Legal studies

Version date: 3 February 2011
Key changes: Version 2
Subject facilitator email: [email protected]

What is legal studies about?

Legal studies explores the role of law in society and New Zealand’s laws and legal system.

Law and the systems that support it are dynamic: they impact on and are influenced by the cultural, moral, ethical, environmental, political, social, and economic values of the day.

To be informed citizens, young people need an understanding of the concepts, principles, and processes that provide the foundations for our legal system and of the issues that confront it. Legal studies offers students the opportunity to gain such understanding in a New Zealand and a global context.

In legal studies, students explore major issues, such as citizenship, cultural diversity, our country’s bicultural foundation, sustainability and the environment, and work and enterprise.

Legal studies curriculum guide content

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Last updated July 31, 2015

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