Postgraduate Course: Philosophical Foundations of Criminal Law (LAWS11265)
Course Outline
| School | School of Law |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course introduces and examines the philosophical approaches that have been used to explain, justify and criticise criminal law doctrine. It focuses in particular on criminal law¿s ¿general part¿: the fundamental rules governing criminal responsibility and liability. Questions considered include: what is criminal responsibility? What kinds of things can one legitimately be held responsible for? When should one be criminally responsible for causing harm, and what difference should the occurrence of harm make to criminal conviction and punishment? What should be the role of concepts like intention, motive, awareness and negligence in determining criminality? When might criminal actions be justifiable or excusable? And when should one be able to deny responsibility for admittedly criminal conduct on grounds such as mental illness? |
| Course description |
This course is a core (but optional) course for the LLM in Criminal Law and Criminal Justice.
It is optional for students on other masters programmes within the School of Law.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | It is presupposed that students are familiar with the criminal law doctrine of at least one jurisdiction |
| Additional Costs | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2015/16, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: 25 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 20,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
176 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Initial written exercise worth 20%
Final essay worth 80% |
| Feedback |
The initial assessment for this course is designed to inform students¿ work on the main, final essay. Students will be asked to write a short critical analysis of a text studied in the first few weeks of the course. This will be submitted in the middle of the semester, and returned, along with feedback, before the end of the teaching period. Some time in class will also be reserved to discuss this first assessment. The aim of this process is to develop skills that will also be tested in the main essay: in particular, the ability to analyse arguments that may be more abstract and complex than students are used to from undergraduate study, and the ability to evaluate these arguments critically. Feedback will also be given on the main essay, in accordance with standard procedures and timescales. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Understand and critically analyse core concepts of criminal law, including the nature and scope of criminal responsibility, actus reus and mens rea elements, and criminal defences.
- Explain and evaluate a range of theories addressing these concepts including developments at the forefront of the field
- Apply these theories to novel, complex and/or contentious cases; and
- Use them to evaluate critically proposals for develoment of the criminal law
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Reading List
| To be distributed in advance of seminars |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
This course will contribute to students¿ development of the following skills:
¿ Identifying, conceptualising and defining new and abstract problems and issues
¿ Developing original and creative responses to problems and issues
¿ Critically reviewing, consolidating and extending knowledge, skills, practices and thinking
¿ Using a range of communication skills and methods
¿ Exercising substantial autonomy and initiative in own work
¿ Taking responsibility for own work
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| Keywords | Criminalisation,criminal law,philosophy of law,responsibility,liability,culpability,actus reus, |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Andrew Cornford
Tel: (0131 6)51 4085
Email: |
Course secretary | Ms Karin Bolton
Tel: (0131 6)50 2022
Email: |
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