Faculty of Law Undergraduate Handbook - Faculty of Law - The ...

Course DescriptionsCompulsory Courses for LLB Part ILAW 121G — Law and SocietyCredit Points: 15 pointsOffered: First and Second SemesterContact Hours: Lectures — 3 hours per week, tutorials — 1 hour per fortnightCoordinator: Professor David V WilliamsPrerequisites: NoneCourse Description:The course is an introduction to the nature, functions, origins and contemporary questions relating to law in its socialcontext. The focus is on law and society in New Zealand, including its sources of law, its institutions, and its operationhistorically and today. Maori concepts of law and justice, and their relationship to the New Zealand legal system, arealso addressed.Content Outline:The course materials are divided into five parts:••••Concepts of law — a brief comparative perspective on approaches to law in society;Branches of Government — the origins of New Zealand’s flexible constitution, the balance of powers and therelationship to each other of the legislative, the executive and the judicial branches of government;The concept of property — a comparative social context approach to the important legal conception of property;Laws and Rights — a study of definitions of crime, due process in criminal justice, human rights and the Bill of RightsAct 1990;Law, colonisation and the Treaty of Waitangi — changing views on the legal status of the Treaty of Waitangi, Treatysettlement processes, and options for constitutional change.•Assessment:Final two-hour examination (Plussage: 1 hour test 20%)LAW 131 — Legal MethodCredit Points: 15 pointsOffered: Second SemesterContact Hours: Lectures — 3 hours per week, tutorials — 1 hour per fortnightCoordinator: Stephen PenkPrerequisite: LAW 121G with at least C+ gradeCourse Description:An introductory study of how law is made and applied in New Zealand — an overview of the law-making roles of thelegislative, executive and judicial branches of government; an introduction to case law, including judicial reasoning andthe doctrine of precedent; an introduction to statute law, including the legislative process and techniques of statutoryinterpretation and application; the interaction between case law and legislation. An introduction to legal language andlegal writing.Content Outline:• an introduction to the structure of government and the sources of law• an introduction to case law and the hierarchy of courts• an introduction to judicial reasoning and the doctrine of precedent24 | 2010 Faculty of Law Handbook