British Constitutional Law - Einzelansicht

This course explores fundamental elements of British constitutional law, starting with essential tenets including the doctrine of Parliamentary sovereignty and the rule of law. A particular focus will be on the legislative and executive institutions serving the UK as a whole. In considering controls on power in the UK’s modern constitutional structure, the course will illuminate contemporary strains in the edifice. Besides knowledge of Britain’s constitutional rules and practices and insight into relevant legal and political history, students on this course will profit from considering topical debate and controversy arising out of competing conceptions of how modern British democracy should function. The course will assist students in undertaking an informed critical appraisal of the extent to which constitutional rules and practices may protect human rights and prevent abuse of power.

This course requires sufficient passive English language skills to follow the lectures. (Supporting written material will be made available on Moodle.) The assessment requires either active ability in reading and writing in English (with the assistance of a dictionary) or confidence in speaking and listening in English, depending on whether they choose to take a written or oral assessment.

Students may choose to take either a written or oral assessment for this course.

The written assessment will consist of a two-hour exam. Students will have an additional 15 minutes period for reading the exam paper. Bound printed English-German/German-English dictionaries (or equivalent for other languages) may be used in the assessment, provided they are not legal dictionaries and provided they are not annotated or marked.

Students taking the oral assessment will be examined individually and will be required to answer questions across the range of topics chosen by the student in advance. Questions will be designed to further a dialogue with the student. They will combine both open and closed questions and their exact form will depend on the student's level of knowledge and skills of legal analysis.

This course fulfils the requirement in §16(2) S. 1 Nr 3 ThürJAPO ('Sprachenschein'). It also forms part of the 'International Legal Studies' Certificate programme.