Module Information

Land is a valuable commodity. Those who own land wish to retain it. Those who do not own land wish to acquire it. The law that regulates these relationships is land law. People who buy and own homes are governed by land law, as are people who rent houses and flats are governed. People who make use of utilities such as gas, electricity and water are governed by land law. The theatre-goer and the football spectator are governed by land law, as are banks and building societies, married and unmarried couples and owners of towel rails, inquisitive horses and gate-posts in the shape of lions. Even the continued greenness of a square of land outside the Odeon cinema in Leicester Square in London is governed by land law. Accordingly, this module will include considerations such as what is land, what are the concerns of land law, and how rights and interests pertaining to land may be acquired, retained or lost.

The aim of this module is to introduce students to the principles governing the acquisition and retention of rights over land. The aim of the module is therefore to explain how an agreement made between one person and another becomes an agreement that confers a benefit or an obligation not on an individual but on a person in his or her capacity as the proprietor of an estate in land. Accordingly, that which is achieved between two individuals under the law of contract is reformulated in land law to create rights and obligations that may span the generations. This module therefore aims to introduce students to the concept of land, and the acquisition and formalisation of rights pertaining to one's own land and land that belongs to another. It aims to contextualise land law within England and Wales' legal history and current social and economic realities. It also aims to develop the assimilation and presentation of legal knowledge, the formulation of reasoned and substantiated argumentation, and the ability to identify and evaluate the law'r solutions to actual and perceived social problems. A further aim of this module is to provide one of the foundations of legal knowledge that is required by students wishing to enter the legal professions.