Course Catalogue

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This course involves advanced study of how to draft - and how to read and understand - legislation. It builds on the foundations that students will have developed in Introduction to Legal Study or Common Law System and Methods. Half of the course will focus on drafting: the legislative process and the role of Parliament Counsel in that process. The other half focuses on how to read and understand the products of that process (statutes and other legislation).

10 x 2-hour seminars (on-campus).

LLB students (Scots Law and Common Law) and visiting students

None.

None.

There will be two summative assessments:

Assessment 1: Drafting Task and Explanatory Memo (50%)

Students will, in response to a brief, draft a set of legislative provisions, along with an explanatory memo.

Assessment 2: Examination (50%)

Students will sit an unseen 90-minute examination in the spring diet.

This course treats legislation as both an object of study and a craft to be practised, giving students direct experience of the skills that shape how law is made, read, and challenged in professional life. It has three main sets of aims. The first is to deepen the students' knowledge of the legislative process and introduce students to the skills needed to draft legislation effectively. This will be valuable in a range of contexts, not least in legal roles in Parliament or Government (especially Parliamentary Counsel). The second is to assist students to continue to develop their skills in reading and understanding legislation (and legal instruments more broadly). This will be valuable in a broad range of professional contexts (and especially to those entering the legal profession). The third is to improve the students' attention to detail and their analytical and argumentative / critical thinking skills. This will be valuable no matter what the students then go on to do in their careers (and beyond).

By the end of this course students will be able to:

1. demonstrate understanding of the legislative process and the role of Parliamentary Counsel in that process;

2. draft legislative provisions and explain the linguistic choices that they have made in doing so;

3. demonstrate understanding of the leading approaches to reading and applying legislation;

4. critique those approaches, including by reference to leading theories of language and its use; and

5. demonstrate skills in making, analysing, and evaluating arguments.