Postgraduate Module Descriptor


LAWM127: Law of the Sea

This module descriptor refers to the 2018/9 academic year.

Module Aims

The aim of this module is to provide you with a comprehensive introduction to the unique legal system governing the ocean and to equip you with the deeper analytical and critical thinking skills which will enable you to explain or appraise the law of the sea. You will be expected to become conversant in the law of the sea from a public international law perspective, such as becoming familiar with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the key cases and materials attributing sovereign rights and responsibilities across the various maritime zones. However, you will also be expected to begin grappling the law of the sea from a multidirectional and transnational perspective, recognising the growing role for non-state actors, as well as global and regional regimes, private international law, private norms and codes of conduct, and stakeholder-inclusive forms of governance.

While you may eventually channel your research upon a particular aspect of marine law and policy, you will be expected to demonstrate a confident knowledge of the broader legal framework and an ability to identify, explain, defend or criticise relevant rules, instruments, actors, institutions, and procedures. This course is inquiry-based as well as student-led and research-led. As such, the seminar materials, questions for research and discussion, as well as the presentation and elucidation of knowledge and analysis, is mostly led by you and your co-researchers. You will therefore be expected to think, write, and develop argumentation in a highly independent manner, while working in an interactive, inclusive, informal and collegial atmosphere. The skills and knowledge obtained will serve you well for future employment, whether producing future research or academic outputs, or working within organisations dealing with marine issues, such as NGOs, multinational corporations, government agencies, research and epistemic bodies, or within the legal profession.

The course will be effectively split into two halves. The first half focuses on us developing a critical understanding of the ocean’s main legal framework. This will include you developing a confident knowledge of the key rules, instruments and cases, as well as diagnosing the weaknesses with and crafting solutions to the present system of law. The second half will provide you with an opportunity to delve into more detail in a number of sectors and areas of interest, with the content following recent developments in the news or adjusting to match your own interests as the researchers leading the study.

 

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here - you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.

On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills1. Demonstrate a confident, fluent and critical comprehension of the key legal instruments, actors, and institutions in the law of the sea, as well as an ability to dissect and discuss their relative functions and roles;
2. Advise, discuss or debate complex issues relating to the legal system managing the ocean in a manner which is accurate, well-informed, and open to wider disciplines or viewpoints;
3. Criticise or defend case law, marine policy instruments, and international or transnational legal rules relating to the uses of the ocean;
4. Manipulate multiple contrasting viewpoints within the ocean context, by evidencing an ability to comprehend, coordinate, justify and reconstruct the multifarious and transnational competing interests in the marine environment, including multiple economic, social, ecological, and cultural interests.
Discipline-Specific Skills5. Demonstrate detailed and comprehensive knowledge of key international, regional, and transnational legal instruments relating to ocean management, including an ability to précis and dissect key cases, as well as an ability to expand on their critical and contextual implications;
6. Demonstrate a bold and creative aptitude for selecting, integrating and presenting a range of relevant materials, which are suitable to addressing your particular area of enquiry;
7. Illustrate how you can independently, reflectively and coherently develop original analysis, with use of suitable sources (legal or other disciplines), in order to construct a well-refined and well-reasoned argument relating to the international law of the sea, marine policy, or ocean governance.
Personal and Key Skills8. Identify, retrieve, synthesise, and utilise a wide range of research materials, including primary and secondary legal sources, reports and studies, and academic materials;
9. Present, explain and critically evaluate a range of substantive and theoretical arguments throughout the seminar, formative and summative exercises;
10. Prove your capacity to work independently and effectively in a research environment, and to manage your time efficiently in preparing for scheduled activities, exercises and the assessment.
11. Plan workshop materials and group activities which provide for effective acquisition of skills and knowledge, as well as to intellectually challenge and stimulate your colleagues.