LAW3471: INTRODUCTION TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF PRIVATE LAW

• Introduction to English Law and Legal Method (LAW 1121); Contract Law (LAW 1071); Tort Law (LAW 1051); OR: at the discretion of the Chair of the Board of Studies or delegate, a suitable module from another Department may be substituted for the Law pre-requisite(s)).

• None

• None

• To examine the extent to which the various segments of private law (contract, tort, unjust enrichment) in the common law world are coherent bodies of law and to investigate what, if anything, might explain their alleged coherence;
• To examine the extent to which private law as a whole is a coherent body of law and to investigate what, if anything, might explain its alleged coherence;
• To gain a critical understanding of the general, usually normative arguments made in favour of private laws coherence, at both the general level of the system as a whole, and at the particular level of discrete components of private law (contract, tort, etc).this putative entitlement;
• To investigate the allegedly significant differences between private law, on the hand, and public law, on the other.

• The module will examine the following topics:
• 1. Non-economic theories about the nature and value of coherence in private law;
• 2. Non-economic theories about the substantive bases of various segments of private law, including accounts of corrective and distributive justice and the nature of promissory obligations;
• 3. Sceptical accounts of the nature of private laws development in the common law world;
• 4. The ways in which different accounts of private laws basis might effect the resolution of particular private law disputes;
• 5. Competing accounts of the nature of public and private law.

Subject-specific Knowledge:

• Students should be able to:
• Develop a critical understanding of the nature of coherence in private law;
• Evaluate critically various non-economic arguments offered to justify the content and shape of various segments of private law and of private law as a whole;
• Evaluate critically the responses to those arguments;
• Evaluate critically contemporary accounts of the ways in private and public law do and should differ.

Subject-specific Skills:

• Students should be able to:
• Demonstrate a critical understanding of the nature the current debate about private laws coherence;
• Demonstrate a critical understanding of the various non-economic arguments in favour of (and against) private laws coherence;
• Show an ability to deploy those arguments and their core concepts (such as distributive justice, corrective justice etc) and the ability to weigh them against one another;
• Engage in informed debate about (i) the extent to which coherence within private law matters; and (ii) about the significance of the alleged differences between private and public law.

Key Skills:

• Students should be able to:
• Demonstrate developed research and writing skills, including the ability to work independently and to take responsibility for their own learning.

• The modes of teaching, learning and assessment have been chosen in order to facilitate the achievement of the learning outcomes of the module.
• Seminars will concentrate on developing students' knowledge of the subject area and introducing them to the relevant critical, analytical and evaluative skills.
• The modes of assessment will encourage independent learning and research skills and will examine students' ability to meet the learning outcomes of the module.
• The examination tests the ability to focus on relevant legal and normative issues and organise knowledge and argument appropriate to questions raised. The examination questions will provide the means for students to demonstrate the acquisition of subject knowledge and the development of their argumentative-cum-evaluative skills.

If you have a question about Durham's modular degree programmes, please visit our FAQ webpages, Help page or our glossary of terms. If you have a question about modular programmes that is not covered by the FAQ, or a query about the on-line Undergraduate Module Handbook, please contact us.

Prospective Students: If you have a query about a specific module or degree programme, please Ask Us.

Current Students: Please contact your department.