The Bachelor of Law and Society requires three years of full-time study (or the equivalent part-time). The course is offered by the Faculty of Education, Humanities and Law.

A Law Pathway is available in the Bachelor of Law and Society. The Law Pathway has different admission requirements to the standard Bachelor of Law and Society. In order to undertake the Law Pathway commencing students must apply for admission into the Pathway through SATAC.

Students cannot transfer into the one-year Law Pathway from the standard Bachelor of Law and Society.

Students wishing to continue to Honours may do so in Law and Society, provided they meet the admission requirements.

Admission requirements

The minimum requirements for consideration for entry to all undergraduate courses are specified in detail in the University Entry Requirements. 

Course aims

This course is designed to give students the intellectual tools to understand, conduct research into and evaluate the relationship between law and society.

Students develop:

  • an understanding of how the law operates as a social institution, including its institutional structure, the role of key legal personnel, and the process of law reform
  • a critical appreciation of how the law is shaped by and shapes its social context, including how law is constituted by (and constitutes) relations of power and normative understandings
  • skills to research and analyse the relationship between law and society.

Learning outcomes

Upon graduating, students will have:

  • acquired high levels of knowledge and skills relevant to and applicable in many occupations
  • cognitive skills to evaluate law as a social institution
  • the ability to describe the importance of social context and social relations in shaping social institutions
  • the ability to reason and argue clearly
  • the ability to identify complex positions and analyse their implications
  • the ability to recognise and resolve issues involving values
  • the skills to research and analyse issues relating to law and society
  • the skills required to understand and constructively critique contemporary life.

Program of study

To qualify for the Bachelor of Law and Society, a student must complete 108 units with a grade of P or NGP or better in each topic, according to one of the following programs:

Combined degrees

The Bachelor of Law and Society may also be studied in a combined degrees program with a: