The question is clear enough - the answer isn't. Generally you will be given lists of essential/recommended reading, along with suggestions for further reading to prepare for each lecture/seminar. You can't quantify this by the number of pages - it will vary so much and depend on how much of the essential/further material you want to read. Better to try and quantify it in terms of time. You can probably expect about 12 hours contact time per week (lectures & seminars). If you were to spend a further 18 hours per week reading and prepping for seminars, you'd be putting in 30 hours a week. Probably a good, maybe above average, shift for year 1. Some people will do a lot less, some a lot more. By the same token, some readings of 20 pages will take you an hour to get through, others will take you all week and make your brain explode !

Reply 5

Estreth

Here's a representative week's reading for Homicide in Criminal Law at Oxford.

85 pages of textbook
32 cases, of which 13 marked especially important. Average (off the top of my head) of 10 pages each for these, but bear in mind that there is a very specific skill to reading cases, which is one of the first things you will need to learn when doing law.
Then there's a dozen or so articles and reports that you could look at if you had time (most students don't have time to do any of this in the week of the tutorial, particularly at the beginning of the course).

Reply 6

_Fergo

To add to the above on the same topic, the reading was (last year, mind you).

Essential: J. Herring, Criminal Law: Text, Cases and Materials – pp 133-143, 163-166, 175-184, 233-237, 286-291 (and/or Smith & Hogan, Norrie, Ashworth equivalents).
Moloney [1985] AC 905
R v. Woollin [1999] 1 AC 82
Matthews and Alleyne [2002] 2 Cr App R 30
The Law Commission (2006) Murder, Manslaughter and Infanticide
Lord Goff, 'The Mental element in the crime of murder' (1988) 104 Law Quarterly Review 30

Further: Norrie, ‘After Woollin’ Criminal Law Review [1999] 532
A. Norrie, ‘Between Orthodox Subjectivism and Moral Contextualism: Intention and the Consultation Paper’ [2006] Crim LR 486
The Law Commission (2006) Murder, Manslaughter and Infanticide - remaining topics(LAW COM No 304)

This is for the tutorial on the topic. For the examinations, it would be necessary to know the content of the lectures as well, which included substantially more case material and additional 'further' reading.

Just don't expect to do everything you're presented with at once - I had five modules in the first year and it was difficult to get into further reading territory whilst I had tutorials. Make sure you put holidays to good use.

(PS: I'll the lecture material on the topic too if I have time tomorrow)

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(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 7

misstpxx

Per two week tutorial cycle I tend to get around 60-80 textbook pages to read and make notes on, around 50 pages of articles and then varying numbers of cases, statutes, treaties etc. I have four tutorials every two weeks.

Then you get a few chapters reading per two-week lecture cycle and tend to have to do further reading for set essays and things - its definitely very easy to fill up that forty hours a week!