LW5001 - Land Law

You will learn through lectures, seminars, tutor guided independent learning and student independent learning. The lectures will cover the core concepts in land law and facilitate your development of problem solving skills by applying the legal principles to factual scenarios via the use of turning point.

In preparing for seminars you will undertake tutor guided independent learning which will enable you to come to the seminars with prepared answers for discussion. There will also be hands-on activities and exercises given out in seminars to allow you to work in small groups of three or four students and develop group work skills, an important employability skill. The seminar exercises will include the use of conveyancing documents that lawyers use in practice to provide ‘real life’ examples.

Student independent learning will allow you to identify and pursue areas of interest in land law to acquire a deeper/broader knowledge and to reflect on how land law is implemented in everyday life.

You will have plenty of opportunity for formative feedback on your knowledge and understanding of land law as well as opportunities in lectures and seminars to engage with the particular methods of assessment used (MCQs and legal problem questions). Your summative assessment is an unseen exam consisting of ten MCQs and two written answers from a choice of three legal problem questions.

You will be supported academically in a number of ways:
• The use of turning point in lectures which provide immediate feedback on multiple choice questions
• The use of online webcasts and quizzes. The webcasts provide short videos and/or audio podcasts on the principle concepts of land law. The quizzes (which supplement each webcast) provide immediate feedback from multiple choice questions on the material covered in the webcasts
• Unseen MCQs are used in seminars and provide immediate feedback on your understanding of the material covered in the seminar
• Oral feedback from tutors during small-group seminars
• Feedback on the answers to problem scenarios in seminars. You will prepare a written answer in advance of the seminar and during the seminar the tutor will explain the answer to the scenario. Answer guides are available on the University’s eLearning Portal after the seminar cycle so you can check your answer against it.
• Examples of past exam papers together with answer guides are available on the module eLearning site
• All relevant module information and materials will be made available through the module eLP site which is maintained by the module tutor.

All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. The reading list for this module can be found at: http://readinglists.northumbria.ac.uk
(Reading List service online guide for academic staff this containing contact details for the Reading List team – http://library.northumbria.ac.uk/readinglists)

Knowledge & Understanding:
• You will develop knowledge and understanding of the underlying concepts and key principles of substantive land law
• You will apply and interpret land law principles in the wider context of hypothetical legal problem scenarios

Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities:
• You will be able to apply primary and secondary source material to address legal problems
• You will develop skills in interpreting and applying statutory provisions

Formative assessment will take place through the use of turning point in lectures, the use of online quizzes attached to the webcasts, the use of unseen MCQs in seminars, oral feedback in seminars, the use of model answers on the eLearning platform and the use of peer review in seminars. Formative feedback will be provided throughout the module, particularly in relation to seminar tasks.
Marking criteria will be provided from the start of the module to enable you to understand what is expected and how you will be judged on your performance. You will have the opportunity in seminars to engage with the marking criteria and use it to grade past student answers. This enables you to identify what makes a good answer to a legal problem question in land law.

Summative assessment will be by a two hour unseen examination. The exam consists of two parts. Part I involves ten multiple choice questions and Part II consists of three legal problem questions of which you must answer two.

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‘Land Law’ provides you with an understanding of key legal concepts relating to land. Think about where you live. You may live in University accommodation or rent property from a private landlord; or you may be living in your parents’ home or with family or friends. It is likely that at some point in the future you hope to buy your own house possibly with a partner. All of this involves land law. So you can see that regardless of whether you intend to practice land law in your career, a good understanding of land law is a valuable asset as it will give you a better appreciation of what is happening when you buy, sell, rent or occupy land. The module uses examples of ‘real life’ documents and problem scenarios to put the academic law into practice. The module is assessed by an exam which allows you to apply your knowledge of the law to factual scenarios.