Module SXL-2124:
Environmental Law

Module Facts

Run by School of History, Law and Social Sciences

20.000 Credits or 10.000 ECTS Credits

Semester 2

Overall aims and purpose

The aim of the module is to enable students to understand and apply important principles of the United Kingdom, European and international environmental law in the context of the main political ethical and economic concepts and arguments that have generated and influenced the law. More broadly, the module aims to continue to develop the student`s ability to use legal concepts and arguments to engage with the academic literature, to examine evidence objectively, to carry out independent study and to engage with general theoretical and methodological concepts.

Course content

The module will offer the student an opportunity to study the legal tools available for environmental protection in the domestic, European and international contexts. The main areas of study under domestic environmental law may include the ethical/philosophical underpinnings of environmental protection, international environmental principles, civil liability, criminal liability, and selected areas of public law regulation, principally planning law and nature conservation law. The main areas of study under international law may include topics such as the global response to climate change, biodiversity, the protection of specific ecosystems, sustainable development, transboundary pollution control, and the protection of the environment during armed conflict.

Assessment Criteria

excellent

Excellent: A- to A* (70+%) An outstanding answer containing all the material relevant to the question and no irrelevancy, all the material and references being accurate and correct, there being no inaccuracy or error, the whole presented in a clear, logical, critical argument with little room for improvement. An answer which demonstrates a complete mastery of the subject.

good

Good: B- to B+ (60-69%) High Standard: A comprehensive answer, containing all the material relevant to the question and no irrelevancy, all the material and references being accurate and correct, there being no inaccuracy or error, the whole presented in an argument which, while clear, logical and critical, leaves room for improvement in its construction and presentation. An answer which shows complete competence in the subject.

C- to C+

C- to C+ (50-59%) An answer which, while always in the main accurate and correct, fails to distinguish between relevant and irrelevant material and is lacking in criticism. An answer which while reliable with regard to correctness is either not comprehensive or not entirely pertinent.

threshold

Threshold: D- to D+ (40-49%) An answer which, while predominantly correct in its presentation of material, contains a significant level of error and is therefore not entirely reliable.

Learning outcomes

  1. Demonstrate awareness of how environmental law operates in relation to social, cultural and economic issues.

  2. Correctly identify and analyse areas of major controversy in selected environmental law issues, using relevant scholarly literature.

  3. Demonstrate knowledge of the key legal principles and concepts relating to the protection of the environment at domestic and international level.

  4. Identify relevant legal sources and correctly apply them to factual environmental law situations

  5. Demonstrate accurate knowledge of wider contextual issues in relation to UK, European and International environmental law, including the ethical foundations of the subject and relevant basic economic concepts.

Assessment Methods

Type Name Description Weight
Essay 50.00
Exam 50.00

Teaching and Learning Strategy

Hours
Private study

Self- study will be guided by module leader who will provide guidance as to topics and sources to consult and aims and objectives of self-study.

 156
Lecture

22 x 2 hour lectures will be delivered to explain and facilitate students' learning of key topics and concepts.

 44

Transferable skills

  • Literacy - Proficiency in reading and writing through a variety of media
  • Computer Literacy - Proficiency in using a varied range of computer software
  • Self-Management - Able to work unsupervised in an efficient, punctual and structured manner. To examine the outcomes of tasks and events, and judge levels of quality and importance
  • Exploring - Able to investigate, research and consider alternatives
  • Information retrieval - Able to access different and multiple sources of information
  • Inter-personal - Able to question, actively listen, examine given answers and interact sensitevely with others
  • Critical analysis & Problem Solving - Able to deconstruct and analyse problems or complex situations. To find solutions to problems through analyses and exploration of all possibilities using appropriate methods, rescources and creativity.
  • Presentation - Able to clearly present information and explanations to an audience. Through the written or oral mode of communication accurately and concisely.
  • Argument - Able to put forward, debate and justify an opinion or a course of action, with an individual or in a wider group setting
  • Self-awareness & Reflectivity - Having an awareness of your own strengths, weaknesses, aims and objectives. Able to regularly review, evaluate and reflect upon the performance of yourself and others

Subject specific skills

  • Develop the ability to interpret legal rules and employ techniques of legal reasoning competently and efficiently in order to offer a range of solutions and conclusions to actual or hypothetical complex legal problems, all supported by relevant academic literature, jurisprudence and legislative research. Such solutions will be clearly communicated and presented
  • Develop the ability to analyse complex legal issues, set against the background of the political, social, economic or cultural contexts in which they may arise
  • Develop those skills which are necessary for scholarship and research in legal subjects, namely the ability to identify relevant primary and secondary legal sources and to retrieve accurate legal information using paper and electronic sources

Resources

Resource implications for students

Students will have access to the core textbook via the library. However they may also wish to purchase the book and due consideration will be given to the cost of the assigned core textbook for this reason.

Talis Reading list

http://readinglists.bangor.ac.uk/modules/sxl-2124.html

Reading list

If an appropriate textbook becomes available in any given year, it will be considered for recommendation as a core textbook. Recommended reading lists will be drawn up and revised annually from sources available to students via Bangor University’s Library Catalogue and publicly available authoritative sources (such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s reports and international case law). Typically reading lists are provided for each topic covered in the module and updated annually, so identifying a few core texts to include here would not provide a representation of the totality of sources that students would be directed to read.

Pre- and Co-requisite Modules

Courses including this module