Legislation and statutory interpretation

LWM79

The topic of this course is legislation in the sense of statutory law, in other words, written texts of binding legal value that dictate the current state of regulation imposed by government. In the past legislation used to be a prerogative of civil law jurisdictions, however it is now at the forefront of sources of law both in civil and common law jurisdictions. Its increasing popularity as a source of law has created issues with the extensive volume of legislation and with the interrelation between legislative texts within the national jurisdiction as well as within the original and international jurisdictions to which the country belongs. By the end of this course you should have a systematic understanding of knowledge of legislative studies in the wide interdisciplinary concept at the national, regional and international levels and be able to acquire critical awareness of current political, legal and legislative problems in the area of legislation and legally binding texts.

Study as an individual course

Module A: Introduction to legislation

LWM79A

Legislation as a tool for regulation
Nature and types of legislation
Geographical extent of legislation
Temporal extent of legislation
Supranational legislation

Module B: Making legislation

LWM79B

Policy process
Legislative process
Drafting process
Legislative impact assessment

Module C: Statutory interpretation

LWM79C

Interpretation of legislation
Literal rule
Mischief rule
Purposive rule
Presumptions and maxims of interpretation

Module D: Tests for quality of legislation

LWM79D

Rule of law test
Human rights and constitutionality test
Good law test
Functionality test – effectiveness

Assessment

Each module will be assessed by a 45-minute unseen written examination.

Sequence

It is strongly recommended you attempt Module A first.

How to apply

You can apply to study a module individually as a standalone unit or as part of a Postgraduate Certificate, Postgraduate Diploma or Master of Laws qualification. (In either scenario, they must be studied in order.)

These modules also contribute towards the following specialist pathways for Laws:

Common Law
Economic Regulation
Legal Theory and History
Procedural Law
Public Law

Apply via Postgraduate Laws.

Professor Helen Xanthaki

Professor Helen Xanthaki is the Director of the University of London International Postgraduate Laws Programmes. Helen is the Co-Author and Chief Examiner of the course, Legislation and Statutory Interpretation. Professor Xanthaki specialises in legislation, legislative drafting, quality of legislation in the common law, civil law, the EU, and the Commonwealth. She works as consultant in legislative drafting to EU institutions, national governments, and international/regional organisations and trainer in legislative drafting.