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Unit of Study LAW00520 - The Philosophy of Law (2014)

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Unit Snapshot

  • Enrolment information

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Unit description

Identifies and evaluates some of the theoretical frameworks that inform legal knowledge and legal practice. Analyses a number of philosophical perspectives having implications for law, legal institutions and legal practices. Enables us to better appreciate the ethical and socio-political consequences of our practice as lawyers.

Unit content

Topic 1: Philosophical pursuits and the law 
Topic 2: Ethical and political frameworks
Topic 3: Traditional common law theory
Topic 4: Traditional jurisprudence: Legal positivism 
Topic 5: Traditional jurisprudence: Natural law 
Topic 6: Legal realism and Critical Legal Studies
Topic 7: Law and social theory
Topic 8: Poststructuralism, postmodernism and deconstruction
Topic 9: Feminism, race and colonialism
Topic 10: Historical and anthropological jurisprudence
Topic 11: Ecological jurisprudence
Topic 12: The concerns of legal theory

Availabilities

Location Domestic International
Gold Coast Session 1 Session 1
Lismore Session 1 Session 1
Online Session 1 Session 1

Learning outcomes and graduate attributes

Unit Learning Outcomes express learning achievement in terms of what a student should know, understand and be able to do on completion of a unit. These outcomes are aligned with the graduate attributes. The unit learning outcomes and graduate attributes are also the basis of evaluating prior learning.

On completion of this unit, students should be able to:

GA1: Intellectual rigour, GA2: Creativity, GA3: Ethical practice, GA4: Knowledge of a discipline, GA5: Lifelong learning, GA6: Communication and social skills, GA7: Cultural competence
Learning outcome count Learning outcome description GA1 GA2 GA3 GA4 GA5 GA6 GA7
1 identify the central concerns of both traditional jurisprudence and contemporary legal theory;
2 critically reflect upon the philosophical assumptions that inform the teaching, learning and practice of Anglo-Australian law;
3 critically appraise the relationship between theory and practice, in particular, the relationship between ideas about law and specific social, cultural, political and legal practices;
4 identify and evaluate the ethical frameworks within which our practice, both as lawyers and non-lawyers, operates.

On completion of this unit, students should be able to:

  1. identify the central concerns of both traditional jurisprudence and contemporary legal theory;
    • GA1:
    • GA3:
    • GA5:
  2. critically reflect upon the philosophical assumptions that inform the teaching, learning and practice of Anglo-Australian law;
    • GA1:
    • GA5:
  3. critically appraise the relationship between theory and practice, in particular, the relationship between ideas about law and specific social, cultural, political and legal practices;
    • GA1:
    • GA5:
  4. identify and evaluate the ethical frameworks within which our practice, both as lawyers and non-lawyers, operates.
    • GA3:
    • GA5:

Prescribed learning resources

Prescribed Texts
  • No prescribed texts.

Prescribed Texts
  • No prescribed texts.

Prescribed Learning Resources may change in future Teaching Periods.