CQUniversity Unit Profile

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LAWS11057 Introduction to Law
Introduction to Law
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The information will not be changed unless absolutely necessary and any change will be clearly indicated by an approved correction included in the profile.
General Information

Overview

This unit introduces you to the study of law by examining the history out of which our law developed and examining how the law responds to the socio-legal conditions of our time. It provides you with an awareness of the institutions which are created by the law and how those institutions shape the development of the law. You will be introduced to the notion of legal reasoning: distinguishing the 'dicta' and 'obiter' of cases, precedent theory, case analysis, following and distinguishing precedent; as well as distinguishing between primary and delegated legislation. This unit introduces you to legal discourse and the conventions of the discipline which will provide a foundation for study in more advanced units.

Details

Career Level: Undergraduate
Unit Level: Level 1
Credit Points: 6
Student Contribution Band: 10
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load: 0.125

Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

There are no requisites for this unit.

Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).

Offerings For Term 3 - 2023

Online

Attendance Requirements

All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes – in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).

Website

This unit has a website, within the Moodle system, which is available two weeks before the start of term. It is important that you visit your Moodle site throughout the term. Please visit Moodle for more information.

Class and Assessment Overview

Information for Class and Assessment Overview has not been released yet.

This information will be available on Monday 11 September 2023
CQUniversity Policies

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Previous Student Feedback

Feedback, Recommendations and Responses

Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.

Feedback from Reflection of the teaching team, student feedback

Feedback

Week 4, which looks at legislation and statutory interpretation, and week 5, which looks at the court hierarchy and the doctrine of precedent, are very dense.

Recommendation

Move some of the content in week 1 to an 'orientation' tile or provide the content via a video/guide as part of the unit overview. This will allow for foundational information from weeks 4 and 5 (the structure of the legal system, what law is, the court hierarchy, and the legislative process) to be explored at a foundational level in week 1, which will reduce the amount of content in weeks 4 and 5.

Feedback from Student feedback

Feedback

Students should have significantly more time to complete the problem solving assessment, which is conducted as a take home paper.

Recommendation

A take home paper must be retained for compliance with accreditation requirements. The nature of this assessment, a problem solving exercise, should be retained as it assesses students' problem solving skills and knowledge of statutory interpretation and precedent using primary sources. However, students should be given a minimum of 7 days to review the legislative provisions and cases that will be the subject of the take home paper assessment so that they do not need to complete any reading in the time permitted for the take home paper.

Unit Learning Outcomes

Information for Unit Learning Outcomes has not been released yet.

This information will be available on Monday 11 September 2023
Alignment of Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Graduate Attributes

Information for Alignment of Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Graduate Attributes has not been released yet.

This information will be available on Monday 11 September 2023
Textbooks and Resources

Information for Textbooks and Resources has not been released yet.

This information will be available on Monday 11 September 2023
Academic Integrity Statement

Information for Academic Integrity Statement has not been released yet.

This unit profile has not yet been finalised.