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Legal skills and debates in Scotland
Legal skills and debates in Scotland

Start this free course now. Just create an account and sign in. Enrol and complete the course for a free statement of participation or digital badge if available.

Introduction and guidance

Welcome to this badged open course, Legal skills and debates in Scotland.

The free course lasts eight weeks, with approximately three hours of study each week. You can work through the course at your own pace, so if you have more time one week there is no problem with pushing on to complete another week’s study.

The course explores law and legal skills in Scotland. You will consider how laws are interpreted and applied. You will read legislation, court judgments and learn about logic, argument and judicial reasoning. The concept of precedent is introduced and you consider perceptions of law and justice too. Human Rights are discussed and the legal capacity of children explored.

The relationship between society’s values and the law and the role of law in Scotland is considered through a number of examples which explore the balance between policy, rights and law. Throughout problem solving and legal writing are considered.

In this course, you will explore the role, function and purpose of the courts in Scotland and their relationship with the law. You will gain an understanding of both the complexity of issues in the application and interpretation of law, and of human rights and their role in Scotland.

Following this course, you will also be able to explain and demonstrate a number of skills, including problem solving, argument and reasoning.

After completing this course, you should be able to:

  • understand the complexity of issues in the application and interpretation of law
  • have an understanding of human rights and their role in Scotland
  • be able to explain and demonstrate a number of skills such as problem solving, argument and reasoning.

After completing Legal skills and debates in Scotland, you may like to enrol on these free OpenLearn courses:

The Scottish Parliament and law making [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)]

Scottish courts and the law

Law and change: Scottish legal heroes

And if you would like to take your study in this subject area further, sign up to the Open University course Law making in Scotland.

Moving around the course

In the ‘Summary’ at the end of each week, you can find a link to the next week. If at any time you want to return to the start of the course, click on ‘Course content’. From here you can navigate to any part of the course. Alternatively, use the week links at the top of every page of the course.

It’s also good practice, if you access a link from within a course page (including links to the quizzes), to open it in a new window or tab. That way you can easily return to where you’ve come from without having to use the back button on your browser.