1. Identify and evaluate key provisions relating to Human Rights Law in the UK.

Knowledge and understanding, Analysis.

2. Evaluate Convention rights and the legitimate limitations on the exercise of those rights, including the right to life, right to personal liberty, right to respect for private life and right to freedom of expression.

Knowledge and understanding, enquiry.

3. Recognise and analyse the potential conflicts between competing rights acknowledging moral and ethical dimensions.

Knowledge and understanding, communication, Analysis.

The assessment will cover all the Learning Outcomes. It is an essay in which various provisions of two instruments can be evaluated, the European Convention on Human Rights and the Human Rights Act 1998. The essay will involve analysis of certain convention rights, with reflection on the scope of legitimate limitations on the exercise of these rights. There will be evaluation of case law from the European Court of Human Rights and the higher courts of the UK. Use of academic opinion will be an important feature of the coherent and structured arguments set out in the essay.

Sections 2, 3, 4 and 6 of Human Rights Act 1998; right to life; freedom from torture, inhuman or degrading treatment; right to personal liberty; right to fair trial; right to respect for private and family life; freedom of thought, conscience and religion; freedom of expression; freedom of assembly.

Can you see yourself championing important freedoms and liberties in challenging and controversial circumstances? You will explore important human rights such as the right to life and the absolute prohibition on torture. You will examine the scope of the right to liberty and the right to a fair trial. You will debate the boundaries of two human rights that sometimes conflict with each other, freedom of expression and the right to respect for private and family life. You will apply principles of human rights law to practical scenarios in the areas of medical ethics, employment rights and state measures designed to combat terrorism.

The majority of learning materials will be presented online asynchronously organised as a series of weekly topics. Students will be encouraged to follow the weekly schedule where this is possible.

Three synchronous online webinars will be held to provide opportunities for live interaction between students and lecturer, to cover an introduction to the module and learning expectations, an assessment guidance session, and a consolidation session prior to the assessment date. These sessions will be recorded for the benefit of students who are unable to attend at the scheduled time.

The online learning materials will be organised as a range of short activities for each topic which allow students to construct and apply their own knowledge as they work through them. Instant feedback will be provided where appropriate on computer-aided tests of knowledge. Summaries and explanations of applied tasks will be available, allowing students to assess their progress against suggested answers.

Tutor-student and peer interaction will be facilitated through the use of collaborative online learning spaces. Students will be able to post questions and queries as they reflect on their own developing understanding of the key subject concepts. This will allow students a means of debating the broader moral and ethical considerations where legal rights are potentially in conflict.

Ruth Costigan and Richard Stone, Civil Liberties and Human Rights (11th edn, Oxford University Press 2017) (available as a digital textbook on the Law Trove portal)

Helen Fenwick, Fenwick on Civil Liberties and Human Rights (5th edn, Routledge 2017)

Books:

David Hoffman and John Rowe, Human Rights in the UK: An Introduction to the Human Rights Act 1998 (4th edn, Pearson 2013)

Bernadette Rainey et al., The European Convention on Human Rights (8th edn, Oxford University Press 2020)

Journals:

Journal articles, from journals including Human Rights Law Review, will be available on one of the databases (below)

Databases:

Westlaw

Lexis Library