European Constitutional Law (Erasmus)

Overview

The course content will be divided into two main parts. Part 1 will be concerned with the development of the EU and with the powers of its institutions. Part 2 will be concerned with core constitutional principles developed by the EU Courts.

Learning Objectives

Students will acquire knowledge and understanding of the: 1. Historical development of the European Union 2. Roles and powers of the major EU institutions 3. Nature of the EU legal system 4. Sources of EU law 5. Nature of the constitutional relationship between EU law and its institutions and the domestic legal orders of the individual Member States. 6. The strategies employed by the EU institutions to ensure compliance with EU law at national level 7. Major remedies available to individuals and Member States to enforce or clarify the meaning of EU law and challenge its legality 8. Procedures available to the European Community to enforce compliance with EU law by Member States. 9. Principle of precedent as it operates within the EU legal order 10. EU courts' approach to legislative interpretation 11. How to find and use primary and secondary sources of EU law in both electronic and paper formats.

Skills

1. An understanding of the principal features of the EU legal system and its relationship to the UK legal system in their philosophical, historical, political and comparative contexts. 2. Problem Solving. 3. Identify accurately issues that require researching. 4. Identify and retrieve up-to-date legal information, using paper and electronic sources. 5. Use relevant primary and secondary legal sources. 6. Recognise and rank items and issues in terms of relevance and importance from a variety of different sources. 7. Act independently in planning and undertaking tasks. 8. Synthesise doctrinal and policy issues in relation to a topic. 9. Judge critically the merits of particular arguments. 10. Present and make a reasoned choice based on an informed understanding of standard arguments in the area of law in question. 11. Reflect on own learning and proactively seek and make use of feedback. 12. Use English proficiently in relation to legal matters. 13. Time management. 14. Present knowledge or an argument in a way that is comprehensible to others. 15. Read and discuss legal materials which are written in technical and complex language. 16. Produce word-processed essays. 17. Use the web and email.

Assessment

Assessment which reflects the learning outcomes and required skills.