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Semester 2

History of English Private Law (LAWS10255)

Subject

Law

College

CAHSS

Credits

20

Normal Year Taken

4

Delivery Session Year

2023/2024

Pre-requisites

Visiting students must have completed 3 Law courses at grade B or above. We will only consider University/College level courses. This course is only open to visiting students who are nominated to study with us on a Law exchange agreement. Exchange students outside of Law and study abroad students are not eligible to enrol on this course before teaching begins, with no exceptions, and spaces cannot be guaranteed to those students at any time. **Please see Additional Restrictions**

Course Summary

This course provides a broad understanding of the history of English private law over the period from 1066 to today. It focuses on four topics in four time periods: medieval land law; Tudor equity and trusts; early modern contract law; and tort law in the industrial revolution. Existing knowledge of the English legal system is not essential, but some general knowledge of English history is a useful starting point. Some understanding of Roman law is also useful but not essential. **The course will involve the use of case law, legislation, and secondary literature in order to understand key developments in these topics. The focus of the course is not deep doctrinal understanding, but an appreciation of the relationship between law and history through the medium of particular legal developments. Students will be encouraged to make comparisons with any existing knowledge they have of later periods or other jurisdictions in order to evaluate as well as describe the law.

Course Description

1. Introduction to English legal history; 2. Sources of English legal history; 3. English land law: medieval origins; 4. English land law: feudalism; 5. English equity and trusts: what is a trust; 6. English equity and trusts: Lord Dacre's case; 7. English contract law: consideration; 8. English contract law: freedom of contract; 9. English tort law: the development of negligence; 10. English tort law: the development of nuisance.

Assessment Information

Written Exam 0%, Coursework 100%, Practical Exam 0%

Additional Restrictions

**All 3rd year Law courses are ONLY open to visiting students nominated on an exchange agreement within the School of Law (including Erasmus students on a Law-specific exchange). Exchange students outside of Law, and independent study abroad students, are not eligible to enrol in these courses, with no exceptions.** Please note that 3rd year Law courses are high-demand, meaning that they have a very high number of students wishing to enrol in a very limited number of spaces. These enrolments are managed strictly by the CAHSS Visiting Student Office, in line with the quotas allocated by the department, and all enquiries to enrol in these courses must be made through the CAHSS Visiting Student Office. It is not appropriate for students to contact the Law School directly to request additional spaces. If there is sufficient space for other visiting students to enrol at the start of the semester (which cannot be guaranteed at all), visiting students must meet the pre-requisites listed above.

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