Law Degree Modules

Jun 04, 2024

Written By Billy Sexton

So you want to do a law degree, huh? It’s the first step on the long road to becoming a lawyer (so you’re on the right track there) but do you know what you’re going to be studying? ‘Surely that depends on the university?’ I hear you ponder. Ah, well no. Let us explain further.

Compulsory law modules

Unlike other degrees such as history, law degrees at any university have seven compulsory modules. A history course at one university might have a module called ‘Introduction to Modern History’ whereas another university could have a similar module called ‘European History, 1789-1945’. These two would cover roughly the same topics and debates, but are simply called something different.

However, law degrees have seven compulsory modules that are the same at every university that offers the LLB.

Constitutional/Administrative Law

A module surrounding this area of law will include an introduction and study into the legal institutions of England and Wales, such as a look at the structure and function of courts, as well as legal reasoning, the trail and narratives and law and equality, with the latter taking a look into issues such as law and discrimination.

Contract Law

A module on contract law would focus on, believe it or not, the law of contracts. It would look at the formation of contracts, the contents of a contract, termination of contracts and how breaches of contract can be sorted out.

Criminal Law

This juicy bad boy will focus on developing your knowledge of the criminal justice system and will aim to give you the ability to identify and analyse criminal law issues. There will be general study into the definition of terms, such as intention, recklessness and knowledge and belief) and will also allow you to get stuck into the law on homicide, self-defence, sexual offences and dishonesty offences such as burglary.

Equity & Trusts

The equity and trusts module will look at the creation and constitution of the trust, charitable and non-charitable purpose trusts and remedies for the breach of trust.

EU Law

EU law modules give students an understanding of the legal principles underpinning the European Union. It will look at the constitution of the EU and issues such as human rights.

Land Law

Ah, the law of the land! Known to be a toughie, land law contains lot of legal rules and principles over the issue of land rights. With loads of technical terms, land law will distinct between real and personal property and also cover issues such as registered titles, leases, mortgages and co-ownership.

Public Law

Studying the module of public law will give law students a greater understanding of the principles of constitutional and administrative law, set within a context of politics and political theory. You will study issues such as the Rule of Law and Separation of Powers, the constitutional impact of the EU and devolution to Scotland and Wales, as well as the nature of judicial review.

Tort Law

Tort law focusses on the wrongs of one individual against another and the module will look at the fundamental principles of tort law, and relevance of other law areas in relation to tort law.

And there we have it! The seven compulsory modules you will study in your law degree. Each module is worth a certain number of credits, and over the course of your degree you usually need to gain 360 credits to get a degree, meaning there’s loads of optional modules you can study!

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Optional law modules

It’s impossible to list all the optional law modules available, but to give you a taster of what you can study:

- Competition law

- Criminology and Criminal Justice

- Environmental law

- Medicine and the law

- Human Rights law

- Terrorism and Counter-terrorism law

- Family law

- Law & history

- Law, gender & sexuality.

Hopefully that clears up any uncertainty you may have had about what you can study as part of your law degree!

Law Degree