Module SXL-3111:
Land Law

Module Facts

Run by School of Law

20.000 Credits or 10.000 ECTS Credits

Semester 1 & 2

Organiser: Dr Gwilym Owen

Overall aims and purpose

The aim of this module is to enable students to state and apply the rules of English and Welsh land law accurately. Students will be expected to develop a critical understanding of the key concepts of English and Welsh land law, particularly the distinctions – and the resulting consequences of the distinctions – between legal and equitable rights, personal and proprietary interests and registered and unregistered land. Students will be required to develop a critical appreciation of the particular circumstances – political, social, cultural and financial – in which English and Welsh land law has developed, particularly in relation to the major property legislation of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries and in relation to substantive matters including the ownership of family property, the regulation of leases and the law of mortgages.

Course content

The module will allow the student to study English and Welsh land law, including the nature of land, the development of land law, the law relating to land registration and the distinction between registered and unregistered land, title to land, settlements of land, trusts of land and co-ownership, the law relating to freehold and leasehold estates in land, adverse possession, easements and profits a prendre, freehold covenants, the regulation of mortgages, the regulation of leases, licences and proprietary estoppel.

Assessment Criteria

excellent

To achieve Grade A the assessment must:

· Demonstrate comprehensive knowledge and detailed understanding of the subject area.

· Demonstrate extensive background study.

· Be well structured and highly focussed.

· Contain logically presented and defended arguments.

· Be free of factual/computational errors.

· Include significant elements of original interpretation.

· Demonstrate an ability to identify, develop and present new links between topics.

· Include new approaches to analysing and/or explaining a problem.

· Be presented to very high standards with very accurate communication.

good

To achieve Grade B the assessment must:

· Demonstrate strong knowledge and understanding of most of the subject area.

· Demonstrate evidence of background study.

· Be well structured and focussed.

· Contain coherently presented arguments.

· Be mostly free of factual/computational errors.

· Include some elements of original interpretation.

· Describe well known links between topics.

· Analyse and/or explain problems using existing methods/approaches.

· Be presented to high standards with accurate communication.

C- to C+

To achieve Grade C the assessment must:

· Demonstrate knowledge of key areas/principles.

· Have some, if only limited, evidence of background study.

· Be focussed on the question (assessment brief) with only some irrelevant material and weaknesses in structure.

· Attempt to present relevant and logical arguments.

· Not contain a large number of factual/computational errors.

· Describe major links between topics.

· Attempt to analyse and/or explain problems.

· Be free of major weaknesses in presentation and accuracy.

threshold

To achieve Grade D the assessment must:

· Demonstrate knowledge of some key areas/principles.

· Have some, if only limited, evidence of background study.

· Attempt to present an answer on the question (assessment brief) with only some irrelevant material and weaknesses in structure.

· Attempt to present relevant and coherent arguments.

· Not contain a large number of factual/computational errors.

· Describe some links between topics.

· Provide some analysis and/or explanation of problems.

· Demonstrate an attempt to avoid major weaknesses in presentation and accuracy.

The assessment will be given Grade E-F if it does not fulfil the associated learning outcomes and contains:

· Insufficient detail.

· Deficiencies in knowledge even of key areas/principles.

· No evidence of understanding, even of the main areas.

· No evidence of background study.

· Tangential material, lacking a coherent structure.

· No arguments.

· Many factual/computational errors.

· No original interpretation.

· No description of links between topics.

· No attempt to solve problems.

· A weak presentation with many inaccuracies.

Learning outcomes

  1. Demonstrate a critical appreciation of the ways in which rights and interests in land are protected both at law and in equity, and in relation to registered and unregistered land;

  2. Critically relate the principal historical and contemporary characteristics of English and Welsh land law to their political, social, economic and cultural context, including an exploration into the relationship between land law and human rights in relevant topic areas.

  3. Critically explain the reasoning behind, and the practical implications of key twentieth and twenty-first century legislation relating to English land law – including the reforms of 1925, the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996, the Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act 1995 and the Land Registration Act 2002;

  4. Apply a detailed knowledge of English and Welsh land law to complex actual or hypothetical factual scenarios;

  5. Show familiarity with the research and literature related to English and Welsh land law;

  6. Undertake independent legal research in relation to English and Welsh land law.

Assessment Methods

Type Name Description Weight
ESSAY Written assignment 40.00
EXAM Final Exam 60.00

Teaching and Learning Strategy

Hours
Lecture 40
Private study 154
Tutorial 6

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.
  • 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

Pre- and Co-requisite Modules

Courses including this module

Compulsory in courses:

Optional in courses: