Law

Core modules:

Administrative Law

Administrative law builds upon the themes dealt with in constitutional law, although the focus is somewhat different as much of the module centres around judicial review. However, care is taken to ensure that administrative law principles are seen within their political and social context, and that due weight is attached to the other means of resolving grievances against the state. In addition, we will be considering how far legal techniques are actually used in the development and implementation of governmental policy and to what extent this allows for democratic participation in decision-making and accountability after decisions are taken.

Constitutional Law

This module comprises three sections. In the first theoretical ideas as to the ideal design of constitutions are developed. This is followed in the second section by coverage of the constitutional arrangements of the UK and of the EU, as well as the constitutional relationship between them. In the remainder of the module some of the more significant and controversial aspects of the constitution are studied in more detail, leading to a discussion of the general principles of administrative law.

Contract Law

The module examines which agreements the law recognises as legally binding, how such agreements are formed, how their terms are determined and how they may be varied, the consequences of impropriety, such as improper pressure by one party during negotiations, and what happens when one party is in breach of their obligations under the contract. The module examines some current initiatives to harmonise contract laws within Europe and around the world. Contract is a core module for professional legal purposes; it underpins a number of other legal subjects, and provides an opportunity to study a prime example of judge-made rules. 

Dissertation

Students must complete a 10,000 word dissertation on a legal topic of their choice. The dissertation gives the student the opportunity to explore an area of their interest in some depth. To achieve a masters standard the student is required to demonstrate an up-to-date critical analysis of the topic chosen for discussion. Students cannot achieve a masters degree unless they successfully complete the dissertation

Equity and Trusts

This module develops the student's understanding of the nature of equitable rights, doctrines, processes, and remedies in domestic law. Particular attention is devoted to the creation of trusts, both private and charitable, to variation of trusts, and to the administrative powers of trustees and their personal liability for breach of trust. The relationship between constructive trusts and proprietary estoppel is considered, as is the relationship between equitable principles and the law of restitution. Amongst equitable remedies considered are specific performance and injunctions. The process of tracing (including a comparison with tracing at common law) is also analysed.

Law of Crime

The Law of Crime is a foundational module for professional purposes. It is concerned with the principles which govern the circumstances in which a person can be found guilty of a criminal act or omission. In doing this, the module provides an analysis of some of the most important criminal offences. It also considers when a person can escape liability by pleading defences, among others, insanity, diminished responsibility and intoxication. The module aims to comply with the pedagogic aims of the Masters degree and to inculcate an appreciation of the general principles of and a selection of offences in criminal law.

Law of Torts

This module will examine the tort of negligence, concentrating on the principles of duty of care and breach of duty, focusing on the tensions raised by issues such as liability for economic loss and psychiatric injury, and also on the complex problems of proving causation. It will also look at the place of torts law within the law of obligations. It will consider the effectiveness of the torts system in light of the concept of vicarious liability, the available defences, the law of damages, and the policy considerations involved. Torts to be studied will vary each semester and could include occupiers' liability, nuisance, products liability, trespass and defamation.

Law of Property

This module introduces the student to the general concepts of the law of property and develops these with particular reference to land law. The unit examines the nature of property rights, their creation and transfer, the distinction between legal estates and legal and equitable interests, the creation and protection of the rights of third parties, both of a commercial nature (including easements and restrictive covenants) and of a family nature (such as rights arising under a trust). The module considers both unregistered and registered systems of titles to land, and co-ownership of land. Leases, commonhold, and mortgages are also analysed.

Legal Research & Writing Skills

This module introduces students to the basic skills of legal research and legal writing, both essays and problem solving. The module includes lectures by academic staff, library staff and on-line specialists, hands-on workshops and structured seminars. The modules also covers referencing and the use of unfair means. Students are given formative feedback on essays. Students are introduced to the skills necessary to give effective oral presentations. Time will also be given to self-reflect on future employment opportunities.

Understanding Law and Legal Systems

This module is one of the first taught on the MA (Law) programme and is designed to achieve a number of different objectives. In essence, its main role is to introduce students to the topic of law, and to encourage them to think creatively about the purpose of law. In addition, students will be taught basic legal skills and given an introduction into the legal systems and materials that they will be dealing with throughout the remainder of the degree.

Optional modules - example modules:

Advanced EU Law

This module is one of the core/optional foundation subjects of the Qualifying Law Degree programmes offered by Sheffield Law School. Building on 'Public Law in the UK and the EU', it explores the institutional structure and legal framework of the EU, as well as its substantive law. The module offers a distinct perspective on the dynamics of the EU, focusing on fundamental rights, the internal market and citizenship. Students will engage with Treaty provisions, EU legislation and cases, and practise a range of legal skills in applying EU law to concrete situations, thereby developing their employability.

20 credits

Advanced Issues in International Law

Advanced Issues in International Law builds on the knowledge and skills learnt in Foundations of International Law, and applies it to a number of selected issues in international law. These issues will vary from year to year and will reflect to a large degree current issues of international concern. They are likely to be in the areas of Law of the Sea, International Environmental Law, International Institutional Law, International Criminal Law, International Law on Terrorism, and International Economic Law.

20 credits

Commercial Law

This module aims to familiarise students with the basic doctrines and concepts in English commercial law, the skills to apply these concepts to novel factual scenarios, and the ability to critically evaluate them from a doctrinal and theoretical perspective. The module will teach students the main concepts and principles of commercial law and how they are used to structure and facilitate a range of common commercial transactions.  Transactions/ issues considered could include, for example, the interpretation of contractual terms, the laws of agency, secured transactions, and the laws on assignment.  It will also examine legal doctrines critically and equip students with the ability to evaluate and critique commercial law concepts from a variety of perspectives.

20 credits

Consumer Law

This module introduces students to the legal and policy frameworks for consumer protection in English law. The module is designed to answer two key questions: (1) Why should consumers be protected? and (2) How are consumers protected? 

To answer these questions, the module aims to enable students to understand and critically evaluate certain lines of enquiry. First, the module considers the competing theoretical rationales and policy justifications for consumer protection. Second, it examines the institutions, instruments and techniques adopted to protect consumers. Third, the module analyses key statutory provisions aimed at protecting the economic interests of consumers in contractual relationships and the substantive conduct requirements imposed on traders they transact with. Fourth, the module considers how consumer protection laws are enforced in England. 

Finally, the module aims to provide students with an opportunity to conduct independent research and to communicate their findings and arguments on relevant issues in consumer law.

Overall, the module is designed to provide students with an opportunity to critically engage with the law's role in championing specific policy priorities where traditional private law mechanisms are limited or inadequate.  

20 credits

Current Issues in Health Law, Ethics and Policy

This module builds on SLW345 Principles of Healthcare Law and Ethics, to offer students the opportunity to further develop and deepen their understanding of the legal, ethical and policy questions within and around Health Law, broadly conceived. It places the development of Health Law within its societal and  policy context, and allows final year students to consider the principles of health law and ethics and build critical knowledge by reference to particular and topical issues, such as drug policy, the future of human reproduction, and biotechnology and intellectual property. This module is inherently interdisciplinary in nature and draws on medicine, jurisprudence, sociology, criminology and law. The topics taught within it may vary each year, depending on developments in the relevant fields and the teaching staffs' research interests. The module will start with an introductory lecture setting out the broad themes to be discussed throughout the module, before the lectures on the particular topics start. Depending on staff availability, up to six discrete topics may be studied on this module. A concluding lecture will draw together the themes within the topics and provide guidance to students in preparing their summative assessments.

20 credits

Corporate Governance, Law and Sustainability

Corporations act as a dominant force in the global economy. Yet, along with the benefits that large companies can bring come a variety of societal and environmental harms. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals set out multiple goals relating to social and environmental sustainability but many of these objectives cannot be met without appropriate corporate action. Short-term decision making acts as the antithesis of sustainability yet is permitted by the UK's globally influential system of corporate governance. Spurred on by developments at the international level, the UK has thus sought to address a variety of sustainability issues through a number of specific regulatory interventions. This module seeks to introduce students to regulation and governance of corporate sustainability and permit the critical evaluation of the various instruments and approaches used in this area.

20 credits

Competition Law

Businesses selling goods and services often face competition from other sellers of similar products. The effect of this competition will normally be to keep prices down and to enhance choice for customers. Competition law is concerned with protecting and encouraging competition in markets, and seeks to control agreements which restrict competition, the ability of powerful businesses to restrict competition by unilateral conduct, the particular issues raised by concentrated markets and the reduction of competition by mergers and similar transactions. This module looks briefly at the underlying economics and then at EC and UK competition law, at both substantive issues and enforcement. The module has a practical orientation. Previous experience of economics is not required.

20 credits

Drugs, Crime and Control

This module aims to develop a multidisciplinary understanding of drugs, crime and control by engaging with the key academic and policy literature. Students will explore a wide range of drug-related issues and debates, critically analyse the laws, policies and institutions of drug control, and situate them within the wider social context. The topics covered will include: the social construction of the 'drug problem'; drugs and crime; historical and contemporary perspectives on drug policy; drugs policing from the global to the local; tackling drugs through criminal justice interventions; drug control across the world; and the legalisation debate and alternatives to criminalisation.

20 credits

Employment Law

This unit considers the principal areas of UK Employment Law, focusing on the relationship between employers and employees. In this guise the topic is often known as Individual Employment Law to distinguish it from Collective Labour Law, which covers matters such as trade union law and industrial conflict. Among topics covered are the Contract of Employment, Equal Pay, Sexual and Racial Discrimination, and the claims available on Dismissal.

20 credits

Family Law

The aim of the module is to enable students to understand the principles, policy and practice of selected parts of Family Law. The module is structured to encourage students to develop their critical awareness of the law and the social policy which informs it. It covers the law relating to children after marriage or relationship breakdown; the role of agencies and courts in child care and protection; the impact of the Human Rights Act 1998 on Child Law; the remedies available to victims of domestic violence; nullity and divorce; and financial provision and property adjustment orders on marriage breakdown.

20 credits

Foundations of Company Law

This module aims to develop knowledge and understanding of the legislative, contractual and equitable aspects of company law. The main focus of the module will be on the legal principles governing the establishment, operation and management of companies, including: the effects of the separate legal entity status of companies; the role of the board of directors; the rights and responsibilities of shareholders; creditor rights; and remedies.

20 credits

Foundations of International Law

Foundations of International Law provides foundational knowledge of the principles and institutions of the international legal order, and applies it to specific areas of international relations (further developed in Advanced Issues in International Law). The foundational knowledge covers issues of nature and sources, sovereignty, liability and enforcement. Emphasis will be on developing analytical and problem solving skills in relation to a new and different type of legal order to the domestic one with which students are familiar.

20 credits

Intellectual Property Law

This module will look at the various legal mechanisms which are available to protect the results of creative endeavour, namely copyright, patents and trade marks. In particular the module will look at the philosophical justifications for granting legal monopolies over material such as music, genetic information and colours (when used to ‘brand’ merchandise) and ask where the balance should be drawn between protecting the rights of the market entrant against unfair copying as against those of society in having unencumbered access to important new ideas.

20 credits

International Human Rights Law

Protecting human rights is an increasingly important concern of international law in the modern world. Understanding its significance involves knowing what the current guarantees of human rights are and how arrangements for protecting them work. This module provides a broad but selective survey of issues in this field, examining the main human rights treaties and reviewing the procedures for implementing them, in the United Nations, through regional institutions, and elsewhere.

20 credits

International Trade Law

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) plays a significant role in regulating the global economy. The WTO Agreements cover a wide range of topics, from international trade in goods and services, to subsidies and intellectual property. The WTO rules have pervasive effects on economic development, on individuals' lives, and on governments' freedom to define and pursue the public interest. Students will be introduced to the fundamental ideas of trade liberalisation, the WTO's institutional structure, and the WTO Agreements' core rights and obligations, and will be encouraged to critically reflect on whether international trade law appropriately balances competing values and whether existing rules and institutions should be changed.

20 credits

Jurisprudence

This module introduces students to the key debates and theories within the study of jurisprudence: the theory and philosophy of law. The module will span ancient, modern and contemporary legal philosophy. The debates considered will centre around the nature of law, and the relationships between law, power and morality. The jurisprudential theories that will be considered will typically include areas such as natural law, legal positivism, Marxist legal theory, critical legal studies and feminist legal theory.

20 credits

Law, Accountability and Government

The Criminology Research Paper requires a student to submit a research paper of 6,000 words on a criminological topic that is approved in advance by the module convenor. The aim of the module is to support a student in independently carrying out research, whether library-based or empirical. It may also enable a student to study a subject that is not otherwise covered in depth on their degree. It is the student's responsibility to select the topic and to approach the module convenor for approval. The student may only proceed with research that a member of the criminology staff is willing to supervise. The student should approach the appropriate staff member and seek agreement for the supervision of their project before opting to undertake the research paper.

20 credits

Law, Democracy and Populism

This module will explore the constitutional implications of the populist surge in Europe and America. First, specific features of the different 'varieties of populism' are identified, and second, their differential impact on core constitutional structures of liberal democracy is analysed. By comparing different populist approaches, we will examine how the ideals of the new populists have translated into law. Finally, the module focuses on the role of law and constitutional checks and balances as essential bulwarks against democratic backsliding. The current surge of populism seems to indicate that that constitutional democracy can find itself in great danger when democratic support for its core principles begins to ebb.

20 credits

Punishment and Penal Policy

This module is concerned with the sentencing and punishment of offenders. It considers, in historical context: the philosophical underpinnings of punishment; sentencing policy and practice; and the forms that punishment takes (including custodial and non-custodial options). It also considers what we know about public attitudes toward punishment. A key issue addressed by this module is the rapid growth of the prison population since the mid-1990s: how can we explain this state of affairs, and can/should this trend be reversed?

20 credits

Police and Policing in a Global Context

This module explores policing on a macro-level, taking into account developments on a national and global scale. The topics covered will include: conceptualizing the police and policing; key features of policing, such as police powers, discretion, police culture and accountability; models of policing; the history of policing in the UK and elsewhere; the policing of multi-ethnic communities (who can also be thought of as 'global citizens'); the role of the police in policing, in the light of the growing involvement of non-warranted civilians and others in policing activities; policing in other countries, including post-colonial countries; and policing in a transnational context; policing in global, late modern societies. The module will be partly empirical, but it will also be grounded in theories about the use of power; for example, it will be situated within theories about governance and social control, whilst also exploring whether and from where the police derive legitimacy in exerting power/authority over citizens.

20 credits

Principles of Healthcare Law and Ethics

This module will introduce students to the nature and scope of healthcare law and ethics in the UK as it is affected by statute, the common law and international instruments. It will address fundamental aspects of healthcare law and ethics as they arise in practice including resource allocation, regulation, elements of clinical negligence as well the important concepts of consent and confidentiality.

20 credits

Special Project: International Mooting I

This module is an optional, advanced module addressed to students who wish to develop their advocacy skills. Students on the module may participate in international mooting competitions, for example the John H. Jackson Moot Court Competition on WTO Law (4 students maximum); the Oxford International Intellectual Property Law Moot (3 students maximum);  the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot (6 students maximum); the Philip C. Jessup International Moot Court Competition (5 students maximum). The competitions offered each year will depend on the availability of staff members to act as tutors and academic advisors. Students will need to refer to the list of competitions offered in each academic year. Students will be chosen on the basis of their CV and personal statement, and an interview with the academic advisor of each competition. More information on the selection process for each competition will be communicated to students at the beginning of each academic year.



The module will be assessed by written pleadings. The length, structure, and content of the written submissions will be based on the case assigned by the organisers of each competition and the relevant competition rules. Depending on the structure and content of each competition, academic advisors can also assess students on the basis of their engagement in class activities and their performance in any oral rounds of the competition for which the team qualifies. This will be clearly stipulated in the information materials for each competition. 



The central aim of the module is focused on student-centred learning and the development of practical legal skills. These skills will include case analysis, legal writing skills, oral advocacy and practical legal research. The module will provide more options for students within the Law School to gain practical experience in a specialised field of law and will help develop students employability, both in the legal profession and in other sectors such as public policy and careers in international organisations. This module is part of a suite of optional final year modules based on special projects which students in the Law School can choose as extra-curricular activities.

20 credits

Special Project: International Mooting II

This module is an optional, advanced module addressed to students who wish to develop their advocacy skills. Students on the module may participate in international mooting competitions, for example the John H. Jackson Moot Court Competition on WTO Law; the Oxford International Intellectual Property Law Moot; the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot; the Philip C. Jessup International Moot Court Competition. The competitions offered each year will depend on the availability of staff members to act as tutors and academic advisors. Students will need to refer to the list of competitions offered in each academic year. Students will be chosen based on their CV and personal statement, and an interview with the academic advisor of each competition. More information on the selection process for each competition will be communicated to students at the beginning of each academic year. This module will be normally selected by students that are already part of a team participating in an international mooting competition and have already completed Module SLW315 'Special Project: International Mooting I'. For most international mooting competitions students need to prepare written submissions, which are usually due in January. Thus the autumn term module SLW315 focuses primarily on the preparation of the written pleadings based on the case of each competition. The Spring term module will focus on students' preparation for the oral rounds of the respective international mooting competition, which usually take place between February and May. However, in some cases, international competitions may take place exclusively in the Spring Semester. Students will need to refer to the list of competitions offered each year for more information on the length and structure of each competition. The central aim of the module is focused on student-centred learning and the development of practical legal skills. These skills will include case analysis, legal writing skills, oral advocacy, and practical legal research. The module will provide more options for students within the Law School to gain practical experience in a specialised field of law and will help develop students' employability, both in the legal profession and in other sectors such as public policy and careers in international organisations. This module is part of a suite of optional final year modules based on special projects which students in the Law School can choose as extra-curricular activities.

20 credits

UK Environmental Law and Policy

This module introduces students to the law relating to the protection of the environment and to the legal liabilities which may arise and the remedies which may be available when a pollution incident or other environmentally damaging event has taken place. Environmental law is a wide ranging subject, embracing the study of environmental principles (such as the concept of sustainable development, the precautionary principle preventative principle and polluter pays principle etc.); the use of regulatory controls to prevent or minimise pollution; criminal and civil liability for environmental damage, and the remediation of contaminated land. Throughout the module reference will be made not only to the law but also to the policy framework in which it operates. In addition, much UK environmental law has in the past been influenced by EU environmental law, and this will be reflected in the module along with current and past global influences. 

20 credits

Youth Crime and Justice

This module examines youth crime and 'antisocial behaviour, as well as formal responses to young people who offend. During the first half of the module, contemporary and historical views of youth crime are critically examined, attending particularly to class, ethnicity and gender, and to the historical construction of youth as problematic. The second half of the module focuses on youth justice, including the role of the police, the courts, Youth Offending Teams, custodial institutions and other bodies in regulating unruly youth and preventing and responding to youth crime.

20 credits