Study-Unit Description

Study-Unit Description


CODE MCT1005

 
TITLE Introduction to Law

 
UM LEVEL 01 - Year 1 in Modular Undergraduate Course

 
MQF LEVEL 5

 
ECTS CREDITS 6

 
DEPARTMENT Media, Communications & Technology Law

 
DESCRIPTION This study-unit covers three topics: the Legal System, Legal Research Methods and Legal Writing Skills. It is intended to be an introductory study-unit which whilst giving students a bird's eye view of the Legal System, it will also assist them to grasp basic legal research methods and legal writing skills which they will need to use throughout the whole degree course. As part of the legal system, this study-unit introduces the main legal principles which will be touched upon in subsequent years. These will include:

Judicial concepts:
- The Person – Physical and Juridical. Age of the physical person. The Foetus. Associations; Partnerships; States; International Organisations;
- Rights; Obligations; Liberties and Duties;
- Jurisdiction; Possession, Punishment;
- Sources of Law, Interpretation of Law; Application of Law in Time and Space, General Principles of Law.

It will also require students to attend for an information session on legal materials available at the University of Malta Library in order to assist them in knowing what legal materials may be used during the entire duration of the course for their studies in law.

Study-Unit Aims:

The study-unit aims to introduce the Maltese Legal System to the student. This will provide grounding for further study-units offered in the LLB degree course. The legal research methods and legal writing skills will also enable students to write good legal works such as assignments, presentations, etc.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Knowledge & Understanding:

By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

- Know how to explain what makes a legal system;
- Be able to demonstrate how to write a legal piece of work (assignment; presentation; exam replies; etc.);
- Learn how to design research questions, formulate a literature review, combine theories and hypotheses, construct a research design, implement research and apply from an ethical viewpoint and, generally, know why certain processes have to be followed in order to be able to write any piece of legal work.

2. Skills:

By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

- Write about the legal system;
- Write assignments, presentations and other pieces of legal work;
- Research the law;
- Access legal sources without difficulty;
- Write a report on legal materials available at the University of Malta Library.

Main Text/s and any supplementary readings:

Main Texts:

- David Joseph Attard, 'The Maltese Legal System', Volume 1, Introduction. Malta University Press, 2013 (revised edition).
- Max Ganado (ed.), Introduction to Maltese Financial Services Law, Valletta Allied Publications, 2009.
- Emily Finch and Stefan Fafinski, Legal Skills (Oxford: 7th Ed., Oxford University Press – 2019).
- George Watson, Writing a Thesis: a guide to long essays and dissertations, London, Longmann, 1987.
- Rowena Murray, How to Write a Thesis (Milton Keynes: 4th Edn., Open University Press – 2017)
- G.E. Gorman and Peter Clayton, Qualitative Research for the Information Professional: A Practical Handbook, Second Edition, London, Facet Publishing, 2005.
- James Holland and Julian Webb, ‘Learning Legal Rules: A Students’ Guide to Legal Method and Reasoning’ (Oxford: 10th Edn., Oxford University Press – 2019).
- A T H Smith, Glanville Williams: Learning the law (London: 17th Edn., Sweet & Maxwell – 2020).
- Ernest Gowers, Complete plain words (London: Penguin Books – 1992).
- Caroline Taggart, J A Wines, My grammar and I or should that be me? : How to speak and write it right (Reader’s Digest Association – 2014).
- Raymond Mangion, Legislation in Malta: A History – 1918-1928, Kite Group, Hamrun, 2022.

 
ADDITIONAL NOTES Students taking this study-unit need to have a background in law.

 
STUDY-UNIT TYPE Lecture

 
METHOD OF ASSESSMENT
Assessment Component/s Assessment Due Sept. Asst Session Weighting
Report SEM1 Yes 20%
Examination (2 Hours) SEM1 Yes 80%

 
LECTURER/S Kevin Aquilina (Co-ord.)
Vincent A Degaetano
Patrick J. Galea
Raymond Mangion

 

 
The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints.
Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice.
It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years.

https://www.um.edu.mt/course/studyunit