Course Catalogue

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The course, Anti-Discrimination Law in Practice, focuses particularly on British discrimination law in its European context. During the course we will look in some depth at the provisions of the Equality Act 2010 and at the practical application of the law. Whilst theoretical principles are considered, there is less emphasis placed during the course on theory. The focus therefore of many of the seminars is the relevant legislation which we will consider in depth, and the implications of cases and case-law developments decided under both the Equality Act 2010 and the previous anti-discrimination laws.

This 20-credit course will be taught over 9 seminars lasting 2 hours each. Seminars will occur on a weekly basis. Mid-semester there will be a reading week.

. Admission as a Visiting Law Student.

None

N/A

Students will sit an exam in the December diet, lasting one hour. Students will be asked to answer one essay question in the exam. The exam will make up 50% of the overall grade for the course. Students will also submit a written assignment (2,500 words). The written assignment will require students to write a counsel's opinion on a case study problem. The written assignment will make up the other 50% of the overall grade for the course.

Reassessments are normally available for all courses, except those which contribute to the Honours classification. Where, exceptionally, reassessment on Honours courses is required to satisfy professional/accreditation requirements, only the overall course grade achieved at the first attempt will contribute to the Honours classification. For non-Honours courses, students are offered reassessment in all or any of the components of assessment if the satisfactory (threshold) grade for the overall course is not achieved at the first attempt. This is normally grade D3 for undergraduate students and grade C3 for postgraduate students. Exceptionally it may not be possible to offer reassessment of some coursework items, in which case the mark achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade. Any such exceptions for this course are described below. 

■ To introduce students to the principles of British discrimination law;

■ To consider the development of British discrimination law within its European context;

■ To introduce students to the theoretical and contextual background of discrimination law;

■ To develop an awareness of the scope of British discrimination law;

■ To encourage an understanding of the application of discrimination law in practice.

More particularly,

■ To familiarise students with discrimination and equality law and its method and terminology

■ To enable students to recognise discrimination law issues in a legal problem

■ To equip students to produce informed and reasoned arguments using discrimination and equality law concepts

■ To equip students to tackle problems relating to discrimination law in case study format

■ To develop student skills of problem-solving and analysis

■ To develop student skills in handling materials relating to this area, in particular statutory and case law and reading and assessment of academic articles on this topic

■ To develop student skills of written communication and problem solving by means of submission of a case study assignment, and by satisfactory performance in the degree examination.

By the end of this course students should:

■ be familiar with the theoretical and contextual background of British discrimination law

■ demonstrate an awareness of the scope of discrimination law

■ show a broad understanding of what constitutes unlawful discrimination

■ demonstrate an ability to evaluate critically British discrimination legislation and caselaw

■ understand how to apply discrimination legislation to factual circumstances

■ demonstrate an awareness of a range of issues involved in the application of the law in practice

More particularly, by the end of the course students should be able to

■ explain the nature and theory of the subject, the scope of discrimination law and use its terminology

■ understand and analyse case law at all levels

■ explain the history of the development of discrimination law in the UK and the principal concepts covered by the Equality Act 2010 and related legislation and their implementation in context

■ produce accurate, relevant and authoritative answers to case study problems arising in any one or more area(s) of discrimination law showing awareness of current developments and case law

■ explain in writing, and expound upon, discrimination law concepts applicable to given problems

■ demonstrate reasonable competence in problem solving and analysis of discrimination law and in particular analysis of statutory and case law.

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.