So just what were the facts in Donoghue v Stevenson?

It may seem surprising but many Law students, lecturers and lawyers do not carry extensive case lists in their head. The law is constantly evolving and it's better to look up a key case than to try to work from memory.

But there are some cases that have become so famous that they're heavily remembered and invariably encountered in law classes. Some set down key legal principles, such as Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Co ([1893] 1 QB 256), one of the best known cases in Contract Law. Others are remembered because of problems they exposed in the justice system, such as the Adolf Beck case that showed how unreliable eyewitness evidence can be. And then there's the case on which negligence law is founded, Donoghue v Stevenson.

Donoghue (or McAlister) v Stevenson ([1932] All ER Rep 1) may well be the best known legal case in British history. Notably, the relevant chapter in 100 Cases That Every Scots Law Student Needs to Know is titled "The Most Famous Case Of All". It's not hard to see why.

The case was key in the development of negligence law, by far the most litigated part of Tort. It applied to both Scots Law and English Law (the assertion that the law was identical in both jurisdictions was not disputed during the case though some have later questioned this) and the ruling was taken up across common law jurisdictions. It's often encountered by Law students very early in their studies. Many law schools (including the Open University's) teach Tort Law at Level 1; some others may leave Tort to Level 2 but have introductory Law modules that include Donoghue. It involves a highly ordinary scenario of a drink in a café with a very memorable horrific image that is easy to relate to. And the ruling invokes grand religious principles of the duty to one's neighbour.

In all this it's easy to forget some basics in the case. Including that the facts of the case were never actually established.

It doesn't help that the House of Lords judgment itself opens with "My Lords, the facts of this case are simple" as though there were established facts even though the opening paragraph also contains the disclaimer "she alleged, and at this stage her allegations must be accepted as true...".

In most cases an appeal on a point of law to a higher court is not the conclusion of a dispute. Usually, the higher courts will rule on the appeal and then the case goes back to the lower courts to be determined in light of that ruling. In this dispute, the ruling meant that Donoghue could sue Stevenson for negligence despite not having a contractual relationship and so a hearing was scheduled. But in the intervening period Stevenson died and before the case could eventually be tried his estate settled out of court.

So we don't know for certain the facts of the case. The story is of a woman (Mrs Donoghue) and her friend going to a cafe in Paisley on the evening of 26 August 1928, the friend ordering drinks, Mrs Donoghue drinking most of an opaque bottle of ginger beer and then, when the remainder was poured, discovering it contained the dead body of a snail, causing her to suffer shock and gastric illness.

But it was never proved in court that there was a dead snail in the bottle. Nor was it ever proved for certain that the bottle of ginger beer had been prepared and sealed by Stevenson's company. This was a time when bottles were often reused and sometimes returned to the wrong manufacturer. Although his estate settled, Stevenson, had he lived, may well have based his response on this and a court would have had to determine whether or not his company had indeed been responsible for a dead snail getting into the bottle.

And so perhaps the most famous case of all has no clear facts.

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The big product liability case: Coyote vs. Acme

Is there anything sadder than getting excited about a film involving a product liability case?

I'll avoid answering that one. But tomorrow just such a film comes out, Coyote vs. Acme (and yes, that's not the way to cite a case...) in which Wile E. Coyote takes on the company which supplies all his defective equipment:

(Yes it doesn't come out until next week in the US. But this is a UK based blog and here proceedings start tomorrow.)

And this is not the first time that this dispute has been contemplated. Back in 1990 The New Yorker carried a fictitious legal case document, Coyote v. Acme by Ian Frazier.

Although comedic, this is based on a serious legal concept, product liability. A manufacturer and supplier has a duty to supply well-designed goods that work as intended and come with warnings. Wile E. Coyote's attempts to catch the Roadrunner have so often failed because the equipment he's obtained from Acme has been defective. The US based Pisanchyn Law Firm has a blog post explaining this in more detail at What Coyote vs. Acme Teaches Us About Product Liability (Yes, Seriously).

So tomorrow we'll see one coyote take on a big corporation and it should be fun.

One line of defence I doubt we'll see is the question as to whether Wile E. Coyote is a single animal. This moment, from the 1955 short Ready.. Set.. Zoom! suggests otherwise and there may be a limit to how much one coyote can claim:

So tomorrow we'll see some fun as Wile E. Coyote finally takes on his true nemesis. And have some legal fun at the same time.

A Level results day

Good luck to all those of my readers getting their A Level results today.

And this is also a day when a lot of confused statistics and nonsense fly about. So here are a few potential rejoinders.

Firstly, a lot of the statistics about the number of students accepted onto particular subjects at university come from UCAS. The figures only cover applications made through them and don't include students who've applied to the institution directly, which includes many distance learning, mature and/or part-time students. This is especially true in subjects where the Open University has the largest student numbers in the country, such as Law.

Secondly, there's often a lot of nonsense written about A Levels getting easier. This has been going on since at least when I took my A Levels back in... erm... very many years ago, and probably long before then. A lot of this comes from non-specialist journalists and commentators writing and opining on a subject they don't know the full details of. The reality is that much has changed over the years including teaching methods, technological support, methods of examination and also the competitive environment with ever greater numbers of students applying to university and under ever more pressure to perform well. So direct comparisons of grades across the decades don't mean much; nor can you pull out an old A Level paper (something much easier to do in the internet age) and ask today's pupils to answer it to compare results.

It does not help that normally this is about the slowest news week of the entire year and A Level results are a guaranteed source of news that get perhaps too much attention. If they came out in a busier news week then the coverage would be more limited and likely to be dominated by those who actually understand the education sector. Maybe this year the Clacton by-election (which is polling today in case you haven't noticed) will help draw away some of the less informed.

If you haven't got the grades you were hoping for, don't panic. There are plenty of options out there, whether going through Clearing, taking a break or the Open University amongst others. There are many lawyers and other professionals who have got where they have in spite of A Level disappointment.

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How accurate is Educating Rita?

By far the best known film about the Open University is Educating Rita from 1983. Written by Willy Russell, based on his stage play of the same name, it stars Michael Caine as lecturer and OU tutor Frank Herbert and Julie Walters as Susan "Rita" White, a hairdresser taking an OU course in Literature:

So how accurate to modern day OU study is it?

In my experience not very. It may have been much closer to reality in 1983 but technology and the methods of OU study have moved on a lot in the decades since.

In Educating Rita the methods of teaching we see are regular in-person one-on-one tutorials, lectures broadcast on television at anti-social hours and a summer school whilst assessment is by final examination. All of these are very different from how I have been taught and assessed. For starters, I have not had any physical meetings with any of my tutors. All our contact has been through either online group tutorial sessions (and these are not always taken by my own assigned tutor), emails or the occasional arranged one-on-one call. Invariably the interaction is very different to that of Rita and Frank and so the whole premise of the film would not work. Also, there are no longer televised lectures. (The one shown here appears to be broadcast late at night when the BBC Programme Index suggests the OU was generally broadcasting in the morning in this period. However looking again on the film's apparent release date * 16 June 1983, we do indeed find very late evening lectures were broadcast on both BBC1 and BBC2.) There are some summer schools and other in-person teaching events but not on my modules. But instead students do get to interact through online tutorials and forums (and unofficial WhatsApp groups) and there are some assignments that require us to respond to each other's work. In contrast to Rita's exam, so far on my modules at least they have all been fully assessed by coursework though I understand this is a relatively recent development for OU Law modules.

Some things that are familiar include the studying with books at home amidst potential distractions all around or the awkward hours for sessions that can interfere with domestic and social life for both students and tutors ("They expect me to teach when the pubs are open!") though nowadays most evening online tutorials seem to be taken by tutors from their homes (and there are fewer restrictions on pub opening hours). Rita is a young working woman who left school without any qualifications and is seeking to advance herself through the OU; through the WhatsApp groups supporting my modules I have encountered a number of real life OU students who fit this description.

But regardless of how it reflects studying today, it's a good film to watch. Oh and it has Michael Caine actually saying the line previously misattributed to him. "Not many people know that."

(* Film release dates can be tricky to look up at a glance, especially for films in the pre internet era. In those days, it was common for a film to be released first in London's West End and then steadily rolled out across the country. The exact rollout might vary a bit for other factors, most obvious school holidays. There's also the complication of dates for premieres that were often not the day immediately before a film was available to the public anywhere. And international releases were staggered as well. Online searches for a British film often bring up anything ranging from the premiere through to a US general release.

The main reason behind all this was the cost of the physical film prints with many reused from one market to the next. However as global communications and marketing grew, whilst technology made piracy easier, the staggered release dates increasingly created problems as demand was whipped up before the official supply was ready. Some of the big blockbuster movies started investing in many more screening prints to allow for global simultaneous releases and the more recent rise of digital projection has removed the print cost problem. However, staggering can still take place for other reasons such as a country's distributors waiting for a film to prove itself in other markets or even just aligning to local peak weeks for greater ticket sales.)

Book buying - what to watch out for

The Open University used to send copies of the core textbooks to Law students prior to the start of the module (and may still do so on some other subjects; I've heard mixed reports). They've since switched to using Law Trove which gives online access to the text of a much wider range of books from Oxford University Press. But many students find it easier to read from physical paper books and will seek to obtain new or second hand copies of the core textbooks for modules. And at other universities, especially those with physical seminars, the situation can differ and physical copies may be essential.

It may seem tempting to rush out and buy a full set of Law books at the start of a course. They may even seem to be good gifts for someone else. But, as I hope to explain, this can be counterproductive. Book buying is a complicated affair best handled over the whole of the course.

If you're thinking of giving a textbook as a gift, be aware that there isn't one standard set of textbooks across the country. Each university chooses its own set of books. In some areas of Law one book is so dominant that it is very widely used but in others there's a range of potential core textbooks and many different choices are made. Also for gift-givers even if you read Law at the same university previously do not assume the same book will still be used, even if a new edition has recently been published.

Law is a field where things change quickly and there is a high turnover of editions. As I've previously discussed, many books go through new editions every few years, sometimes as quickly as every year for statute books. The textbooks and casebooks that are core on the Open University degree haven't turned over quite as fast, but of the eight I either used or would have used on Level 1 and Level 2 modules, no less than six already have new editions out. A full set of the eleven books used on non-SQE modules purchased in 2022 for someone taking Law part-time over the next six years would have seen at least five superseded by new editions by the time the relevant module started and at least another five superseded by the end of the degree (the sole exception at the moment is Peace & Stevens' Trusts and Equitable Obligations, most recent edition 2022). Someone studying full-time might be luckier with the turnover but if they'd started in 2025 then at least four books would have newer editions by the time they reached the relevant module and another two had new editions published so close to the start of the year that the previous books might have been used.

And that's even before one makes their optional module choice final. No one student is going to need all eleven books. Books on Business and Employment Law or Evidence Law are not going to be much help if one ends up taking Family Law and International, Environmental and Space Law instead.

So it's best for the student to control the buying and to do so spread out across the degree, only obtaining the latest editions close to starting the relevant module. With that in mind, here are a few tips.

Double check both which books you need access to and which editions. Not only are there multiple editions out there (some of which use very similar covers - looking especially at you EU Law: Text, Cases, and Materials), but there are a number of similar titled books by the same author(s) such as Poole's Casebook on Contract Law and Poole's Textbook on Contract Law, both now by Merkin and Saintier. That one has definitely caught a few people out. Look up the book on the publisher's website (for the OU this is usually Oxford University Press's Academic section) to see if there's a new edition out this year and double check whether the brand-new edition will be used or the previous one. Sometimes a new edition published in the summer is deemed too soon for use in modules in the immediate next academic year (and the position can differ for modules starting in September/October with those starting in January/February). If the older edition is listed, try sending an email to see if you can get definite confirmation whether that's up-to-date or not.

High street bookshops will be unlikely to have most of the books on the course lists and/or mentioned on this blog on their shelves. These are specialist books with a limited lifespan and general demand is limited. The main exceptions tend to be Law dictionaries and longer life opinion pieces such as The Rule of Law by Lord Bingham of Cornhill or Justice: What's the right thing to do? by Michael J. Sandel. All of these I've often found in high street bookshops.

Larger bookshops in city centres and/or near universities may have some of the textbooks on shelves (in central London I've certainly seen a good many at both Foyles on Charing Cross Road and Waterstones on Gower Street) but don't expect to find absolutely all the ones you need there, especially if the bookshop is nearer other universities whose own Law courses prescribe different textbooks.

Ordering online is the best way forward but remember to compare prices. Also look out for discount codes that are sometimes provided through universities. And make sure the order goes to an easy-to-reach address or a good collection point.

Second hand copies are fine providing they are the edition you need. Make sure to look around, not just on regular sites like Amazon and eBay but also on sites like Vinted where many students offer their no-longer-needed books. You can even find books offered on social media groups but exercise caution about the buyer. As always, check carefully that you're buying the correct edition. Some books are much easier to find at cheap second hand prices (or deep discounted new editions) than others so the more you can save on one book the more you can put towards another.

Good luck buying!

(Photograph my own.)

What are the different types of law book?

(Be warned. A lot of the links on this post may rot quickly.)

There's a lot of reading in Law. Much is done online these days and indeed the Open University now uses a subscription to Law Trove rather than bulk buying physical copies of core textbooks then sending them out to students. (I am not sure what the policies are for other subjects.) So what are the differences between the books?

Statute books

Although the OU doesn't use these, instead relying on online databases, they are some of the best known law books out there. A statute book contains the current legislation in an area of law, primarily the statutes as currently in force but sometimes also other key texts such as international treaties. By far the best known are Blackstone's Statutes. These books are often used in physical seminars, allowing students to access and discuss the current legislation immediately.

However, be warned that these books date very quickly and are updated at an incredible speed. At one stage Blackstone's issued new volumes for specific academic years, though lately they've gone back to numbering each edition instead. The numbers can range wildly - at the time of writing this post Blackstone's Statutes on Medical Law is on its eleventh edition whilst Blackstone's Statutes on Contract, Tort & Restitution and Blackstone's EU Treaties & Legislation are both on their thirty-sixth editions. (And I will not be surprised if those numbers have increased by the time you read this, but I'm not going to be perpetually updating this post.)

Because of this high turnover buying older editions second hand can be a mixed blessing. The prices often plummet quickly. However, some second hand booksellers won't even touch them and older editions won't always have the current law as amended in them.

Case books

A case book is primarily built around the texts of key judgments in an area of law, often accompanied by commentary. Currently, there's one of these used as the core text for an OU module, Poole's Casebook on Contract Law.

Again these are books that are often updated, though not as rapidly as statute books. I used the 16th edition of Poole which was still going three years after publication.

Textbooks

This is a relatively general term for the bulk of the core books in use. Each textbook provides a general overview of an area of law. Again these are frequently updated. In my time with the OU textbooks have ranged from second editions (e.g. Lamont's Family Law) to sixteenth editions (e.g. Smith & Wood's Employment Law).

Note also that many of the longer running textbooks have had multiple authors over the years and in some cases the original author's names are preserved in the title (e.g. Pearce & Stevens' Trusts and Equitable Obligations which is now by Barr and Picton) even though it has been a good number of years and editions since they last contributed themselves.

Dictionaries

There's a lot of specialist terminology in Law and a good legal dictionary is invaluable. I use A Dictionary of Law which, for reasons known to them, has the slightly different title "Oxford Dictionary of Law" on the cover and spine. Now in its tenth edition, it's also available online. The OU is one of many institutions with a subscription to the Oxford Reference website where students can access the contents. Other Law dictionaries are also available.

There are also dictionaries for many other subjects and these can prove useful for specific modules or even specific assignments. For instance A Dictionary of Business and Management may help students studying Business Law.

Exam help books

There are a number of these around but as all of my degree so far is assessed by coursework it's hard to comment on these.

Popular guides to Law

There are a number of guides to particular areas of law on the mass market. These books are primarily aimed at the public and are not especially academic. Whilst they can provide a general introduction to a specific subject, it is best to avoid referencing them.

Other books

Various other books of use might come up, whether histories, polemics, philosophical texts, biographies and others. Invariably these are a wide range and it's not possible to do them justice here. Unlike many of the other books discussed in this post, these don't tend to go through so many editions and so have a longer shelf life; some of them are also more likely to be found in high street bookshops. Two from my own shelf that stand out are The Rule of Law by Lord Bingham of Cornhill and Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do? by Michael J. Sandel. And of course there are many, many others.

(All photographs my own.)

What are Postgraduate Certificates and Diplomas?

Yes this is a blog by a Bachelor's student and primarily focused on undergraduate study, at least currently. But having explained What are Certificates and Diplomas of Higher Education? it would be remiss to not cover the postgraduate equivalents as well.

These operate much the same way. A Postgraduate Certificate (abbreviated PG Cert) is an award that indicates a student has completed and been assessed for study up to the equivalent of the first third of a Master's degree (60 credits at Level M in the jargon). A Postgraduate Diploma (abbreviated PG Dip) is a similar award that indicates a student has completed and been assessed for study up to the equivalent of the second third of a Master's degree (120 credits at Level M).

(Unlike the undergraduate equivalents, the Postgraduate Certificates and Postgraduate Diplomas sit at the same level as Master's degrees on all the frameworks used in the United Kingdom. They are awards at Level 7 on the Regulated Qualifications Framework used in England and Northern Ireland and the Credit and Qualifications Framework for Wales or Level 11 on the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework.)

And again these function either as shorter qualifications in their own right or intermediate qualifications for students who have yet to complete a full Master's degree.

By far the best known postgraduate non-degree award may also be the most confusing one, namely the Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) for teachers. At present the only one the Open University offers is the Postgraduate Certificate in Education in Wales, only available to students in Wales. A glance at PGCE programmes across multiple universities show they appear to generally require 60 academic credits at Level M, so they do now match the name, but in addition have other requirements, often credits for the practical training element or, as in the OU's case, additional credits at a lower level. There is also the Professional Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE), most common in Scotland, but this has a less confusing name.

Whereas there are other non-degree awards called certificates or diplomas at undergraduate level, the Open University is very consistent with the naming of its taught postgraduate awards and so everything is either a PG Cert, a PG Dip or a Master's degree.

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What are Certificates and Diplomas of Higher Education?

Degrees are not the only qualifications universities offer. There are also many other awards. At the Open University the most prominent at undergraduate level are Certificates of Higher Education and Diplomas of Higher Education. But just what are they?

Quite simply a Certificate of Higher Education (abbreviated CertHE) is an award that indicates a student has completed and been assessed for study up to the equivalent of the first year of a three-year full-time Bachelor's degree (120 credits at Level 1 in the jargon). A Diploma of Higher Education (abbreviated DipHE) is a similar award that indicates a student has completed and been assessed for study up to the equivalent of the second year of a three-year full-time Bachelor's degree (120 credits at Level 2).

(In the language of the various frameworks for qualifications used in the United Kingdom, they are awards at Levels 4 and 5 respectively on the Regulated Qualifications Framework used in England and Northern Ireland and the Credit and Qualifications Framework for Wales or at Levels 7 and 8 respectively on the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework.)

They are achieved in one of two ways. They can be studied for as short qualifications in their own right with dedicated outlines and modules. Or they are awarded to students who have completed the first and/or second full-time (equivalent) year of university.

Some universities award them to students who leave early. But the Open University also makes them available to ongoing students who've completed a level or the equivalent of a full-time year. As most OU students are studying at a slower rate and many do interrupt their studies, it will be a long time before they receive a degree. The Certificates and Diplomas help to fill this gap by providing formal recognition for study already undertaken. For some students they are the first qualification certificates they have ever received and are much appreciated.

A quick note that these are not the only non-degree awards available from the OU. I'll discuss postgraduate awards another day. There are also currently ten undergraduate awards with either "Certificate" or "Diploma" in the name that don't easily fit into the CertHE, DipHE, Foundation Degree, Bachelor's Degree model. They have an eclectic mix of lengths and levels with the result that some of the titles are inconsistent and potentially confusing.

The only one in Law is the Professional Certificate in Legal Practice: SQE1. This contains 90 credits at Level 3 and consists of the three modules to prepare students for the Solicitors Qualifying Examination. Just to be confusing the OU has two other awards with "Professional Certificate" in their names with different requirements. The Professional Certificate in Chemistry contains 90 credits at Level 2 (plus an in-person practical 2.5 day laboratory school). Meanwhile, the Professional Certificate in Practical Statistics contains 120 credits across all of Levels 1, 2 and 3.

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How to become a solicitor

The route to becoming a solicitor has changed dramatically in recent years. And this has had a major impact on legal education.

Again this applies only to England and Wales with Scotland and Northern Ireland having their own pathways.

The old route followed a similar model to that for barristers. There was the academic stage of either a Qualifying Law Degree that included the seven Foundations of Legal Knowledge or another university degree followed by an intense law conversion course, usually the Graduate Diploma in Law. There was the vocational stage in the form of the Legal Practice Course. And there was the training stage in the form of a training contract.

However, a review in the 2010s has led to a major shake up of the whole process. To become a solicitor one now needs to take the following:

• A university degree, but it doesn't have to be in Law. (But that no doubt helps.)
• The Solicitors Qualifying Examination. This comes in two parts, testing both knowledge and skills. The exam is nationalised but many providers offer their own preparation.
• A total of two years of Qualifying Work Experience, with flexibility on where it is taken and when relative to both the degree and the SQE.

Notably there is no longer a formal requirement to have studied the Foundations of Legal Knowledge. The SQE tests Functioning Legal Knowledge (yes the acronym is identical) which covers many of the same subjects along with some others and operational knowledge.

(One of the biggest differences is that the amount of EU Law has been significantly reduced to the point that a course of study for SQE preparation, such as the solicitor route of the Open University's Bachelor of Laws degree, does not double as the full Foundations, unless one takes EU Law as an additional module.)

So far the impact on undergraduate Law degrees has been mixed. Because the barristers' route hasn't changed, most LLB degrees are still built around the Foundations of Legal Knowledge. Some universities have introduced an "integrated Master's degree" - basically a four-year degree that combines both the Bachelor's and Master's stages in a single course - called the Master's in Law (MLaw) that includes preparation for taking the SQE exams.

The Open University has taken a different approach, with different pathways at Level 3. One of them is SQE preparation in three modules (plus one option) offering a combined degree and SQE preparation together. There is also the standalone Professional Certificate in Legal Practice: SQE1 which consists of the three SQE modules by themselves.

As it's only five years since the SQE was introduced there will invariably be modifications to come. But for now this is the route to becoming a solicitor.

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How to become a barrister

Although I'm not personally aiming to become a barrister, the formal requirements continue to form the backbone of legal education up and down the country. So here's a quick overview.

First off this only directly applies to England and Wales. Northern Ireland also has barristers but I'm not sure of the exact route that needs to be taken; however going by the OU's information the academic requirements are mainly the same apart from it also being compulsory to study Evidence Law. Scotland does not have barristers. Instead, the lawyers who appear before courts are called advocates and have a separate path to qualification.

The route to become a barrister has three stages, known as the academic, vocational and training stages.

The academic stage requires either a Qualifying Law Degree that includes the seven Foundations of Legal Knowledge or another university degree followed by an intense law conversion course, usually the Graduate Diploma in Law.

The vocational stage requires a special vocational course, mainly taken at dedicated law course providers. The name is a source of confusion as the last couple of decades have seen renames, replacements and individual providers picking their own names or, worse, switching them around. So you'll hear variously of the "Bar Practice Course", the "Bar Professional Training Course", the "Bar Training Course", the "Bar Vocational Course" and so forth. There's also "Bar Vocational Studies" and the "Postgraduate Diploma in Bar Practice". It's easy to see why some use just the "Bar Course" and why others sarcastically refer to the "Bar [Whatever Middle Words Are Used This Week] Course".

The training stage involves working under the supervision of existing barristers, shadowing them and learning like an apprentice.

It's a long tough process and not everyone makes the whole distance.

The requirements of the academic stage continue to have a strong hold on the curriculums of Bachelor of Laws degrees across the country with nearly all LLB degrees still making the seven Foundations of Legal Knowledge compulsory, even for those students not aiming to become barristers. The Open University's LLB is one of the most flexible with alternative paths for those aiming to become solicitors and those seeking an academic degree in Law but not aiming for either profession.

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What is Graduate Entry?

Quite simply in the UK Graduate Entry (also sometimes confusingly called "Senior Status") means that a student already holds at least a Bachelor's degree and is on a shortened length programme that leads to a second degree at the same level. This can either involve not having to take the early modules completely or else taking a special condensed accelerated programme.

The most common Graduate Entry degrees are in Law and Medicine though I've also seen options for Dentistry, Economics and Veterinary Medicine amongst others at various institutions. The Open University's main graduate entry degree is the Bachelor of Laws (Honours) (graduate entry) which does not include the Level 1 modules (i.e. the equivalent of the first year of a full-time degree).

This should not be confused with a postgraduate degree which is taken at a higher level from a Bachelor's degree and (normally) requires at least a Bachelor's degree to enter. However, some institutions do not always use the terms "graduate" and "postgraduate" with this level of clarity. There are some Master's degrees that serve as conversions from one subject to another, such as the OU's Master of Science in Psychology (Conversion).

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What is an "honours degree"?

Most first degrees in the United Kingdom are described as "with Honours". It is common to see the abbreviation "(Hons)" in academic postnominals. Many people talk of degrees in two subjects as "joint honours". But it is much less common to hear what "honours" actually means. And related to this, just what is a degree without honours?

This post is only going to discuss the situation in the UK. That's common to most posts here, but it needs explicitly stating because internationally there's a lot of variation and it's going to be confusing to discuss the situation in other countries like Australia or South Africa.

Historically an honours degree indicated a higher level of achievement, usually through a more advanced course of study or taking a tougher exam, in contrast to a degree that could be labelled "ordinary", "pass" or "general". This distinction still exists but exactly what the additional achievement is varies widely.

In Scotland the distinction remains clear. The first degree takes either three years and results in an "ordinary degree" or four years and results in an "honours degree". On the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework an ordinary degree is an award at Level 9 and an honours degree is an award at Level 10.

However, the distinction doesn't exist on the Regulated Qualifications Framework used in England and Northern Ireland and the Credit and Qualifications Framework for Wales. (Aren't government websites awful?!) Both a "degree with honours" and an "ordinary degree without honours" are Level 6 qualifications. Other than the numbering (which is mainly driven by pre-university qualifications), this is the main difference in higher education between the frameworks for Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom.

(Both these level numbering systems differ from the Open University's internal Level 1, 2, 3 system that indicates the equivalence to a year of study on a full-time degree.)

In England, Wales and Northern Ireland it is now standard for all Bachelor's degrees to be offered as "with honours" and a degree without honours is usually a consolation. Looking around various official websites it seems clear that there isn't a single standard and many universities don't seem to publish an explanation at all (or if they do, they bury it on their websites). Various explanations abound online including claims that a degree without honours means:

• Only passing 300 credits instead of 360
• Scraping a pass but missing out on a third
• Repeating a year
• Not doing a dissertation

It would take a lot more research to delve into how true these are, though many Bachelor's degrees either don't have a dissertation/other independent research project or don't make it a compulsory module (including the Open University Bachelor of Laws (Honours)). A 300 credit degree would indicate taking two and a half years of full-time study or the equivalent which is awkward for most universities, structured as they are around whole years, but quite doable at part-time institutions. When the Open University began it did have an "ordinary degree" and in later years this was explicitly 300 credits, but this seems to have been dropped in recent years.

Because honours are now so standard it is increasingly common for them to not be mentioned, whether on CVs, in postnominals or other listings. This can even sometimes apply to universities themselves - for example here's the listing for Law LLB at the University of Warwick (Internet Archive version to fight potential link rot) with no mention of honours or "hons" at all.

And what does "joint honours" mean? Simply that a person is taking a degree with two subjects rather than one. It's short for "joint honours degree" but the shortened form removed the wrong word hence the confusion.

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What are the Foundations of Legal Knowledge?

There's a lot of talk about "the FLK" in relation to Law degrees. Just what is it and why is it relevant?

Quite simply FLK stands for the Foundations of Legal Knowledge, an umbrella term for the core subjects that a prospective barrister in England, Wales or Northern Ireland or a prospective solicitor in Northern Ireland (or, until a recent radical change in legal education, previously a prospective solicitor in England or Wales) is required to have studied as part of the academic stage of their journey to becoming a qualified lawyer.

(Scotland has its own Law, legal system, legal profession setup and required subjects. I have struggled to find a simple single webpage to link to. The Law Society of Scotland website unhelpfully says "There isn't one 'required subject list' that applies for all courses, as it will vary dependent on where you study." Suffice it to say that a Scottish law degree is the starting point.)

These are requirements of the professional bodies, primarily the Bar Council of England and Wales who set the standards for barristers and, previously, the Solicitors Regulation Authority who do the same for solicitors (though, as we'll see, the SRA has moved away from these requirements). Crucially there is no formal requirement from universities themselves or from legislation for a student to have studied the FLK subjects for their qualification to be a "Law degree". Indeed, there are some Law degrees that do not require the full FLK to pass including the Open University's "Academic law degree route" and "Solicitors Qualifying Examination route" (detailed on the Bachelor of Laws (Honours) (LLB) page, but unhelpfully with drop down boxes - see under "Course details").

But most Law degrees still require the full FLK. For those who wish to qualify as a barrister in England and/or Wales, the seven subjects are (with links to the OU module description pages):

• Contract Law
• Criminal Law
• European Union Law
• Land Law
• Public Law
• Tort Law
• Trusts Law

For those who wish to qualify as either a barrister or solicitor in Northern Ireland they have to take the above seven subjects and also:

• Evidence Law

Note that some of these subjects are sometimes described using different words. For example Public Law is sometimes called Constitutional and/or Administrative Law. Land Law is sometimes called Property Law.

And to answer many questions, yes European Union Law is still a required part of the FLK post-Brexit as previously discussed. I will eventually do a later post discussing whether this still feels relevant. Notably the SRA has reduced the amount of EU Law required for the SQE, which has the effect that the SQE route of the OU only has six of the FLK subjects covered in compulsory modules, though EU Law can be taken as an option.

Students are also required to learn basics such as legal research skills, but this often isn't a set subject in its own right and instead incorporated into other modules.

The FLK used to also be compulsory for the academic stage of a prospective solicitor's learning and training. However, in recent years this has been radically reformed in England and Wales such that a would-be solicitor now must be a graduate, but their degree doesn't have to be in law (though it helps) and there is more flexibility to what must be learned for the Solicitors Qualifying Examination, of which more detail can be found on the Law Society's SQE page.

The basic Law curriculum has changed before and will no doubt change again in future. But for now these are the "Foundations of Legal Knowledge".

(Photograph my own.)

How to cope during assignments (2)

So now that the assignment is over, just what is the best way to cope with them?

For starters don't panic. Many an assignment looks daunting when you first see the question but by the time you come to do the task it's much easier to tackle.

Looking at the questions early is useful as it helps with note-taking on each unit. It also means if the question has to be submitted in a particularly complicated format (looking at you, academic posters) you can start preparing the document or thinking about how to create a particular mode.

For most of the written assignments there's usually at least a whole week before submission set aside for the assignment. Often there's at least one special online tutorial devoted to how to tackle it, in particular format and logistics, so make sure to either attend or watch the recordings.

Try to find somewhere quiet and away from distractions to get as much done as possible. This might be a room at home, it might a library, it could be anywhere.

Make sure you have notes, both from the regular units but also specific to the assignment.

If you're on any online forums or groups, check in with them at a reasonable pace. They're good for knowing you're not alone and for getting advice on any technical problems but don't let yourself get too distracted by online conversations.

Everyone has their own pace of writing things. Some people can sit down and dash off a whole first draft in a few hours. Others find it better to write a single paragraph then go away and come back before tackling the next one. There is no one right way to write things.

When drafting, make sure you keep reasonably within the word limit and have time to go back and trim things down if needs be. All my OU assignments have been rigid with word counts and anything over the limit simply will not be marked.

Aim to get a first draft completed early enough to give you time to come back and go over it again.

The submission time is normally 12:00 but with a twelve hours' grace period after this. However, this grace period is intended for handling technical problems, not extra time in which to do the work. Make sure you are able to submit it before the absolute deadline. If necessary, check for the email address to send a copy to if there are problems with the online submission system.

When the assignment is completed and submitted then it's important to relax. Don't spend time worrying about what you've submitted after it's too late to change things.

And of course don't forget about them. Some students have only remembered they have them due at the last minute.

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Is European Union Law still relevant?

It's been exactly ten years since the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union.

Over six years since it formally withdrew.

And yet European Union Law remains on the curriculums of Law degrees up and down the country, often as a compulsory module. Why is this? And is it still justified?

The most direct answer to the first question is that EU Law remains a part of the Foundations of Legal Knowledge, the core subjects which are still required for prospective barristers. The Bar Standards Board has upheld this position in recent reviews, arguing that as the law of England and Wales still contains much law that originated from the EU and that transnational transactions remain key, it should continue to be taught. The Bar Qualification Manual states this as follows:

EU Law in Context

The UK has now left the European Union, but EU Law still has significant relevance to the laws of England and Wales and therefore practise as a barrister. Knowledge of current and developing EU Law may be used to assist in the interpretation and evolution of retained EU Law and as a result, for the purposes of the academic component of Bar training, the Law of the European Union will continue to be a required academic element of a barrister’s training.

However, legal education in England & Wales has been shaken up in recent years by the shift in the solicitors' route away from requiring a qualifying law degree with the Foundations and towards learning functioning legal knowledge to pass the Solicitors Qualification Examination. Significantly the Solicitors Regulation Authority has reduced the amount of EU Law required for the SQE to a portion within Public Law.

This effect can be seen on the three routes the Open University offers on its Bachelor of Laws degree. Those taking the barristers' route have to take the full seven Foundations of Legal Knowledge, including the European Union Law module. But for those taking the SQE route, only the other six are covered in full in the compulsory modules. This is shown by the way that students on the Graduate Entry route who want to get a qualifying law degree with the full seven Foundations have to take the three SQE modules to cover six of them and then EU Law as a standalone module. This module is also available as an option for students on the solicitors' route. For those taking the academic route EU Law is one of several options (as is Land Law).

(EU Law is also still compulsory for prospective barristers and solicitors in Northern Ireland. The Scottish legal system is very different and the core curriculum is described differently on regulators' websites but there's still an element of EU Law there. However, whilst an OU LLB with the right modules meets the requirements for the academic stage of qualification in Northern Ireland, it does not do so in Scotland.)

So EU Law at the OU remains compulsory only for those taking either of the barrister routes of the law degree. The position in other universities is mixed and it would take a lot more research than is usual for a single blog post to see just how many make it compulsory for all students and how many now have it as an option, though such a decision probably owes more to the debate as to how much all law students should take the full Foundations than a more specific one about EU Law.

Will this change in the future? This depends primarily upon the amount of law remaining in the system that ultimately came from the EU. The last decade has seen a number of developments surrounding the Brexit process and its aftermath with effects upon the state of the law here with changes in the relationship with the EU under different governments.

Any decision about whether it should continue to be compulsory for any route in legal education should be taken on the basis of what are the most important components of the law that a prospective legal practitioner should learn. It should not be a proxy for one's opinion on whether or not Brexit should have happened or if the United Kingdom should seek to rejoin the European Union in the near future.

So do I think it still deserves a place on the curriculum? Well I'll try to answer that when I've completed the module.

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How to cope during assignments (1)

What's the best way to cope with an assignment?

Well one basic piece of advice is to not get distracted by writing blog posts!

When this current assignment is done I'll post something more substantial on the subject.

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What Law degree options are there?

This is a relatively straightforward post looking at the various options for studying Law. So what are the degree options with the Open University? There's actually more than you might expect...

Let's start with the main degree:

• Bachelor of Laws (Honours) (LLB)

The LLB is the main Law degree, but it comes in multiple forms at the OU with most of the variation at Level 3 (the equivalent to the third year of a full-time degree). There's the most traditional route based around taking the seven Foundations of Legal Knowledge. There's another route where Level 3 is mainly given over to preparation for the Solicitors Qualifying Examination. And there's the "academic" route where the final year options are more flexible and allow a more varied study of law.

• Bachelor of Laws (Honours) (graduate entry)

Similar to the above, this degree allows existing graduates to study in a shorter period of time, omitting Level 1 (the equivalent to the first year of a full-time degree). It has the same routes as the regular LLB, though some of the options on them are different.

• Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Business and Law
• Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Criminology and Law

Both are mixtures that combine key modules to give a more focused degree.

• Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Law and Languages
• Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Law and French
• Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Law and German
• Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Law and Spanish

The opportunity to combine the study of Law with one of three continental languages.

• Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Science (Honours) Open degree

Perhaps the Open University's most original degree, the Open degree allows a student to study a wide range of modules, combining all manner of different subjects. One can focus on one or more subject areas whilst still dipping into studying a range of other subjects. Law modules can be taken though the Level 2 and Level 3 modules sometimes require students to have studied earlier Law modules.

• Master of Laws (LLM)

The main postgraduate law degree focusing upon academic study of the subject.

• Master of Arts/Master of Science Open

The postgraduate version of the Open degree, though it's somewhat more restrictive as to module combination choice, requiring at least two-thirds to be taken from the same study area and the different sizes of modules restricts choice further.

As I'm doing a Bachelor of Laws that will be the main focus on this blog but it's far from the only option out there.

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LLB, FLK, QLD, "law degree" - which is which?

There are a lot of terms flying around about Law courses, creating much confusion. Here's an attempt to clear up what the various terms mean.

A law degree is, strictly speaking, any degree in the subject of Law. However, it is sometimes used in a narrower meaning for a specific qualification required to practice as a lawyer, not least because of usage in the United States.

An LLB is a Bachelor of Laws degree (the abbreviation is from the Latin Legum Baccalaureus; for reasons known to those who understand Latin the double-L abbreviation indicates a plural). In the United Kingdom nearly all Bachelor's degrees in Law are LLBs though there are exceptions, mainly at Cambridge (which offers a "Bachelor of Arts in Law") and Oxford (which has an undergraduate "Bachelor of Arts in Jurisprudence" and a very confusingly named postgraduate "Bachelor of Civil Law"). In and of itself a Bachelor of Laws degree is simply a degree concentrating on the subject of Law. However, many LLB programmes are specifically designed to meet the requirements of the legal profession. Exceptions are known as academic pathways or liberal law degrees or some similar terms.

A QLD is a Qualifying Law Degree. This means that the degree meets the requirements of, and is recognised by, the Bar Council as completing the academic stage of becoming a barrister. Formerly a QLD also met the academic requirements of the Solicitors Regulation Authority to become a solicitor; however the route for qualification as a solicitor has heavily changed in recent years. A QLD will include the Foundations of Legal Knowledge (FLK) and also must be completed within six years.

A GDL is a Graduate Diploma in Law. For those graduates who either did not study Law or did not take all the right courses on their degree, the GDL is a route by which they can obtain the relevant legal knowledge without taking a second whole degree. It includes the full FLK.

The FLK or Foundations of Legal Knowledge is a term for the core subjects a student must study to qualify as a barrister (and, in years past, a solicitor) in England and Wales. The core subjects can vary in exact name but they include Contract Law, Criminal Law, Equity and Trusts Law, EU Law, Land or Property Law, Public or Constitutional Law and Tort Law. To qualify as a barrister or solicitor in Northern Ireland the same seven subjects must be taken along with Evidence Law. It's not possible to give full justice to the FLK in this post so I'll devote one to it specially in due course.

The SQE or Solicitors Qualifying Examination is a pair of exams that must be taken to qualify as a solicitor. Along with holding a bachelor's degree in any subject (not necessarily Law though it will help) and two years' cumulative qualifying work experience, this is the modern route for qualification following a recent review.

An LLM is a Master of Laws degree (the abbreviation is from the Latin Legum Magister), a postgraduate degree. An LLM is normally an academic focused degree and generally not a Qualifying Law Degree; however there are some conversion LLMs that function as QLDs such as Birkbeck's LLM Qualifying Law Degree and Wolverhampton's LLM Law Conversion.

An MLaw is a Master's in Law degree (note the difference). This is an integrated Master's degree that combines the content of a Bachelor's degree in law with an additional year at Master's level covering preparation for the SQE exams. Integrated Master's degrees are better known in Science and Engineering courses. (The Open University does not currently offer such a degree in Law; however it does offer them in several other subjects.) As a single degree they can offer better funding options than taking things separately.

An LLD is a Doctor of Laws degree (the abbreviation is from the Latin Legum Doctor). This is awarded by universities in one of two ways. Either it is given as an honorary degree or it is awarded as a "higher doctorate" to an established academic based on a formal assessment of their existing portfolio of published research.

A DCL is a Doctor of Civil Law degree which is awarded in much the same way as a Doctor of Laws.

And one I only thought about after generating the graphic...

A JD is a Juris Doctor, the name for the standard degree required to qualify in some countries. Normally a degree taken by graduates, it seems to be functionally similar to a Bachelor of Laws, or at least a graduate entry one. In some countries it co-exists with the first degree LLB, in other countries it has replaced it. In the UK it appears to have only been offered on its own at Queen's University Belfast and not currently (at least when I checked their entry for Graduate Degrees in the QUB School of Law), but some other universities offer a joint LLB/JD or LLM/JD programme in collaboration with overseas universities.

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What is a barrister and what is a solicitor?

One of the basic features of the legal system is the division of lawyers into distinct professions. The two main ones and best known are barristers and solicitors. But what is the difference between the two and how does this affect legal education?

It's more than just what they wear.

Barristers primarily work in the courts or at tribunals, representing individuals or organisations by presenting evidence and marking arguments. Barristers are members of one of the four Inns of Court, part of the Bar and represented and regulated by the Bar Council. And yes, they're the ones who wear wigs and gowns, at least when they're actually in court.

Solicitors generally work outside the courts, mainly in offices but also in accompanying clients in particular situations. They prepare legal documentation and undertake actions on behalf of their clients. Solicitors are members of the Law Society and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. They don't have fancy robes or headgear and are generally found wearing suits or other office wear.

In terms of legal education, each profession has separate requirements which results in different pathways to them. Until recent years both followed a model known as the academic-vocational-training route and for the academic stage both required a Qualifying Law Degree (containing the Foundations of Legal Knowledge; a future post will go into more detail) or a degree in another subject plus a conversion Graduate Diploma in Law (again containing the FLK). In recent years the solicitors' route has been radically overhauled whilst the barristers' route remains much the same. The latter continues to influence the structure of Bachelor's degrees in Law but there are some law schools that offer greater variation to be able to follow either route or even neither. The Open University is one such.

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Full time or part time?

So what's the best way to study? Full-time or part-time?

As is so often the case, the answer is "it depends..."

With most universities there's either a single option or a binary choice. One option is to study full-time, taking modules equivalent to 120 credits in a single academic year with most Bachelor's degrees taking three years. The other option, if available, is to study at half this speed, taking modules equivalent to 60 credits in a single year, with most part-time degrees taking six years.

(There is some variation from this. Most notably Birkbeck, University of London, has a part-time model of 90 credits a year, so part-time degrees there take only four years.)

But the Open University is even more flexible than this. Students are able to study at whatever rate they like and even interrupt their studies, subject to an absolute time limit of normally sixteen years to complete a standard Bachelor's degree. Law is a more complicated case because there are tighter time limits for completion if the degree is to be used to qualify as a legal professional. There are also shorter limits when degrees are due to be withdrawn and a student has to complete whilst the modules are still available or find a way to transfer their credit onto another programme.

So one can study 120, 90, 60 or even just 30 credits in a single year, as well as taking years out if other factors intervene. It's a very flexible structure that puts the student first.

(Things are a bit more complicated at the postgraduate level. A Master's degree consists of 180 credits and in a full-time university programme it is taken over a whole calendar twelve months, including the summer holidays. But at the OU it is very difficult to take a whole Master's in a single year and sometimes difficult to take it in even two years, not least because many modules can only be started after a previous module has been completed and they each run year long. The new Master of Laws (LLM) degree is currently only available over three years. It is expected that in later years it will be possible to take the first two 60 credit modules simultaneously; however both will still have to be completed before doing the dissertation module in the following year.)

But despite the flexibility, on the Law Bachelor's degrees the most common patterns amongst the students I'm in contact with are either full-time (120 credits a year) or traditional part-time (60 credits a year) though there are exceptions. Full-time can be intense but if you have the actual hours available, the time management skills and the dedication that are all needed for an OU degree then it's perfectly possible to study full-time. In general the modules last half the year so it's only in an awkward six-week overlap period that the workload truly piles up and staff on modules that start around February are perfectly aware and understanding that students are wrapping up their outgoing course. Things are slightly different on Level 1 where the Law modules are 60 credits each and have a longer overlap period but with only two many have successfully balanced them in a single year.

Of course not everyone has the time to take so many modules all at once and that's perfectly fine. And one can vary the rate, especially when you move up between levels so you're not locked into a particular pace for good.

Related to this, legally all Open University students are classified as part-time regardless of how many credits or hours a student does (or is supposed to do). However, there is a limit on overall fees in a year that full-time students can hit (at least in England, the different fee structures across the UK are a regular source of confusion). So there are some financial benefits from going full-time but not all compared to attending a "bricks and mortar" university (though equally accommodation and/or transport costs are fewer).

So ultimately the choice is down to the individual student.

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Years and levels?

Much of the terminology used about universities is based around the experience of students who've come straight from school or sixth form college, studying full-time at a "bricks and mortar" university. The statistics indicate this group is actually a minority, albeit the largest single cohort (see HESA: Student numbers and characteristics for 2024-2025). But despite this most terms (and many tables) default to this experience and talk about other students with reference to them.

The Open University is, by definition, very different. There are no standard rates for taking qualifications with some students taking three years to get a Bachelor's degree and others spreading it out over the sixteen-year limit, taking only one module a year or even a break. Most students study at less than full-time rate and legally all OU students are part-time. So talking of "years" to mean stages of a degree is fairly meaningless.

Instead, the talk is of "levels". These map to the separate years of a three-year full-time Bachelor's degree but avoid confusion with the time taken. So there's Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3.

In addition, modules are weighted in terms of "credits" with each level requiring a student to pass modules worth a total of 120 credits. This aligns with, and uses the same level names as, the Credit Accumulation and Transfer Scheme (CATS) which is used nationally by many universities to measure the value of courses if a student transfers or even just takes a module at another institution. (A more detailed guide to CATS can be found on the University of Southampton's website.)

(Things are a little different with Master's degrees. The taught Master's level appears to always be labelled "postgraduate" rather than "Level M" which has been used elsewhere. A student taking a four-year integrated Master's degree, such as the Master of Environmental Science, will take modules at both Level 3 and postgraduate level at Level 3.)

What can confuse further is the use of other "levels" in qualification frameworks. For example on the page for Criminal law and the courts one will see "Level" and then a list of "OU level: 1, SCQF: 7, FHEQ: 4". These latter two refer to the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework and the Framework for Higher Education Qualifications in England, Northern Ireland and Wales (although there's multiple within that). These frameworks cover qualifications all the way from school to doctoral work so have more numbers.

But much of this detail doesn't have to be dived into to take courses with the OU. Instead, there's a straightforward structure that makes clear where one is on the journey to a qualification no matter how long they're taking.

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