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LAW30550

Academic Year 2024/2025

Legal History: The History of Public Law (LAW30550)

Subject:
Law
College:
Social Sciences & Law
School:
Law
Level:
3 (Degree)
Credits:
5
Module Coordinator:
Assoc Professor Kevin Costello
Trimester:
Spring
Mode of Delivery:
On Campus
Internship Module:
No
How will I be graded?
Letter grades

Curricular information is subject to change.

This module is concerned with two broad legal historical themes, both with a constitutional character.

The organising theme of the first part of the module is the legal history of personal constitutional rights. The module includes the following topics: (i) The history of women's property and political rights in the period 1850 to 1920: (ii) The history of the liberty of political free expression is covered: (iii). The history of the legal responses to, and abolition of, slavery (1700 to 1833) is covered. (iv) The history (1690-1920) of the law relating to religious liberty in Ireland, including the Penal Laws, is treated.

The theme of the second half of the module is Irish constitutional history. This analysis will span the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries. It will include consideration of legal subjects connected to the "Glorious Revolution" of 1688; the rise of Parliament and the diminution in the powr of the Crown; the evolution of the Irish Free State under its 1922 Constitution and the emergence of the current Irish Constitution of 1937.

About this Module

Learning Outcomes:

At the conclusion of this module, students should be able to: demonstrate a detailed knowledge of: the development of the English constitution in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; the legal historical background to the Constitution of Ireland 1937; the legal history of freedom of expression; the history of the Penal Laws and the right of religious liberty in Ireland; of the evolution of the principal institutions of the criminal trial; and of the rights of defendants in the criminal process; th legal history of the right to vote; the legal history of the rights of women; and the history of judicial review.

Students should, through undertaking a research-based essay in legal history, have acquired an appreciation of the sources and techniques of legal historical research.

Students on this module are expected to have read and understood the UCD Academic Integrity Policy and the School Protocol on Academic Integrity. Students must ensure that they comply with all requirements laid down therein and avoid academic misconduct. Students are not permitted to use generative artificial intelligence, or other machine learning technology, in their learning and in completing assessments on this module. Students are expected to follow Oscola Ireland in citing sources in completing assessments.

Student Effort Hours:
Student Effort Type Hours
Autonomous Student Learning

125

Lectures

20

Total

145


Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
The approach taken in this module blends social and political history with legal doctrine. It explains how legal doctrine influenced the development of the recognition of civil rights and the development of the basic rules of the criminal process.

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 

Assessment Strategy
Description Timing Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade In Module Component Repeat Offered
Assignment(Including Essay): Essay: A research based essay in a prescribed legal historical topic (3,000 words) Week 12 Graded No
50
No
Exam (In-person): Examination: A two hour examination designed to test understanding of, and reading associated with, legal historical topics covered in the module. End of trimester
Duration:
2 hr(s)
Graded No
50
No

Carry forward of passed components
Yes
 

Resit In Terminal Exam
Summer No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Group/class feedback, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Feedback for the assignment will be delivered in the form of individualised feedback (on request by email). Feedback for the examination will be in the form of commentary on each of the questions. This commentary will identify material that the examiners expected to be included in the answers, as well as common errors.

Name Role
Assoc Professor Thomas Mohr Lecturer / Co-Lecturer

Timetabling information is displayed only for guidance purposes, relates to the current Academic Year only and is subject to change.
Spring Lecture Offering 1 Week(s) - 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 Thurs 14:00 - 15:50