Course Overview

In this series of seminars students will learn the basis of British law, what it is and in broad terms, how it functions. Students will learn what terms like public and private and criminal and civil actually mean, and where these labels come from. They will also understand how the British legal system is structured. Students will also learn what legal elements need to be present for a crime to have been committed. Students will learn what actus reus and mens rea are, and how to recognize them in different types of crimes. For the specialist componant on this course, students will learn how to identify and classify a fatal offense, specifically the actus reus and mens rea of the crime and the defense of manslaughter both voluntary and involuntary. Finally students will learn what defences can be used for what crimes and how. Defences examined include insanity, automatism, duress and intoxication.