In Progress
Please note that this Unit Profile is still in progress. The content below is subject to change.The information will not be changed unless absolutely necessary and any change will be clearly indicated by an approved correction included in the profile.
Overview
Unlike prior units which focus on law as it is - 'black-letter' law - this capstone unit considers more theoretical, analytical, doctrinal and philosophical aspects of the entire law enterprise - a specialised societal subsystem. This unit canvasses several philosophical doctrines including: natural law, legal positivism, sociological context of law and economic analyses of the law. These and related topics are explored in this unit to enable you to integrate legal knowledge into the broad inter-disciplinary mainstream and equip you with enhanced practical legal reasoning skills.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
48 credit points of LAW units
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 2 - 2024
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).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of 'pass' in order to pass the unit. If any 'pass/fail' tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully ('pass' grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the 'assessment task' section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback - Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
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 Unit Coordinator
Ongoing improvement of Schedule, Study Guides and Assessments
Continuous improvement of newly introduced materials will embed improvements into the unit.
Feedback from Unit Coordinator
Revise Reference Materials
Reference materials are important, extensive and varied in a theory unit such as this one, and require careful ongoing attention.
Feedback from Unit Coordinator
Connect legal theory and legal practice
Continue to highlight the connections between theory and practice, to support student learning and engagement.
- Investigate and critically reflect on legal theories in light of their developments over ancient and modern times, considering relevant contemporary political and legal implications.
- Analyse the main theories of law canvassed in the unit, their ongoing relevance to contemporary legal systems, and critique the theories by drawing on relevant primary and secondary sources as well as prescribed readings.
- Implement critical reasoning to elucidate and argue theoretical implications in the relevant rhetorical styles: deductive reasoning, descriptive and normative reasoning, ethical reasoning and legal reasoning.
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| 1 - Critical Review - 20% | |||
| 2 - Take Home Exam - 40% | |||
| 3 - Research Assignment - 40% | |||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| 1 - Communication | |||
| 2 - Problem Solving | |||
| 3 - Critical Thinking | |||
| 4 - Information Literacy | |||
| 5 - Team Work | |||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | |||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | |||
| 8 - Ethical practice | |||
| 9 - Social Innovation | |||
| 10 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | |||