What you will study
Please note that this is an indicative list of modules and is not intended as a definitive list. Those listed here may also be a mixture of core and optional modules.
Year 1 introduces the English Legal System and Method, including access and use of legal materials. Public Law covers the UK's constitution and relationships between individuals and state. Law of Tort considers civil wrongs such as negligence, nuisance and occupier's liability. Law of Contract explores binding agreements and breaches. In the summer term you will undertake your chosen professional experience module.
Core modules
English Legal System and Methods
30 credits
This first-year module provides the incoming student with sufficient understanding of the English legal system (ELS) - courts, procedure and sources of law - in order to make sense of their legal studies. It also provides a toolkit of legal method, meaning skills for legal research and writing in their other academic legal studies and in legal practice. Many of these skills, such as research, report organisation and effective writing, are also transferable employability skills.
Law of Contract
30 credits
The law of contract is the law of legally enforceable agreements and is at the heart of the English common law. It is one of the seven foundations of legal knowledge and invariably forms part of any degree with an overt legal content. It describes the rules which govern commercial activity, allowing businesses and consumers to maintain stable, consistent relationships over time and over distance. These rules encompass the complex multi-party arrangements for the construction of a stadium, and the employment of the cleaners and the star players, as well as the purchase of a hot dog from a stall outside.
Public Law
30 credits
The module introduces students to the constitutional and administrative law of the United Kingdom through a study of the core constitutional principles present within the UK system and the control of executive action by the courts. The module provides an essential introduction to the study of law since the validity of any particular law is a function of a constitutional rule which establishes manner, form and necessary pedigree for what is to qualify as a valid particular or occasional law.
Law of Tort
30 credits
Tort can be described as the area of civil law which provides a remedy for a party who has suffered the breach of a protected interest. The module focuses on the wide range of activity to which tort law applies and examines the remedies it provides for many different types of loss or harm. Tort is also one of the foundations of legal knowledge subjects required by the professional bodies as part of a qualifying law degree for those seeking entry to the legal profession.
Law Professional Readiness and Skills (Stage 1)
Pass fail module 0 credits
This module consists of professional and personal skills training, designed to prepare you for your internship and to improve your employability after graduation. You will experience a wide range of opportunities to enhance your skills, ensure you make the most of your potential, gain the best possible internship, and give you an edge in the job market after graduation.
Where appropriate, the skills work will be integrated with core curriculum activity. You will work with the module leader, employability professionals, faculty staff, including your personal tutor, to identify your skills requirements. In addition to the standard skills required by employers, there will be skills development linked to specific subject areas in law.
It is a core part of the 'Professional Experience' part of the LLB with Professional Experience.
Optional modules
Internship
Pass fail module 0 credits
The internship, of a minimum duration of two weeks, will enable students to apply and develop in real organisations, in the legal sector as well as in other professional sectors, the knowledge and skills they have learnt in the classroom. It will prepare them to excel in the final year of their studies, as well as enhancing the skills and attributes employers expect new recruits to possess. This module is delivered during Teaching Block 3.
Professional Practice and Ethics
Pass fail module 0 credits
This module will consider the ethical dimension in professional environments, whether legal or non legal ones. It will enable students to acquire knowledge of key ethical topics as well as an understanding of the variety of enforcement mechanisms in place
Year 2
In Year 2, your Land Law module will cover property ownership, use and rights. In the Criminal Law module you will study murder, theft and sexual crimes. EU Law considers the single market (informed by recent politics). International and Comparative Law focuses on American, German and French comparative law as well as an introduction in Public International Law. In the summer term you will undertake your chosen professional experience module.
Core modules
Land Law
30 credits
Land law studies the nature of land, the history of the current legislative structure and third party interests in, on or over private land in England and Wales. It introduces the concepts behind ownership and use of private land, considering also how the law operates concerning topics such as freehold, leasehold, rights of way and squatters' rights.
Criminal Law
30 credits
The subject matter of this module is the substantive criminal law; that is, the general principles of criminal liability, definitions of what constitutes particular crimes and how that law affects particular circumstances. The module covers both the general principles of criminal liability and a number of specific offences. This involves not only a critical examination of the law, but also, using hypothetical factual situations, its detailed application.
EU Law
30 credits
European Union (EU) law has been an integral part of the applicable law in the United Kingdom since 1 January 1973. The law stemming from the treaties has had an increasing impact in all the member states as the competences of the European Union have expanded and the effectiveness of enforcement of EU law has increased.
The module analyses key principles, mechanisms and substantive law, reflecting also on how the UK's relationship with the EU may change after ‘Brexit'.
International and Comparative Law
30 credits
This module aims to provide an understanding of how globalisation affects our lives, though a specific analysis of public international law, and the French, German and American legal systems.
The module introduces you to the legal systems of France, Germany and the United States. The first part is spent on the legal history and sources of law of the legal systems. The second part covers the constitutional aspects as well as the court system in France, Germany and the US. This module consists of feedback/feedforward sessions and workshops. Workshops will focus on the comparative aspects of the legal systems.
It then introduces you to public international law as a globalised legal system regulating the relations between states. It focuses first on the relevant institutions, the sources of international law as well as the concept of international legal personality and statehood. The substantive part consists mainly of the use of force, the title to territory, the right to self-determination as well as the law of the sea.
Law Professional Readiness and Skills (Stage 2)
Pass fail module 0 credits
This module consists of professional and personal skills training, which follow on from the level 4 module and is designed to further prepare you for your internship and to improve your employability after graduation. You will experience a wide range of opportunities to enhance your skills, ensure you make the most of your potential, gain the best possible internship, and give you an edge in the job market after graduation.
Where appropriate, the skills work will be integrated with core curriculum activity. You will further work with the module leader, employability professionals and faculty staff, including your personal tutor, to identify your skills requirements. In addition to the standard skills required by employers, there will be skills development linked to specific subject areas in law.
Optional modules
Internship
Pass fail module 0 credits
The internship, of a minimum duration of two weeks, will enable students to apply and develop in real organisations, in the legal sector as well as in other professional sectors, the knowledge and skills they have learnt in the classroom. It will prepare them to excel in the final year of their studies, as well as enhancing the skills and attributes employers expect new recruits to possess. This module is delivered during Teaching Block 3.
Mediation
Pass fail module 0 credits
This module will provide students with an opportunity to evaluate the various methods available for resolving conflicts and gain a theoretical and practical knowledge of mediation as a means of dispute resolution. This module makes use of role-plays in order to develop a deeper understanding of the dynamics underlying conflicts and the process of dispute resolution. The role-plays will be based on a number of scenarios, including the workplace.
Optional year
Optional study abroad year
You will also have the opportunity to spend a year abroad on work placement or studying at one of our partner institutions in North America, Europe, Australia or Asia.
Final year
In the Final Year, everyone will study Equity and Trusts which considers wills, charitable trusts, and trustees. And you will undertake a dissertation. For the rest of your study you will be able to shape your degree around what interests you the most. You will select two optional modules.
Core modules
Equity and Trusts
30 credits
Equity and Trusts examines the idea of conscience in English law. It looks at how, historically equity developed from the authority of the king in order to ameliorate the problems caused by an increasingly inflexible common law, at a time when Parliament met infrequently. The concept of the trust, where ownership is divided between legal and beneficial, is examined. The use of the trust in many contexts including charity law and the administration of trusts is investigated.
Dissertation
30 credits
This module is a core module at level 6 for students taking the LLB (Hons) International degree. The module allows students to study in depth a specific area of international law or a single legal issue with an international dimension over two teaching blocks.
Optional modules
International Trade Law
30 credits
International trade would be of interest to students wishing to be employed in the commercial field in both the UK and overseas. This module covers the international legal and institutional framework for regulating international trade. The module helps you to understand different aspects of international law and be able to apply them to business and management problems arising in a global economy. The module examines the legal, economic, political and institutional underpinnings of the world trade regime, the core principles and legal rules governing international trade in goods, and services. A key focus will be the World Trade Organization (WTO), which began to work in 1995 as a general umbrella organisation coordinating laws affecting trade, but is also having a much wider impact on the regulation of international business activities. The module also examines the various contracts that are essential components of international trade transactions, such as international sales contracts, the contract of carriage and the insurance contract. In addition, legal issues arising from international trade and dispute settlement will be explored in the class.
Dispute Resolution
30 credits
The dispute resolution module makes extensive use made of role-play in order to develop a deeper understanding of the dynamics underlying conflicts and the process of dispute resolution. Comparisons are made with litigation and with other adversarial and quasi-judicial mechanisms so as to place mediation and negotiation in a proper context. Themes are identified and discussed, often in light of role-plays designed to bring these themes into play, and the social and psychological aspects are considered. The module also incorporates theories of conflict and conflict management, as well as the landscape of dispute resolution.
International Criminal and Human Rights Law
30 credits
This module introduces you to the criminal law responsibility of private individuals (ICL) and their human rights protection (IHR) under international law.
The first part aims to focus on essential aspects of ICL: the mechanisms of international criminal justice as well as substantive aspects. This will be achieved by exploring the sources as well as the fundamental principles of ICL, institutional aspects of ICL from the Nuremberg Tribunals to the international Criminal Court (ICC) as well as established international crimes (Genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes).
The second part aims to focus on essential aspects of IHR: it will contextualise the topic by examining the main international instruments which provide protection for human rights, substantive established human rights, the importance of the distinction between global and regional protection of human rights with a special focus on the European Convention of Human Rights as well as the mechanisms in place to protect and enforce these rights.
The final part will provide a particular focus on a number of crimes analysed both from an ICL and IHR perspective, such as the crime of torture.
Intellectual Property Law
30 credits
This module explores the legal protection given to intellectual property, and considers the particular types of such property such as copyright and patents. It puts this law into the increasingly influential international context and also draws on comparative study of the protection afforded in other jurisdictions. It enables you to pursue research in individual areas of intellectual property law.
Law, Technology and Innovation
30 credits
This module explores the role of law in responding to, and shaping, technological innovation. It is designed to give students the competitive edge in evolving legal and non-legal markets that embrace technological development. Particular focus is given to standards and regulations of artificial intelligence, cyberspace and cybercrime, e-commerce, employment, environment, healthcare, intellectual property and outer space. These areas are of particular importance in the current global market. These are also the areas of research undertaken by academic members of staff at Kingston University, involved in teaching and development of the module. The module implements an international and interdisciplinary approach, covering different jurisdictions, technologies, and industries.
