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It is said that without law a man’s life would be ‘brutish, nasty and short’. AQA’s GCSE Law gives students an understanding of the role of law in today’s society. In addition to helping students to acquire subject knowledge, studying law helps to develop skills of selection, analysis, critical thinking and decision making, and an awareness of the rights and responsibilities of individuals.
The GCSE provides a broad foundation of both knowledge and skills for the continuing study of law at AS or A2, where certain areas can be studied in greater depth. Students who do not intend to carry on studying law will nevertheless gain skills and knowledge which can usefully be carried forward into other fields of study and the world of work including a career involving law, Business Adminstration and Management to Banking and Finance. Law is compatible with a range of subjects and courses from business, social sciences and humanities to maths, science and technology. This subject will also interest those who appreciate an academic challenge as well as proving beneficial in higher education and employment, both in terms of the course content covered as well as the skills developed.
GCSE Law will encourage learners to be inspired, moved and changed by following a broad, coherent, satisfying and worthwhile course of study and explore ways in which legal, cultural, historical, moral, political, religious and social factors interact to shape the world in which we live today. It should prepare learners to make informed decisions about further learning opportunities and career choices.
The topics to be studied include:
- Why society needs law
- Divisions of law namely Public law (criminal, administrative law) and Civil law (family law, tort and contract law)
- How and why laws change
- Arrest, sentencing, your rights, Human Rights, our court system, personnel within the law – how do you become a lawyer?
- How are laws made?
- Case law, Contract law, Police Powers
- Bail, the Jury system, the appeal system
- How do you afford legal help?