MA (Hons) Legal Studies and Philosophy Bachelor's degree at the University of Aberdeen

Prescribed for level 1 undergraduate students and articulating students who are in their first year at the University, studied entirely online, takes approximately 2-3 hours to complete. Topics include University orientation overview, equality & diversity, MySkills, health, safety and cyber security, and academic integrity.

Assessment: Successful completion recorded on your Transcript as 'Achieved'

Introduces the fundamental components and characteristics of the Scottish legal system. Includes a study skills programme covering different facets of the study of law and practical workshops introducing key legal information sources. Covers Scottish legal tradition, formal sources of Scots law, legislative process, organisation of courts, judicial precedent, civil procedure, alternative dispute resolution, European legal order, legal services and access to justice.

Provides a map of private law from the institutional scheme. Examines the main concepts of private law and how they operate together as a system to solve everyday legal problems, concentrating on the law of property and obligations.

Introduces students to Scottish Criminal Law including its sources and current law. Examines aspects of substantive law including crimes against the person, crimes of dishonesty, crimes against property and criminal defences. Develops student's written, verbal and analytical skills.

Assessment: Written course work and problem solving exercises in tutorial groups

Presents legal history over several millennia and from many different original cultures. Explores a wide range of legal systems around the globe and throughout human history. Covers origins of law from Africa, South Asia, East Asia and beyond. Traces how legal cultures emerged, evolved, or transformed. Explores the interplay of law and religion over the centuries.

One of the central subjects of private law and main branches of the law of obligations. Covers obligations which are voluntary in nature. Covers Scots contract law and highlights where English law differs with the aim of giving students a working knowledge of contract in both countries.

Briefly introduces students to the conceptual and institutional structures of the common law tradition and introduces the fundamentals of the modern English legal system and its practical operation. Covers English Criminal Law.

Introduces students to two of the key branches of the Scots law of obligations, namely delict (which governs legal liability for situations such as the negligent infliction of harm upon others and defamation) and unjustified enrichment (which is concerned with questions such as if you pay money in error, are you entitled to demand that it be returned).

Introduction to the laws and rules of the UK Constitution. Major topics include the institutions of state, parliamentary sovereignty, the rule of law, the separation of powers, and devolution. Addresses current issues.

Examines questions such as: Is eating animals immoral? Is being a good or bad person a matter of luck? If so, are we justified in punishing bad people? Should anyone be able to set limits on what you can do with your own body? Should everyone be allowed to state their mind, even if their views are harmful or offensive? Is censorship ever justifiable? Do you have a moral obligation to help those worse-off? Are you unknowingly biased against underprivileged groups?

What does it mean to live a good life? How do we determine what is good or bad, right or wrong? Are some ways of living better or worse for us? Looks at central philosophical approaches to answering these questions. Traditions include virtue ethics, Chinese ethics, deontology, consequentialism, and feminist ethics. Students will read original work of important scholars in the history of moral philosophy.

What makes an argument a good argument? What are the correct rules for reasoning? How should we revise our beliefs in light of new evidence? Provides an introduction to logic and tools for evaluating arguments. Topics include validity, soundness, consistency, entailment, provability, belief revision and paradoxes. Develops the ability to symbolise English sentences into formal languages and to construct truth tables, truth trees and natural deduction proofs.

Examines the environmental crisis and how we think of nature and the natural world and why we value it. Helps think about foundational issues and get clear on why - and not just how - we should save the planet.

Examines the law of the European Union and its relationship with the legal systems of the United Kingdom. Lecture topics include the composition and function of the EU Institutions, sources and effects of EU Law, state liability and judicial review. Covers human rights in the EU, the fundamental freedoms, and competition law. Includes consideration of the evolving relationship between the legal systems of the United Kingdom and the European Union.

All about things. What items can you own? How do you become owner of property? What can you do as an owner of property? What can you do with the property of other people? Gives students a broad overview of the regulation of land, moveable items and incorporeal rights like intellectual property in Scotland.

Systematically and critically introduces the foundations of Public International Law. History, nature, legal personality, statehood and recognition, sources, the law of treaties and how PIL interacts with domestic law. Topics such as jurisdiction, sovereignty, the role of the United Nations, the law of state responsibility and peaceful settlement of disputes between states.

Examines both administrative law and civil liberties under the constitution of the United Kingdom. Major topics include judicial review (scope, standing and grounds), the European Convention on Human Rights, the Human Rights Act 1998, voting rights, and common law rights.