Transnational Law 2004Law Assignment 1, 2011

Assignment Question:
Describe and analyse the similarities and any differences between how law is made and interpreted by the legal systems and traditions that you have studied in weeks 1 - 7. Assess whether any of these legal systems and traditions have something to learn from how law is made and interpreted by the other systems and traditions.

Instructions:
1. This assignment is worth 40% of the available marks in this course. 2. Please write only 2000 words in total. If you fail to comply with the 2000 word limit the whole of the assessment item shall be marked but then you will be penalised according to the following formula: i. ii. iii. iv. 0-10% excess: no penalty; 11-30% excess: 15% of the total marks available; 31-50% excess: 30% of the total marks available; and 51% plus excess: 50% of the total marks available.

The general university policy on assessment is available through: http://www62.gu.edu.au/policylibrary.nsf/xmainsearch/65e95921348eb64c4a256bdd00 62f3b0?opendocument. The Law Schools assessment policy is available at http://www.griffith.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/48909/assessment-policy0307.pdf. 3. You must adopt a particular standard for referencing the materials you use. You will need to cite these in the footnotes to your assignment. You should adopt the Griffith Law Schools Basic Guide for Law Students which you can access at http://www.griffith.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/125246/Basic-Style-Guidefor-Law-Students-2009.pdfYou must include a bibliography at the end of the assignment. This can include materials that you have not used in your footnotes. 4. Plagiarism. Please be aware of the Griffith Universitys policy on plagiarism and also academic integrity. You can find them at http://www62.gu.edu.au/policylibrary.nsf/xmainsearch/352f26aa1a1011e64a256bbb006 2fd5f?opendocument and http://www62.gu.edu.au/policylibrary.nsf/binders/03ee5c37f0926a0e4a25736f0063eaea ?opendocument.

5. This assignment is due on April 18 @ 12:00 pm. In accordance with the Law Schools assessment policy the penalty for submitting your assignment late is: i. 20% penalty on awarded mark if less than 24 hours after the submission deadline; ii. 35% penalty on awarded mark if more than 24 hours but less than 48 hours after the submission deadline; iii. 50% penalty on awarded mark if more than 48 hours but less than 72 hours after the submission deadline; and iv. Zero mark for 72 hours or more after the submission deadline. 6. Submission: You must submit your assignment in both an electronic format through Blackboard and as a printed document through off campus assignment handling service for Griffith University. Failure to submit in both ways will mean that you will not receive your marked assignment at the same time as others in your class and will not get feedback before the end of the semester. To submit the assignment electronically, you must enter the blackboard site for 2004law and go into the Assessment folder. In there you will see an assignment one icon with >> View/Complete below it. Just click on >> View/Complete and submit your assignment. After 24 hours you will get a plagiarism report. This just indicates how closely aligned your essay is with others in the class and other electronic materials available online Please do not email the Course Convenor asking whether your assignment has been submitted properly or not. If it is submitted properly you should get a notification saying so. Otherwise, please submit it again or get help from IT Assist.

Marking criteria and some helpful suggestions:

You will receive marks for: (1) How well you have understood each of the legal systems and traditions that you discuss in your work (20%). (2) The quality of your analysis and how well you have evaluated the similarities and differences amongst the legal systems and traditions (50%). (3) The quality of the research you have done to answer the question and how well you have integrated what you have found into your written answer (20%). (4) How well you have written and structured your assignment (10%). a. This assignment is designed to take you to a new stage of your learning experience in this course. During weeks 1 7 you will have had the chance to learn about different legal systems and traditions of the world. You need this knowledge to further develop your attitude towards the impact that globalisation is having on our awareness of legal systems other than the common law. We will be testing your attitude towards the legal systems and traditions of the world by getting you to critically explore and evaluate an aspect of how they operate. b. This assignment requires that you do extra research. You should have plenty of materials in your reading pack to get you started. However, the depth of your understanding and the originality of your answer will need to be shaped by the quality of the research that you do and how well you integrate what you find into your answer.

c. It is important for us to see how well you have understood this assignment question as well as what we have prescribed for you to read in weeks 1 - 7. The question should make sense only if you have applied yourself during the semester and have been reading the prescribed materials for this course. d. You will notice that 50% of the marks allocated for this assignment is for the quality of your analysis of the question, the readings materials, and the issues that you choose to address. However, the other marks for this assignment will also be allocated on the basis of how well you have integrated the description of the legal systems and traditions, as well as your research, into an answer that makes sense. Please avoid describing anything in so much detail that you leave yourself no room to engage in analysis. For instance, if x and y are different in each legal system and tradition, you will actually get more marks for telling us why this is the case and if it matters in terms of how law is made and interpreted.

What might a pass, credit, distinction and high distinction look like?
Pass
Your summary of the articles you read is the only part of your work that is cogent and reads well. Simply repeating what you have read in the book of materials and combining this with some of your own thoughts. Only parts of your essay directly address the substance of the question and then it is mostly descriptive of how each legal system and tradition creates a law. You refer only to 1 or 2 research papers or books to answer the above question. Your answer to questions reveals that you have not adequately understood what the question wants from you. In some cases your description of the legal system or tradition is inaccurate or very undirected.

Credit
Your answers to question make sense and it follows a structure that takes us to a conclusion or an argument that you are trying to make. You not only refer to ideas that come from reading the materials for 2004Law and have thought about your reactions to them and have critically evaluated them in the essay. You articulate the issues that you want to discuss and evaluate ideas and examples to address them. You use good examples that show you have not only understood the questions but also the materials that you have read. Sometimes these examples come from you or the research that you have done. Your essay answers the question. That is, I will not have to think about whether parts of your essay are relevant to answering the question or not. You make references to a variety of different views (including yours) in responding to the question. These views might come from research papers, books, internet materials, etc. You research might be thorough but you do not use all of the materials that you find to substantiate your arguments or to shape your thinking on relevant issues.

Distinction.

You have one or two main points and they are anaylysed and discussed very thoroughly in your answer. You have read various journal articles and have thought about them in a way that you can critically analyse ideas that might contradict what you want to say or argue in your response to the question. You combine your own ideas with those from the readings that are most relevant to the particular focus that you are seeking to develop in your answer to question. Your examples are succinct and focus your reader on the main argument that you will be making in your answer. Your work is polished. This means that your statements are tightly developed without lots of unnecessary words. You do not say the same thing more than once. Importantly, your reader does not have to try and double guess what you are saying because of spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. You have found a lot of different materials (research papers, books, etc) to support your arguments and have employed them to answering the question. You do not just cite the research but actually make use of them in developing your arguments in a particular direction. Your views in response to question are analytically sharp because you have understood the question you have been asked.

High Distinction
All of the above The focus and critical assessment in your arguments responding to the question are tightly developed and novel or original in some way. Your own ideas in response to the question are novel and contribute to the originality of how you frame your answer. Please note that this should not be confused with simply sharing your thoughts. Original or novel ideas rely on knowing what is already in the literature you are referring to. You have managed to see conceptual connections between the different research articles and books that you have found and have used them to frame your response and develop your critical engagement with the issues you raise in your work. Your research is very thorough (that is, you refer to a lot of materials that shed light on what you want to say). You have also managed to refer to writers whose views are cited more often than others and whose work carries weight. That is, you have shown some discretion in terms of whose work you have chosen to use and refer to in drafting your response to the question.