LAW403: Legal Methods Assignment

Plagiarism and Collusion

In submitting the assignment, Learners must complete a statement of authenticity confirming that the work submitted for all tasks is their own. The statement should also include the word count.

Plagiarism and collusion are treated very seriously. Plagiarism involves presenting another author`s work, excerpts, ideas, or passages without appropriate referencing and attribution. Collusion occurs when two or more learners submit work that is so alike in ideas, content, wording, and/or structure that the similarity goes beyond what might have been mere coincidence.

Referencing

A professional approach to work is expected from all learners. Learners must therefore identify and acknowledge ALL sources/methodologies/applications used.

The learner must use an appropriate referencing system to achieve this. Marks are not awarded for the use of English; however, the learner must express ideas clearly and ensure that appropriate terminology is used to convey accuracy in meaning.

Please use the Harvard Style of Referencing throughout your work.

Appendices

You may include appendices to support your work. However, appendices must only contain additional supporting information and must be clearly referenced in your assignment.

You may also include tables, graphs, diagrams, Gantt charts, and flowcharts that support the main report and should be incorporated into the back of the submitted assignment report. Distinguish between primary, secondary and delegated legislations

Any published secondary information such as annual reports and company literature should be referenced in the main text of the assignment, following Harvard Style Referencing, and referenced at the end of the assignment.

Confidentiality

When Learners choose to include organisational information that deals with sensitive material or issues, they must seek advice and permission from that organisation about its inclusion.

Where confidentiality is an issue, Learners are advised to anonymise their assignment report so that it cannot be attributed to that particular organisation.

Word Count Policy

Learners must comply with the required word count within a margin of +10%. These rules exclude the index, headings, tables, images, footnotes, appendices, and information within references and bibliographies.

When an assessment task requires learners to produce presentation slides with supporting notes, the word count only applies to the supporting notes.

Marking and Grades

The details of a standard marking rubric can be found at the end of this document. Unless stated elsewhere, learners must answer all questions in this document.

Submission of Assignments

Before submitting your work check you have:

✓     Completed the tasks or activities as required by the assignment

✓     Labelled or numbered each task or activity

✓     Understood and responded to the command verbs in the Assessment Criteria

✓     Produced the tasks or activities in the required format

✓     Presented your work clearly

✓     Referenced sources you have used and cited from

✓     Put cited material in quotation marks

✓     Checked for any spelling or grammatical errors

✓    Added a footer with page numbers

Assignment Question

Assignment Total Word Count - 2000

Task 1 - 700 words

Law lecture notes

You are employed in a law firm and have been asked to prepare notes on the law and legal system in the UK for a talk that one of the partner’s has been asked to give to prospective law students. You should include relevant legislation and cases to illustrate your points where appropriate.

You need to produce a file of notes for the lecture. In the file you must:

• Distinguish between primary, secondary and delegated legislations. (AC 1.1)
• Explain the hierarchy within statutory sources and the case law. (AC 1.2)
• Explain the impact of the Human Rights Act. (AC 1.3)
• Illustrate the operation of literal, golden and purposive rules of statutory interpretation. (AC 2.3)
• Analyse the structure of the criminal and civil courts (AC 3.1)
• Analyse the role of the judiciary and the judicial appointment process. (AC 3.2)
• Analyse the function of the jury in criminal trials. (AC 3.3)
• Assess the duty and powers of the police. (AC 4.1)
• Assess the role of the Crown Prosecution Service. (AC 4.2)
• Examine the latest reforms to the civil justice process. (AC 4.3)

Task 2 - 650 words

Case analysis

You are asked to prepare an analysis of a case and explain how judicial precedent works in the English courts. 

The case you need to analyse and refer to in this case exercise is Alcock Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police (1992) which is a case related to the Hillsborough Stadium disaster in 1989. You can find the full case report at:http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKHL/1991/5.html.

In your case analysis you must:

• Explain the doctrine of judicial precedent. (AC 2.1)
• Distinguish between binding, non-binding and persuasive decisions. (AC 2.2)

Task 3 - 650 words

Mooting exercise

In preparation for a mooting exercise, you are asked to analyse the following scenario applying relevant cases and statutory provisions:

Harry Pollard is a delivery driver for a builder’s merchants. When delivering to a large construction site, he witnessed the collapse and subsequent fire in a building in which several people were working. Distinguish between primary, secondary and delegated legislations. He witnessed the incident from the site office and was not close enough to be in any physical danger but saw some horrific sights as people fell from the top of the building and were burned in the fire. Pollard has been off work sick since the incident and is making a claim for psychiatric harm against the construction company.

Your analysis must:

• Explain the importance of a bundle in mooting exercises. (AC 5.1)
• Analyse and apply relevant cases and statutory provisions to the scenario. (AC 5.2)
• Present the arguments for the parties involved in the given mooting scenario. (AC 5.3)

Marking Rubric: