Master of Laws in Medical Law

Purpose

The purpose of the programme is to enable to become effective legal researchers and to critically engage with legal principles within this broader context, so ensuring their professional development as legal scholars and/or practitioners. The purpose is to engage relevant material for use in the national, African regional and international contexts, thus enabling students to interpret law in the broader context to effect positive legal change. The aim is to develop various competencies and skills that facilitate life-long learning.

Rationale

As the legal field is ever changing and developing within a broader constitutional, national and international context, new knowledge generated by trained researchers as professional practitioners is necessary for the enhancement of the broader legal profession, private and public practice, the judiciary and the court system, and government and the legislature. Learners are assisted to engage with the underlying legal theories and to assess the legal principles that ultimately impact on society as a whole. An opportunity is provided for learners to obtain detailed knowledge of a specific chosen legal area, and to critically reflect, analyse and synthesize divergent legal concepts in the chosen area.

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL)

The institution accepts the principle underlying outcomes-based, source-based and life-long learning, in which considerations of articulation and mobility play a significant role, and subscribes to the view that Recognition of Prior Learning, whether acquired by formal education curricula at this or another institution or informally (by experience) is an indispensable element in deciding on admission to and awarding Credits in an explicitly selected teaching-learning qualification of the institution.

An applicant who falls outside of the formal qualifications system, but who can demonstrate (through the production of substantial and satisfactory evidence) experiential or work-based learning or a non-formal qualification (or a combination), may be considered for admission and/or for the Recognition of Prior Learning for the achievement of the qualification in part or in full. An applicant who after such assessment, is deemed to have sufficient potential, but is in need of further academic development, must be directed to other suitable learning qualifications prior to admission or to parallel qualifications after admission.

Entry Requirements

• Bachelor of Laws, National Qualifications Framework (NQF) Level 8.

This qualification consists of compulsory and elective module at Level 9 totalling 192 Credits.

Compulsory Modules at Level 9 totalling 120 Credits

• Mini Dissertation, 96 Credits.
• Research Methodology, 24 Credits.

Elective Modules at Level 9 totalling 72 Credits (Choose Three Modules)

• Law and Medical Practice ,24 Credits.
• Bio-ethics and the Law, 24 Credits.
• HIV/AIDS, Human rights and the law, 24 Credits.
• Forensic Medicine, 24 Credits.

1. Identify, describe, critically evaluate and apply the main concepts and legal principles pertaining to the selected area of legal study within a broader constitutional and international context.
2. Identify issues and solve practical and perceived legal problems through analytical thinking and evaluative techniques.
3. Demonstrate advanced legal research skills pertaining to national, regional and international medical laws.
4. Apply a critical and evaluative approach to analysing complex issues in the field of medical law.
5. Analyse complex legal problems relating to medical law and motivate the appropriate way of dealing with these problems, with reference to specific legal principles.
6. Critically engage with legal principles specifically within the context of medical law, and identify how they should be applied to complex legal problems in a medical context.
7. Undertake independent legal research and write a dissertation which reflects advanced research skills, independent thinking, critical analysis and advanced insight into the selected areas of medical law.

The following Associated Assessment Criteria will be used in an integrated manner across the Exit Level Outcomes

• Demonstrate adequate knowledge and understanding of substantive law modules - Forensic medicine and pathology, Bio-ethics and the Law, Law and Medical Practice.
• Produce a dissertation exploring an aspect of law, satisfactory in form and content, which makes a contribution to knowledge; or produce publishable articles.

Integrated Assessment

Each module will be assessed through an integrated individual written assignment or test, in addition to a range of oral and written, group and individual class assignments in order to give learners the opportunities to demonstrate a variety of competencies. The dissertation requires students to apply their learning in an integrated way to analyse a specific area related to their work context in a work-based assignment and to apply the theoretical frameworks to recommend solutions to identified legal problem areas. The dissertation assesses the ability of students to integrate solutions from different modules to the applicable legal issue addressed in the dissertation. In terms of generic assessment method, learners will be assessed utilising the following methods: 1. Seminar presentation: their ability to review the relevant sources and present a coherent seminar addressing all the key issues on a particular topic. 2. Seminar preparation and participation: their ability to engage with, and answer questions on, the issues relevant to all seminars where they are not the presenters. 3. Written examination: their ability to apply their understanding of the subject matter and answer questions through a traditional assessment method. Dissertation Assessment Method - In preliminary drafts the work of learners will be developmentally assessed and provided with extensive feedback and comment by their supervisors: 0% weighting. The final draft will be summatively assessed by an internal examiner: 50%; and by an external examiner: 50%. Research dissertations are marked by two specialist examiners (who cannot be the supervisor), one internal and the other external to the University, or alternatively by two external examiners, and in adherence to the University policy, guidelines on supervision of post-graduate degrees. In order for the identified assessment purposes to be achieved, assignments; examinations and dissertation will form part of assessment methods.