LAW10360

Learning Outcomes:

At the end of this module, a student, who has attended lectures and engaged with essential readings, will be able to:

(a) Outline the sources of law and the hierarchy of these sources in the Irish legal system, as a common law system, and the importance (or otherwise) of "the rule of law" in Ireland.
(b) Describe the respective first instance and appellate jurisdiction of Irish courts in criminal and civil matters.
(c) Explain the importance of legislation in the Irish legal system, evidencing an ability to read legislation (seen and unseen), and appraise the rationale for legislation, including the legislative and common law rules for legislative (statutory) interpretation.
(d) Understand the legal value of European Union law and public international law in the Irish legal system.
(e) Assess how the Irish legal system operates within a societal context, such as the extent that access to justice is realised, the role of gender in Irish law and practice, and the emergence of new forms of lawyering.
(f) Utilise legal research and legal writing skills to engage in directed and/or independent legal research.

Indicative Module Content:

In the 2024/2025 academic year, it is envisaged that the following topics will be explored.

The concept of the rule of law in the Irish legal system and the sources and hierarchies of law.
Courts system and jurisdiction.
Common law and the operation of a system of legal precedent in Ireland.
Legislation
Legislative (Statutory) Interpretation
EU & international law in the Irish legal system.
Access to justice (civil legal aid).
Women, feminism and the Irish legal system.
Lawyers in a digital age

This is subject to change. A confirmed list of lecture topics will be shared with registered students in January 2025 via Brightspace.

Student Effort Hours:

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:

Students have a number of supports to enable them to reach their potential in this module. In order to meet the learning outcomes for this module, you must spend 125 hours completing this module over the duration of the semester. Learning is a communal experience . Knowledge is shared, discussed and (respectfully) critiqued. It is important that all contributions within this module are valued and respected, even if we may disagree on a particular issue.

Lectures for this module constitute 20 hours of your learning. Think of lectures as providing a comprehensive introduction of a particular topic, and an indication of key issues that you should focus on in your independent learning for this module (105 hours).

So, your learning in this module mainly occurs outside the lecture hall. The vast majority of your time that you will spend learning in this module is dedicated to independent learning (105 hours). This independent learning is structured.

All lectures take place face to face only. This will be your comprehensive introduction to a topic.

Students will be supported through reading lists for each topic, a PowerPoint presentation and any other material that a particular lecture may make available to students (such as lecture outlines or lecture summaries).

Weekly reading lists provide a topic by topic identification of essential (must complete) reading, that nearly always includes reading from a text book, legal journal articles and required case-law reading. Some reading lists may include recommended and further reading. You should spend 105 hours over the course of the Trimester undertaking supported study.

Continuous assessment is adopted for assessing your knowledge and understanding of the learning outcomes for this module. Full information on assessment will be made available to you via Brightspace.

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.

Module Requisites and Incompatibles

Incompatibles:
LAW10450 - Law and Courts


 

Assessment Strategy

 

Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment
• Self-assessment activities

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Throughout the semester: Should students require feedback on their learning for this module, then students are encouraged to self-assess their learning, and seek clarification from the relevant lecturer who delivered that topic, by arranging to meet the lecturer during their office hours. See the module outline for contact details of lecturers. Assessment One Feedback: For the coursework submitted in March 2025, it is envisaged that a provision grade and class feedback will be provided within 20 working days of submission (around one month) Assessment Two Feedback: For coursework submitted in April 2025, class feedback will be provided towards the end of June 2025. Individual Feedback on Assessments: Students will be informed of opportunities to receive individual feedback on their assessments. Please note, it is not possible to meet individually with a student until the results have been approved by the University. Full details on individual feedback on assessments will be communicated to you in June/July 2025 via Brightspace.

The core textbooks for this module are:

*E-Book*: Raymond Byrne, Paul McCutcheon, Laura Cahillane & Emma Roche-Cagney , Byrne and McCutcheon on the Irish Legal System (7th edition, Bloomsbury, 2020). This e-book is available through UCD Library

and

Tanya Ni Mhuirthle, Catherine O’Sullivan and Liam Thornton, Fundamentals of the Irish Legal System: Law, Policy and Politics (Roundhall 2016) (available in UCD Library only).

In addition, students will be referred to relevant legislation, case-law, other textbooks and journal articles in week to week reading lists.

Timetabling information is displayed only for guidance purposes, relates to the current Academic Year only and is subject to change.