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LAWS11063 - Torts A

General Information

Unit Synopsis

This first year course introduces students to the law of tort(s), one of four interactive categories of civil law obligations, of the common law: contract, tort, unjust enrichment and other causative events. Tort law has a distinctive bilateral structure and court litigation process: bilateral primary legal obligations which arise by unilateral operation of law, the violation of which by the tortfeasor generates new secondary obligations of reparation (the duty to repair, or damages) in favour of the right-holder, as crystallised by court enforcement. As an analytical framework, this course adopts the explanatory theory or view of 'the conceptual structure of tort practice' as encapsulating corrective justice: a person being held outcome-responsible for certain adverse transactional outcomes they inflict, ie wrongs to privileged legal rights of others. The course commences with an overview of tort law structure and theory. Topics which follow include the main cases of civil wrongs: intentional violation of the legal rights of individuals, personal and real property. The course concludes with consideration of remedial secondary obligations in tort which arise in favour of the legal right-holder against the tortfeasor: declaration ,injunctive relief and damages.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 1
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 4
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

Prerequisite or corequisite:- LAWS11057

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).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School No Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 3 - 2013

Term 1 - 2017 Profile
Distance
Term 1 - 2018 Profile
Distance
Term 1 - 2019 Profile
Online
Term 1 - 2020 Profile
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).

Assessment Overview

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.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Written Assessment 40%
2. Examination 60%

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

Past Exams

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Previous Feedback

Term 1 - 2020 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 4.8 (on a 5 point Likert scale), based on a 44.3% response rate.

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.

Source: Student Evaluations, informal student feedback
Feedback
Generally positive response to assessment feedback in this unit. However there was some requests for an assignment answer guide and some feedback that students were unclear on what a HD paper required.
Recommendation
Continue with providing a detailed marking rubric and self-evaluation component to the first assessment task. Continue providing student exemplars of HD quality for each assessment piece. Consider providing an answer guide to the class on the problem assessment in addition to the individual feedback. Ensure external markers are providing sufficient and quality feedback. Continue providing students with the opportunity for additional individual feedback after assignments are returned.
Action Taken
The UC provided a detailed marking rubric and ensured external markers were provided with sufficient feedback to provide students.
Source: Staff reflection, student evaluation
Feedback
Generally positive response to the moodle site layout and learning resource collection. Some feedback received on the amount of learning resources provided and required reading.
Recommendation
Conduct a review of the current collection of learning resources to ensure they remain relevant. Review the filing method for zoom recording links for ease of identification. Conduct a review of lecture podcasts and powerpoint slides and make updates where relevant. Provide a short video to students on how to navigate the unit moodle site. Continue to remind students of the expected 12.5 hour per week commitment to this unit as suggested by the university. Continue to provide students with advice on how to manage workload and readings.
Action Taken
The UC carried out a review of all resources to ensure they are up to date and relevant.
Source: Student evaluations
Feedback
Tutorial questions and answers. Mixed feedback received on the provision of tutorial answer guides after zoom sessions and lack of students attempting tutorial questions.
Recommendation
Review the current set of tutorial questions. Review the current practice of providing dot point tutorial answer guides and consider removing them altogether in this unit. Remind students of the importance of completing tutorial questions and encourage greater engagement on the moodle forums.
Action Taken
The UC actively encouraged students to complete tutorial questions and to engage on Moodle forums and in zoom sessions.
Source: There are no recommendations as this unit has been terminated.
Feedback
There are no recommendations as this unit has been terminated.
Recommendation
There are no recommendations as this unit has been terminated.
Action Taken
Nil.
Unit learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Situate the law of torts in the broader domain of obligational law, outline the essential elements of tort obligations and explain the conceptual structure of tort practice in theory terms with reference to corrective justice
  2. Articulate the main cases of legal wrongs at common law - the intentional violation of legal rights with respect to individuals, personal and real property - as supplemented by statute
  3. Demonstrate competency in practical legal reasoning; identifying and analysing stylised fact-law complexes that comprise tort obligations as described above, including remedies
  4. Undertake and effectively communicate competent legal research of primary and secondary source material on tort law topics germane to this course
  5. Read and understand relevant legal materials consistent with the content covered in the course

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5
1 - Written Assessment • • • • •
2 - Examination • • • • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5
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 • • • •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 - Written Assessment • • • • • •
2 - Examination • • • • •