Credit is the lifeblood of capitalism. The law that regulates household and commercial credit is of significant, economic, and social importance in developed and developing economies. The 2008 world financial crisis was triggered by failures in debt-markets associated with household financing. This module explores central ideas about the role of credit in the economy and its contribution to economic, social, political and cultural development.
This module focuses on how law facilitates, shapes and determines the flow of credit to households and businesses domestically as well as internationally. It primarily explores the rationales that underpin the creation, production and supply of credit. It traces these to mainstream, economic thought and understandings of credit. The module critically examines and evaluates how these rationales take into consideration (or, indeed, fails to consider) principles of social justice and equality. Importantly, the module introduces historical, gendered, cultural, and sociological approaches to credit as viable alternatives to the dominant, mainstream understanding of consumer and commercial credit.
Contact hours: 18
Private study hours: 182
Total hours: 200
LLM in (Specialisation); PG Diploma in (Specialisation); PG Certificate in Law
Main assessment methods
Essay, 5,000 words (100%)
Reassessment methods
100% coursework.
• L. Calder, Financing the American Dream: Cultural History of Consumer Credit (Princeton University Press, 2011).
• D. Harvey, The Enigma of Capital: and the Crises of Capitalism (Profile Books, 2011).
• P. Ireland, Law and the Neoliberal Vision: Financial Property, Pension Privatization and the Ownership Society (Northern Ireland Legal
Quarterly, 2011, Volume 62, pp 1-31).
• J. Montgomerie, The financialisation of consumption: The case of Anglo-American household indebtedness in the 1990s (University of
Sussex, 2007).
• T. Williams, Empowerment of Whom and for What? Financial Literacy Education and the New Regulation of Consumer Financial Services
(Law & Policy, 2007, 29(2), pp 226-256).
• A. Zokaityte, Consumer Financial Education: Edu-regulating our saving and spending habits (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017).
See the library reading list for this module (Canterbury)
The intended subject specific learning outcomes.
On successfully completing the module students will be able to:
1. Demonstrate a critical understanding of the legal, economic and social role of commercial credit and security in the economy.
2. Demonstrate a systematic understanding of the politics of commercial credit and the assumptions underlying international initiatives to
promote credit market reform and regulate security.
3. Demonstrate a critical understanding of the key legal concepts of the existing legal regime of security in the UK, its sources and its
intellectual assumptions.
4. Engage in critical independent comparative and interdisciplinary research on commercial credit law and policy.
5. Draw upon normative principles and other disciplines to evaluate and critique commercial law.
6. Demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of the legal forms which arise and operate within complex historical and political conditions.
7. Demonstrate a detailed awareness of the economic, political and/or social implications of legal forms and remedies.
The intended generic learning outcomes.
On successfully completing the module students will be able to:
1. Carry out independent academic research, to effectively locate primary and secondary sources at national and international level as well
as specific policy and legal issues.
2. Effectively apply knowledge to critically analyse and assess complex issues.
3. Present relevant knowledge and understanding with originality in the form of a reasoned argument.
Stage 1
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