Civil Liberties

FULL OPTION: NB the full and half option are very different modules – they are taught and assessed differently

Module Tutor
Richard Glancey

Aims The module builds on knowledge gained in public law and is intended to develop legal and general intellectual skills, discuss some legal theory, develop knowledge of human rights issues and promote European legal awareness. The aim of the module is to provide an overview of civil liberties protection in England and Wales which is then developed by detailed examination of different topical issues to provide a context for the material studied.

As well as the above substantive educational aims the module also aims to significantly develop students’ abilities to work in groups and produce assessed material in groups. This will enhance students’ skills and abilities which will help in both a personal and professional capacity and enhance employability

Learning Outcomes At the end of the module students will: * Be able to assess critically the state of civil liberties in England and Wales * Have an appreciation of the European Convention on Human Rights and the way in which the enactment of the Human Rights Act 1998 has affected the way in which civil liberties are protected * Be able to critique the ECHR and the Human Rights Act 1998 * Have detailed knowledge of the law relating to the particular topics studied during the course * Have improved learning and research skills courtesy of the Problem Based Learning approach * Have improved oral skills by use of presentations in seminars * Be much more confident and competent at working in groups and will be more effective at producing meaningful group work in the future

Outline Syllabus

Always covered: 1. Group work – how to succeed with group work 2. Problem Based Learning – how to succeed with PBL 3. The European Convention on Human Rights 4. The Human Rights Act 1998 Other areas covered will be from the following list (dependent upon what is topical at the time) 5. Articles 2 and 3 of the Convention 6. Privacy 7. Obscenity and the Law 8. The Right to a Fair Trial 9. Miscarriages of Justice 10. Terrorism and the Law 11. Sexuality and the Law 12. Prisoners’ rights 13. Freedom of Information 14. Freedom of Expression 15. Freedom of Association and Assembly 16. Freedom of Thought, Conscience and Religion 17. Right to Marriage 18. Liberty

Whilst topics 1-4 are always covered in the module, approximately 5 of the topics from 5-18 will also be covered in any one year. The choice will be made by the Module Tutor at the beginning of the year dependent upon what is topical at the time.

Learning and Teaching methodology The module will closely follow a Problem Based Learning (PBL) approach to learning and teaching. It will more fully embrace methods utilised in year 2 of the MLAW programme (Civil Rights in Practice/Property Issues and the Business Client), and which all students will have undertaken, where they were introduced to a PBL approach in a 3 week module. All students will therefore have some experience of this mode of learning and teaching, and is a strategy that many students excel at and enjoy. With this being an optional module students interested in this learning and teaching strategy have the option to explore the strategy in more depth and vary and extend their learning and teaching portfolio. The module will be delivered entirely by workshops. Students will have one workshop every week. One ‘cycle’ of workshops lasts for 3 weeks. Students will work in groups of 3 or 4 students to work through given scenarios. A new scenario is given to each group at the beginning of each cycle (so each group therefore has 3 weeks to complete one scenario). There are 6 cycles in total. Students will work through 5 scenarios over the course of the year in 5 cycles, and there