Course Catalogue

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The power of courts has expanded all around the world; it is now the global norm for courts to review government action and legislation for conformity with constitutional law. But the global expansion of judicial power has been met by varying degrees of backlash. In extreme cases, some governments have taken dramatic steps to curtail the power and/or independence of their national judiciaries. These developments raise many fascinating questions: What explains the expansion of judicial power around the world? How is judicial independence maintained despite tensions with the political branches of government? Do politics and other personal characteristics influence judicial decisions? Do powerful courts make much difference to the protection of rights? To what extent is populism a threat to judicial independence? This course will guide students through a sustained inquiry into such questions. For the most part, the approach will be empirical (i.e., we will see what social science can tell us about these questions) and comparative (e.g., we will consider how the United Kingdom compares with other national jurisdictions with respect to these questions). Along the way, students will develop transferable skills for interpreting, analysing, and communicating the results of empirical and comparative research.

There will be 10 x 2-hour seminars spread throughout semester 2

This course is only available to LLB students.

None.

None

Written Assignment, worth 85% of the final grade (word limit of 4,250 words) 

Students will write a "desk-based" research paper, focused on one or more topics covered in this module, in which they review relevant academic literature to compare the United Kingdom with another national jurisdiction of their choice.

A Report, worth 15% of the final grade (word limit of 750 words) 

Students will submit a short report in which they i) briefly explain the focus of their Written Assignment and ii) outline the proposed structure of their Written Assignment (see above). This Report is partly formative in nature - students will receive written feedback on the Report to support their work on the Written Assignment.  

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. 

This course's aims are as follows:

1. To guide students through foundational and cutting-edge scholarship from both law and political science on questions relating to the power and independence of courts;

2. To provide some foundational instruction on how to interpret and analyse the results of quantitative empirical research; 

3. To give students an opportunity to develop their confidence in the presentation and discussion of research;

4. To give students an opportunity to develop their skills in research and writing in a comparative and empirically informed analysis of topics covered in this course.

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

1. Identify and explain key concepts in academic research relating to the topics covered in this course.

2. Interpret and communicate the results of published academic research (including quantitative and comparative research) at an appropriate level.

3. Orally summarise and present the results of academic research at an appropriate level (assessed by In-class Presentation).  

4. Collect and analyse relevant academic literature and identify important gaps in that literature. 

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