LME3701/102/3/2018

Tutorial Letter 102/3/2018

Legal Research Methodology

LME3701

Semester 1 & 2

Department of Criminal and Procedural Law

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

This tutorial letter contains important information

about this module.

Define tomorrow.

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Contents

1 Introduction and purpose ........................................................................................................... 3

2 Assignment 03 ............................................................................................................................ 3

2.1 Assignment 03: Semester 1 2018 ................................................................................................ 4

2.2 Assignment 03: Semester 2 2018 ................................................................................................. 8

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 LME3701/102

Dear Student

1 Introduction and purpose

We trust that you have managed to work through the content of Tutorial letters 101 and 501 in
preparation for the final assessment (Assignment 03) in this module. The purpose of this tutorial letter is
to clarify the requirements for Assignment 03 which is your final assessment in this module.

2 Assignment 03

This module is a semester module. This means that if you have registered for the first semester, you will
sit the examination in May/June 2018, and the supplementary examination will be written in
October/November 2018. If you have registered for the second semester, you will sit the examination in
October/November 2018, and the supplementary examination will be written in May/June 2019. During
the course of the semester, the Examination Section will provide you with information regarding the
examination session in general. Note, however, that this module uses a non-venue based
examination method. You are therefore required to submit a portfolio of evidence as the examination in
this module. Students who will be writing supplementary or special examinations must contact the
lecturers to ascertain whether they (the students) have the correct study material and important
amendments.

At the end of the semester for which you have registered you will submit a portfolio of evidence (in other
words, there is no venue-based examination for this module). The portfolio will contribute 60% towards
your final mark for this module. Compulsory Assignments 01 and 02 will contribute 40%.
Remember that if you obtain less than 40% in the examination, your assignment marks will not be taken
into account when calculating your final mark for this module.

The unique number for the assignments per semester are reflected below. Please ensure that you use
the correct unique number for the semester for which you have registered when you submit Assignment
03.

If you are a supplementary student, please use the unique number for the semester for which you
were initially registered. In other words, if you registered for the 1st semester but received a
supplementary examination, then you will submit during the 2nd semester still using the 1st
semester’s unique number.
FIRST-SEMESTER ASSIGNMENTS: DUE DATES AND UNIQUE ASSIGNMENT NUMBERS
Assignment description Due date Unique number
Assignment 03 (examination portfolio) FRIDAY 18 May 2018 778314

SECOND-SEMESTER ASSIGNMENTS: DUE DATES AND UNIQUE ASSIGNMENT NUMBERS

Assignment description Due date Unique number
Assignment 03 (examination portfolio) FRIDAY 12 October 2018 748980

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2.1 Assignment 03: Semester 1 2018

If you registered for the 1st semester of 2018 you would have completed Assignment 02 based on one of
the research themes below:

RESEARCH THEME 1:

This assignment requires you to independently obtain and peruse the following:

(i) De Vos NO v Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development 2015 (1) SACR 18 (WCC)
(ii) De Vos NO v Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development 2015 (2) SACR 217 (CC)
(iii) Chapter 13 of the Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977

Assignment 02:

Imagine that you are a candidate attorney and your principal has instructed you to write a research
explanation on the historical developments relating to the criminal trial of mentally ill accused persons
(both adult and child offenders) in the South African criminal justice system. As part of the instruction,
you are required to explain the impact of the cases cited above and their culmination in Bill 2 of 2017
(eventually incorporated as an amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977). Discuss the
impact of these developments on mentally ill accused persons and their importance in light of the
founding values of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, and the rights enumerated in
the Bill of Rights. These prescribed cases are considered the minimum case sources for this
assignment. You must supplement them with additional case law, academic opinion, and secondary
sources obtained from independent research. Additional sources may also refer to secondary sources.

You are now in the planning phase of the research as required by your principal. You decide to draft a
research plan in order to organise your thinking on the topic in question. The research plan must indicate
the following:

1. List of ten preliminary sources consulted and a brief indication of their content
2. Proposed working title and research introduction
3. Indication of the problem statement
4. Indication of a research hypothesis
5. Research points of departure and assumptions
6. Conceptualisation of at least three central research themes or terms
7. Description of a proposed research methodology design

You plan to submit this draft to your principal for his approval before drafting your final research
proposal. You are required to reference your work fully in terms of section C of the study guide for this
module.

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 LME3701/102

RESEARCH THEME 2

This assignment requires you to independently obtain and peruse the following:

(i) De Vos NO v Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development 2015 (1) SACR 18 (WCC)
(ii) De Vos NO v Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development 2015 (2) SACR 217 (CC)
(iii) Chapter 13 of the Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977

Assignment 02:

Imagine that you are a candidate attorney and your principal has instructed you to write a research
explanation on the criminal trial of mentally ill accused persons (both adult and child offenders) in the
South African criminal justice system as compared to the criminal court procedures applicable in
Canada. As part of the instruction, you are required to explain the criminal procedures applicable to the
trial of mentally ill accused persons in these jurisdictions and indicate points of similarity and difference.
Your aim is to offer advice on the protection of fair-trial rights of mentally ill accused persons by way of
comparison. These prescribed cases are considered the minimum case sources for this assignment.
You must supplement them with additional case law, academic opinion, and secondary sources obtained
from independent research. Additional sources may also refer to secondary sources.

You are now in the planning phase of the research as required by your principal. You decide to draft a
research plan in order to organise your thinking on the topic in question. The research plan must indicate
the following:

1. List of ten preliminary sources consulted and a brief indication of their content
2. Proposed working title and research introduction
3. Indication of the problem statement
4. Indication of a research hypothesis
5. Research points of departure and assumptions
6. Conceptualisation of at least three central research themes or terms
7. Description of a proposed research methodology design

You plan to submit this draft to your principal for his approval before drafting your final research
proposal. You are required to reference your work fully in terms of section C of the study guide for this
module.

You would have received commentary and feedback on Assignment 02 you submitted. For Assignment
03, you are now required to use the commentary you received for Assignment 02 and submit a final
research proposal based on the same topic selected for Assignment 02 in the correct format, which
includes the following:

1. Working title
2. Research introduction
3. Problem statement
4. Hypothesis
5. Points of departure and assumptions
6. Conceptualisation of central research themes
7. Proposed chapter outlay
8. Projected time-frame for submission
9. Description of research methodology
10. Indication of preliminary research in bibliographic format
5

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 o You are required to reference your work fully in terms of section C of the study guide.
o Use the correct title page as indicated in the study guide.
o If you submit your assignment via myUnisa, note that we ONLY ACCEPT PDF-FORMAT
assignments for online marking purposes. Do not lock or otherwise disable the editing functions
on your PDF assignment because this prevents us from marking and commenting on your
assignment.
o The assignment is limited to a maximum of twelve (12) typed pages and a minimum of eight (08)
typed pages, cover page and bibliography excluded.
o The format for the assignment is 1,5 line spacing, Arial font 12 point. The format for the footnotes
is single-line spacing, Arial font 10 point.
o Ensure that you attach the declaration hereunder to your Assignment 03:

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 LME3701/102

ACADEMIC HONESTY DECLARATION

1. I understand what academic dishonesty entails and am aware of Unisa’s

policies in this regard.
2. I declare that this assignment is my own, original work. Where I have used
someone else’s work, I have indicated this by using the prescribed style of
referencing. Every contribution to, and quotation in this assignment from
the work or works of other people has been referenced according to the
prescribed style.
3. I have not allowed, and will not allow, anyone to copy my work with the
intention of passing it off as his or her own work.
4. I did not make use of another student’s work and submit it as my own.

NAME: …………………………………………………………………………………….

SIGNATURE: …………………………………………………………………………….

STUDENT NUMBER: ……………………………………………………………………

MODULE CODE: ....................................................................................................

DATE:……………………………………………………………………………………….

RESEARCH THEME SELECTED: ……………………….…………………………….

MARK RECEIVED FOR ASSIGNMENT 01: ………………………………………….

MARK RECEIVED FOR ASSIGNMENT 02: …………………………………………..

TOTAL: 100 MARKS

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2.2 Assignment 03: Semester 2 2018

If you registered for the 2nd semester of 2018 you would have completed Assignment 02 based on one of
the research themes below:

RESEARCH THEME 1:

Human rights are universal. These rights are fundamental to human existence and states have sought to
guarantee these rights over the years by including relevant sections in their constitutions. The
Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, for example, includes a whole chapter dedicated to the Bill
of Rights.

Assignment 02

Imagine you are a candidate attorney. Your principal in the firm has instructed you to write a research
paper analysing the relevance of the Bill of Rights in the South African Constitution and its impact (if any)
on human-rights protection within the South African legal system. As part of the instruction, you are
required to carry out a historical study of global and national developments in the field of human rights
protection that led to the inclusion of a Bill of Rights in the South African Constitution.

You are now in the planning phase of the research as required by your principal. You decide to draft a
research plan in order to organise your thinking on the topic in question. The research plan must indicate
the following:

1. List of ten preliminary sources consulted and a brief indication of their content
2. Proposed working title and research introduction
3. Indication of the problem statement
4. Indication of a research hypothesis
5. Research points of departure and assumptions
6. Conceptualisation of at least three central research themes or terms
7. Description of a proposed research methodology design

You plan to submit this draft to your principal for his approval before drafting your final research
proposal. You are required to reference your work fully in terms of section C of the study guide for this
module.

RESEARCH THEME 2

Human rights are universal. These rights are fundamental to human existence and states have sought to
guarantee these rights over the years by including relevant sections in their constitutions. The
Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, for example, includes a whole chapter dedicated to the Bill
of Rights.

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 LME3701/102

Assignment 02

Imagine you are a candidate attorney. Your principal in the firm has instructed you to write a research
paper analysing the extent of human rights protection offered in the Constitution of the Republic of South
Africa, 1996, compared to the extent of human rights protection offered in the Constitution of Kenya,
2010. As part of the instruction, you are required to examine the extent of the particular rights provided
for in these two constitutions and the relationship of these rights to international law. Based on this, you
have to assess the impact (if any) the South African Constitution has had on guaranteeing human rights
within the Kenyan legal system.

You are now in the planning phase of the research as required by your principal. You decide to draft a
research plan in order to organise your thinking on the topic in question. The research plan must indicate
the following:

1. List of ten preliminary sources consulted and a brief indication of their content
2. Proposed working title and research introduction
3. Indication of the problem statement
4. Indication of a research hypothesis
5. Research points of departure and assumptions
6. Conceptualisation of at least three central research themes or terms
7. Description of a proposed research methodology design

You plan to submit this draft to your principal for approval before drafting your final research proposal.
You are required to reference your work fully in terms of section C of the study guide for this module.

You would have received commentary and feedback on Assignment 02 you submitted. For Assignment
03, you now have to use the commentary you received for Assignment 02 and submit a final research
proposal based on the same topic selected for Assignment 02 in the correct format, which includes the
following:

1. Working title
2. Research introduction
3. Problem statement
4. Hypothesis
5. Points of departure and assumptions
6. Conceptualisation of central research themes
7. Proposed chapter outlay
8. Projected time-frame for submission
9. Description of research methodology
10. Indication of preliminary research in bibliographic format

o You are required to reference your work fully in terms of section C of the study guide.
o Use the correct title page as indicated in study guide.
o If you submit your assignment via myUnisa, note that we ONLY ACCEPT PDF-FORMAT
assignments for online marking purposes. Do not lock or otherwise disable the editing functions on
your PDF assignment, because this prevents us from marking and commenting on your assignment.
o The assignment is limited to a maximum of twelve (12) typed pages and a minimum of eight (08)
typed pages, cover page and bibliography excluded. The format for the assignment is 1,5 line
spacing, Arial font 12 point.
o The format for the footnotes is single-line spacing, Arial font 10 point.
o Ensure that you attach the declaration hereunder to Assignment 03:
9

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 ACADEMIC HONESTY DECLARATION

1. I understand what academic dishonesty entails and am aware of Unisa’s

policies in this regard.
2. I declare that this assignment is my own, original work. Where I have used
someone else’s work, I have indicated this by using the prescribed style of
referencing. Every contribution to, and quotation in, this assignment from
the work or works of other people has been referenced according to the
prescribed style.
3. I have not allowed, and will not allow, anyone to copy my work with the
intention of passing it off as his or her own work.
4. I did not make use of another student’s work and submit it as my own.

NAME: …………………………………………………………………….

SIGNATURE: …………………………………………………………….

STUDENT NUMBER: ……………………………………………………

MODULE CODE: .................................................................................

DATE: …………………………………………………………………….

RESEARCH THEME SELECTED: ………………………………………………….

MARK RECEIVED FOR ASSIGNMENT 01: ……………………………………….

MARK RECEIVED FOR ASSIGNMENT 02: ………………………………………..

TOTAL: 100 MARKS

Regards

Prof F Abioye
Prof MG Karels
Dr M Mokoena

10

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