Module SXL-3212:
Tort

Module Facts

Run by School of Law

20 Credits or 10 ECTS Credits

Semester 1 & 2

Organiser: Mrs Victoria Ring

Overall aims and purpose

Tort is a compulsory module in the LLB programme. The aim of this module is to enable students to state and apply the rules of the English law of torts dealt with in the course accurately and relevantly, and to make assessments of that law and the scholarship pertaining thereto. This module will enbable students to learn to establish when a right exists that the law of torts protects, and then if that right is infringed without lawful reason whether there are any remedies available. It will enable students to compare and contrast that law accurately and relevantly with the equivilant areas of any other legal system with which the student is familiar, and to relate that law to the particular circumstances - political, social, cultural - in which it developed.

Course content

The module will allow the student to study the modern English law of torts, in particular the law relating to: negligence, nuisance, liability for psychiatric injury, occupiers' liability, product liability, trespass to the person and other major torts to allow the students to apply the general principles and defences.

Assessment Criteria

C- to C+

  • Knowledge of key areas/principles
  • Understands main areas
  • Limited evidence of background study
  • Answer focussed on question but also with some irrelevant material and weaknesses in structure
  • Arguments presented but lack coherence
  • Has several factual/computational errors
  • No original interpretation
  • Only major links between topics are described
  • Limited problem solving
  • Some weaknesses in presentation and accuracy

threshold

  • Knowledge of key areas/principles only
  • Weaknesses in understanding of main areas
  • Limited evidence of background study
  • Answer only poorly focussed on question and with some irrelevant material and poor structure
  • Arguments presented but lack coherence
  • Several factual/computational errors
  • No original interpretation
  • Only major links between topics are described
  • Limited problem solving
  • Many weaknesses in presentation and accuracy

excellent

  • Comprehensive knowledge
  • Detailed understanding
  • Extensive background study
  • Highly focussed answer and well structured
  • Logically presented and defended arguments
  • No factual/computational errors
  • Original interpretation
  • New links between topics are developed
  • New approach to a problem
  • Excellent presentation with very accurate communication

good

  • Strong knowledge
  • Understands most but not all
  • Evidence of background study
  • Focussed answer with good structure
  • Arguments presented coherently
  • Mostly free from factual/computational errors
  • Some limited original interpretation
  • Well known links between topics are described
  • Problems addressed by existing methods/approaches
  • Good presentation with accurate communication

Learning outcomes

  1. Show a critical appreciation of the essential elements of the tort of negligence, namely the notion of the duty of care, the standard of care and concepts of causation (both factual and legal) and remoteness.

  2. Demonstrate a broad understanding of the main areas of social activity which are regulated by the law of tort and state the general principles of tort liability.

  3. Critically identify and analyse the legal issues arising from a given set of facts.

  4. Critically evaluate the general defences in tort and also of the rules relating to the assessment of damages, comparing the other sources of compensation which may be available.

  5. Demonstrate an ability to analyse and critically discuss the existing law of tort and the latest development of the law.

  6. Carry out effective research on those issues using both primary and secondary sources.

Assessment Methods

Type Name Description Weight
Final Examination 2
Written assignment 1

Teaching and Learning Strategy

Hours
Workshop

Tutorials will routinely require students to engage individually and in groups in acquiring, commenting upon, critically evaluating and applying the principles and details of the subject under the guidance and instruction of the tutor.

 11
Lecture

The module will be taught by means of 33 hours of lectures taught over the course of one semester covering all topics as set out in the course contents.

 33
Private study 156

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.
  • Management - Able to utilise, coordinate and control resources (human, physical and/or financial)
  • 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: