Module LAW2016C for 2021/2
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Undergraduate Module Descriptor
LAW2016C: Environmental Regulation and Redress
This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.
Module Aims
You will look at international contributions to UK law and policy and the important role the EU has had in setting environmental standards. You will examine how, during our membership of the EU, we have been obliged in the UK to reflect these decisions in our own legislation. You will critically reflect on the extent to which the law across the world, including indigenous laws and cultural norms might be used to embed pro-environmental behaviour and sustainability.
Various forms of redress will be considered within popular contexts in environmental law, for example climate change, air quality, biodiversity and marine pollution. You will be introduced to the difference between public law responses in the form of legislation and private law controls like negligence and private nuisance. We will also explore potential future avenues for redress as individuals for example through the expansion of the application of a human rights agenda in environmental matters, and the expansion of international criminal law in ecocide as well as considering national accountability for wrongdoing.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to: | |
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Module-Specific Skills | 1. Explain and apply different types of environmental regulation 2. Identify and evaluate with minimum guidance the current content and direction of environmental law |
Discipline-Specific Skills | 3. Identify key elements of legal problems and select appropriate methods for investigating and evaluating them 4. Construct and support an argument using legal sources |
Personal and Key Skills | 5. Retrieve and efficiently use primary and secondary library-based and electronic resources with minimum guidance 6. Participate in discussions on a selected topic and defend an argument in similar discussions 7. Effectively interact with peers for small-group presentations and general discussion, modifying your own position where appropriate |
Module Content
Syllabus Plan
Whilst the module’s precise content may vary each year, it is envisaged that it will cover some or all of the following topics:
How the environment is regulated in law and how this is intimately linked to effectiveness of each type of regulation in redressing wrongs and making reparation. We will be looking across cultures and the world to see how the environment may be protected using legal mechanisms and how damage to the environment may be redressed.
a. Regulation
- Conventions, Treaties, Declarations and Agreements
- Directives
- Domestic Legislation and regulations
- Command and Control
- Public Protest
b. Redress
- Environmental Rights
- Reparation
You will also practice the skills of ‘thinking like a lawyer’ to make the best case you can for the environment.
Learning and Teaching
This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
---|---|---|
25 | 125 | 0 |
...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:
Category | Hours of study time | Description |
---|---|---|
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activity | 11 | 11 x 1 hour lectures |
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activity | 12 | 6 x 2 hour seminars |
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activity | 2 | 1 x 2 hour workshop |
Guided Independent Study | 125 | Additional research, reading and preparation relating to each lecture and in preparation for workshop tasks |
Online Resources
This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).
An online Electronic Leaning Environment will accompany the course.
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 assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
---|---|---|---|
Abstract-outline bibliography | 500 words | 1-5 | Written |
Case Study | In class discussion and application | 1-3, 6-7 | Self, peer and tutor feedback |
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.
Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
---|---|---|
100 | 0 | 0 |
...and this table provides further details on the summative assessments for this module.
Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
---|---|---|---|---|
Case Study | 45 | 1,250 words | 1-3, 5-6 | Written |
Essay | 55 | 2,000 words | 1-5, 7 | Written |
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 assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
---|---|---|---|
Case Study | Case Study (1,250 words) | 1-3, 5-6 | August/September re-assessment period |
Essay | Essay (2,000 words) | 1-5, 7 | August/September re-assessment period |
Indicative Reading List
This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.
Bell, McGillivray, Pedersen, Lees, Stokes, Environmental Law (9th Edition, 2017)
Wolf and Stanley on Environmental Law, Wolf, F and Stanley, N (6th edition, 2013) Routledge
Finch and Fafinski, Legal Skills, OUP (7th Edition, 2019). Copies can be found in the library. The textbook explains how to find legal resources from statutes to cases and includes tips on legal writing.
Kramer, EC Environmental Law, Sweet and Maxwell (8th Edition, 2016)
Connie, Bradney and Burton, English Legal System in Context (5th Edition, 2010), OUP, Oxford
Partington, M, Introduction to the English Legal System (2019) OUP Oxford