Certain pre-requisites apply to students intending to register for Legal Studies 1A and/or 1B.
- Legal Studies 1A and/or 1B may only be taken as part of a Legal Studies major. In other words, Legal Studies 1A and/or 1B may not be taken as stand-alone modules.
- Only students with 30 or more accumulated matric points (excluding Life Orientation) are entitled to register for Legal Studies 1A and/or 1B.
- A student will not normally be allowed to register for Legal Studies 1B unless he/she has also registered for Legal Studies 1A. The only exception to this rule is for students who failed Legal studies 1A/1B Otherwise, students who passed the module are not allowed to register again for the module with the hope that they can bypass the 60% rule by doing better after a second bite at the cherry.
To register for any Legal Studies 2 module, a student must have passed both Legal Studies 1A and Legal Studies 1B with an aggregate mark of at least 60%.
To register for any Legal Studies 3 module, a student must have passed both Legal Studies 1A and 1B, and must also have passed either (1) Legal Research, Writing and Reasoning (LAWS2LR) and Law of Persons (LAWS2LP); or (3) Human Rights (LAWS2HR) and Interpretation of Law (LAWS2LW). In other words, a student will need to have acquired at least 16 credit points from second-year Legal Studies modules before a student will be permitted to register for any third-year Legal Studies modules.
A Legal Studies major is made up of selected law modules, which are taught according to a specific curriculum. There is no choice of modules.
However, if a student is planning on later studying towards an LLB degree, a student must also complete two 16 credit-point modules (32 credit points altogether) in English (eg, Academic Learning in English, English Language Development; English 101 and 102), as this is a requirement for the LLB.
Please be aware that the School of Law will not normally accept a student who has failed any law subject. A student will also need an overall average mark of 65% in your present degree to be eligible for consideration. Where demand exceeds available space, preference will be given to the highest achievers.
If a student’s academic performance warrants it, and if there is space in the School of Law, a student MAY be admitted to study for the LLB after a student has completed their first year of study. If a student is thinking of doing this, it is advisable to complete their English language requirements (see above) during your first year of study.
Please note that, in order to qualify for consideration, a student will need an outright pass in all their subjects, together with an overall average mark of not less than 65%. Where demand exceeds available space, preference will be given to the highest achievers.
- If a student failed any first-year module in 2021, a student should repeat that module in 2022, in the semester in which the module is normally offered to Legal Studies students. Students may not register for any second-year modules until a student have passed both of the first-year modules (i.e. both Legal Studies 1A and 1B) with an average of 60% for both modules.
Failed Introduction to Legal Studies in 2021 – must repeat Introduction to Legal Studies in Semester 1 of 2022.
Failed Aspects of SA Law in 2021 – must repeat Aspects of SA Law in Semester 2 of 2022.
- Second-year Legal Studies students who have acquired at least 16 credit-points from any second-year module(s) are entitled to register for third-year modules, taking the outstanding second-year module(s) as an extra module(s), provided that they have given proof of permission from their ADO. However, a student who has failed to acquire at least 16 credit-points from any second-year module(s) will not be able to register for any third-year modules.
- If a student has any outstanding second semester second-year or third-year modules (i.e. second-year or third-year modules which a student have failed or have never registered for), a student MAY be permitted to repeat the relevant module(s) in the first semester IF that would mean a student would be able to complete your degree by June 2022. The final decision in this regard lies with the academic leader for Teaching and Learning.
