16467 Built Environment Law and Ethics

Description

This is a core first-year subject in both the Bachelor of Construction Project Management (C10214) and Bachelor of Property Economics (C10310). It provides students with an introduction to law for the built environment. Students are introduced to the Australian legal system, including the processes through which law is made and amended. The subject also covers the principle obligations imposed upon construction and property professionals. Examples of the relevant contractual and tortious principles are drawn from cases dealing with construction and property law. The subject provides an introduction to the system of land titling in Australia (Torrens and the system of tenures and estates). It also asks students to consider the difference between legal and ethical frameworks and how they apply to the scenarios raised by the case law and problem scenarios considered throughout the subject.

Apart from the consideration of legal principles, students are introduced to the range of skills needed to produce professional opinions and to interrogate and understand expert opinions, using the interpretation of legal opinions and how (and when) to instruct legal experts as a key example. The skills students are introduced to include how to read and understand cases (legal opinions) as well as how to structure a professional report and use appropriate report/opinion writing and methodology. The ideas of reasoning by deduction and communication of how an expert opinion is arrived at are developed. The emphasis on communication as an expert forms part of the professional communications skills students are required to demonstrate across a range of subjects in their respective degrees and as part of the Graduate Attributes required by both the University and by future employers.

Students are also taught the difference between primary and secondary sources in law and the relative importance of each. A basic introduction to legal citation as well as how to find sources of law is also covered.

Typical availability

Spring session, City campus