School of Law
MIDDLESEX UNIVERSITY
PUBLIC LAW LAW
FORMATIVE COURSEWORK
FORMATIVE DEADLINE: 22 June 2023
Academic Year 2022/2023
Module Coordinator: A Joyekurrun
This assessment is compulsory and worth 75% of your total grade for this module.
Choose two of the four questions below.
Each answer should be around 1,500 words. The total word limit is 3,000.
1. In 1915, A.V. Dicey defined parliamentary supremacy as “the right to make or
unmake any law whatever; and, further, that no person or body is recognised by the
law of England as having a right to override or set aside the legislation of Parliament.”
With reference to examples critically consider whether this definition reflects
parliamentary supremacy in the UK today.
2. With reference to constitutional protections, the common law, and other sources of
law, critically comment on the status of the right to freedom of assembly under the
law of England and Wales.
3. One day the police observed Simone handing over a ‘package’ to a man in an area
with a poor reputation for drug dealing. The police approached Simone stating that
they were going to perform a search of her. After the search, they forced Simone into
the police car, stating that they needed to take her to the local police station for
questioning. On the way there, Simone was repeatedly told that they suspected she
had been dealing in drugs. During the car journey, Simone said “I admit I was dealing
drugs. Just let me go home”.
At the station Simone was seen by the custody sergeant who pointed at a very old and
dirty notice about seeing a lawyer which Simone could not read. She was then
interviewed for over 15 hours without a break, or food, in a cold and damp room.
Simone suffered from a mental illness and she began to feel very stressed and worried
she might collapse. Simone again admitted to supplying drugs. She was then charged
and released. In fact, the parcel was a present to her older brother whom she had met
in the street.
Simone intends to plead not guilty and seeks your advice as to whether she can
withdraw her confession and whether it is admissible. With reference to legal
authorities, advise Simone.
4. Mohammed is resident in an apartment owned by the Headington local authority. The
local authority has notified Mohammed that it will be demolishing the apartment
block and moving him to another apartment 20 miles away. Mohammed does not
want to move from the area but the Headington local authority have refused him a
hearing on the basis it would not be appropriate but Mohammed asked what was
meant by that and Headington local authority has refused to give him further
explanation or any reasons for this decision.
In addition, Mohammed has heard that a company owned by the Chairman of the
Housing Committee in Headington local authority has just bought the site of the
apartment block and intends to build luxury apartments on it. That is despite the fact
Mohammed was told that Headington local authority would be building new social
housing on the site and that in due course he would be able to return to the area and
live in one of the newly built apartments.
With reference to legal authorities, advise Mohammed as to the GROUNDS he may
have in challenging the local authority’s actions by way of judicial review. Do not
discuss the procedure for judicial review.
SUBMISSION OF COURSEWORK
The Formative coursework must be submitted by 22 nd of June 2023 4pm UK time
electronically on Turnitin via the module site on MyUnihub (MyLearning), where it will be
checked for possible plagiarism, collusion and word counts using the appropriate software.
Failure to submit your work by the deadline will result in 0%.
To facilitate anonymous marking please ensure that your submission contains nothing that
will identify you personally.
There will be an opportunity for feedback if you submit your draft on the formative deadline,.
The coursework should be typed on a white background on A4 Page Layout in 12-point font.
A bibliography should be included at the end and does not count towards the word count.
Cases must be cited correctly, using the OSCOLA referencing style, but the full citation may
be contained in footnotes. Please note that work which is not properly referenced will not
achieve a good grade.
You must fully attribute any judicial quotations or passages taken from articles or textbooks.
Failure to do so may result in your work being referred to the Academic Registry for
plagiarism.
The main cause of referrals to the Academic Registry for plagiarism is poor research skills
and copying and pasting large sections of work from other (usually online) sources.
Note that the deadline is fixed and no short extensions are being given. There are 2
possibilities if you have extenuating circumstances. See:
https://unihub.mdx.ac.uk/study/assessment/extenuating-circumstances
Deferral
(i) Students can self-certify for a deferral at the link above if extenuating circumstance
have affected them for period of 7 days or less, i.e. a short illness that occurs at the
point of assessment submission.
(ii) Otherwise students have to apply for a deferral at that link supplying evidence in
the usual way.
If you are granted a deferral, you must take the new assessment at the next
opportunity.
The Late Submission rules means students can submit an individual written
assignment/coursework up to 5 calendar days after the deadline without requesting an
extension. If the work is a pass, the mark will be capped at 40%. Students registered
with the Disability and Dyslexia Service, who have a Learning Support Form that
specifies additional requirements, will be able to submit up to 5 days late without
capping.
If you submit your work more than 5 days after the original deadline, your work will
not be marked and you will be given a grade of 20 (non-submission) for this piece of
assessment.
Note that when you have submitted your assessments, you may ask for extenuating
circumstances noted to be added to your record which can be considered by the Assessment
Board when making a progression/finalist decision if your profile is not a clear one (the
details of your Extenuating Circumstances will not be made visible to the Assessment Board
and the Assessment Board will not amend individual student grades as a result of ECs
noted).This option is only available for Extenuating Circumstances affecting a student over a
longer period of time and evidence MUST be provided. In exceptional circumstances only, a
student can request deferrals and to have extenuating circumstances noted.
The file you submit to Turnitin must be either a Microsoft word document or compatible with
Microsoft word. Please convert your document if submitting from an apple computer
otherwise your work may not be uploaded – it is your responsibility to ensure that it has been
successfully uploaded.
You must take care to upload your final answer by the deadline as once the deadline is passed
you will not be able to submit another version. The responsibility for timely submission is
yours, and except for proven failures of University systems, reasons for late submission
relating to your computer malfunction will not be accepted. If there is a technical problem
preventing you from uploading your work, email it to the module leader or a tutor.
You must retain a copy of your work.
Students may submit their coursework to the electronic system, Turnitin, as many times as
they like prior to the deadline. Each time they will receive an Originality Report giving them
the opportunity to address plagiarism/poor referencing, etc. issues up until the deadline date.
Students will be required to submit a final copy by the deadline date.
Please note that the marks given for coursework during the academic year will be provisional
only and will be confirmed on publication of the final results at the end of the academic year.
WORD LIMITS 3,000 words
(a) All coursework must state the word count. The work must be submitted without the title
and without setting out the question in order for the word count to be checked. Please
remember to state the word count, excluding the title, question, footnotes and bibliography.
(b) The word count excludes the bibliography and footnotes. Footnotes must contain citations
only and not text in order not to be included in the word limit.
(c) Coursework which fails to state the word count or states the word count incorrectly will
be penalised by the deduction of 2%.
(d) Text above 10% of the word count (i.e. above 3,300) will not be graded.
