Law with Spanish and Spanish Law BA

This module analyses the legal order established by the European Union (EU) treaties. It considers the law governing the establishment and operation of the EU, including the methods for enforcement of EU law.  This module also considers the substantive law of the European Union. It involves a detailed examination of the law relating to the internal market, and related areas of EU law. 

This module examines the conceptual context of trusts, and the requirements for the creation and validity of express private trusts and charitable trusts. This module also examines resulting and constructive trusts, the duties of trustees and the imposition of fiduciary liability, together with associated remedies.

This advanced module will be your final step towards fluency, training you in a more formal, sophisticated register of spoken and written Spanish.

We'll continue to use a wide range of authentic Spanish texts to further deepen your knowledge and confidence at this advanced level. We'll look at how the texts are put together so that you may use these skills within your written and spoken Spanish, taking you to the highest level of proficiency.

Building on existing foundational knowledge (Foundations of Criminal Evidence), this module will provide opportunities for more specialist, advanced studies in criminal trial procedure and evidence, involving in-depth analysis of key topics with major theoretical, policy and practical significance, and drawing out interdisciplinary links to, eg, psychology, philosophy, criminology, forensic science and socio-legal studies.

Particular topics may include:

• Common sense inferential reasoning
• Covert evidence, entrapment and PII (including CHIS; special counsel)
• Testimonial witness evidence
• Identification evidence 
• Principles of examination-in-chief and cross-examination
• Hearsay and the right to confrontation
• Vulnerable witnesses ‘special measures’
• Previous sexual history evidence
• Bad character evidence
• Forensic science evidence and expert witness testimony 
• DNA profiling evidence and probabilities

This module aims to provide students with an understanding of the centrality of the history of slavery in the study of Brazilian society and of the significance of Brazilian Slavery in both the transatlantic slave systems and slave societies in the Americas. In the first semester the module introduces students to the different disciplinary and intellectual approaches to the study of slavery in Brazil.

Through a combination of lecture and seminar work, students are encouraged to develop skills of analysis and interpretation through close reading of key texts. While the historiographical focus in on Brazil, the module attempts to accommodate students who have not studied Brazilian history or Portuguese. Mindful of the different skills sets and degree programmes of all students, the module draws on comparative contexts of slavery across the Americas both thematically and theoretically.

Topics covered in the first part of the module include the ideology of slavery, economics of slavery, systems of slave labour, slave culture and community, slave identity, and slave resistance. Within these topics we examine themes of agency, race, class, ethnicity and gender.

Over the course of the first semester students are expected to identify a topic for their second-semester research essay. The second semester is student lead, based on presentation work in a seminar setting. Students will be required to produce individual in-class presentations (work-in-progress) based on their book review.

Throughout the module close attention will be paid to the problems of sources and perspectives in the study of the history of slavery. The module encourages students to develop an awareness of how different historical sources are used and to think critically about them. In class discussions and in written work the expectation is that students apply comparative analysis and demonstrate an understanding and appreciation of historiography. 

Taught in Spanish, this module has been designed to give you a thorough insight into Spanish business including the contexts that have influenced its development and the ways it interacts with wider society.

We'll investigate a range of factors that have shaped the Spanish business landscape since the transition to democracy, such as:

• changes within the global and European regulatory environment
• ideological factors
• entrepreneurship
• government action to attract foreign investors, promote Spanish FDI and boost trade with regions such as Latin America, Europe and China.

You'll not only gain a historical understanding, but a contemporary perspective too by looking at case studies of both companies like Inditex (the owners of Zara and other important fashion brands) and important Spanish industries such as tourism. The module also explores some of the less positive impacts and criticisms of Spanish business practices relating to the environment, debt and corruption.

The course is divided into four sections:

1. Basic Concepts and Guiding Principles: What are the principles which guide the courts in making decisions about children? What are the legal consequences of being a parent? Do parents have rights? Do children have rights?
2. Children and their Biological Parents: What are the consequences of parenthood outside marriage? What happens if parents cannot agree about how their children should be brought up? Where do the children live if their parents separate? How is the decision made? What is the position of the non-residential parent? 
3. Children and Third Parties – Guardians, Step-parents, Relatives, Foster parents and Adoptive parents: How can non-parents obtain parental responsibility for – or even become the legal parent of - someone else’s child? 
4. Children and the State: What state assistance is available to parents temporarily unable to care for their children? When can the state take children away from their parents?

Content to be confirmed.

The module delivers a broad perspective over the legal issues which surround the development and use of information and communications technologies in relation to cybercrime, cybersecurity and online surveillance.    

In particular, it studies Internet crime in its various forms (piracy, hacking, viruses, denial of service attacks, offensive and harmful content, device misuse, phishing etc), against a range of domestic and international legislations.    

The module discusses critically existing responses to online activities in law and enforcement, while exploring themes and topics such as: information and network security online conduct in the information era conceptions of computer crime online jurisdiction content liability access to personal data Web 2.0 and cloud computing. Furthermore, it explores policies and practices of electronic surveillance and their impacts on digital rights and citizenship.   

Content to be confirmed.

The module examines the rationale for intellectual property rights and their commercial importance; the national, European and wider international dimensions of the legal regulation of intellectual property rights; and the law governing the acquisition, exploitation and infringement of copyright and allied rights, including the application of copyright law in the context of modern information technology developments.

Content to be confirmed.

Given the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services’ finding that approximately 1 million species of animals and plants are threatened with extinction, and given that a decline in abundance of native species around the globe of 20% has taken place since 1900, biological diversity is seriously in decline.

This decline is unprecedented, linked to anthropogenic threats, and driving ever more vocal public protests and direct action by groups like Extinction Rebellion. It is also taking place and continuing despite there being many international treaties in place to tackle the threats and problem.

This module sets out to examine the problem, and the legal response under the principal global treaties that are in place to protect wildlife and habitats.

This module seeks to deal with fundamental and complex issues of corporate law. In the beginning we will set 'the scene' by looking at various business mediums available while focusing on the distinction between private and public companies. 

We will examine how companies are formed, and the consequences of formation - discussing concepts such as the corporate legal personality and the corporate 'veil', and the phenomenon of the corporate group. We will also examine contractual and non-contractual liability of companies and those dealing with them; and finally we will consider various issues relating to shareholding and the share capital of companies.

Content to be confirmed.

The module considers what role, if any, law can play in improving the material existence of the poorest on this planet.

You will examine the role of international institutions and national governments in the promotion of social and human development. Along with investigating the role played by specific development instruments, such as development aid and blended finance in the fight against poverty.

Through the module, you’ll consider how the concept of development has changed over time and look at the history and theories around development. The module also examines specific issues such as access to health and access to food, gender equality, and food security.

As a whole, the module offers students a critical insight into law's possibilities and its limitations as it relates to international development.

You will arrange and complete a 50-hour law related activity placement (approved by the module convener) to take place after the end of your second year of studies. Law-related activities, include, but are not limited to: work experience with a solicitor’s firm or barristers chambers or work as a paralegal, volunteering for a not for profit organisation such as Citizens Advice or a law centre,  or gaining pro bono experience in a legal context, including delivering public legal education presentations to the local community (for example, streetlaw sessions); working in-house in a legal department of a company, or trade union or other organisation,  advising individuals or groups on bringing and defending legal claims, or on non-contentious legal matters, providing advice and assistance on an area of law, including virtual internships.  

You are then required to produce a critical reflective report (and deliver an oral presentation) on the legal and professional skills developed, observed and acquired during the experience, together with a critical evaluation of the legal and wider contextual issues encountered on the experience).  

This module will present a survey of the literature and film produced in Spain during the Franco period (1939-1975), focusing in detail on at least one literary work and one film from each decade of the Dictatorship. The chosen literary texts will include poetry and prose fiction, while the filmic ones belong to a variety of genres, including historical drama, neorealism and melodrama, comedy, and documentary.

The texts covered include some which reflect (and even help to propagate) the ideology of the rÉgime and others which stand in opposition to it. Each will, in its own way, provide an insight into the political, social and cultural attitudes of the decade to which it belongs as well as into the changing role and conditions of literary and cinematic production during this period. 

Free education from cradle to grave has been central to modern Cuba’s cultural and ideological identity. This module will encourage you to explore Cuba’s revolutionary change since 1959, through an examination of its evolving ideologies. You’ll review the critical factors of nationalism, dependency, radicalism and leadership which shaped developments from the original rebellion up to the present day.

Together we’ll discover the role of education policies and the ways in which a ‘cultural revolution’ was fundamental to the socialisation process of, and popular participation in (or dissent from) the Revolution.

This study will help you form conclusions about both the meaning of ‘ideology’ within the context of the Revolution, and the international geo-political significance of Cuba's self-definition and evolution.

This module discusses the competing memories and contested legacies of social and political violence in the Iberian Peninsula and Latin America by focusing on the disputes over the narratives and discourses about the past (competing narratives, or “memory wars”) and how what is “remembered” and/or “forgotten” can have an impact on the ability to imagine a collective, positive future. It aims to reflect on the apparent difficulty, and obvious imperative, of imagining alternative futures in neoliberal times and thereafter.

In recognition that memory is a creative, active process of working through the past that happens in the present, it will address cultural production from the 21st century. It addresses the role of art and culture  (mainly cinema [documentary, short and feature films], short stories, visual representations) in remembering and contesting the memory of the socio-political violence and conflicts (including Military Dictatorships, civil conflicts, social protests, political persecutions, failed coups) that have shaped late 20th and 21st centuries so far and that can both limit and inspire society’s ability to project an alternative future.

The module adopts a comparative approach which focuses on the formal experiments and common preoccupations of artists, social and political actors across different national cultures and historical contexts (translations and subtitles will be provided when required). It will discuss acts of subversion and protest, violence and resistance,  authoritarianism and transitions to democracy, neocolonial and decolonial practices, racial and class inequality and social injustice, neoliberalism and post-capitalism.   

This module concerns the law relating to people in the psychiatric system. Issues - including hospital admissions, treatment, competency and guardianship, and advocacy on behalf of the mad - are discussed from a variety of perspectives including patient rights, social control, and medical humanitarianism. 

Underlying the module is the question of what madness is, how it is to be responded to, and whether the existing legal provisions are sufficient or appropriate. 

You may believe that politics and literature are two distinct fields of study, but this module will help you understand the complex but integral relationship between the two.

We’ll explore the representation of key social and political issues within contemporary Spanish literature. You’ll discover how literature in late capitalism, and contemporary ‘Hispanic’ authors in particular, dealt with issues of language, identity, culture, society, nationhood, gender, class, memory, time and writing.

We also explore debates regarding the consistency of the categories of ‘Spain’ and ‘Spanishness’ when analysing cultural production in contemporary Iberia. This shall lead us to assess the competing discursive practices involved in remapping the notion of Spanish canonical literature at the beginning of the new millennium.

Corporate insolvency gives rise to a number of fascinating and complex questions. Which assets can be claimed by the company's creditors? What should be done with them? How should the proceeds raised be distributed amongst the creditors? How should those responsible for the losses be dealt with? 

The module seeks to develop an understanding of the ways these issues are resolved by the current law. You will be expected to analyse and evaluate the law, and consideration will be paid to the real-world context in which insolvency disputes arise.

This module looks at key 20th century Spanish American novels and short stories and considers issues such as race, gender, sexuality and the conflict of cultures. You will be trained in using a broad range of tools of narrative and rhetorical analysis so as to engage in debates about literary representation and aesthetics, and will hone your use of these through a programme of research tasks, seminar presentations, group discussions, and written assignments.

The module exposes students to an array of contemporary literary texts written in Spanish, and presents these texts and their translations against a backdrop of key research questions that explore literary translation, power and gender. The module focuses on both literary translation as a process (principles of literary translation, interventionist strategies, translators and activism), and as a product (paratexts, critical reception).

Students develop their knowledge of theory and practice throughout a series of lectures and practical translation workshops, where they will have the opportunity to apply, explore and critique the theoretical frameworks in their own translations of contemporary Hispanic literary texts.