LAWS355-16S1 (C) Semester One 2016

European Union Law

15 points

Details:
Start Date: Monday, 22 February 2016
End Date: Sunday, 26 June 2016
Withdrawal Dates
Last Day to withdraw from this course:
  • Without financial penalty (full fee refund): Friday, 4 March 2016
  • Without academic penalty (including no fee refund): Friday, 20 May 2016

Description

The purpose of this course is to provide students with an overall understanding of the EU legal system and associated issues, including the institutional structure of the EU; European Administrative Law; EU lawmaking and judicial control of Union legislation; free movement of goods, persons and services; EU intellectual property law; European criminal law; protection of human rights in the EU; freedom of expression in the EU; environmental protection in the EU; the EU in the world trading system; and implications of the EU for the nation state.

The European Union (EU) represents the largest and most populous trading bloc in the world. Twenty eight states stretching from the Baltic to the Mediterranean have created a single market in which the factors of production - goods, services and people – are able to move freely.  The EU also has broad political ambitions, and displays some elements of a federal policy.  Whatever the ultimate political aims of the EU, it is a union based on the rule of law.

The aim of this course is to provide students with an understanding of the principal facets of the legal system of the European Union.  You will be introduced in particular to institutional structure of the EU; the law making capacity of the EU; judicial control and uniform interpretation of EU law; free movement of goods and people and EU competition law.

This course will appeal to those who wish to understand how one of the most powerful economic entities in the world functions.  It will also provide an insight into a legal system which is based on civil rather than common law.  For students contemplating legal practice in the EU, this course should provide the necessary professional exemption, should it be required.

Learning Outcomes

  • By the end of this course you should be able to explain and critically evaluate:
  •  The economic and political foundations of the EU and its legal system in historical context;
  •  The sources of EU law and its relationship to domestic legal systems;
  •  The evolution and effects of the various treaties amending and augmenting the Treaty of Rome;
  •  The operation of EU law in national courts, including the place and function of preliminary references;
  •  Judicial control of EU legislative action, including liability of the EU institutions for wrongful acts;
  •  The law relating to the free movement of goods and people; and
  •  The major principles and rules of EU competition law and policy.

Prerequisites

(i) LAWS101; and (ii) LAWS110

Restrictions

EURO311, EURA311

Co-requisites

LAWS202-LAWS206. Students enrolled in other degrees, who do not have the above prerequisites and corequisites, but have completed appropriate courses in another discipline, may apply to the Head of Department for a waiver.

Course Coordinator / Lecturer

John Hopkins

Assessment

Assessment Due Date Percentage 
Essay 08 Apr 2016 50%
Time Limited Essays 03 Jun 2016 50%


Assessment may be by way of an essay (worth 50%) and a time-limited essay (worth 50%).

The assessment will be confirmed in the first week of lectures.

Indicative Fees

Domestic fee $759.00

International fee $3,450.00

* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.

For further information see Faculty of Law .

All LAWS355 Occurrences

  • LAWS355-16S1 (C) Semester One 2016