Undergraduate Module Descriptor

LAW1035: Constitutional and Administrative Law

This module descriptor refers to the 2019/0 academic year.

Module Aims

This module aims to enable you to develop:

  • An understanding of the concepts, traditions and principles underpinning the constitution of the UK.
  • An understanding of the main recent constitutional reforms of the United Kingdom constitution, especially in relation to Europe, devolution, the Human Rights Act 1998 and the Constitutional Reform Act 2005.
  • An understanding of the nature, basis and continuing development of judicial review in the United Kingdom.
  • An ability to analyse the links between public law and the exercise of political and judicial power.
  • An ability to begin to use, analyse and critique materials and texts.
  • An ability to articulate and discuss issues relating to public law.

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 knowledge and understanding of the law, institutions and procedures covered on the module, using appropriate concepts, interpretative techniques and terminology;
2. identify and analyse (with guidance) the general concepts and principles relating to constitutional and administrative law, together with related theories and academic commentary;
3. research a legal question and demonstrate competence in applying constitutional and administrative law in order to formulate and evaluate a response to it;
4. demonstrate competent understanding of some of the relevant legal practice, social, economic, political, historical, philosophical, ethical and cultural contexts within which constitutional and administrative law operate;
Discipline-Specific Skills5. demonstrate knowledge and understanding of a range of legal rules, concepts, values and principles, and the ability to explain and discuss the relationships among them;
6. make an informed judgement about the merits and relevance of particular information and make reasoned choices between alternative solutions or arguments;
7. communicate technical legal information and argument effectively and concisely, orally and in writing, in a manner appropriate to the discipline;
Personal and Key Skills8. take responsibility for own learning (with support), and to work effectively with others within a group, meeting obligations to the other members of the group;
9. identify, retrieve and use efficiently a range of library-based and electronic resources with some guidance;
10. manage time efficiently in preparing for learning activities, and to work independently within a limited time frame, to complete a specified task.

How this Module is Assessed

In the tables below, you will see reference to 'ILO's. An ILO is an Intended Learning Outcome - see Aims and Learning Outcomes for details of the ILOs for this module.

Formative Assessment

A formative assessment is designed to give you feedback on your understanding of the module content but it will not count towards your mark for the module.

Form of assessmentSize of the assessment (eg length / duration)ILOs assessedFeedback method
Seminar topics to be researched and reported upon both individually and in groups9 x 2 hours1-10oral feedback from tutors and peers.
Essay750 words1-10written

Summative Assessment

A summative assessment counts towards your mark for the module. The table below tells you what percentage of your mark will come from which type of assessment.

CourseworkWritten examsPractical exams
20800

...and this table provides further details on the summative assessments for this module.

Form of assessment% of creditSize of the assessment (eg length / duration)ILOs assessedFeedback method
Examination803 hours1-10written feedback
Essay202,000 words1-10written feedback

Re-assessment

Re-assessment takes place when the summative assessment has not been completed by the original deadline, and the student has been allowed to refer or defer it to a later date (this only happens following certain criteria and is always subject to exam board approval). For obvious reasons, re-assessments cannot be the same as the original assessment and so these alternatives are set. In cases where the form of assessment is the same, the content will nevertheless be different.

Original form of assessmentForm of re-assessmentILOs re-assessedTimescale for re-assessment
ExaminationExamination (3 hours)1-10August / September referred / deferred period
EssayEssay (2,000 words)1-10August / September referred / deferred period