Section VI - Academic Regulations: Law: Master of Laws

School of Law

Regulations for the Degree of Master of Laws

For the purpose of these Regulations, 'the Board of Examiners' refers to examiners as constituted at Board of Examiners' meetings in June and September or, where appropriate, at the School Board following the relevant meeting of the Board of Examiners.

All units involved in the undergraduate and postgraduate taught courses referred to below are credit-rated in accordance with the principles contained in the CATS Guide and Regulations (see Section IV). Details of how the CATS arrangements apply to each course are included in the relevant student handbooks.

The degree of Master of Laws (LLM) in any of the five designations set out in Regulation 5 below, shall be awarded by the Senate to candidates who have satisfactorily completed not less than twelve months' full-time study, or twenty-four months' prescribed part-time study, and passed the required examinations. The degree may be awarded with Distinction, with Merit or at Pass level.
The requirement for entry to the course shall normally be a good honours degree in Law of any approved university. Candidates with other qualifications may be accepted by the School Board.
A candidate shall be examined or assessed at such time or times as shall be prescribed by the School Board prior to the commencement of the course and must satisfy the Board of Examiners in a dissertation and each of three topics selected in accordance with Regulation 4 (ii) below.
The course shall commence in October and shall consist of:
1. the preparation of a dissertation in a subject approved by the Head of School; and
2. studies in any three of the following topics which the School Board decides shall be available during the year or years in question:
  1. Admiralty
  2. Carriage of Goods by Sea
  3. Civil Liberties
  4. Conflict of Laws
  5. Commercial and Financial Services Law of the EU
  6. Communications Media
  7. Crime and Punishment
  8. Criminal Justice Policy
  9. Environmental Law
  10. European Contract Law
  11. European Corporate Regulation
  12. European Information Technology Law
  13. European and International Intellectual Property Law
  14. International Business Taxation
  15. International Environmental Law
  16. International Human Rights
  17. International Law of the Sea
  18. International Trade
  19. Judicial Protection in the European Union
  20. Law of the European Internal Market
  21. Law of Marine Insurance
  22. Law of Restitution
  23. Theoretical Approaches to Crime and Punishment
3. The School Board shall have power to add to the above list of topics from time to time and also to withdraw any from such list.
1. Candidates may choose to study for a Master of Laws in any one of the following five designations: LLM, LLM (Commercial Law), LLM (European Law), LLM (International Law), LLM (Maritime Law).
2. Candidates wishing to study for the LLM are free to make an unrestricted choice of the optional subjects listed in Regulation 4(ii) above.
3. Without prejudice to Regulation 5(d) below, candidates wishing to study for any of the four named designations of the LLM will be required to select three of the optional subjects listed at Regulation 4(a)(ii) above from the following categories of subjects:
  
  LLM (Commercial Law): subjects (a), (b), (d), (f), (j), (m), (p), (r), (t), (u)
  
  LLM (European Law): subjects (d), (f), (j), (k), (l), (m), (t), (s)
  
  LLM (International Law): subjects (d), (k), (m), (q)
  
  LLM (Maritime Law): subjects (a), (b), (d), (q), (r), (u), (v).
4. With the permission of the Head of the School of Law, candidates may study for an LLM in any of the above four designations where they have chosen only two of their three selected subjects within the categories set out at Regulation 5(c) above, provided that their dissertation falls within the area of law of the chosen designation.
5. The School Board shall have power to add to and/or withdraw from the above four designated degrees and to the categories of subject within each designated degree.
Candidates shall not be entitled to present themselves for any examination unless they have regularly attended and performed the prescribed work for the course to the satisfaction of the Head of the School of Law. For the purpose of this Regulation, examination shall include all methods of assessment.
Each candidate shall submit the title of his/her dissertation not later than the end of the third week of the third term of the course. Completed dissertations, which shall be typewritten, must be lodged with the School Office by 30 September immediately following the end of the course. In exceptional cases, and with the permission of the Head of School, the dissertation may be submitted by a later date.
1. A candidate failing to satisfy the Board of Examiners in one subject only in the May/June examination may retake that subject in the following Supplementary Examinations. No course work may be carried forward, i.e. the result of the retake will be determined solely by examination. In such cases the deadline for submission of the dissertation will normally be 30 September following the Supplementary Examinations.
2. In the event of failure in the retaken subject in the Supplementary Examinations, the candidate may resit the examination in full (i.e. all three subjects) normally in the following May/June, and will be required to take the papers set for that occasion. A resit candidate will normally be an external student, and will be assessed solely by examination. However at the discretion of School Board a candidate may be allowed to repeat the year as an internal student, and will be required to submit and be assessed in new course work and examinations according to the course options taken. Subject to paragraph (e) below no further resits will be permitted.
3. A candidate failing to satisfy the Board of Examiners in more than one subject in the June examination may choose either to resit the examination in full (i.e. all three subjects) in the following Supplementary Examinations or to resit the examination in full normally in the following May/June when the candidate will be required to take the papers set for that occasion. The deadline for submission of the dissertation for a candidate choosing to resit in the Supplementary Examinations will be 30 September. A candidate who chooses to resit an examination in the following year will normally be an external candidate and will be assessed solely by examination. At the discretion of School Board a candidate may be allowed to repeat the year as an internal student, and will be required to submit and be assessed in new course work and examinations according to the course options taken. The deadline for submission of the dissertation for internal and external students will remain as 30 September following the original June examination failure. In the event of failure in one or more subjects taken in either the Supplementary Examinations or in the following June, there will be no further rights of resit, subject to paragraph (e) below.
4. Without prejudice to the above paragraphs 7(a) to (c), a candidate failing to satisfy the Board of Examiners in the dissertation may resubmit a revised dissertation on the same topic on one subsequent occasion by a date to be specified by School Board.
5. A candidate whose performance, in the view of the Board of Examiners, has been adversely affected by medical or other exceptional and substantial circumstances may be permitted to sit a subject; sit the examination (i.e. all three subjects); and/or submit a dissertation as if for the first time. Where these circumstances relate to a retaken paper, the candidate may be permitted to sit the paper on the same basis as the sitting that was adversely affected.