Study Abroad & Exchange Programmes at Glasgow

Criminal Law: History & Theory

2 hour weekly seminar - Thursday 1300-1500, held weekly in terms 1 and 2.

A pass mark in Criminal Law and Evidence. Places on the course will, however, be allocated based on academic merit. This course is only available to LL.B students.

Each student will be required to produce an essay of 5,000 words during this course. This paper will represent 40% of the final mark for the course. The final assessment shall consist of a three-hour unseen examination. The final examination will count for the other 60% of the assessment.

Reassessments are normally available for all courses, except those which 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 aims of the course are: (1) to analyse patterns of liability in the development of particular crimes; (2) to understand a range of different theoretical approaches to understanding the criminal law and its historical development; (3) to analyse critically the institutional and theoretical development of Scots criminal law; (4) to develop an understanding of a range of comparative materials on criminal law.

By the end of this course, the student should: (1) be familiar with a range of theoretical and historical approaches to the criminal law; (2) be capable of critical evaluation of these approaches; (3) be able to analyse primary and secondary sources on the cirminal law in the light of these approaches; and (4) be able to develop and articulate their own understanding of the merits of these approaches.

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