LLM Master of Laws

The study of law requires you to be able to develop and deploy a specific skill set involving critical reading and thinking, legal research, appropriate referencing, accurate drafting, note-taking, summarisation, and time management. These skills are indispensable to the successful practice of law. Although the acquisition and honing of the jurisdiction-specific skills and knowledge that are the building blocks of legal study are practiced in other modules, this module gives you the opportunity to learn and develop these more foundational disciplinary skills in a focused and direct way.

Most people in society realise that the law is designed to help, guide and assist individuals to live together harmoniously by providing frameworks for ensuring an orderly lifestyle. Therefore, the law does not remain static, but grows and develops as the society it serves adapts and changes, and it is its ability to reflect those changes that makes the study and practice of law interesting. Learning the different aspects of law that have an impact on a business is going to be pivotal to your career, not only as an employee but also if you become an employer. The law, even if not obvious, touches every aspect of a business. This module is designed as an introduction to the legal issues and legal skills which are important in a business context. It provides you with the opportunity to develop legal commercial awareness.

This module introduces you to the main areas of employment law and explores how employment law in practice affects the working relationship between employers and employees.

The principal aim of this module is to introduce you to the fundamentals of contractual formation, incorporation, vitiating factors, discharge and remedies in the context of all areas of contract law. You will consider the implications of legislation in relation to consumer contractual terms and analyse the types of remedy available. It will also introduce you to the nature of commercial contracts and liabilities.

This module focuses primarily on the criminal law of England and Wales, in addition to considering other jurisdictions to provide a broad understanding of the key principles, approaches and concepts that inform the development of English criminal law. Some of the most important issues in criminal law are analysed, as is the extent to which they can be resolved. The areas that will be considered include criminal responsibility, criminal standard of proof, fatal and non-fatal offences, parties to a crime, and defences.

The module is designed to develop your understanding of the principles and practice of alternative dispute resolution. It examines the various mechanisms which together reflect alternate dispute resolution. This includes negotiation, mediation and arbitration but also considers the development of collaborative lawyering, early neutral evaluation, summary jury trial and mini-trials. You will also consider the development and value of online dispute resolution and the role of the Ombudsman.

This module is focused on the core concepts, scope of application, and concerns of tort law. It examines a number of different torts such as negligence, nuisance, defamation, as well as the principles of causation and vicarious liability. You will learn to apply the law to different factual situations and will explore some of the theoretical and conceptual issues around the subject. You will also critically examine the rationale and development of these torts and be capable of identifying and analysing the factual situations in which these torts typically arise.

The module will provide an introduction to land law, and a detailed examination of the law of property related to land. Students will study what property rights are, how they differ from personal rights and be introduced to a variety of different property rights recognised in English law. The module will focus on the various ways in which new property rights can be generated, existing property rights can be transferred to others and the rules that are used to resolve disputes when two or more people have competing property rights to the same thing. The module requires careful and thorough engagement with statutory material and case law to examine and take account of the legal issues generated by English land law as it relates to real property.

This module provides an introduction to the study of public law. It focuses on constitutional and administrative law by using the British constitution as a means to understand a broader, global context of constitutionalism. The module examines the core principles of the British constitution and the role of parliament and the courts within modern society. You will analyse key issues governing the relation between citizens and the state, including sovereignty and the division of powers between legislature, executive and administration (or judiciary).

This module considers the history and structure of the EU, the development of EU law and the role that law has played in the process of integration. Particular attention is given to the constitutionalisation of the EU through case law, treaty reforms and other mechanisms. The module also focuses on substantive law and the provisions which form the basis of the internal market: free movement of persons, of goods and of services. The module provides an opportunity to study the constitutional and institutional structures of the EU, the way in which EU law impacts upon national law, and law-making in the internal market.

This module provides you with an overview of the legal constitution and regulation of personal relationships, and how that regulation affects individuals’ relationships with each other and with the state. The module focuses on the problems people encounter in those relationships and the legal responses to those problems. Exposition of the law’s role in constituting, regulating and dissolving family relationships, including those between adults, between adults and children and between families and state institutions are also considered. The module will provide you with an understanding of state policy, the position of women and children and the state of the contemporary family.