The Bachelor of Law and Society requires three years of full-time study (or the equivalent part-time). The course is offered by the Faculty of Education, Humanities and Law.
Students wishing to continue to Honours may apply for the Bachelor of Law and Society (Honours), provided that they meet the admission requirements.
Admission requirements
The minimum requirements for consideration for entry to all undergraduate courses are specified in detail in the University Entry Requirements.
Course aims
This course is designed to give students the intellectual tools to research and evaluate the way the legal system works in practice in society.
Students develop:
- an understanding of how the law operates as a social institution, including its institutional structure, the role of key legal personnel, and the process of law reform
- a critical appreciation of how the law is shaped by and shapes its social context, including how law is constituted by (and constitutes) relations of power and normative understandings
- skills to research and analyse the relationship between law and society.
Learning outcomes
Upon graduating, students will have:
- acquired high levels of knowledge and skills relevant to and applicable in many occupations
- cognitive skills to evaluate law as a social institution
- the ability to describe the importance of social context and social relations in shaping social institutions
- the ability to reason and argue clearly
- the ability to identify complex positions and analyse their implications
- the ability to recognise and resolve issues involving values
- the skills to research and analyse issues relating to law and society
- the skills required to understand and constructively critique contemporary life.
Program of study
To qualify for the Bachelor of Law and Society, a student must complete 108 units with a grade of P or NGP or better in each topic, according to the program of study below..
Not all topics are necessarily available in a given year.
Core - Year 1 topics
18 units comprising:
COMS1001 Academic and Professional Communication (4.5 units)*
CRIM1102 Criminal Justice System (4.5 units)
LEGL1201 Law in Australian Society (4.5 units)
PHIL1060 Critical Reasoning (4.5 units)
Option - Year 1 topics
AUST1004 An Introduction to Aboriginal Studies (4.5 units)
POLI1003 Introduction to Democracy and Government (4.5 units)
SOCI1001 Issues in Sociology (4.5 units)
Choose 9 units from the Option Streams listed below. Options can be chosen from more than one Stream.
*Under certain conditions the core topic COMS1001 may be replaced with an alternative topic. See COMS1001 for further details.
Core - Year 2 topics
18 units comprising:
CRIM2301 Criminal Law in Context (4.5 units)
LEGL2117 Crimes Against Populations (4.5 units)
PHIL2601 Ethics for Professionals (4.5 units)
SOCI2025 Sociological Research: Design Methods and Ethics (4.5 units)
Option - Year 2 topics
Choose 4.5 units from the following:
CRIM2201 Punishment and Society (4.5 units)
CRIM2202 Policing and Society (4.5 units)
Plus
Choose 13.5 units from one of the Option Streams listed below.
Core - Year 3 topics
13.5 units comprising
CRIM3402 Advanced Research Methods and Analysis (4.5 units)
LLAW3256 Socio-Legal Theory (4.5 units)
PHIL2608 Freedom, Law and Society (4.5 units)
Option - Year 3 topics
Choose 9 units from the following:
CRIM3011 Current Issues in Criminal Justice (4.5 units)
CRIM3203 Corporate Crime (4.5 units)
CRIM3301 Crime, Law and Trauma (4.5 units)
CRIM3302 International Criminal Justice (4.5 units)
CRIM3304 Criminal Networks (4.5 units)
CRIM3305 Borders, Migration, Security (4.5 units)
SOCI3049 Sociology of Law (4.5 units)
WMST3013 Gendering Politics and Policy: Justice, Rights and Representation (4.5 units)
Plus
Choose 13.5 units from the same Option Stream as chosen in Year 2.
Option Streams
Economy and Society
Year 1 topics
BUSN1011 Accounting For Managers (4.5 units)
BUSN1012 Management, People and Organisations (4.5 units)
BUSN1013 Economics for Business (4.5 units)
BUSN1019 Law for Business (4.5 units)
Year 2 topics
BUSN2019 International Business Context (4.5 units)
BUSN2022 The Australian Economy (4.5 units)
BUSN2026 Entrepreneurship and Small Business (4.5 units)
BUSN2038 Human Resource Management (4.5 units)
BUSN2039 International Business Management (4.5 units)
LEGL2114 Regulating Small Business (4.5 units)
POLI2002 Government Business and Society (4.5 units)
Year 3 topics
BUSN2042 Corporations Law (4.5 units)
BUSN3035 Employee Relations (4.5 units)
BUSN3038 International Business Negotiations (4.5 units)
BUSN3043 Governance, Sustainability and Ethics (4.5 units)
BUSN3052 Leadership in Business and Society (4.5 units)
BUSN3054 Taxation Law and Practice (4.5 units)
BUSN3056 International Trade (4.5 units)
International and Human Rights
Year 1 topics
AMST1002 America and the World: The United States in a Global Context (4.5 units)
INTR1006 International Relations: An Introduction (4.5 units)
INTR1100 Exploring the International (4.5 units)
POLI1003 An Introduction to Democracy and Government (4.5 units)
Year 2 topics
INTR2006 Debating Human Rights (4.5 units)
INTR2015 New Security Agenda (4.5 units)
INTR2101 Democracy & Human Rights in Asia (4.5 units)
PHIL2611 Breaking the Rules: Opposing Injustice Without Violence (4.5 units)
PHIL2613 Global Justice (4.5 units)
POLI2020 Australian Indigenous Politics (4.5 units)
WMST2017 Gender, Globalisation and International Development (4.5 units)
Year 3 topics
INTR3001 Australian Foreign Policy (4.5 units)
INTR3101 Global Inequality (4.5 units)
INTR3102 Controversies in International Relations (4.5 units)
POLI3014 International Perspectives on Indigenous Politics (4.5 units)
XXXXxxxx International Protection of Human Rights (4.5 units)
XXXXxxxx International Trade Law and Development (4.5 units)
Culture and Society
Year 1 topics
AUST1001 Australian Studies: Identities (4.5 units)
AUST1004 An Introduction to Aboriginal Studies (4.5 units)
PHIL1030 The Individual and Society (4.5 units)
SOCI1001 Issues in Sociology (4.5 units)
SOCI1010 Sociology of Everyday Life (4.5 units)
WMST1001 Sex, Gender and Identities in Australia (4.5 units)
Year 2 topics
AUST2612 Reconciliation and Indigenous Knowledges (4.5 units)
PHIL2612 Moral Problems (4.5 units)
POLI2025 The Politics of the Australian Welfare State (4.5 units)
SOCI2015 Sociology of Deviance (4.5 units)
SOCI2021 Race, Power and Identity (4.5 units)
SOCI2026 Contemporary Social Problems (4.5 units)
WMST2015 Sex, Gender and the Law (4.5 units)
Year 3 topics
ARCH8017 Cultural Heritage and the Law** (4.5 units)
AUST3330 Reading Australian Culture (4.5 units)
ITAL3215 The Italian Mafia: Origin and Representations (4.5 units)
SOCI3008 Knowing the Social World (4.5 units)
SOCI3047 Shaping the Future (4.5 units)
SOCI3048 Gender and Sexuality (4.5 units)
SOCI3053 Economic Life (4.5 units)
WMST3013 Gendering Politics and Policy: Justice, Rights and Representation (4.5 units)
Other topics may be taken with the approval of the Course Coordinator to enable entry into Honours programs.
**ARCH8017 Cultural Heritage and the Law is a postgraduate topic and requires the achievement of higher learning outcomes. It is strongly recommended that students interested in enrolling in this topic contact the topic coordinator prior to enrolment.
Honours
A student who has completed all the requirements of the Bachelor of Law and Society, or another qualification which the Faculty Board agrees is equivalent, may be accepted as a candidate for the honours degree providing a sufficiently high standard has been achieved in fulfilling the requirements for the Bachelor degree.