Regulations for the Degree of Bachelor of Laws with Politics

For the purpose of these Regulations, 'the Board of Examiners' refers to examiners as constituted at Board of Examiners' meetings in June and September or, where appropriate, at the School Board following the relevant meeting of the Board of Examiners.

All units involved in the undergraduate and postgraduate taught courses referred to below are credit-rated in accordance with the principles contained in the CATS Guide and Regulations (see Section IV). Details of how the CATS arrangements apply to each course is included in the relevant student handbooks.

  1. The degree of Bachelor of Law with Politics may be awarded with honours or as an ordinary degree.

  2. The course of study for the degree of Bachelor of Law with Politics extends over three years.

  3. In order to qualify for the degree of Bachelor of Law with Politics a candidate must have:

    1. satisfied the requirements for Admission to degree courses as specified in Section IV of the General Regulations;
    2. followed a course of study in accordance with the Regulations, and
    3. satisfactory completed the prescribed examinations which may include course work and viva voce assessment.

  4. The subjects to be studied in the first year of the course shall be:

    Legal Method
    Constitutional Law
    Criminal Law
    Introduction to Political Theory
    Introduction to International Relations

    And one of the following units:

    Political Systems
    Issues in Contemporary International Relations

  1. Subject to Regulation 7 and 8 the subjects to be studied in the second year of the course shall be:

    Law of Contract
    Property I
    Law of the European Union

    And two units from the following units:

    Political Theory A
    Comparative Politics - prerequisite is Political Systems
    International Political Analysis - prerequisite is Introduction to International Relations

    And one other politics unit to be agreed with the Law with Politics co-ordinator.

  1. Subject to Regulation 8 the subjects to be studied in the final year of the course shall be:

    Law of Tort
    Property II
    2 Political Units

    And, subject to Regulation 7 and the prior approval of the Head of School, one of the following units:

    Admiralty Law
    Carriage of Goods by Sea
    Civil Liberties
    Commercial Sales
    Company Law
    Conflict of Laws
    Environmental Law
    Ethnic Minorities Law
    Evidence and Procedure
    Family Law
    Health Care Law
    Information Technology Law
    Intellectual Property Law
    International Protection of Human Rights
    Jurisprudence
    Labour Law
    Law and Government
    Legal French
    Public International Law
    Restitution
    Revenue Law
    Social Security Law

    In place of one such unit, a candidate may choose two half-options from the following list, provided not more than one is studied in a single semester:

    Comparative European Law
    Child Support Law
    Housing Law
    Immigration Law
    Law and Discrimination
    Penal Policy Making
    Police Governance
    Youth Justice

    The following half options may run if the full option (in brackets) is not running that year in order to provide as much choice as possible to students.

    Law and Medical Ethics (Health Care)
    Revenue (Revenue)
    Child Law (Family)
    Information Technology Law (IT Law)

  1. The outline of the content of each subject shall be specified in course Regulations. The availability of options is dependent on staffing and timetabling constraints and it cannot be guaranteed that every option will be available in any particular year. Additional options may be made available from time to time in the second or final years with the approval of the School Board. Where options are available it may be necessary to limit the number of candidates taking a particular course.

  2. Where in accordance with Ordinance 7.2 subjects completed at other places of learning by a candidate are counted as equivalent to examinations in the course for the Bachelor of Laws, the School Board may permit such a candidate to qualify for the degree by following such a course of study and completing such examinations as it shall specify.

  3. Candidates shall not normally be entitled to present themselves for any examination unless they have regularly attended and performed the prescribed work of the course to the satisfaction of the Head of the School. For the purpose of this Regulation, examination shall include all methods of assessment. Candidates' attention is also drawn to the University's General Regulation 12 concerning non-attendance.

  4. At the first year examinations, candidates shall be examined in all subjects studied during the first year of the course. No candidate shall be allowed to proceed to the second year of the course unless the candidate has satisfied the Board of Examiners at the first year examination.

  5.  
    1. At the second year examinations, candidates shall be examined in all subjects studied during the second year of the course.
    2. Subject to paragraph (c) of this Regulation no candidate shall be allowed to proceed to the third year of the course unless the candidate has satisfied the Board of Examiners in the second year examination.
    3. A candidate who fails to reach the required standard in one subject only in the second year examination may elect to proceed to the third year without redeeming that failure. In such a case a failure in one subject will be recorded in the overall degree assessment of the candidate, irrespective of the candidate's performance in the third year examination. The content of the third year course for such a candidate shall be approved by the Head of Department, but a candidate who has failed a compulsory second year Law subject shall be required to repeat that subject.

  6. A list of final year candidates who have successfully completed the examination and satisfied the Board of Examiners as to the dissertation will be issued with the names arranged in alphabetical order within the following classes: first class honours, second class honours (in two divisions), third class honours.

Resit Regulations

  1. Every candidate shall have an automatic right to resit all of the papers taken in a particular year once during his/her undergraduate course. No such candidate who is permitted to resit an examination in the following year shall be allowed to repeat that year as an internal student save with the permission of the School Board. When a candidate resits an examination in the following year the candidate shall normally be required to take the papers set for that occasion regardless of any change of syllabus.

  2. A candidate who resits the first or second year examination, by exercising his/her automatic right, shall do so in the supplementary examination ordinarily to be held in August/September of the same year. If a candidate satisfies the Board of Examiners at such supplementary examination the candidate shall proceed to the next year of the course. Subject to Regulation 17 below, failure to satisfy the Board of Examiners in that examination shall lead to termination of the candidate's degree programme.

  3. A candidate who fails to reach the required standard in the third year examination and who resits the examination by exercising his/her automatic right shall do so at the next available examination.

  4. Every candidate shall be entitled to retake a single paper in the first or second year examination. This shall not affect a candidate's automatic right to resit under Regulation 13. In a case where a candidate fails a retake paper, to which no medical or other exceptional and substantial circumstances apply, the Board of Examiners may exceptionally grant the candidate one single further opportunity to retake that paper at the next available examination without invoking the automatic right of resit. In reaching its decision the Board of Examiners will take into account all the circumstances including the quality of the previous examination performance, the attendance record of the candidate and the practicalities of the case.

  5. Where a fail mark has been recorded by the Board of Examiners and where medical or other exceptional and substantial circumstances have affected a candidate's performance, the candidate may be granted another attempt at the examination or part thereof without recording the previous attempt provided, in the opinion of the Board of Examiners, this is considered appropriate. In the absence of such circumstances, where a candidate fails the examination under the automatic right of resit, an exceptional discretionary resit of the entire examination may be granted. In reaching its decision the Board of Examiners will take into account the overall quality of that resit performance, whether the candidate had the benefit of an internal rather than external resit and, if so, the attendance record of the candidate. This Regulation will also apply mutatis mutandis to a candidate who has exhausted the automatic right of resit by passing an examination in a previous year, who later is deemed to have failed more than one paper in the examination for a subsequent year of the course.