONAL LAW A: The Individual and International Law
The course will cover various topics relating to the role of individuals (including
companies) in the international legal system. The principal topics will be such subjects
as: diplomatic protection of nationals abroad; international human rights law;
expropriation of property; state immunity; the foreign act of state doctrine;
extradition; international criminal law (including such subjects as war crimes, piracy,
hijacking, torture and terrorism); and international cooperation in the administration of
justice.
Assessment
One essay ( to be submitted in the second or third term), plus a written examination.
Student Selection
No particular bias in favour of fourth year students, but a student who has performed
well in one of the other honours courses in the area of international law in his or her
third year will be regarded favourably.
Course Organiser
Dr. S. Neff
Members of staff teaching the course
Dr. S. Neff , Professor W. Gilmore and Ms. S. Stirling
JURISPRUDENCE OF LEGAL CONCEPTS
Aims
To encourage students to develop a clear picture of the overall conceptual framework
within which legal activities and legal thoughts operate. To develop a critical approach
to the values which inhere in legal institutions.
Decription
The course will discuss the conceptual framework of contemporary systems of private and
public law, including general theories of rights, duties and powers. In this context
certain main institutions of law will be considered such as property, ownership and
possession; contract and promising; legal personality, delict, negligence and risk;
responsibility and punishment, evidence and procedure; citizenship; rights and right
creation. In each case there will be consideration of the extent to which particular
legal or social values are presupposed by or flow from particular institutions.
Method of Assessment
Written examination (75%) and essay (25%)
Selection of Students
This course is compulsory for certain Joint Honours students who have not taken Ordinary
Jurisprudence. They have first claim on places. Thereafter general academic merit. The
quota is 25 students.
Course Organiser
Mr. B. Schafer
JUSTICE, ETHICS AND LAW
The course is concerned with theories and problems of justice, the right and the good in
relation to law. The course will focus on the nature of moral values and their relevance
to law (whether providing an intrinsic element of law, or a critical standard for its
appraisal); theories of justice with special reference to legal problems; ethics and the
legal process.
Preliminary Reading
L. Fuller: The Morality of Law
Assessment 
By three hour examination (75%), by a course essay (25%) and oral examination. Members of
the class are expected to contribute short essays or presentations for discussion in
class sessions, but this work is not assessed towards the degree mark.
Course Organiser
Professor Z. Bankowski
Members of staff teaching on the course 
Professor Z. Bankowski, Dr. E. Christodoulidis and Mr. B. Schafer 
LABOUR LAW
The course will examine the role of the law within a historical and conceptual framework.
Consideration will be given to issues of current social and political controversy.
The topics covered in the course will include:
1. Collective Labour Relations A brief outline of labour relations in Britain and the
methods of rule making in industry with particular reference to the process of collective
bargaining between trade unions and employers. The role of the law as an instrument to
promote collective bargaining will be examined as will the effect which collective
bargaining and other techniques of rule-making have on the individual contract of
employment.
2. Industrial Action Freedom to strike and the need for legislation. The legal provisions
which seek to guarantee that freedom.
3. Trade Unions, Trade Union Members' Right and Trade Union Democracy Legal definition
and status of a trade union: political activity and its rationale. Common law and
statutory control of union rules. The application of these controls to guarantee a right
to membership of a trade union and the right of the individual member to participate in
the government and management of the union.
4. The Contract of Employment Contract as the vehicle for employment rights; sources of
terms and conditions of employment; common law rights and duties of employer and worker;
statutory regulation; variation of terms and conditions of employment; termination of the
contract; including statutory remedies in respect of unfair dismissal and redundancy.
5. Anti-discrimination legislation Discrimination in employment; Race Relations Act; Sex
Discrimination Act; Equal Pay Act.
Preliminary Reading
Davies and Freedland, Labour Legislation and Public Policy
Assessment
One essay (35%), and a written examination (65%).
Course Organiser/Teacher
Dr. D. Brodie
LAW, DEMOCRACY AND CITIZENSHIP
The aim of the course is to encourage students to think critically about the relation of
law and politics, the intersections and tensions between the two. Students are introduced
to contemporary debates about democracy and its relationship to rights, the relationship
between sovereignty and constitutionalism, the challenges to and contemporary defences of
the ideal of the Rule of Law, theories of discourse and how they tie in with law on the
one hand and the empowerment of civil society and workplace democracy on the other. The
following general themes are covered: 
(i) Law, Community and Solidarity, (ii) Law, Democracy and the Market, (iii)
Constitutionalism, Sovereignty and the EU, (iv) Law, Transition and Risk (covering
transitional justice, law and reconciliation, law and revolution) and (v) Law and
Communication: theories of discourse, political rights and the economy. 
Preliminary Reading 
Teitel: Transitional Justice
MacCormick: Constructing Legal Systems: European Union in Legal Theory
Bankowski (ed): ELJ Special Issue: Legal Theory in the EU
Unger: Democracy Realised
Christodoulidis, Law and Reflexive Politics
Selznick: Law, Democracy and Industrial conflict
Selznick: The Moral Commonwealth
Pashukanis: Law and Marxism
Hayek: Law, Legislation andLiberty
Posner: The Economic Analysis of Law
Assessment 
Students will be assessed by means of a 5,000 word essay which will count for a third of
the final mark and a three hour unseen examination which will count for two thirds of the
final mark. 
Quota 
This course has a quota of 15 Law students and 10 non-Law students - Total 25.
Course Organiser 
Dr. E. Christodoulidis
Members of staff teaching on the course 
Dr. E. Christodoulidis, Professor Z. Bankowski, Mr. B. Schafer and visitors
LEGAL PROCESS
This course examines anthropological and socio-legal approaches to legal process and
focuses on methods of dispute resolution. The first half, which is also taken by honours
students in Social Anthropology who take it as a one term course on 'Anthropology of
Law', focuses on dispute resolution in developing countries, particularly in Africa. The
second half, which is also taken by honours students in Social Policy, who take it as a
one term course on 'Law and Social Policy', focuses on the UK and the USA. Topics covered
include introductions to anthropological and socio-legal approaches to law, informal
justice, law in the colonial context, legal pluralism, the roles of race and gender in
the legal process, legal aid, courts and tribunals, redress and complaints procedures,
regulation and the role of the ECHR and other international conventions.
Teaching
One two-hour seminar per week, with presentations from students as well as contributions
from the class teachers.
Assessment
One three-hour examination (60%) and one essay (40%).
Quotas
Up to half the places in the class will be allocated to law students. In practice, we
hope to accommodate any law student who wishes to take the class. 
Course Organiser
Dr. Anne Griffiths
Course Teachers
Professor Michael Adler, Dr. Anne Griffiths and Dr. Fran Wasoff
MEDIA LAW
This course is concerned with the law relating to the arts and mass media in this
country, including the press, broadcasting, cinema, video, theatre, books and art.
Special regimes and laws affecting particular media such as cinema, video and
broadcasting are studied, along with mechanisms for quality control and accountability.
The news media are considered, and their reporting of politics and legal matters. There
is examination of the limits on the freedom of expression which are imposed by the
general law, in order to protect public interests (such as the administration of justice
or official secrecy), personal interests (such as reputation and privacy) or societal
values (such as decency and religion). The policy of the law is considered, in such
matters as the ownership and financing of the media, and the motives and means of
regulation.
[Other Honours courses which are to some extent complementary are European Community
Regulation of Culture and the Mass Media, Human Rights, Information Technology and Law
(where regulation of the internet is covered), and Intellectual Property.]
Assessment 
By essay (33%) and written examination (67%), with oral examinations only as deemed
necessary by the examiners.
Pre-requisite
A pass in Constitutional Law (Ordinary)
Course Organiser 
Professor C. R. Munro 
Members of staff teaching the course 
Professor C. R. Munro with other contributors
Preliminary Reading 
No preliminary reading is required, but interested students might consult these books,
which will be included in the recommended reading:-
G. Robertson and A. Nicol, Media Law (3rd ed., 1992); 
T. Gibbons: Regulating the Media; (2nd ed., 1998)
MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE
This course relates, in the main, to the effect of the law on medical practice. Its
essential motivation lies in an examination of the advances in medical technology which
are currently so rapid as to outstrip the existing law; as a result, the foundation of
the course lies as much in moral philosophy as in medical law. In addition, attention is
paid to the increasing recourse to medical litigation and to an analysis of its cause.
The main subjects cover the inter-relationship of ethical and legal issues in medicine.
Particular importance is attached to the concept of personhood and its significance as
regards the rights of the in vitro embryo, the fetus and the neonate. The increasing
importance of genetic research is emphasised. Controversial issues in private law that
are covered include the control of fertility and abortion and all respects of assisted
procreation; the autonomy of the patient in respect in respect of consent to or refusal
of treatment is considered throughout. Medical negligence, the allocation of resources
and the treatment of the aged receive specific attention as does mental health law in
both the civil and criminal fields. A strong comparative element, with special reference
to Commonwealth and American practice, is included.
The course is not an advanced course in forensic medicine and there is no requirement for
a pass at Ordinary level in the latter subject.
The format of the course is of twenty two-hour sessions of which the first hour generally
consists of a formal presentation and is followed by class discussion. A considerable
amount of personal reading is, however, required.
Preliminary Reading
Students will not benefit from this course unless they have an elementary knowledge of
the human anatomy and physiology - this need hardly be beyond that needed for
intermediate level human biology. A useful elementary book is:
J. K. Raeburn & H. A. Raeburn: Anatomy, Physiology and Hygiene, London: John Murray
Prescribed Text
J. K. Mason & R. A. McCall Smith: Law and Medical Ethics (1999, 5th ed.) London:
Butterworths
Other useful General Reading 
D. W. Meyers: The Human Body and the Law (1990, 2nd ed.) Edinburgh University Press
T. F. Beauchamp & J. F. Childress: Principles of Biomedical Ethics (1994, 4th ed.) Oxford
Univ. Press
M. Brazier: Medicine, Patients and the Law (1992) Harmondsworth: Penguin
J. K. Mason: Human Life and Medical Practice (1989) Edinburgh University Press
Assessment
Essay (30%) and examination without materials (70%) with oral as necessary.
Members of staff responsible for the course 
Dr. G.T. Laurie and Professor J.K. Mason 
Course Organiser
Dr. G.T. Laurie
PROPERTY LAW
This course offers the chance to study in greater detail a number of topics which were
considered more superficially during the Ordinary course in Property Law. Among the
topics which may be studied in 1999/2000 are the following: real rights; transfer of
ownership; land registration; possession; vindication; real conditions; aspects of trust
law; and aspects of succession law. The law of both moveables and immoveables is covered.
Use is made of materials from other civilian and mixed legal systems.
Teaching 
There will be one two-hour meeting each week for which students will be provided with a
list of required reading.
Assessment 
By unseen examination (67%) and by essay (33%). The topic for the essay will be made
available in November and the completed essay, of 5,000 words, must be submitted by the
end of January.
Entrance requirements
A pass in Property Law (Ordinary)
Preliminary Reading
The principal textbook for the course is K.G.C. Reid: The Law of Property in Scotland,
and some browsing there would do no harm. It would also be useful to look at E. J. Cohn
Manual of German Law (2nd. ed.) vol. I chapter 4, and C. G. van der Merwe, The Law of
Things.
Course Organiser
Professor G.L. Gretton
Members of staff teaching on the course
Professor G.L. Gretton and some guest lecturers
PUNISHMENT AND SOCIETY
The aim of this course is to examine punishment in contemporary societies. The course
examines the formal aims and objectives of modern penal systems (such as retribution,
incapacitation and reform) and also the different types of punishment in use today (such
as prisons, probation, fines, the death penalty and electronic 'tagging'). The course
studies the extent to which different punishments are used, as well as evidence as to
their effectiveness, and finishes by studying the leading sociological theories of the
relationship between punishment and society.
Preliminary Reading 
P. Young (1997): Crime and Criminal Justice in Scotland
P. Duff & N. Hutton (eds) (1999): Criminal Justice in Scotland
D. Garland (1990): Punishment and Modern Society
Assessment
By a three-hour unseen examination (75%) and a course essay (25%). Oral examinations will
be used on a selective basis. Non-law students taking the course as a one-term module
will be assessed by means of a course essay (see below). 
Quota
This course has a quota of 15 Law student and 10 non-Law students - Total 25.
Student selection
Admission to the course will depend upon past academic record. Students who are not
registered for an LL.B. should note that they may study the course for the first term
only but that preference will be given to those candidates who wish to study the course
for two terms; students will not be allowed to join the course in the second term.
Members of staff teaching on the course 
Dr. R. Jones and Mrs. L. McAra 
Course Organiser
Dr. R. Jones
TAXATION
The course is divided into two uneven parts. The first and slightly shorter part looks at
principles and practice of tax and estate planning. Building on the ordinary course, we
shall look at particular areas in which tax may help shape the transaction, but now
keeping all tax angles in mind rather than just one. In particular, we shall look at
business tax planning in selected areas, family and estate planning, and the taxation of
trusts.
The second half of the course moves away from a consideration of particular rules of UK
taxation and considers tax in a social and economic context, and from an international
perspective. What is tax trying to do? How do you identify a "good" tax system? How does
the UK system in general measure up? We shall consider these questions first
theoretically, and then through the consideration of specific issues, such as the
taxation of wealth, local authority taxation, the relationship of the tax and social
security system. There will also be an introduction to principles of international tax,
and the impact of membership of the EU on UK taxation
Entrance requirements 
A pass in Taxation and Social Security Ordinary.
Assessment 
Essay and written paper (33% and 67% respectively).
Student Selection 
Selection is made on the basis of general academic merit, except that performance in
Taxation and Social Security is used as a 'tie-breaker' where necessary when allocating
the final places.
Preparation 
Kay and King, The British Tax System (5th ed) is now ten years old but, despite showing
its age, still cannot be beaten as a basic text. Try to pick up a second hand copy. New
from OUP it is ?18.99. Any reading from this will be useful. 
Course Organiser/Teacher
Ms. S. Eden.
B) COURSES NOT ON OFFER 2000-2001
ADMINISTRATIVE LAW
This course is designed to examine the scope and functioning of administrative law within
its constitutional context; to examine the relation between law and government in
Britain; and to explore the means by which government power is exercised and the legal
methods by which it is controlled. Administrative law is a subject of growing importance
to practitioners, so the course has a practical utility, but it also involves
consideration of more theoretical issues.
A large part of the course will be concerned with study of the judicial control of
administrative action, including aspects such as , natural justice and fairness, misuse
or abuse of discretionary powers, error, exclusion of review, , and judicial review
procedures. The main emphasis is on the current law of Scotland, but English law and
European Community law will also be considered for comparative purposes, and occasionally
other systems. Another area to be considered is the liability of public authorities,
including delictual liability, statutory compensation, compensation, and the European
dimension. There will also be examination of other, non-judicial, means of supervision of
the executive and its activities, with particular reference to Ombudsman techniques.
AGRICULTURAL LAW
The primary aim of the course is to enable students to acquire a working knowledge of the
law relating to agricultural tenancies in Scotland and, in particular, to become familiar
with and gain confidence in applying, the provisions of the relevant legislation
(especially the Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Act 1991) which is both complex and
idiosyncratically drafted. More generally, the course is designed to enable students to
explore various techniques of statutory interpretation and to trace the legislative
development of, and judicial attitudes towards, particular statutory provisions over a
period of more than 110 years, during which time social and political attitudes towards
agricultural production, and the economic context in which the activity is carried on,
have changed dramatically. Aspects of the Common Agricultural Policy of the European
Union will be considered.
COMPANY LAW
The principles of company law, including the consequences of incorporation, the company's
organs and agents, the concept of capital and its maintenance, the nature and class of
company securities, the rights and obligations of shareholders (including minorities),
the powers and obligations of directors and the impact of the EC.
The course aims to give a modern treatment of company law, concentrating on those aspects
which are both intellectually difficult and of practical importance. The course also
attempts to place the legal rules in their present commercial context.
COMPARATIVE LAW
The course offers students the opportunity to study in depth the major groupings of the
world's legal systems and the connections which exist between them. The first part of the
course includes detailed study of Russian law, German law and Islamic law. The second
part focuses upon the comparative study of particular topics, the main emphasis being
upon private law.
No knowledge of a foreign language is required, but those students who have a reading
knowledge of one or more foreign languages will have access to a wider range of reference
material.
CONSTITUTIONAL LAW 
This course involves more advanced study of some aspects of the subject, for which
Constitutional Law (Ordinary) was the foundation course. A principal focus of study will
be the government of Scotland under the Scotland Act 1998. The Scottish Parliament and
Executive will be examined, as will their relationships with local government (and other
public bodies) and with E.C. institutions. There will be special emphasis on the
mechanisms for the allocation of devolved powers and, taking into account comparative
material, the adjudication of "devolution issues". Other subjects to be considered and
examined in 1999/2000 may include such topics as electoral systems and electoral law,
second chambers, and processes of legislation, with reference to Scotland, the United
Kingdom and comparative material.
CRIMINAL LAW
This course examines some of the major issues in modern criminal law. The topics are
treated under four headings: (1) the criminal act (the voluntary act required, attempts);
(2) the criminal mind (negligence, recklessness, intoxication, entrapment, error,
insanity, etc.); (3) parties to the crime (the problem of art and part guilt); (4)
selected offences (culpable homicide, murder, misuse of drugs, fraud, extortion, theft).
The approach is comparative - decisions from other jurisdiction are considered, alongside
those of the Scottish courts.
CRIMINOLOGY
This course focuses upon the nature of crime and criminality in society and the various
attempts that have been made to explain both. The first term looks at the development of
criminology by examining the main ideas and theories that have been put forward to
explain the causes of crime and criminality. The second term explores the contribution of
contemporary criminological research to an understanding of a number of areas, such as
the relationship between gender and crime, age and crime, race and crime, crime trends,
the police, crime prevention, organised crime and white collar crime.
ENVIRONMENTAL LAW
The aim of this course is to develop knowledge and understanding of the law (whether
international law, European Community Law or domestic law) relevant to the protection of
the environment at global, national and local levels. The course aims for an
understanding of environmental problems themselves, of the policy response to them, and
then of the role of the institutions and procedures of legal regulation and rules of
liability for environmental damage. In doing so, the course straddles traditional
disciplinary boundaries but also addresses issues in environmental law which are
increasingly confronted in legal practice.
The course consists of (a) a general treatment of threats to the environment and
analytical and policy responses to them; (b) national environmental law (especially
integrated pollution control, planning law and nature conservation) including, in
addition to substantive law, study of regulatory and enforcement strategies in general,
access to environmental information and environmental justice; (c) E.C. law and
institutions; (d) international environmental law.
EUROPEAN LEGAL HISTORY
This course aims to provide an historical introduction to the European Legal Tradition,
and the place of Scots law within that tradition, up to and including the twentieth
century. A seminar-type atmosphere is actively encouraged. Key components of the European
legal tradition will be studied, including the Civil law, the Canon law, Feudal law and
the English Common law. Particular aspects of doctrinal legal history will be studied
including marriage and issues in obligations.
GERMAN CONSTITUTIONAL LAW AND GOVERNMENT
This course is divided into four parts: introduction to German constitutional policy;
principles and institutions of government; impact of European policy on the constitution;
basic rights. The content of the parts may vary from one year to the next. In , coverage
of the institutions of government included Chancellor principle, role of and, Federal
Constitutional Court; coverage of the basic rights included free speech, immigration and
asylum policies and policing issues. The Basic Law (constitution), as interpreted by the
Federal Constitutional Court, is considered throughout in its political context, with the
result that political as well as legal issues are examined. .
HISTORY OF LEGAL IDEAS
This course deals with the history of philosophical and sociological ideas concerning
law. The approach will be through a careful reading of selected texts of historical
significance in the development of philosophical and/or sociological theories of law
within one or more leading traditions of thought. A distinct body of thought will be
reviewed in each of the Autumn and Spring Terms. Materials for each term will be
particularly prescribed from year to year, but may for example include:
Buchanan, Locke and Stair
Writings of the Scottish Enlightenment (Hume and Smith an their predecessors and
successors)
Ideas of law and economy in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries
The history of criminology
Formalism and rule-scepticism in Europe and America
The themes will concern eighteenth century legal thought with special regard to the
'Scottish Enlightenment'. The focus in the first term will be on ideas of law, society
and history developed during this period by Stair, Kames, Adam Smith, John Millar, Adam
Ferguson and others. Their views on the links of law and economy and 'progress' will be
particularly considered. The focus in the second term will be first on the ideas of
natural law found in the Scottish Institutional writers Stair, Erskine and Kames,
compared with Locke's ideas of natural rights, secondly on doubts about rationalist legal
and ethical thought raised by David Hume and others, and finally on ideas of justice
utility and common sense developed to deal with these doubts (Writings by Francis
Hutcheson, Hume, Adam Smith and Thomas Reid will be considered).
INTERNATIONAL LAW B: Inter-State Conflict and Dispute Settlement
The course will cover various topics relating to disputes between states. The principal
topics will be such subjects as: general principles of state responsibility; diplomatic
and institutional procedures for the settlement of disputes; arbitration; relevant
aspects of the law of treaties (such as interpretation of treaties and rules governing
breaches of treaties); the functioning of the World Court; international-law remedies;
general principles relating to the resort to war and the use of force (including
self-defence, the rescue of nationals abroad and humanitarian intervention); economic
warfare; security aspects of law of the sea; and the law relating to the conduct of
warfare and the protection of victims of war; the law of neutrality.
INTERNATIONAL LEGAL ORDER OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND WORLD ECONOMY
This is a course about regulation of the global environment and world economy by
international institutions. The first part is an overview of international law governing
international organisations in general. The second part looks at the principal
organisations which deal with the management of the global environment; topics covered
include: competence and law-making, UN law, and selected topics relating to the
atmosphere, the oceans, biological diversity, nuclear energy and liability. The third
part covers selected aspects of the management of the world economy with emphasis on the
WTO/GATT legal system. The fourth and final part examines mechanisms available for
resolving international environmental and economic disputes.
INTERNATIONAL PRIVATE LAW
This course deals with Scottish solutions to problems in the private law sphere which
have foreign links. Examples of such problems would be:
(1) A Frenchman wishes to sue a Scot in the Court of Session on a contract entered into
between them in Bonn, or in respect of a traffic accident in Paris in which they were
both involved. Questions such as the following arise:-
(a) Does the court have jurisdiction?
(b) What legal system is applicable to the dispute?
(2) Mr. Smith, divorced in Mexico, wishes to marry Miss Brown in Edinburgh. Will the
Mexican divorce be considered valid in Scotland or is Mr. Smith considered by our system
still to be married?
An attempt is made in this course to cover the general theory and major fields of this
subject in outline, and a number of specific topics are selected for treatment in depth
LAW AND EUROPEAN ECONOMIC INTEGRATION
This course examines the ways in which law has been and is being used in the European
Community to further economic integration. It studies the history, present and future of
economic integration in the Community, and of the law governing it by focusing on
selected subject areas.
THEORIES OF LAW AND SOCIETY
The course aims to give students a thorough understanding of the major social theories of
law, beginning with the classic texts of Marx, Weber and Durkheim and moving on to
consider the contributions of more recent writers and to focus on the uses and problems
of approaching law through sociological frameworks on inquiry. Topics discussed here are
among others; the relationship of Law to Risk, Law and Trust, Law and Solidarity Law and
the Persons. The overall aim is to combine an awareness of general sociological
perspectives with an attention to specific debates, taking particular areas of law and
legal development as points of reference.
Teaching takes the form of weekly two-hour discussions premised on the assumption that
students will have covered the prescribed reading. Short presentations by students may
also be required.
WELFARE LAW AND ADMINISTRATION
This course begins with a consideration of the historical emergence of the welfare state,
and identifies some common features of its development which will be looked at in more
detail in examining specific areas. There then follow three blocks of material concerned
with three "pillars" of the Welfare State in which are looked at in turn the law and
policy of the Social Security system, the National Health Service and social housing.
THE COMMON MARKING SCHEME
As of October 1996 the University has adopted a revised Common Marking Scheme. This is
not intended in any way to alter the standards demanded of work or its assessment.. As
far as Honours is concerned classification and percentages will correlate as follows:-
Mark Honours Grade
70-100 1st Class
60-69 2.1
50-59 2.2
40-49 3rd
0-39 Fail
ILL HONOURS STUDENTS
1. General
The term 'ill students' is used here, but the same rules apply to students prejudiced as
a result of accidents or other circumstances beyond their control.
It is imperative that a student obtains a medical certificate if:
(a) he/she suffers from a medical condition which affects his/her performance during the
course of the year, e.g. a broken arm, or
(b) he/she is absent through illness for more than seven consecutive days, or,
(c) he/she is ill during the examination diet
(d) illness delays the submission of a piece of written work for more than seven days
beyond the due date. For illnesses of less than seven days or similar circumstances
causing absence from class or failure in some other respect to comply with requirements
you should use an Illness Self-Certification Form (see Appendix to this Prospectus)
2. Illness during the year
Attendance at Honours classes is necessary for due performance of the work of the class.
Every effort is made by the teaching staff to assist students who are ill during the
year. In particular, staff consider sympathetically requests from such students for more
time in which to produce essays and assignments. (See the statement on the late
presentation of essays).
A student, well when he/she produces his/her examination script and other material for
assessment, may have been ill for a significant period or periods during the working
year. Here the illness has not prevented the student doing himself/herself justice at the
examination, but rather has impeded the student in his/her efforts to advance his/her
knowledge and skills in the subject during the year. The view of the Board of Honours
Examiners is that the course examiners should assess such a student as they find him/her;
it is then up to the Board to determine whether there can be positive moderation because
of an illness. Where a student's performance is just below that required for a particular
class of degree, illness has been allowed as a justification for positive moderation,
provided it has been clear from other evidence such as performance in the other Honours
year or in other Honours courses that the student's progress has been adversely affected,
to a significant extent, by illness.
Because illness can be taken into account in this way, it is important that Directors of
Studies ensure the extent and duration of illnesses of Honours students are properly
recorded and documented and that this information is made available to the Board of
Honours Examiners.
3. Illness at Examinations
Where an Honours student fails, because of illness, to write or complete a formal
examination, or to produce other material requested for Honours assessment he/she should
be invited to attend for an oral. The mark obtained for each separately assessed element,
including the oral, going to make up the final mark, and also, where possible, a
recommended final mark, should be reported by the course examiners to the Board of
Honours Examiners. The same procedure should be adopted where a student who has written
an examination companies that he/she did not do himself/herself justice because he/she
was ill at the time of the examination.
Specific provision is made in the Faculty's Honours regulations for dealing with the
problem of Honours students ill at the examination. The main provisions are to be found
in reg. 20 but reg. 17 (reversion to the Ordinary degree) is also relevant.
Regulation 20 
Final-year students
Where a final year student has provided some, but not all, of the material required for
assessment and provides evidence that this was by reason of "illness, accident or other
circumstances beyond his or her control", "the Board of Examiners shall investigate the
case and where possible arrange for the candidate to be interviewed. On the basis of the
information available to them, including evidence of the candidate's academic performance
during his course the Board shall either recommend the award of a classed Honours degree,
or report to the Dean of the Faculty that they have insufficient evidence to enable them
to make such a recommendation".
The interview should normally be conducted by the student's Director of Studies and the
Convenor of the Honours Board of Examiners.
Where the student has provided none of the material for assessment, i.e. technically,
"has taken no part of the examination", the Board of Examiners shall bring the case to
the attention of the Dean of the Faculty".
In either set of circumstances in which a case is brought to the attention of the Dean,
he or she shall report to the Principal and Deans' Committee which, after such
consultation as it thinks fit, shall recommend either (i) that the candidate be awarded
an aegrotat degree, or (ii) that he or she be required to take the examination papers at
the next diet either after repeating some or all of the coursework or without repeating
any of the coursework, or (iii) in cases involving exceptional hardship, and where the
Head of Department or Heads of Departments involved are prepared so to recommend, that
the candidate be permitted to take specially prepared examination papers at the September
diet immediately following the summer diet which the candidate was unable to attend or
complete." 
Third-year students
In the case where such a student does not provide all or some of the material required
for assessment, and satisfactory evidence is produced that this was for reasons of
illness, accident or other circumstances beyond his or her control, the Board of
Examiners shall investigate the case and shall report to the Faculty recommending such
concession as it deems appropriate. If no concession is recommended (or if Faculty or the
Senatus does not approve such a concession) the candidate shall be required to repeat the
course to which the written examination papers relate, and to submit himself or herself
to examination in that course in the following year or to present himself or herself for
the written examination papers in the course in the following year without having to
repeat the course.
Regulation 17
A student in either year of Honours study may, in certain circumstances, be allowed to
transfer to the LL.B. (Ordinary) degree and count work done and exams taken in Honours
towards an Ordinary degree.
ORAL EXAMINATIONS IN HONOURS CLASSES
I. In any Honours course in which the mode of written examination comprises or includes
an unseen examination, counting for 50% or more of the final mark, the examiners are free
to adopt a policy of selective orals. Where, for example, a candidate's examination paper
and essay(s) give rise to no difficulties of assessment about the level of a candidate'
work, the examiners may decide to dispense with an oral examination. But the examiners in
these subjects will continue to hold oral examinations for candidates whose work is of a
borderline quality or outstandingly good or bad, or, generally, if there are doubts of
any kind which an oral might help to resolve. In subjects in which a policy of selective
orals is adopted, it will obviously not be possible for the examiners to make the usual
arrangements for publishing in advance the detailed timetable of oral examinations. The
examiners in each subject will however announce in advance the date on which orals in
that subject are to be held and will arrange to publish, as early as possible in the
Department concerned, a list of those candidates whom they wish to oral. The names on
this list will normally be determined after consultation between the internal and
external examiners.
II. The primary function of an oral is to enable the examiners finally to resolve any
doubts concerning the merits of the candidate's work in written parts of the examination,
and to assess the general quality of his knowledge and understanding of the subject of
the examination.
III. In any case in which the mode of written examination comprises or includes an unseen
examination, counting for 50% or more of the final mark, the scope of the questions which
may be raised in an oral examination shall be;
(a) the whole range of the subjects covered within the course under examination.
OR, if the person in charge of the course expressly so announces to the members of the
class in question, one or other of:
(b) the range of topics covered by the questions in the examination paper or papers set
for the examination (including, where appropriate, any questions set for prepared essays
to be submitted as part of the final examination), or
(c) matters arising from the scripts or scripts, and any essay or essays, submitted by
the candidate in the examination.
IV. In any case in which the mode of written examination comprises solely or mainly the
presentation of prepared written essays, it is an important function of the oral
examination to test, in a searching way, the candidate's understanding and knowledge of
parts of the subject matter of the courses not covered in such essays; and also, in any
case of doubt, to enable the examiners to satisfy themselves of the originality of the
essay or essays presented.
V. The performance of the candidate in an oral examination may be held to affect the
assessment made on the basis of the written examination positively or adversely.
APPEALS AGAINST MARKS OR CLASSIFICATION OF DEGREES
This is governed by Reg. 12 of the University Degree Examination Regulations.
12.1 A candidate may appeal against a decision of a Board of Examiners: (a) on the
grounds of substantial information which for good reason was not available to the
examiners when their decision was taken, or (b) on the grounds of alleged improper
conduct of an examination. For this purpose 'conduct of an examination' includes conduct
of a meeting of the Board of Examiners. Any appeal must be submitted in writing to the
Secretary to the University as soon as possible; only in exceptional circumstances may an
appeal be considered more than three months after the results of an examination have been
available to the appellant.
12.2 The Secretary to the University and two Deans (who must not include the Dean of the
Faculty concerned) are empowered as a sub-committee to decide whether or not a prima
facie case of appeal is established to be heard by the full Principal and Deans'
Committee on behalf of the Senatus. The Committee is required to report to the Senatus
biennially indicating the number of appeals heard by the Committee, the number rejected
by the sub-committee, and the grounds for rejection.
12.3 If the appeal is heard by the Principal and Deans' Committee the appellant will be
given reasonable notice of the date of the hearing and will be entiteld to attend; the
appellant may present his or her case in person or may nominate another person to do so
on his or her behalf. On hearing the appeal, the Committee has power either to vary the
original decision of the Board or to confirm it. Each such action of the Committee must
be reported to the Senatus.
Note that appeals are against procedural failings. They are not a "remarking" of
students' work. 
RULES ON ASSESSED ESSAYS - DATES FOR PRESENTATION
1. Where prepared work is to be presented for assessment for the degree of LL.B. with
Honours, the person in charge of the course ought, no later than the date of issuing of
the topic, to give the class notice of the date on which the work is due to be presented.
There is and should be no requirement of a common date for different subjects.
2. (i) If the Examiner is satisfied that a student has been for some good reason unable
to present work on or before the due date, and especially if he or she has given advance
notice of this to the Examiner, the Examiner ought to receive the work for marking and to
mark it, without regard to the lateness of delivery. Any case of doubt of difficulty
ought to be reported to the Chairman, who should in due course draw such cases to the
Board.
(ii) If the work is presented late, in circumstances in which the Examiner believes there
was no adequate justification or excuse for the lateness, the Examiner should
nevertheless receive the work for marking, but report the facts and circumstances to the
Chairman of the Board, who should draw the matter to the attention of the Board of
Examiners in due course, having previously given the candidate an opportunity to state
his/her reason for late presentation. The Board takes late submission very seriously and
has power to discount in whole or in part the marks obtained from any such essay with
possible adverse consequences to the students involved.
3. Notwithstanding paragraph 2 above, prepared work shall not be received for examination
or for marking in the following cases:
(i) where the assessed word is cumulative with an unseen written examination, and where
prepared work is offered for assessment later that the commencement of the written
examination, or first relevant written examination in the subject in question; and
(ii) where prepared written work together with an oral examination forms the sole basis
of assessment, and where a piece of work is offered after the due date, on a date later
than three weeks prior to the date of oral examination in the subject in question.
4. Examiners should not, in marking work, give any weight to lateness of presentation.
The Board of Honours Examiners in awarding a class of Honours may as it sees fit take
account of lateness of presentation or work in those cases reported to it under paragraph
2 above.
5. In cases where written work has not been presented at all, or has been rejected under
paragraph 4 above, the Examiners ought to proceed on the footing appropriate to total or
partial failure to complete a written examination: in particular, they should not exclude
such a candidate from oral examination in the subject, and should make such report to the
Board of Examiners as is possible in the light of the oral examination alone, or oral
examination plus a partial performance of written work.
(Resolution by Board of Honours Examiners in Law, 4.2.81)
THE USE OF UNACKNOWLEDGED QUOTATIONS
Candidates are reminded that prepared work (essays etc. ) submitted for assessment as
part of the Honours degree examination must be their own. While such work may properly
contain quotations from, references to and summaries or descriptions of relevant
publications, any such quotations should be clearly marked and their source clearly
indicated. Summaries or descriptions should be acknowledged appropriately.
All cases of contravention will be brought specifically before the Board of Examiners,
where appropriate action will be taken.
The Senatus approved the following regulation on plagiarism:
"The University's degrees and other academic awards are given in recognition of the
candidate's personal achievement. Plagiarism (that is to say the action of including,
without adequate acknowledgment, the work of another in one's own work as if it were
one's own) could, therefore, be considered as academically fraudulent, and as an offence
against University discipline. The University may invoke the following sanctions in cases
where a candidate uses the work of another person or persons in this way;
(i) the relevant Board of Examiners may, in assessing any piece of work that makes
inadequately acknowledged use of another person's work, penalize that piece of work
accordingly;
(ii) recourse may be had to action under the Code of Discipline, where there is a prima
facie evidence of an intention to deceive, and where sanctions beyond those in (i) above
might be invoked".
NOTIFICATION OF HONOURS RESULTS
With effect from June 1999 a new system for providing information on Honours examination
performance will operate:-
THIRD YEAR
Students will be issued with a transcript of their honours results. Information will be
available as soon as practical after the results are known. This information will only be
provided in writing to the student's home address unless the student advises otherwise. 
FOURTH YEAR
Students will be issued with an overall transcript of their honours results. Information
will be available as soon as practical after the results are known. This information will
only be provided in writing to the student's home address unless the student advises
otherwise. 
Directors of Studies will advise directees by appointment only. 
Appendix
FACULTY OF LAW
LL.B./LL.M./M.Sc.
ILLNESS SELF-CERTIFICATION FORM
Note: Due to the acknowledged difficulty of obtaining medical certification of an illness
of less than 7 days duration, this form allows you to claim illness as justification for
short absences from classes or delays in presenting or inability to present work due.
For any other purpose or for an absence or delay of 7 or more days you should obtain a
medical certificate. You will be issued with four of these forms at the beginning of the
year. Additional forms may be obtained from the Faculty Office.
Student's Name 
Course(s) from Which Absent/Coursework Delayed
Date(s) of Absence/Delay 
I Hereby Certify that my absence was due to
.................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................
Signed ............................................. Date
....................................................
This form should be returned to the Faculty Office which will inform the Department(s)
concerned and your Director of Studies.
ADDENDUM
UNJUSTIFIED ENRICHMENT 
(Thursdays 11-1)
This course examines the law on unjustified enrichment, the third main source of
obligations ranking alongside contract (voluntary obligations) and delict. It will entail
primarily consideration of the scope and taxonomy of this fast developing branch of
Scottish private law and of the principles governing its main categories. These include
obligations redressing enrichment by transfer, performance or payment ( made for example
under error or improper compulsion or illegal act or a "failed" contract); enrichment by
the act of the enriched party interfering with the claimant's patrimonial rights;
enrichment by improving another's property or paying another's debt; defences; the
measure of recovery; and third party enrichment involving enrichment "chains" or
"triangles"(eg payment to the wrong person; or under indirect enrichment from a
transaction between two others). There may also be brief consideration of the interface
between enrichment law and property law (including constructive trusts and tracing) and
of (unauthorised administration of another's estate). A subsidiary aim is to show how
doctrinal history and comparative law can aid understanding of modern doctrine.
The format of the course is 18 two-hour sessions.
Assessment
By essay (40%), seen problem (20%) and written examination (40%), with orals as
necessary.
Member of staff responsible for course
Visiting Professor N.R. Whitty.
Preliminary reading
No preliminary reading is necessary but interested students might consult : A Forte et
al, (10th edn; 1994), chapter 29 (by Lord Rodger); R Evans-Jones and P Hellwege, Some
Observations on the Taxonomy of Unjustified Enrichment in Scots Law (1998) 2 180; R
Zimmermann, Unjustified Enrichment: The Modern Civilian Approach (1995) 15 403.
ADDENDUM 2
HONOURS COURSES OFFERED 2000/2001
CONSTITUTIONAL LAW (Fridays 11-1)
This course involves more advanced study of some aspects of the subject, for which
Constitutional Law (Ordinary) was the foundation course. A principal focus of study will
be the new developments in the government of Scotland under the Scotland Act 1998. The
Scottish Parliament and Executive will be examined, as will their relationships with
other bodies. There will be special emphasis on the mechanisms for the allocation of
devolved powers and, taking into account comparative material, the adjudication of
"devolution issues" with use of comparative material. Other subjects to be considered and
examined in 2000/01 will include such topics as electoral systems and electoral law, and
processes of legislation, with reference to Scotland, the United Kingdom and comparative
material.
Assessment
By essay (40%) and written examination (60%), with oral examinations only as deemed
necessary by the examiners.
Course Organiser
Professor C.R. Munro
Members of staff teaching the course
Mr. W. Finnie, Professor C.M.G. Himsworth and Professor C.R. Munro 
Preliminary reading 
Much of the reading prescribed for Constitutional Law (Ordinary) remains relevant, and of
the following books might usefully be read as an introduction:-
Himsworth and Munro, The Scotland Act 1998 (1999 or (2nd edition) 2000)
Hazell (ed.) Constitutional Futures (1999)
Blackburn and Plant (eds.) Constitutional Reform (1999)
Turpin, British Government and the Constitution (4th ed., 1999)
Selection criterion
Academic merit as evinced by all earlier results in the degree course, including third
year results when applicable (but with no preference as between third and fourth year
students). 
CRIMINAL LAW (Fridays 9-11)
This course examines some of the major issues in modern criminal law. The topics are
treated under four headings: (1) the criminal act (the voluntary act required, attempts);
(2) the criminal mind (negligence, recklessness, intoxication, entrapment, error,
insanity, etc.); (3) parties to the crime (the problem of art and part guilt); (4)
selected offences (culpable homicide, murder, misuse of drugs, fraud, extortion, theft).
The approach is comparative - decisions from other jurisdiction are considered, alongside
those of the Scottish courts.
Pre-requisite course
Criminal law (ordinary)
Assessment
Essay (30%); written examination (70%)
Selection of Students
Selection is on the basis of academic merit.
Preliminary Reading
It is assumed that students will be familiar with the material covered in the ordinary
course, the textbook for which is McCall Smith and Sheldon, Scots Criminal Law. The
reading for the honours course is mostly taken from journals. Those wishing to undertake
preliminary reading may find it useful to look at Joel Feinberg's four-volume work, The
Moral Limits of the Criminal Law (Harmless Wrongdoing, Harm to Self, Harm to Others and
Offence to Others).
Course Organiser/Teacher
Dr. Victor Tadros
ENVIRONMENTAL LAW (Fridays 9-11)
The aim of this course is to develop knowledge and understanding of the law (whether
international law, European Community Law or domestic law) relevant to the protection of
the environment at global, national and local levels. The course aims for an
understanding of environmental problems themselves, of the policy response to them, and
then of the role of the institutions and procedures of legal regulation and rules of
liability for environmental damage. In doing so, the course straddles traditional
disciplinary boundaries but also addresses issues in environmental law which are
increasingly confronted in legal practice.
The course consists of (a) a general treatment of threats to the environment and
analytical and policy responses to them; (b) national environmental law (especially
integrated pollution control, planning law and nature conservation) including, in
addition to substantive law, study of regulatory and enforcement strategies in general,
access to environmental information and environmental justice; (c) E.C. law and
institutions; (d) international environmental law.
Assessment
By written examination (50%), essay (35%) and project (15%), with oral examinations only
as deemed necessary by the examiners.
Course Organiser
Professor C. M. G. Himsworth
Members of staff teaching the course
Professor C. M. G. Himsworth with other contributors including Ms. A. Loux and 
Professor J. Usher.
Preliminary reading
There is a growing literature. For short recent texts, see 
C. T. Reid (ed.), Environmental Law in Scotland (2nd ed., 1997) and
S. Ball and S. Bell, Environmental Law (4th ed., 1997).
On the global problem, see
Our Common Future (by the World Commission on Environmental and Development, 1987). The
UK Government's environmental strategy was set out in This Common Inheritance: Britain's
Environmental Strategy (Cm 1200, 1990)
Selection criterion
Academic merit as evinced by all earlier results in the degree course, including third
year results when applicable (but with no preference as between third and fourth year
students).
REVISED HONOURS TIMETABLE 2000/2001
9 - 11 11 - 1 2 - 4 4 - 6
MON Evidence Ord 10 ECL Ordinary 11 
German Private and
Commercial Law
European Community Regulation of Culture and the Mass Media 
Comparative Criminal Procedure Information Technology and Law 
History of Scots Law
Jurisprudence of Legal Concepts Medical Jurisprudence 
TUE E.C. Substantive Law
Civil Law 
French Law International Law A Law, Democracy and Citizenship
Media Law Legal Process
Taxation Human Rights
WED ECL Ord 9 Evidence Ord 10 
Gender and Justice Competition Law
Family Law 
THU Evidence Ord 10 ECL Ord 11 
Commercial Law 
European Institutions 
Punishment and Society 
Labour Law
Contract
Unjustified Enrichment
Delict 
FRI 
Criminal Law 
Intellectual Property
Environmental Law Justice, Ethics and Law
Property Law 
Constitutional Law 
PROSPECTUS OF HONOURS COURSES
2000/2001
This document contains information on all Honours courses on offer next year together
with important information about admission to Honours and assessment in Honours courses.
Please retain it for reference throughout the session.
Douglas Brodie,
Associate Dean.
ADMISSION AND APPLICATION PROCEDURE 2
LIST OF COURSES ON OFFER AND NOT ON OFFER IN 2000/2001 4
COURSE ENTRIES
A) COURSES ON OFFER 2000/2001 5 - 23
B) COURSES NOT ON OFFER 2000/2001 25 - 28
HONOURS TIMETABLE 24
INFORMATION FOR HONOURS STUDENTS 29 - 35
The Common Marking Scheme
Ill Honours Students
Oral Examinations
Appeals Against Marks or Classification of Degrees
Statement about late presentation of Essays
Quotations
Notification of Honours Results
Appendix - Specimen Illness Self-Certification Form
N.B. ALL HONOURS STUDENTS MUST BE IN RESIDENCE AND AVAILABLE TO SEE THEIR DIRECTOR OF
STUDIES BY THURSDAY 5TH OCTOBER 2000.
PLAGIARISM
Plagiarism is the appropriation without attribution of another person's thoughts or
words. As a denial of that independence of thought which it is the aim of higher
education to inculcate it is naturally a grave offence against University discipline. At
best, the work in which it features is unlikely to contribute any marks to assessment; at
worst it could merit expulsion from the University. See the fuller statement on the
inside back page.
RULES GOVERNING ADMISSION TO HONOURS 
AND TO INDIVIDUAL COURSES
1. With effect from session 1998-99 Faculty has altered the rules governing admission to
Honours. The new rule is that all students who apply for admission to Honours will be
admitted if they:
(a) have completed two years of study towards graduation, or, in the case of graduates,
have completed one year of study within the Faculty; and
(b) by the end of the September diet of examination they have failed to pass not more
than one of the courses (whether a half or a whole course) prescribed for their study in
their years or, as the case may be, year in the Faculty.
2. Students who are not admitted to Honours may appeal if there has been a procedural
irregularity. Students who wish to appeal should discuss the matter as soon as possible
with their Director of Studies and give notice of appeal to the Faculty Officer no later
than five days before commencement of the Autumn Term.
3. Application for admission to Honours is made on a form available in the Faculty
Office. Applications should be made by the end of July in the year of study in which
admission is sought. On the same form students are asked to choose the Honours courses
they wish to take. This choice may only be altered by notification to the Faculty Office
in writing.
4. In August those who are refused entry to Honours will be advised of the fact. Their
cases will automatically be reconsidered following the resit diet of examinations. If
they are admitted, only then will their application for entry to particular courses be
considered.
5. Candidates entering the final year of Honours may apply for admission to Honours
courses on forms available in the Faculty Office from the beginning of May. These
applications must be submitted by Friday, 28th July and the choice then made can only be
altered by notifying the Faculty Office in writing.
6. Where applications for a course exceed its quota, selection will be made on the
grounds of general academic merit with any special criteria noted in the individual
course entry. 
7. Points are awarded for each degree course passed, whether by examination or exemption.
No points are awarded for a pass obtained other than in a first diet of examination
(Summer diet) unless the applicant had good reason to sit an examination in the Autumn
diet. Previous failure in the course or disinclination to take an examination will not be
considered good reason, but illness or extenuating circumstances will be so considered.
If you are thinking of adopting this course talk to your Director of Studies in advance.
Resitting exams to improve the grade is not permitted. Each pass is awarded points on the
following scale:
A grade 4 points
B grade 3 points
C grade 2 points
D grade 1 point
A half course is awarded half the number of points stated above. (An A grade pass in a
half course would therefore attract 2 points, for example). 
Information on grades is available from Directors of Studies.
APPLICATION FOR AND ALLOCATION OF PLACES IN PARTICULAR COURSES
Once all forms have been received indicating course choice, the Faculty Office makes a
list for each course indicating all the students who have put that course as one of their
first choice courses. If the total number of students wishing to take the course as a
first choice is less than the quota for that course, all those students are given a
place. If the total is more, the students are selected up to the quota in order of
academic merit. 
Those students who have not been successful are then entered into their reserve courses,
if there are still spaces left. If there are spaces, but the number of students exceed
the spaces, again selection is made on the basis of academic merit. It is possible that
some students will not have gained entry into a sufficient number of their first choice
and reserve courses, in which case they will then receive a letter from Faculty Office
indicating what courses still have places available and asking the student to make a
choice from these. Students who are admitted to Honours only after resits in October will
miss out on this first round of allocation of places.
. In the past, courses which have been regularly oversubscribed include: Commercial Law,
Company Law, Criminal Law, Criminology, Information Technology and Law, Intellectual
Property, Media Law, Medical Jurisprudence, Property Law, Taxation. Courses which are
generally round about quota are: Comparative Criminal Procedure, Contract, Constitutional
Law, Delict, International Private Law, International Law.
Also, . If the entry for a particular course says that performance in a particular
Ordinary course will be looked at in selecting Honours students and your performance in
that Ordinary course was not good it is pointless to apply for it. Likewise, if your
overall performance in your first two years is not very good, remember that by putting as
first choice one of the most popular courses (probably in vain) you may miss out
completely on second preference courses to friends who took a more realistic estimate of
their chances of selection.
EXEMPTION FROM THE COMMON PROFESSIONAL EXAMINATION (CPE)
The Law Society of England and Wales have agreed that those students from Edinburgh who
have studied Contract, Commercial, Delict, Constitutional and European Community Law (all
Ordinary) together with Delict Honours will be exempt from two out of the eight
examinable subjects of the CPE including the "other area of Legal Study". Accordingly,
those students who are contemplating entering the solicitors' branch of the legal
profession in England should seek entry to Delict Honours.
It is unlikely that the Council of Legal Education, which governs admission to the
English Bar, will recognise our courses.
COURSES OFFERED IN 2000-2001 QUOTA
Civil Law 25
Commercial Law 25
Comparative Criminal Procedure 25
Contract 25
Competition Law 25
Delict 25
EC Substantive Law 25
European Community Regulation of
Culture and the Mass Media 25
20 (plus 10 non-law)
European Institutions 20 (plus around 20 non-law)
Family Law 25
French Law
Gender and Justice
German Private and Commercial Law
History of Scots Law
Human Rights
Information Technology and Law
Intellectual Property
International Law A
Jurisprudence of Legal Concepts
Justice, Ethics and Law
Labour Law 25
20 (plus 10 non-law)
25
25
25 
25 
25
25
20 (plus 10 non-law) 
20 (plus 10 non-law)
25
Legal Process
Law, Democracy and Citizenship
Media Law
Medical Jurisprudence
Property Law
Punishment and Society
Taxation
15 (plus 10 non-law)
20 (plus 10 non-law)
25
25
25
20 (plus 10 non-law)
25
COURSES NOT AVAILABLE IN 2000-2001
Administrative Law
Agricultural Law
Company Law
Comparative Law
Constitutional Law
Criminal Law
Criminology
Environmental Law
European Legal History
German Constitutional Law and Government
History of Legal Ideas
International Law B
International Legal Order of the Environment and World Economy
International Private Law
Law and European Economic Integration
Theories of Law and Society
Welfare Law and Administration
COURSE ENTRIES
A) COURSES ON OFFER IN 2000-2001
CIVIL LAW
The course is divided into one major and two minor units. The major unit (ten two-hour
seminars) will be The Roman Law of Damage to Property, based on the Digest title 9.2. (on
the Lex Aquilia). The minor units (five two-hour seminars each) will be Law Making in the
Later Roman Republic and Early Roman Law. These two units will be linked by focusing to a
certain extent on the development of the law on debt.
Recommended advance reading:
O.F. Robinson: The Sources of Roman Law (1997)
B. Nicholas: An Introduction to Roman Law (1962) 
Assessment will be by two essays each of about 5,000 words and an oral exam. One essay
must be based on the work of the major unit, the other on one of the minor units. Each
counts for 50%.
Further details, including a list of the topics to be covered in each seminar, are
available from the department, as also advice as to the need for Latin. Many people have
successfully taken the course with very little or no Latin. Nor is it necessary to have
taken Civil Law Ordinary. Anyone, who has doubts on this score, or on any other, should
come along and talk them over.
Course Organiser/Teacher
Mr. G. McLeod.
COMMERCIAL LAW
In this course, we analyse, in depth, selected topics in commercial law. Topics may
include securities for advances, personal and corporate insolvency, ranking, loans,
banking, guarantees, performance bonds and partnership. Selected aspects of company law
may also be considered. Where appropriate, the international aspects of commercial law
will be referred to.
Teaching 
One two-hour meeting each week, in the form of a seminar. A worksheet is issued the week
before each meeting, containing reading references and questions for consideration.
Assessment 
Examination 60% and essay 40%.
Requirements 
Pass in Commercial Law Ordinary
The course presupposes a sound understanding of property law and contract law.
Reading
There is no textbook for the course. Useful background reading: 
Professor Wilson's Debt; 
R. M. Goode's Commercial Law (1995) 2nd edn.
Michael Brett's How to Read the Financial Pages.
Course Organiser/Teacher 
Professor W. McBryde
COMPARATIVE CRIMINAL PROCEDURE
Comparative criminal procedure will examine the situation of an accused person from the
moment of arrest until sentence and the whole process of the state's dealing with an
accused. This course will mainly concentrate on the Scottish, English and French criminal
systems.
No knowledge of a foreign language is required, but those students who have a reading
knowledge of French will have access to a wider range of reference material.
Guest speakers, video films, visit to institutions (police station, prison, crown office
etc.) will illustrate the theory with the practice.
Topics will be drawn from the following:
(a) Aims of the criminal process
(b) Police powers/the rights of the accused (right to silence, access to lawyer....)
(c) Prosecution: decision to prosecute, criteria, relation with the police
(d) Investigation
(e) Evidence
(f) The legal profession (the judiciary and the defence lawyer)
(g) The trial
(h) Sentencing: aims and objectives, sentencing powers
(i) The criminal process and human rights
(j) Justice and media
Seminars
There will be one two-hour seminar each week. 
Assessment
By mean of an essay (counting 1/3) and a three-hour written examination (counting for
2/3).
Preliminary Reading
M. Zander, Cases and Materials on the English Legal System (1999)
A. Stewart, The Scottish Criminal Courts in Action (1997) 
J. Hatchard, B. Huber, R. Vogler, Comparative Criminal Procedure (1996)
Course Organiser/Teacher
Maitre J. Godard
COMPETITION LAW
The purpose of the course is to develop an understanding of the rationale behind
competition (or 'antitrust') regulation in a free market economy, primarily the rules
governing competition law in the European Community and the United Kingdom. It will
therefore consider cartels and other contractual restraints, monopolies, oligopolies and
mergers, and the administrative and civil enforcement of the rules. The Community rules
have applied since 1962 and constitute the bulk of our present understanding of the
discipline; substantive British rules (closely mimicking the Community rules) came into
force only in March 2000, which is why the course is offered for the first time in Autumn
2000. The opportunity exists for consideration of the development of a new body of law in
its early (faltering?) stages. Throughout there will be comparative consideration of the
Community and the British rules; there will also be occasional reference to the
comparable principles to be found in American and German law.
Most of the reading will be of primary legislation and case law. There will be some
consideration of economics in the course but none which requires more than reasonable
common sense.
Prerequisites
A pass in Contract (Ordinary); a pass in European Community law (Ordinary) concurrent
matriculation in that course
Suggested Reading
D. Swann, The Economics of the Common Market (most recent edition)
Assessment
One essay (30%) and one written examination (70%)
Course Organiser/Teacher
Dr. R. Lane
N.B. A student who completed the course in EC Substantive Law (Honours) prior to Autumn
2000 will not be admitted to Competition Law
CONTRACT
At least since 1681, when Viscount Stair published his Institutions, Scotland has had a
general law of contract. The course will examine this general law from a number of angles
to see how the different principles interrelate and are applied in practice.
Topics will be drawn from the following:
(a) Obligations: the place of contract in the law of obligations; its relationship with
delict and unjustified enrichment; the function of promise; third party rights.
(b) Formation: Offer and acceptance; intention to create legal relations; certainty;
formalities; unilateral obligations.
(c) Grounds of Challenge: error and misrepresentation; force and fear; undue influence of
bargaining power; unlawfulness.
(d) Contractual Terms: express and implied terms; interpretation; the effect of
particular terms (restrictive covenants, retention clauses, arbitration clauses, penalty
clauses, exclusion and limitation clauses).; mutuality of terms.
(e) Breach of Contract: recission and repudiation; non-judicial remedies; specific
implement and interdict; damages.
(f) Termination: payment and performance; prescription; frustration.
In discussing the substantive law, two general themes will predominate. First, how far
has the general law been croded by the incursion of delict and the growth of detailed
rules for individual contracts, and to what extent is a developing law of unjustified
enrichment providing solutions to problems previously regarded as contractual? Secondly,
to what extent has judicial intervention in reforming the terms the parties themselves
have entered into diluted the principle of freedom of contract? At various points, recent
initiatives on uniform principles of European contract law will also be discussed.
Seminars
There will be one two-hour seminar each week. Students are expected to contribute to
group discussion.
Assessment 
(a) Examination. 60% (including compulsory 'seen' problem)
(b) Essay. 40%
Student Selection 
Selection is made on the basis of general academic merit except that performance in
Contract Ordinary is used as a 'tie-breaker' where necessary when allocating the final
places.
Preliminary Reading
MacQueen & Thomson, Contract (2000) and Gilmore: The Death of Contract (1974)
Pre-requisite course
Contract (? course)
Course Organiser/Teacher
Mr. M. Hogg
DELICT
Rather more than half the course will explore the major concepts of the law of negligence
such as fault, duty, causation and remoteness. The objects in this part is to go behind
material already encountered in the Ordinary course. It seeks to analyse what the
concepts mean, their relationship to each other and their implications for the developing
law. Topics include, for example, pure economic loss and the role of statutes in the Law
of Delict. Negligence law is at present in a state of continuous change and is giving
rise to a large quantity of new case law, ideas and academic literature, which are
studied in the course.
Pre-requisite course 
Delict (? course)
Textbook
Fleming: Law of Torts {9th ed.)
Assessment
Essay (1/3); Exam (2/3)
Preliminary Reading
P.S. Atiyah: The Damages Lottery
Course Organiser
Dr. D. Brodie
Members of staff teaching on the course
Dr. D. Brodie and Mr. M. Hogg
EC SUBSTANTIVE LAW
The aim of this course is to develop knowledge and understanding of the legal issues
arising from the concept of the single internal market of the European Community and
related policy issues. 
The Autumn term is concerned essentially with economic activity: the Community as an
actor in international trade, the internal movement of goods, monetary movements and the
development of EMU. The Spring term is concerned more with the human element of the
single market, in areas such as freedom to provide services, free movement of the
employed and the self-employed, recognition of qualifications, citizenship and gender
discrimination. The course will also look briefly at the CAP as an example of sectoral
policy.
Prerequisite
A pass in European Community Law (Ordinary)
Suggested Reading
Green, Hartley and Usher: The Legal Foundations of the Single European Market (OUP 1991)
- 
now rather out-of-date, but useful background 
Weatherill and Beaumont: EC Law (3rd ed. 1999) 
Craig and De Burca: EU Law - Text, Cases and Materials (2nd ed. 1998)
Assessment
One essay (30% of grade); one written examination (70% of grade).
Course Organiser
Professor J.A. Usher
Staff Teaching the course
Professor J. Usher, Dr. N. Nic Shuibhne and Dr. R. Lane 
EUROPEAN COMMUNITY REGULATION OF CULTURE AND THE MASS MEDIA
This course will explore European Community law's impact on the cultural life of the
Member States. Itaims to develop an understanding of: (a) the legal basis for European
Community involvement in thecultural domain, focussing, in particular, on the impact of
the Treaty articles relating to the Internal Market and competition on key cultural
activities suchas sport and television broadcasting; (b) the various regulatory options,
ranging from harmonisation to financial assistance, open to the European Community when
intervening in the cultural field; and (c) therespective roles of the Member States, the
European Community and other international organisations such as the Council of Europe
when addressing cultural issues. The course examines whether the application of European
Community law has led to greater cultural diversity within the Member States as well as
whether it is encouraging the development of a new and distinct sense of European
identity. Special attention will be given to initiatives in education and to European
citizenship.
Prerequisite Courses
A pass in European Community Law (Ordinary) or a comparable course in European Community
law.
Assessment 
One essay (30% of total); one written examination (70% of total).
Course Organiser
Dr. R. Craufurd Smith
EUROPEAN INSTITUTIONS
The consititutions and methods of operation of contemporary European institutions,
particularly the European Union. The principles and operation of the Treaty of Rome; the
Single European Act; the Treaty on European Union. The pillar structure of the Treaty on
European Union; the European Communities pillar; Common Foreign and Security Policy;
Justice and Home Affairs. The theory and practice of European political, economic and
legal integration The policies of the European Union. The European Union in the global
context. The role of the institutions of the European Union; the European Commission; the
Council of the European Union; the European Parliament; the European Court of Justice.
The course will throughout be concerned with examining the progress towards economic and
political integration in Europe. Current topics will be considered, inter alia,
enlargement, montery union, Treaty reform. The course is explicitly inter-disciplinary in
nature.
Books
Dinan, D.: An Ever Closer Union (MacMillan, 1995)
Lodge, J.: The European Community and the Challenge of the Future (3rd Edition, Pinter)
Assessment
One essay (30% of total); written examination (70% of total)
Course Organiser/Teacher
Mr. A. Scott
FAMILY LAW
This course covers the law relating to 'family relationships', in the broadest sense, and
the resulting effects on individuals inter se and in society. In the first term, the law
relating to husband and wife and to cohabitation will be considered. In the second term,
the law relating to the child within the family and state intervention in respect of
children will be considered. For each meeting of the class, students are expected to read
the prescribed materials (often quite substantial) - books, articles, statutes, cases and
law reform reports. This preparation will provide the background for a discussion of the
selected topic. This course should be avoided by students who are not willing both to
prepare the materials and to participate in discussion.
Pre-requisite course
Family Law (? course)
Assessment
10,000 Essay (50%), Unseen Examination (50%)
Student Selection
General academic merit with a preference for students who have a merit in Family Law
(Ordinary)
Preliminary reading
Donzelot, The Policy of Families
Glendon, The New Family and the New Property
Gittnes, The Family in Question
Course Organiser/Teacher
Dr. A. Griffiths
FRENCH LAW
French Law provides students with an understanding of the logic of French law, a working
knowledge of its sources and an ability to provide solutions to practical cases.
The course is divided into two parts
-  A general introduction: history of civil law, sources of the law, court systems
(judicial and administrative) and the legal profession
-  An application of French Law (law of persons, right to privacy, succession, obligation
etc. and any 
topics which the class has a particular interest in).
Seminars
There will be one two-hour seminar each week
Assessment
By means of an essay (counting for 1/3) and a three hour written examination (counting
for 2/3).
Student Selection
General academic merit. Knowledge of French is not essential but some French would be
beneficial.
Preliminary reading
Bell (J), Boyron (S), Whittaker (S), Principles of French Law (1998)
Course Organiser/Teacher
Maitre J. Godard.
GENDER AND JUSTICE
The main aim of the course is to examine crime, the criminal law and the practice of the
criminal justice system in relation to gender.
The first term examines differential patterns of criminal involvement between men and
women and assesses explanations for these patterns. It also provides an overview of the
operation of the criminal justice system as it relates to gender.
The second term provides a more detailed examination of specific types of crime such as
homicide, incest and child sexual abuse. (This will include consideration of: patterns of
victimisation; characteristics of perpetrators and explanations for their behaviours; and
the nature and effectiveness of specialist programmes which have been developed to deal
with perpetrators). It also examines the social and political processed underpinning the
sanctioning of behaviours. Particular topics will include: prostitution; homosexuality;
pornography and obscenity.
Preliminary Reading
A. Morris, Women, Crime and Criminal Justice
F. Heidensohn, Women and Crime
C. Smart, Feminism and the Power of Law
Assessment
By a three hour unseen examination (75%) and a course essay (25%). Oral examinations will
be used on a selective basis. Non-law students taking the course as a one term module
will be assessed by means of a course essay (see below).
Student Selection
Admission to the course will depend upon past academic record. Students who are not
registered for an LL.B. may study the course for the first term only but preference will
be given to those candidates who wish to study the course for two terms; students will
not be allowed to join the course in the second term
Course Organiser/Teacher
Mrs. L. McAra
GERMAN PRIVATE AND COMMERCIAL LAW
The course aims to give students a basic understanding of German private law and to
enable them to carry out independent research in German law to the extent necessary for
problems in international private law or cross-border commercial negotiations. Knowledge
of German is not a prerequisite. The course will cover: Introduction to the German Legal
system in a European and comparative context. History of German law. Studying law in
Germany and the legal profession. Basic notions of property law, contract and delict.
Partnerships and Companies. Credit security and insolvency; corporate governance. Labour
law.
Pre-requisite Courses
Property Law and Contract 
Preliminary Reading
Nigel Foster: German Legal Systems and Laws, chap. 1
Assessment
By 5000 word essay (1/3) and written exam (2/3)
Quota 
This course has a quota of 15 Law students and 10 non-Law students - Total 25.
Course Organiser 
Mr. B. Schafer
Members of staff teaching on the course 
Mr. B. Schafer and Professor G. Gretton
HISTORY OF SCOTS LAW
The aim in the first term of this course is to introduce the student to the techniques of
historical scholarship and to consider in outline the development of Scots law until the
16th century. In the second term it is possible to study some areas of legal history in
greater depth. Topics considered in the past have included Celtic law, legal writers, and
areas of substantive law such as the constitution and dissolution of marriage,
landownership, succession and homicide.
Students are encouraged to study law in its wider social context and, wherever possible,
to make use of primary source material. A number of formal lecture-type sessions are
unavoidable, but the preferred teaching method is by way of informed group discussion.
Assessment
The method of assessment is by unseen examination and one class essay of about 5,000
words. Essay topics are agreed at the end of the first term for submission at the start
of the third term.
Preliminary reading
There is no set preliminary reading but a list of useful background material is available
from Mr. Sellar. Although some acquaintance with the general course of Scottish history
is an advantage it is not essential.
Course Organiser/Teacher
Dr. J.W. Cairns
HUMAN RIGHTS
This course begins with the conceptual analysis of human rights and proceeds to a
consideration of important case studies in international human rights law (a background
knowledge of public international law would be an advantage in this regard). In the
second half of the course, the principal focus is on the European Convention on Human
Rights and (to a lesser extent) protection of rights in the European Union and by other
European instruments.
Assessment
By essay (33%) and written examination (67%), with oral examinations only as deemed
necessary by the examiners.
Course Organiser
Mr. S. Tierney
Members of staff teaching the course
Mr. S. Tierney and Mr. W. Finnie 
Preliminary Reading
While preliminary reading is not essential, students might consult, for example:
F.G. Jacobs & R.C.A. White, The European Convention on Human Rights (2nd ed., 1996)
Selection criterion
Academic merit as evinced by all earlier results in the degree course, including third
year results when applicable (but with no preference as between third and fourth year
students). Performance in other courses will be given extra weight only if necessary as a
tie-breaker.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND LAW
This course has two parts. The first part is concerned with the substantive legal issues
associated with software, hardware, the computer industry and in particular the Internet.
Particular topics of current interest will be selected for in depth analysis, drawn from
areas such as e-commerce; computers and intellectual property rights (e.g. copyright on
the Web); electronic contracting and terms in software contracts; free speech on the
Internet; crime on the Internet; and privacy rights in relation to electronic
information. The need for a "law of cyberspace" will be considered. The second part of
the course deals with how computer technology can assist lawyers and judges in advising
and deciding on solutions to legal issues. Students will emerge with both theoretical
knowledge about AI and law, and the practical ability to build a legal knowledge based
expert system. A small expert system built mainly during four class hours in a specified
legal domain will be assessed as course work. Students will critically examine whether
computer programmes can successfully model legal reasoning strategies such as deduction
and analogy.
Teaching
Weekly 2 hour seminars
Assessment
Examination 60% 
Students can choose either to write a 6,000 word essay to build an expert system in an
approved legal domain with notes on the implementation methodology not exceeding 6,000
words. In either case this element is worth 40% of assessment.
Pre-requisites
Sudents taking this course must have a pass in Commercial Law Ordinary and Contract Law
Ordinary. An interest in technology/artificial intelligence is desirable but no knowledge
of computer programming is required.
Preliminary Reading
Edwards and Waelde (eds.), Law and the Internet: Regulating Cyberspace (Hart Publishing
1997)
Law and the Internet: A Framework for Electronic Commerce (Hart Publishing 2000)
Zeleznikow and Hunter, Building Intelligent Legal Information Systems (Kluwer, 1994)
Course Organiser
Ms. L. Edwards
Members of staff teaching the course
Ms. L. Edwards, Ms. C. Waelde and other members of the Law Faculty.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW
Intellectual Property is the generic term for patents, copyright, trade marks, design
rights and various other branches of law such as breach of confidence and passing off.
The subjects has always been one of intrinsic interest, and its commercial significance
has grown greatly in the last 20 years. The course will focus on UK law, but will also
deal with international and EC aspects. Emphasis is given to current issues, including
copyright in computer programs and databases, biotechnology patents, and the scope of
design protection.
Seminars
Weekly 2 hour seminars - Fridays 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Assessment
Examination 60% and Essay 40% (7,500 words)
Preliminary Reading
Phillips & Firth, Introduction to Intellectual Property, (4th edition 1999/2000)
Course Organiser
Dr. G. T. Laurie
Members of staff teaching on the course
Dr. G. T. Laurie, Mrs. C. Waelde and Professor H. MacQueen
INTERNATIONAL LAW A: The Individual and International Law
The course will cover various topics relating to the role of individuals (including
companies) in the international legal system. The principal topics will be such subjects
as: diplomatic protection of nationals abroad; international human rights law;
expropriation of property; state immunity; the foreign act of state doctrine;
extradition; international criminal law (including such subjects as war crimes, piracy,
hijacking, torture and terrorism); and international cooperation in the administration of
justice.
Assessment
One essay ( to be submitted in the second or third term), plus a written examination.
Student Selection
No particular bias in favour of fourth year students, but a student who has performed
well in one of the other honours courses in the area of international law in his or her
third year will be regarded favourably.
Course Organiser
Dr. S. Neff
Members of staff teaching the course
Dr. S. Neff , Professor W. Gilmore and Ms. S. Stirling
JURISPRUDENCE OF LEGAL CONCEPTS
Aims
To encourage students to develop a clear picture of the overall conceptual framework
within which legal activities and legal thoughts operate. To develop a critical approach
to the values which inhere in legal institutions.
Decription
The course will discuss the conceptual framework of contemporary systems of private and
public law, including general theories of rights, duties and powers. In this context
certain main institutions of law will be considered such as property, ownership and
possession; contract and promising; legal personality, delict, negligence and risk;
responsibility and punishment, evidence and procedure; citizenship; rights and right
creation. In each case there will be consideration of the extent to which particular
legal or social values are presupposed by or flow from particular institutions.
Method of Assessment
Written examination (75%) and essay (25%)
Selection of Students
This course is compulsory for certain Joint Honours students who have not taken Ordinary
Jurisprudence. They have first claim on places. Thereafter general academic merit. The
quota is 25 students.
Course Organiser
Mr. B. Schafer
JUSTICE, ETHICS AND LAW
The course is concerned with theories and problems of justice, the right and the good in
relation to law. The course will focus on the nature of moral values and their relevance
to law (whether providing an intrinsic element of law, or a critical standard for its
appraisal); theories of justice with special reference to legal problems; ethics and the
legal process.
Preliminary Reading
L. Fuller: The Morality of Law
Assessment 
By three hour examination (75%), by a course essay (25%) and oral examination. Members of
the class are expected to contribute short essays or presentations for discussion in
class sessions, but this work is not assessed towards the degree mark.
Course Organiser
Professor Z. Bankowski
Members of staff teaching on the course 
Professor Z. Bankowski, Dr. E. Christodoulidis and Mr. B. Schafer 
LABOUR LAW
The course will examine the role of the law within a historical and conceptual framework.
Consideration will be given to issues of current social and political controversy.
The topics covered in the course will include:
1. Collective Labour Relations A brief outline of labour relations in Britain and the
methods of rule making in industry with particular reference to the process of collective
bargaining between trade unions and employers. The role of the law as an instrument to
promote collective bargaining will be examined as will the effect which collective
bargaining and other techniques of rule-making have on the individual contract of
employment.
2. Industrial Action Freedom to strike and the need for legislation. The legal provisions
which seek to guarantee that freedom.
3. Trade Unions, Trade Union Members' Right and Trade Union Democracy Legal definition
and status of a trade union: political activity and its rationale. Common law and
statutory control of union rules. The application of these controls to guarantee a right
to membership of a trade union and the right of the individual member to participate in
the government and management of the union.
4. The Contract of Employment Contract as the vehicle for employment rights; sources of
terms and conditions of employment; common law rights and duties of employer and worker;
statutory regulation; variation of terms and conditions of employment; termination of the
contract; including statutory remedies in respect of unfair dismissal and redundancy.
5. Anti-discrimination legislation Discrimination in employment; Race Relations Act; Sex
Discrimination Act; Equal Pay Act.
Preliminary Reading
Davies and Freedland, Labour Legislation and Public Policy
Assessment
One essay (35%), and a written examination (65%).
Course Organiser/Teacher
Dr. D. Brodie
LAW, DEMOCRACY AND CITIZENSHIP
The aim of the course is to encourage students to think critically about the relation of
law and politics, the intersections and tensions between the two. Students are introduced
to contemporary debates about democracy and its relationship to rights, the relationship
between sovereignty and constitutionalism, the challenges to and contemporary defences of
the ideal of the Rule of Law, theories of discourse and how they tie in with law on the
one hand and the empowerment of civil society and workplace democracy on the other. The
following general themes are covered: 
(i) Law, Community and Solidarity, (ii) Law, Democracy and the Market, (iii)
Constitutionalism, Sovereignty and the EU, (iv) Law, Transition and Risk (covering
transitional justice, law and reconciliation, law and revolution) and (v) Law and
Communication: theories of discourse, political rights and the economy. 
Preliminary Reading 
Teitel: Transitional Justice
MacCormick: Constructing Legal Systems: European Union in Legal Theory
Bankowski (ed): ELJ Special Issue: Legal Theory in the EU
Unger: Democracy Realised
Christodoulidis, Law and Reflexive Politics
Selznick: Law, Democracy and Industrial conflict
Selznick: The Moral Commonwealth
Pashukanis: Law and Marxism
Hayek: Law, Legislation andLiberty
Posner: The Economic Analysis of Law
Assessment 
Students will be assessed by means of a 5,000 word essay which will count for a third of
the final mark and a three hour unseen examination which will count for two thirds of the
final mark. 
Quota 
This course has a quota of 15 Law students and 10 non-Law students - Total 25.
Course Organiser 
Dr. E. Christodoulidis
Members of staff teaching on the course 
Dr. E. Christodoulidis, Professor Z. Bankowski, Mr. B. Schafer and visitors
LEGAL PROCESS
This course examines anthropological and socio-legal approaches to legal process and
focuses on methods of dispute resolution. The first half, which is also taken by honours
students in Social Anthropology who take it as a one term course on 'Anthropology of
Law', focuses on dispute resolution in developing countries, particularly in Africa. The
second half, which is also taken by honours students in Social Policy, who take it as a
one term course on 'Law and Social Policy', focuses on the UK and the USA. Topics covered
include introductions t