LW5011 - Jurisprudence

This 20 credit module will involve 200 hours of notional learning.

Teaching will be delivered via a combination of:
12 x 1 hour large group lecture sessions
6 x 2 hour small group seminar-type sessions.
Total = 24 hours of face-to-face teaching.

Face-to-face teaching will be supplemented by recorded webcasts outlining core features of the main jurisprudential schools. Curated links to relevant online resources such as ‘In Our Time’ and animated shorts will also be used. Additionally, detailed coursework guidance materials will be provided on the module eLP site. You can access these supplementary materials via the eLP.

In addition to this teaching, you will be expected to engage in tutor guided independent learning (TGIL) in your preparations for teaching sessions. You will be provided with electronic reading lists (including documentary and visual materials via ‘Box of Broadcasts’) as well as seminar questions or tasks via the eLP; you will prepare for teaching sessions by undertaking the recommended reading and preparation in advance of the sessions. TGIL will take about 120 hours across the module.

Feedback on summative assessment will take the following forms:
• Completion of a written comments sheet for your essay, including ‘feed forward’ comments.
• Use of assessment criteria marking grid
• Creation of an outline answer & general points to note document for you to access
• Opportunity to discuss your assessment performance with tutor in feedback week

The primary form of academic support on this module will be via teaching sessions. You will obtain ongoing and valuable feedback on your understanding and preparation from tutors across the 6 seminar sessions.

In addition to this academic support in sessions and the webcasts (outlined above) you will obtain formative feedback on this module in the following ways:
• Tutor feedback on an optional writing exercise in a set area (700 words max) or optional discussion board with tutor oversight.
• Tutor feedback on a seminar-based short presentation on your chosen coursework topic area (directly aids summative assessment)
• A coursework guidance and Q&A session (1 large-group lecture slot – directly aids summative assessment)
• Members of the module team are available to discuss module-related issues with students on an ad hoc basis

All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. Online reading lists (provided after enrolment) give you access to your reading material for your modules. The Library works in partnership with your module tutors to ensure you have access to the material that you need.

Knowledge & Understanding:
• A knowledge and critical understanding of the underlying theories, concepts, principles of law in an institutional, national and global context, and an ability to critically analyse them

Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities:
• An ability to effectively organise and communicate regarding legal theories orally and in writing
• An ability to recognise ambiguity and uncertainty in the law and identify potential alternative conclusions and provide supporting reasons for them


Personal Values Attributes (Global / Cultural awareness, Ethics, Curiosity) (PVA):
• Intellectual independence & an ability to ask cogent questions about law & its underlying justifications
• An ability to develop independent thinking skills and curiosity about the ideas that inform law, and recognition of the need to challenge your own and others’ thinking

Formative assessment:
Instances of formative assessment on this module include:
• Tutor feedback on an optional writing exercise in a set area (700 words max) or optional discussion board with tutor oversight.
• Tutor feedback on a seminar-based short presentation on your chosen coursework topic area (directly aids summative assessment)
• A coursework guidance and Q&A session (1 large-group lecture slot – directly aids summative assessment)
These activities substantially contribute to all 5 MLOs.


Summative assessment:
Will consist of 1 piece of 2,500 word coursework which requires you to conduct independent research into a theoretical area of your choice and apply it to a relevant ‘real-world’ issue or event. As outlined above, feedback on this assessment will take the following forms:
• Completion of a written comments sheet for your essay, including ‘feed forward’ comments.
• Use of assessment criteria marking grid
• Opportunity to discuss assessment performance with your tutor in feedback week
Completing this assessment will lead to all 4 MLO.

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This module provides you with an introduction to theoretical inquiry into law, asking you to consider the nature of law and its relationship with morality, politics and the individual. It thus informs and enhances your studies in many other legal subjects, including your dissertation. You will learn about a range of leading thinkers across the course of history, including philosophers such as Plato, Mill and Marx. You will reflect on a range of profound questions about the law, including: how can we understand concepts like liberty and justice, and how does law relate to them? How do judges reach decisions, and do their judgments accurately reflect their reasoning? To what extent might law preference specific class, gendered or racial interests and outlooks? Crucially, you will learn about the modern ‘real-world’ relevance of these various theories by considering their influence in enacted laws, judicial decisions, current affairs and political developments.