LS4020: CONTEMPORARY LEGAL ISSUES IN EUROPEAN INTEGRATION (2017-2018)

Course Aims: The module develops the knowledge of EU law that students acquired in Level 2. Students are invited to engage with timeless questions of European integration which remain of current concern, such as the legitimacy of law-making and the appropriate means of achieving integration. Discussions will address contemporary issues in European Union law in order to diagnose the present state of the law, and to determine how the constitutional settlement of the EU should be developed. This will enable students to articulate their own views of what the EU is, and what it should be. Main Learning Outcomes: By the end of the course, students should be able to:

• Use and analyse primary legal sources in order to identify the key rules and principles that they establish;
• Demonstrate a detailed knowledge of European Union law, and in particular, the selected topics in each seminar;
• Comment critically on the seminar topics;
• Demonstrate knowledge of current issues in European Union law;
• Understand the issues arising from the differing interests in the development of European Union law;
• Understand the various possible approaches to legitimacy in the European Union's law-making processes;
• Understand the interaction of substantive law and constitutional principles;
• Understand European Union law in its wider economic and socio-legal context. Knowledge and Understanding By the end of the course students should be able to:
• Demonstrate knowledge of contemporary developments in the EU;
• Understand and appreciate the emergence of issues specific to the EU as a legal order;
• Be conversant with debates on constitutionalism, rights, competence, the EU in a wider world, the problems of service provision and current issues of economic concern in the ever shifting EU political climate. Subject Specific Skills and Concepts
• Written communication: through preparation of the written exercises;
• Oral communication: though participation in discussion and exercises in class;
• Ability to identify broad structures within detailed legal provisions: through studying legal regimes with an awareness of general patterns and concentration on key structural features;
• The ability to critically assess the appropriate application of legal and regulatory principles to novel situations;
• The ability to handle and analyse primary and secondary EU legal material including the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union;
• Ability to comment critically on the development of EU law and assess the role of law in the process of integration;
• Ability to identify and retrieve up-to date information from a number of sources (in addition to the ones found in the library;
• Ability to work on their own and in teams to solve legal problems. Key Skills (Transferable) 1. Communicate orally and in writing; 2. Ability to work effectively in small groups to contribute to the group’s task; 3. Ability to work independently, to organise and manage time, stress and effort in performance of tasks; 4. Problem solving skills; 5. Critical analysis; 6. Logical argument; 7. An ability to synthesise and organise complex materials and arguments; 8. With limited guidance act independently, and where appropriate as part of team, in planning and undertaking tasks; 9. Conduct formal and informal oral presentations; 10. Make appropriate use of technology in research, writing and oral presentations; and 11. Reflect on own learning and to seek and make use of feedback. Content:
• Framing the European Project: Revisiting the Treaties and the Constitutional Judgments of the Court of Justice
• The European economic constitution
• From Economics to the Family
• The European political constitution (i): Fundamental Rights
• The European political constitution (ii): Challenges to Democracy
• European Substantive Law: When and How to Legislate
• Problems in Defining a Growing Europe

Information on contact teaching time is available from the course guide.

More Information about Week Numbers

1st Attempt: Assessment essay with a maximum word length of 3,000 words, including footnotes but excluding bibliography (3,500 words for MA Legal Studies students). 1 three hour written examination (60%); continuous assessment (40%). Resit: Normally, no resit is available.

Presentations in class.

Feedback will be provided on the feedback form within three weeks from the date of submission.