Undergraduate Module Descriptor

LAW3171: Human Rights and Human Dignity

This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.

Module Aims

The module's aim is to take you 'behind the scenes' of the development of a new area of legal knowledge, and give you the opportunity to develop familiarity with some of the methodological and theoretical issues involved in the construction of a new legal concept by scholars and judges. The module focuses on key issues raised in the international discussion on human dignity so as to anchor your reflection in a set of examples, while providing you with a range of specific issues illustrating this concept’s actual and potential uses in law.  

The module is suitable for students interested in constitutional law, human rights law, comparative law, legal theory and critical thinking. By engaging you with methodological issues and discussing the apparent paradoxes and difficulties of the concept of dignity, the module is also suitable for students who aspire to practise law, especially in the area of human rights.

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 detailed knowledge of the selected issues on human dignity considered in the module and a substantial range of major concepts, values and principles relevant to its application;
2. Demonstrate critical awareness of methodological dimensions of the study of human dignity as a legal concept;
3. Demonstrate critical awareness of a wide range of legal, political, social and contextual implications of the areas of human dignity studied;
Discipline-Specific Skills4. Define complex legal problems, identify their relative significance and select appropriate methods for investigating and critically evaluating them;
5. Integrate and assess information from primary and secondary legal sources using appropriate interpretative techniques;
Personal and Key Skills6. Manage relevant learning resources and to develop own arguments and opinions with minimum guidance;
7. Work independently and to manage time efficiently in preparing for scheduled learning activities and assessments.