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OpenLearn

Law and change: Scottish legal heroes

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Overview

This free course, Law and change: Scottish legal heroes, explores the legal system in Scotland and considers how individuals, institutions and organisations have made a difference by challenging the law or legal system. You learn about the law-making process in Scotland, explore how the legal system has been influenced by change and consider how law has been used to respond to developments in society. Scots laws and lawyers have influenced development of laws on a national, regional and global level and you explore examples of this influence. You'll consider how words such as reasonableness, duty, rights, justice, fairness are used in relation to law and legal systems and their relevance in contemporary Scotland before looking at how you can make a difference by becoming involved in the law making process yourself. TranscriptEnrolling on the course will give you the opportunity to earn an Open University digital badge. Badges are not accredited by The Open University but they're a great way to demonstrate your interest in the subject and commitment to your career, and to provide evidence of continuing professional development.Once you are signed in, you can manage your digital badges online from My OpenLearn. In addition, you can download and print your OpenLearn statement of participation - which also displays your Open University badge.The Open University would really appreciate a few minutes of your time to tell us about yourself and your expectations for the course before you begin, in our optional start-of-course survey. Once you complete the course we would also value your feedback and suggestions for future improvement, in our optional end-of-course survey. Participation will be completely confidential and we will not pass on your details to others. This course is accredited by the CPD Standards Office. It can be used to provide evidence of continuing professional development and on successful completion of the course you will be awarded 24 CPD points. Evidence of your CPD achievement is provided on the free Statement of Participation awarded on completion.Anyone wishing to provide evidence of their enrolment on this course is able to do so by sharing their Activity Record on their OpenLearn Profile, which is available before completion of the course and earning of the Statement of Participation.  

Syllabus

  • Introduction and guidance
  • Introduction and guidance
  • What is a badged course?
  • How to get a badge
  • Acknowledgements
  • Week1Week 1: Law making in Scotland
  • Introduction
  • 1 The Scottish legal system
  • 1.1 Thinking about law
  • 2 The Scottish Parliament
  • 2.1 Legislative competence
  • 2.2 Legislative consent motions
  • 2.3 Law making in the Scottish Parliament
  • 3 The UK Parliament and law making
  • 4 Common law
  • 4.1 Statutory interpretation
  • 5 Summaries of sources of law making
  • 6 International law
  • 6.1 The ECHR
  • 6.1.1 The ECHR and UK
  • 6.1.2 The Human Rights Act 1998
  • 6.2 The European Union
  • 6.3 The UK and EU
  • 6.4 Summaries of European influences on law making in Scotland
  • 7 Government ministers
  • 8 This week’s quiz
  • Summary
  • References
  • Acknowledgements
  • Week2Week 2: An overview of the legal history of Scotland
  • Introduction
  • 1 Law and medieval Scotland
  • 1.1 The Regiam Majestatem
  • 1.2 Canon law
  • 1.3 The traditional ‘divine right of kings’
  • 2 Power, legislation, society and change
  • 2.1 The emergence of a professional judiciary
  • 2.2 A changing society: monarchs and church
  • 2.3 Records and land ownership
  • 2.4 The High Court of Justiciary
  • 2.5 The union
  • 3 Other influences
  • 3.1 The institutional writers
  • 3.2 Legal education
  • 3.3 The Scottish Parliament
  • 4 This week’s quiz
  • Summary
  • References
  • Acknowledgements
  • Week3Week 3: Influencing and shaping legal systems
  • Introduction
  • 1 Law and society
  • 1.1 Rules and society
  • 1.2 Law as a system of rules
  • 1.3 Perceptions of law
  • 2 The role of law
  • 2.1 Influences shaping law
  • 2.2 Law and order in context
  • 2.2.1 Political order
  • 2.2.2. Economic order
  • 2.2.3 Public order
  • 2.2.4 Social order
  • 2.3 Laws and values
  • 3 The rule of law
  • 4 Legal systems and law
  • 5 This week’s quiz
  • Summary
  • References
  • Acknowledgements
  • Week4Week 4: Influence on a global scale: snails and ginger beer
  • Introduction
  • 1 Background
  • 1.1 The facts
  • 1.2 Information often omitted by standard law texts
  • 2 The importance of Donoghue
  • 2.1 Social economic conditions
  • 2.2 Reactions to the case
  • 3 The global influence of Donoghue
  • 3.1 USA
  • 3.2 Canada
  • 3.3 New Zealand
  • 3.4 Australia
  • 4 This week’s quiz
  • Summary
  • References
  • Acknowledgements
  • Week5Week 5: Judges
  • Introduction
  • 1 Judicial precedent
  • 2 A brief introduction to legal reasoning
  • 3 Legal reasoning and Donoghue
  • 3.1 Stevenson’s pleadings
  • 3.2 Donoghue’s pleadings
  • 4 The House of Lords’ decision
  • 5 Finding the ratio in Donoghue
  • 6 Use of legal sources in the judgments
  • 6.1 The place of the neighbour principle in the ratio
  • 6.2 Was this new reasoning?
  • 7 Scottish judges
  • 8 This week’s quiz
  • Summary
  • References
  • Acknowledgements
  • Week6Week 6: Making a difference
  • Introduction
  • 1 Legal heroes
  • 1.1 A unique legal tradition
  • 2 Individuals and organisations
  • 2.1 James Wilson (1742–1798)
  • 2.2 Whisky and golf
  • 2.3 Mary Barbour (1875–1958)
  • 2.4 Caroline Mockford
  • 3 Thinking about why change may be needed
  • 4 Reflecting changes in society
  • 5 A UK Supreme Court
  • 6 Making a difference individuals and organisations
  • Donald Dewar
  • Sir David Edward
  • Fidra
  • Assynt Crofters’ Trust and Allan Macrae
  • John Muir Trust
  • Madge Easton Anderson
  • Dame Margaret Henderson
  • Elish Angiolini
  • Finally
  • 7 This week’s quiz
  • Summary
  • References
  • Acknowledgements
  • Week7Week 7: Challenging decisions
  • Introduction
  • 1 Delegated powers: decision-making and law
  • 2 What is the power and are there any limitations?
  • 2.1 Thinking about the power
  • 2.2 A structured approach to analysing the power given
  • 3 The process of taking the decision
  • 3.1 Considerations to be made
  • 3.2 Discretion
  • 3.2.1 Legitimate expectations
  • 4 Who can make the decision
  • 5 Factors to always consider
  • Devolution
  • Human rights
  • Equality
  • Data protection and freedom of information
  • 6 Rules of natural justice
  • 6.1 Consultation
  • 6.2 Procedural fairness
  • 6.3 Bias
  • 6.4 Reasonableness
  • 6.5 Proportionality
  • 6.6 Giving reasons
  • 7 Bringing this all together
  • 8 This week’s quiz
  • Summary
  • References
  • Acknowledgements
  • Week8Week 8: Making a difference: becoming involved
  • Introduction
  • 1 Making a contribution to the work of the Scottish Parliament
  • 1.1 Becoming involved in the lawmaking process of the Scottish Parliament
  • 2 Making a contribution to the UK Parliament
  • 3 Other ways to become involved
  • 4 Thinking about making a difference
  • 5 This week’s quiz
  • Summary
  • Course summary
  • Tell us what you think
  • References
  • Acknowledgements

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