All about A level Law – course information

What's A level Law about?

Law plays a vital and wide-ranging role in society.  Its functions include protecting the public, regulating relationships, the construction of agreements and the resolution of disputes.

An aspect of A level Law students particularly enjoy is the 'case study' approach, in which legal principles are applied to real-life cases.  For example,  Fagan v Metropolitan Police Commissioner [1969], where a police officer’s foot was accidentally driven over and parked upon, or  the negligence case of Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] involving the infamous snail in the ginger beer.  It is the combination of human stories raising real and relevant issues that makes A level Law an engaging, yet challenging subject to study.

The AQA is a popular exam board for the study of A level Law, but other boards provide a similar specification.  AQA offers an introduction to the:

• Nature of Law: This examines the relationship of law with society, morality and justice, and explores fundamental concepts such as the ‘Rule of Law’ and ‘Parliamentary Sovereignty’;
• English Legal System: This unit covers how law is made both centrally within parliament, and by decisions made in the appeal courts. You learn about key legal institutions, including the civil and criminal court hierarchy, and the various processes and personnel involved in the practice of law;
•  Criminal Law: This considers both Fatal (Murder, Voluntary and Involuntary manslaughter) and Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person (Assault, Battery, Actual Bodily Harm, Grievous Bodily Harm) as well, as offences against property. Criminal legal theory is also studied to provide context;
• Tort Law: This explores various torts ('wrongs') including Negligence and Private Nuisance, and explores concepts such as 'Liability' and deals with the 'Remedies'  available to the courts;
• Option choice: You study either Human Rights or Contract Law. Human Rights considers the historical development of human rights and the legal theory underlying the current approach. Contract Law deals with the essential components of contract; offer, acceptance, consideration and intention to create legal relations.

What sort of work is involved?

A level Law is a thinking, writing, debating and learning subject. You need to be able to understand precision use of language, and to write clearly, and you will learn how to argue, on paper and in class, to  develop and defend your views on how legal principles apply to specific situations. And yes, you do need a reasonable memory for the names and events involved in key cases

What background do I need?

You don't need any prior knowledge of Law in order to start the A level Law course, but you do need a solid complement of GCSEs.

If you have mostly 4/5s at GCSE, you may well find A level Law very tough.  Most institutions insist on a 7 in English GCSE. The requirement to write essays using specific legal terminology to explain and evaluate the current law in terms of concepts such as fairness, morality and justice; or where you need to use logical reasoning to assess liability means that you need a good grasp of the English language.

Most important, though, is that you have a genuine interest in the Law; its creation, application and institutions.  This will lead to success and enjoyment.

Where can it lead?

As well as being innately interesting, A level Law provides a taster for Law at university (though it is not required), and gives students a head start compared to those who have never studied Law before .

Research carried out by AQA shows that university Law faculties welcome applications from students who have taken A level Law, provided that their A level subject combination meets 'breadth' and 'skills' requirements .

A level Law is also useful for those with no intention of reading Law at university.  It is stimulating, promotes critical thinking, and deals with current issues such as ‘right to die’, or the legal significance of Brexit. It encompasses skills and knowledge that are relevant and prized in many vocational areas.

One year course?

It is possible but very difficult to do well in one year. It's not so much the amount you need to learn in A level Law, but how well you can develop the sophisticated reasoning and writing skills in that time.

Assessment

A level Law is assessed at the end of the course. AQA sets three exams, each consisting of a number of multiple choice questions, short and extended essay questions, and problem scenarios to which you are required to apply the law in order to assess liability.

Paper 1 covers Criminal Law, Paper 2 covers Tort Law, and Paper 3 examines the option topics; Contract or Human Rights. Assessment of the Nature of the Law and English Legal Systems components is spread out across the three papers and represents 25% of the total marks.

This article was written by Jennifer Hall of Cambridge Centre for Sixth-form Studies