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Unit of Study LAWS4008 - Theories of Law (2025)

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Unit Snapshot

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Unit description

Identifies and evaluates theoretical frameworks within the philosophy of law that inform legal knowledge and practice. This unit engages students in critical analysis of philosophical perspectives and their implications for law, legal institutions, and legal practices. This includes the making, application, and interpretation of laws to enable a better appreciation of the development of policies underlying law. The ethical and socio-political consequences of the practice of lawyers also features prominently. The ethos of this unit is critical evaluation of legal theory, its application and exploring the possibility of harmonising positivist and critical approaches. This occurs by treating each philosophical approach to law as capable of informing problem solving on facts drawn from true to life situations and identifying weaknesses that can be overcome by deploying other traditions creatively. 

Unit content

Module 1: Foundational Approaches to the Law: Natural Law and Legal Positivism

Module 2: Critical and Normative Realism: Continental and American Variants

Module 3: Critical Legal Theory: Socio-politics of Class, Race and Gender

Module 4:  Postmodern Theories and Perspectives: Deconstruction and Semiotics

Module 5: Eco-jurisprudence: Reconceptualising Human Relationships to Nature

Module 6: Colonial Experiences as Legal Theory: The Authenticity Question

Availabilities

Location Domestic International
Gold Coast
Term3
Term3
Online
Term3
Term3

Learning outcomes

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:

identify and explain the seminal movements and issues of traditional jurisprudence and contemporary legal theory

critically appraise the relationship between theory and practice, in particular, the relationship between ideas about law and specific social, cultural, political, and legal practices

evaluate the use of philosophical assumptions that inform legal thinking and practice of Anglo-Australian law and critically reflect on the sustainability of legal philosophies and theories to deliver solutions to complex contemporary legal problems

apply appropriate legal research methods and investigate, analyse, and synthesise complex legal issues and theories of law to produce persuasive written arguments.

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Prescribed Learning Resources may change in future Teaching Periods.