LAW-20048 - Module Specification
School of Law
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Programme/Approved Electives for 2020/21

Available as a Free Standing Elective

Co-requisites

None

Prerequisites

None

Barred Combinations

None

Description for 2020/21

What does anger achieve in law reform that targets discrimination? How does fear limit the scope of migration or refugee law? Should we use disgust to determine what is criminal? Is love the solution in disputes about relationships? Do human rights bring us hope for a better future?
In popular consciousness, law is often conceived of as an autonomous system of rules, norms, regulations, and principles. Such a disembodied concept of law tends to divorce sensations or passions from abstract reason. Divorcing law from emotion, however, is futile. From grieving citizens seeking reform to a particular social injustice to heated litigation in courtrooms to calculated judicial decisions, emotion animates the legal system. Emotion is not an unfortunate consequence or effect of an otherwise rational system of law; it is a core feature in how law manifests across times, jurisdictions, institutions, and cultures.
Rather than organise the module within specific jurisdictions or areas of law, this module invites students to think about emotions ¿ both ¿good¿ and ¿bad¿ ones ¿ as a way to navigate legal debates across disciplines and jurisdictions. The first couple of seminars contextualise debates in Law and Emotion. The subsequent seminars then focus on a specific emotion (such as disgust, hate, love, etc) and explore how it animates a contemporary legal issue or problem (in Criminal Law, Public Law, Human Rights Law, Migration Law, etc). Students will be encouraged to pursue independent research on emotion in a legal case study that interests them.

This module aims to build on the critical legal thinking undertaken in core modules by introducing students to the study of emotion in law. In particular, it invites students to think critically about legal problems, not simply in terms of ¿facts¿ but, also, in terms of ¿feelings¿ (and how the two mutually constitute each other).

Intended Learning Outcomes

1,2
1,2
1,2
1,2

Study hours

Class time: 10 x 2 hour seminars (20 hours).
Class preparation time: 60 hours.
Research proposal: 20 hours.
Research essay: 50 hours.

School Rules

None

Description of Module Assessment