University of Nottingham

School of Law

LAND LAW
INTRODUCTORY INFORMATION 2022-23

A. SYNOPSIS

Land Law is taught, learned and assessed as a single 30-credit module over two
semesters.

In Semester 1, the module examines the structure of land law and land
ownership. Students should acquire a critical understanding of the basic concepts of
Land Law, the nature of land ownership in English law and the conceptual framework for
the creation, transfer and protection of estates and interests in land. The module
examines both the current law and, where relevant, the Law Commission’s proposals for
reform.

The first semester syllabus will consider the following topics:

(a) Concepts of land ownership
(b) The 1925 property legislation
(c) Title deeds conveyancing
(d) Registered title conveyancing
(e) Trusts of land, with particular reference to co-ownership
(f) Leases

In Semester 2, the syllabus examines, within the context of the conceptual framework
considered in Semester 1, the principal third party interests affecting land. These
interests are encountered in Semester 1 but are considered only in so far as is necessary
to understand the machinery for the transfer and protection of interests in land generally.
In Semester 2, each of these interests is examined in more detail - considering the
nature, factual and legal context and significance of the interest and the method(s) of
creating, transferring and terminating the interest. Again, the module will examine both
the current law and, where relevant, the Law Commission’s proposals for reform.

The second semester syllabus will consider the following topics:

(a) Licences and proprietary estoppel
(b) Easements
(c) Covenants affecting freehold land
(d) Mortgages

Ultimately, the topics that make up the syllabus are defined by the content of lectures
unless the lecturer notifies you otherwise in the lecture.
The learning outcomes of the module are the ability:
(i) to understand the structure of modern Land Law and its key concepts and
principles
(ii) to identify and explain clearly legal issues relating to specific topics of Land Law
(iii) to analyse and evaluate the rules governing the ownership and use of land and the
mechanisms for the protection of rights to and over land
(iv) to apply rigorously the knowledge and understanding acquired to develop and
sustain arguments on controversial points of Land Law
(v) to research and make appropriate use of relevant primary and secondary resources
in preparing for tutorial discussion and assessments
(vi) to demonstrate fluency and accuracy in subject-specific legal terminology.

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B. BOOKS

Students should have their own copies of (a) a textbook and (b) a collection of property
statutes.

The following is the recommended textbook for the course. It is recommended for good
reason: this text, in the view of the teaching team, offers the most appropriate
introductory treatment of the subject for our purposes:

Thompson, Modern Land Law (8th ed, 2022)

Students should be aware, however, that reading a textbook alone will not provide
sufficient detail for the purposes of the Land Law module. Students must supplement
textbook reading by engaging with secondary sources including academic journal articles
and Law Commission documents. Students must also read key court judgments in full.
Tutorial sheets will offer further detail as to which cases and secondary sources are most
pertinent in each topic area.

If necessary, consult any member of the Land Law teaching team for further guidance.
They can also give advice on alternative textbooks.

The recommended collection of property statutes is:

Blackstone's Statutes on Property Law 2022-2023

Many of the topics covered in the Land Law module are based in statute and you will be
required to become familiar with the principal statutory provisions. You are, therefore,
required to keep such a collection of property statutes with you when studying for this
module, and in particular during lectures, tutorials and assessments.

C. MOODLE

The Land Law teaching team will be using Moodle and students should check the Land
Law site regularly. Moodle sets out the order in which you should progress through the
module with each heading containing more detailed information on the lectures you
have received as well as the reading that needs to be completed. It can be accessed off
campus. In addition, you will find the following there:

 Copies of all course documentation including lecture handouts, lecture PowerPoint

slides, tutorial sheets, the formative assessment question for Semester 1 and (later
in Semester 1) the Land Law preliminary assessment, all of which can be
downloaded.

 Copies of all course lecture recordings and other electronic teaching materials.

 Link to the online reading lists which will have links to tutorial reading.

 Links to external documents (such as Law Commission reports).

 Announcements about various matters such as changes to lectures, additional

lectures, important new cases etc.

 Past examination questions for practice purposes. These consist of examination

papers for the last two years along with notes identifying what the examiners were
looking for. The most effective practice will involve attempting an answer before
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 looking at the notes.

N.B. (1) We do not keep more than two years’ worth of past papers/examiners’
notes on Moodle because of changes in both module content and in the law. Older
past papers and examiners’ notes, rather than being aides to student study, can
actually undermine the effectiveness of students’ study. This is not only by giving an
unrealistic or inaccurate representation of what students can expect in the exam
and what we, the examiners, expect of students but also by confusing students by
introducing cases/topics/issues that we have not covered and omitting ones we
have.

N.B. (2) Examiners’ notes are not updated to take into account changes in the law
or the syllabus and that should be borne in mind when reading them.

 Discussion Board. Students must use the Discussion Board section of Moodle.
The Discussion Board is a student’s primary method for raising substantive
questions outside of scheduled lectures and tutorials. Students should engage
with Discussion Boards before emailing their tutor with questions. Discussion Board
offers a means of dealing with issues thought of, or confusion remaining, after the
tutorial or with points that were not dealt with at that time. It is hoped by this
means to avoid the duplication of questions that occurs, particularly during revision
periods. The teaching team recognises that students are often disappointed when it
is not possible to discuss all the issues on a topic within the relevant tutorial.
Students are therefore strongly encouraged to use Discussion Board to explore
matters that were not discussed in tutorials or to seek clarification. It is expected
that questions will not be raised on Discussion Board until after the
relevant tutorial.

Forums will be created for each tutorial topic. There will also be a forum for general
questions on the teaching and assessment of the modules. Please do not create new
forums. Students are encouraged to engage with their fellow students on Discussion
Board, but the teaching team will respond to questions and comments as
appropriate. However, there is no point in hoping to acquire the answer to the Land
Law assessment from the Discussion Board. The teaching team will decline to
answer any questions that they feel are posed with that purpose.

D. LECTURES, TUTORIALS & ENGAGEMENT SESSIONS

Lectures

Current plans are to deliver lectures in person for the entirety of the module as per your
timetables. Lectures are structured by the lecturer and normally take an orthodox form.
The point of a lecture is not to produce a verbatim transcript of what is said, but to allow it
to act as a primer and source of interesting ideas that you can take into the self-directed
learning. Lectures will be recorded, and the lecture captures released shortly after the
session. Students may also be referred to other resources during lectures which will be
made available to students via Moodle, and asked to engage in activities as part of
working through the series of lectures.

Tutorials

Tutorials will be held in-person according to your timetable. Tutorials are intended to
provide the opportunity to discuss the more important issues of the designated topic(s).

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 The reading specified on each tutorial sheet (including cases and statutory material) is
the minimum that should be completed.
 The tutorial sheets refer to the appropriate pages in Thompson, Modern Land Law.
The approach in other textbooks may be different and students may therefore benefit
from referring to another one. However, any student referring to an alternative
textbook should take care to read only about those issues considered in this module.
Lecturers and tutors will not provide page numbers for reading in alternative
textbooks.
 It is necessary to bear in mind that the recommended textbook will largely reinforce
the information provided in lectures. It is important to consider some issues in greater
depth and from different perspectives. Consequently, the reading of statutes, cases,
case notes, and articles (particularly those specified on the tutorial sheets) and
relevant Law Commission reports is very important.
 Students will note that the case law specified on tutorial sheets is very limited in
comparison with lecture handouts. This does not mean that the cases on the tutorial
sheets are the only important cases - it simply means that the cases specified are of
particular relevance for the purposes of that tutorial. It is in relation to these cases in
particular, that you will find it useful to search out and read case notes in the major
journals.
 If cases are specified on tutorial sheets, it is essential that students read the
judgment(s) in full: it is not sufficient to read the headnotes only. (Case citations
from only one set of reports appear on the sheets but the case may be reported in one
or other of the different series available in the library. Most case reports are also
available online.)
 Students should be prepared to discuss cases other than those referred to on the
tutorial sheet, but which are suggested by the lecturer, tutor and/or textbook writers
to be of interest.
 Very often to provide a fuller answer to the questions on the tutorial sheet, you will
have to delve further into the textbook(s), case law or statute(s). Case notes and
longer articles may also be useful. The tutorial sheets identify some such sources;
others may be referred to in the textbooks and journals. The leading journals include
the Law Quarterly Review (LQR), the Modern Law Review (MLR), the Cambridge Law
Journal (CLJ), Legal Studies (LS) and the specialist property law journal, The
Conveyancer and Property Lawyer (Conv).
 It will not always be possible to cover all the issues and questions on a topic within the
relevant tutorial; but, as noted above, the Discussion Board section of Moodle offers
an excellent opportunity for students to discuss issues not covered.
 Students must have by their side a copy of Property Statutes when listening
to each lecture and attending each tutorial.
 Laptops are permitted in tutorials, however a tutor is allowed to ask that laptops
be closed for a portion of the session if they believe that is a good way to achieve the
learning outcomes for that session. Any student who feels that an exception should be
made for them must, in the first instance, discuss this issue with their subject tutor
(which should take place well in advance of the first tutorial) and may be required to
meet with the Student Welfare Officer to seek a Disability Referral Form (DRF).

Engagement Sessions

Engagement Sessions will take place in person. Our plan is to provide lecture
engagement sessions on 3 or 4 topics per semester. As we have to repurpose a Lecture
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slot for an Engagement Session, our plan will generally be to do an engagement session
towards the end of a course of lectures on a given topic.
Last year’s Lecture Engagement Sessions often involved two members of the teaching
team discussing and debating one of the items from the set reading list, such as a case
or a journal article. Students will be asked to have pre-read the item and completed any
pre-session worksheet in advance of the session so that they can follow the debate and
get involved with their own thoughts.
The timing of Lecture Engagement Sessions will be announced in advance during
lectures, and details will also be given in the engagement session section on the Moodle
page. Whilst the sessions are a timetabled element of teaching, like Lectures in a normal
year, we will not be monitoring attendance. They will not be recorded though. There will
usually be some preparation for attendees to complete before the session in order to get
full value out of the event, but this preparation (and indeed what happens during the
session) is work you will need to complete anyway as part of getting ready for your
tutorial, so this does not represent an increase in your workload.

E. ASSESSMENT

At the end of the year students are awarded a single composite mark for Land Law. The
principal assessment is a ‘take home exam’ at the end of Semester 2, which covers all
the principal topics studied during the year. This reflects (i) the fact that the topics
studied in the two semesters are complementary and (ii) the experience that assimilation
and understanding of the subject tends to be progressive and cumulative throughout the
year.

However, there is a preliminary assessment to be completed at the end of the first term,
to be handed in on or before the general coursework deadline for the School of Law in
January 2022. The assessment will cover a number of topics studied in Semester 1 and
will take the form of a combined problem/essay question. The hand in date will be
advertised once settled.

The preliminary assessment is intended to be primarily formative, that is part of the

learning process. In particular, the ‘problem elements’ of the question, requiring students
to apply the rules and principles of Land Law to a given set of facts, should provide
students with the opportunity to test their understanding of those rules and principles; the
‘essay element’ of the question should provide students with the opportunity to offer an
evaluation of the rules and principles.

The submission date for the preliminary assessment is intended to spread

students’ assessment workload; but it underlines the importance of working
steadily throughout the year rather than relying on last-minute attempts to
understand the subject. Students should be able to manage their workload so
that they do not miss or inadequately prepare for tutorials towards the end of
the second semester (whether in Land Law or other subjects) while writing the
assessment.

To reflect the function of the preliminary assessment, the mark awarded will be recorded
and will provisionally be factored into the overall mark for Land Law (the mark for the
preliminary assessment will constitute 25% of the composite overall mark; the mark for
the examination in Semester 2 will constitute 75% of the composite overall mark).
However, the final mark for Land Law will be the higher of the examination mark and the
composite mark. In other words, the mark for the preliminary assessment will only be
used to raise the examination mark; it will not be used to reduce the examination mark.

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The electronic exam (previously referred to as a take home exam) in Semester 2
will require students to answer three questions from a choice of seven. The questions
will be a combination of essay questions and problem questions; and the examination
paper will include at least two essay questions and two problem questions. Since
questions may involve issues from more than one tutorial topic, students are strongly
warned about the risks of ‘question spotting’ or selective revision.

In each semester each student is entitled to submit a formative assessment. The

essay title for Semester 1 is available on the reading list for Tutorial 2. It is important
that students submit their essays only to their own allocated Land Law tutor and adhere
to submission requirements and deadlines set by their tutor. Land Law tutors will set
their own questions in Semester 2.

For further details of the marking criteria for assessments, students should consult the
statement of ‘Degree Class Descriptors’ in the Undergraduate Handbook, as well as the
expanded descriptors available on the general Undergraduate Moodle page.

F. RESPONSE TO STUDENT EVALUATION OF MODULES

Each member of the Land Law teaching team reads the Student Evaluation of Modules
(SEMs) and attends a meeting to discuss the issues raised by students and to determine
the appropriate response. The response may sometimes be obvious but that is not always
the case. On some issues different students take very different (often diametrically
opposed) views; and, even where there is unanimity among those responding, the view
expressed may be that of a small minority of students.