Postgraduate Course: Brexit: Withdrawal from the European Union (LAWS11378)
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 | The UK's decision to leave the European Union raises a myriad of legal questions. These include the process of leaving; the legacy of membership, in particular acquired rights and continued relevance of EU law in 'old' cases; the new relationship: future trade relations, but also cooperation in security and foreign affairs matters and criminal law; the position of Scotland in Europe: special deal or no deal or independence?; the constitutional challenges within the UK, including parliamentary participation and the Great Repeal Bill; and the wider implications of Brexit for cooperation in Europe, in particular for human rights.
This course aims to address these questions in ten seminars. It will expose students to issues of EU constitutional law; single market law; and EU external relations law. Moreover, students will deal with the UK's constitutional arrangements, which are being challenged by Brexit.
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| Course description |
At the end of the course students will have a deep insight into a number of the unprecedented legal questions raised by Brexit. They will have gained a deep understanding of what it means to be an EU Member State, in particular where the single market is concerned and how EU law is intertwined with domestic law. They will also be able to appreciate the complex challenges for the UK's own constitutional arrangements.
The course content will cover:
1) The process of leaving the EU
2) The legacy of Brexit: acquired rights, etc
3) The future relationship between the UK and the EU: trade
4) The future relationship: other forms of cooperation
5) Brexit and the UK constitution
6) Scotland's place in Europe after Brexit
The students' learning experience will benefit from the topicality of the course. This is of course equally a challenge as the Brexit negotiations will be ongoing and will throw up new legal questions while the course is running, so that there may not be a lot of academic commentary available at the time certain topics will be discussed. The course will be taught in ten seminars covering the topics outlined in differing intensity. At the start of each seminar one or two students (depending on class size) will give a short oral presentation on the seminar topic (or an aspect to it). These presentations will also mark the start the discussion in the classroom. The main summative assessment will consist in a 4000 word essay to be written after the teaching period is over. Students will be given a choice of topics.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2017/18, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: 25 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 20,
Feedback/Feedforward Hours 4,
Formative Assessment Hours 2,
Summative Assessment Hours 4,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
166 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Individual presentations throughout the course (starting in week 3) 10% summative
Class Participation 10%
End of semester essay 80% (4000 words)
*Update*
The assessment pattern for this course is likely to be amended at the November Board of Studies. Please contact the Course Organiser if you have any questions. |
| Feedback |
Students receive constant feedback in classroom discussions. Formal instances of feedback include feedback by the course organiser on the oral presentation; feedback by the course organiser on class participation half-way through the course; feedback by the course organiser on the formative assessment; feedback on the summative assessment (essay). |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate knowledge that covers and integrates most areas of EU law.
- Apply knowledge, skills and understanding in using a range of research skills and materials that are informed by the constantly changing questions surrounding Brexit.
- Apply critical analysis, evaluation and synthesis to the forefront issue of Brexit.
- Use a wide range of routine (e.g. library research) and a range of advanced skills (research with primary sources; news items; foreign sources) to communicate research findings in presentations and essays.
- Take responsibility for their own work by preparing presentations and essays individually.
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Reading List
Books: any advanced EU law book, such as Craig/de Burca or Chalmers/Davies/Monti (with its online chapter 5A, available here http://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/law/european-law/european-union-law-text-and-materials-3rd-edition?format=PB )
Blogs, e.g.:
eulawanalysis.blogspot.com
europeanfutures.ed.ac.uk
https://brexittime.com/
verfassungsblog.de
News: follow the news.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Cognitive skills:
* Capability of applying critical analysis, evaluation and synthesis to complex legal and factual questions, in particular
* Identifying, conceptualising and defining new and abstract problems and issues.
* Development of original and creative responses to problems and issues.
* Critical review, consolidation and extension of knowledge, skills, practices and thinking in law.
Communication, numeracy and IT skills;
* Use a wide range of routine skills and a range of advanced and specialised skills, in particular:
* Oral presentations, using appropriate methods, to a specialist audience
* Communication with peers and staff members using appropriate language.
Autonomy, accountability and working with others.
* Use of a wide range of routine skills and a significant range of advanced and specialised skills, in particular:
* Communication at an appropriate level to a specialist audience when giving group presentation.
* Taking responsibility for own work
* Communication at the standard of published academic work
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| Keywords | EU law; trade law; Brexit; constitutional law; devolution; European integration; disintegration |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Tobias Lock
Tel: (0131 6)51 5535
Email: |
Course secretary | Mr David Morris
Tel: (0131 6)50 2010
Email: |
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