Course Catalogue

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COMPARATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS will compare the identification, origin, meaning and enforcement of fundamental constitutional rights in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, New Zealand, and Israel. These countries have been selected because of their comparative relevance to the United Kingdom, and because primary materials are widely available in English. Canada, New Zealand and Israel have very similar Bills of Rights to the UK's Human Rights Act, and there is frequent borrowing and migration of ideas between these jurisdictions.

COMPARATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS will be a course in comparative public law, not in legal theory. It is a course which compares (national) constitutions. It is not a course in international law or in international human rights law. Its core readings are the constitutional provisions of the countries examined and the case law of the US Supreme Court, the UK Supreme Court, the Supreme Court of Canada (and other similar apex courts in such countries as Israel and New Zealand).

Ten weekly two-hour seminars on campus

This course is only available to LLB students.

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Students will be required to submit two essays.

The first, worth 20% of the overall credit for the course, will be both formative and summative. This will be a 1500-word essay.

The second, worth 80% of the overall credit for the course, will be a summative essay of 3500 words.

Reassessments are normally available for all courses, except those which contribute to the Honours classification. Where, exceptionally, reassessment on Honours courses is required to satisfy professional/accreditation requirements, only the overall course grade achieved at the first attempt will contribute to the Honours classification. For non-Honours courses, students are offered reassessment in all or any of the components of assessment if the satisfactory (threshold) grade for the overall course is not achieved at the first attempt. This is normally grade D3 for undergraduate students and grade C3 for postgraduate students. Exceptionally it may not be possible to offer reassessment of some coursework items, in which case the mark achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade. Any such exceptions for this course are described below.

The course aims are:

· To explain the three different models of constitutional rights used in the leading jurisdictions of the English-speaking world and to compare them (specifically, the US model, the Westminster model, and the New Commonwealth model);

· To understand how the US Constitution, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act, the UK's Human Rights Act and other similar instruments protect constitutional rights;

· To explore case law arising in the US, Canada, New Zealand, Israel and the UK, and other similar jurisdictions, in relation to constitutional rights; and

· To evaluate the strengths and limitations of the different models explored.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

· Understand the US model, the Westminster model, and the New Commonwealth model of constitutional rights;

· Evaluate the strengths and limitations of each model;

· Understand and assess the leading case law on constitutional rights of the US Supreme Court, the UK Supreme Court, the Supreme Court of Canada, and other apex courts in comparable countries such as Israel and New Zealand; and

· Evaluate the strengths and limitations of the case law of the US Supreme Court, the UK Supreme Court and the Supreme Court of Canada regarding the meaning, application and enforcement of constitutional rights.

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.