Legal awareness

Legal awareness, sometimes called public legal education or legal literacy, is the empowerment of individuals regarding issues involving the law.[1] Legal awareness helps to promote consciousness of legal culture, participation in the formation of laws and the rule of law.[2][3]

Public legal education, sometimes called civics education, comprises a range of activities intended to build public awareness and skills related to law and the justice system. This term also refers to the fields of practice and study concerned with those activities, and to a social and professional movement that advocates greater societal commitment to educating people about the law. Anna-Marie Marshall explains that "in order to realize their rights, people need to take the initiative to articulate them. This initiative, in turn, depends on the availability and the relevance of legal schema to people confronting problems."[4] This is because laws exist as part of a larger organizational ecosystem in which the interests of the organization as well as those of the actors become inextricably linked to the ways in which they are enacted.

Distinct from the education of students in law school seeking a degree in law (which is often simply called "legal education") and the continuing professional education of lawyers and judges (which is sometimes called "continuing legal education"), public legal education is principally aimed at people who are not lawyers, judges, or degree-seeking law students.

The term "public legal education" (PLE) is related to, and may encompass, several similar terms.[5] The terms "public legal information" and "public legal education and information" (PLEI) emphasize a difference between educating and providing information.[6] The term "community legal education"[7] is common in Australia[8] and the United States,[9] where it often refers to community-based public legal education activities led by legal aid organizations. The term "law-related education" (LRE) usually refers to public legal education in primary and secondary schools (and sometimes in higher education), as opposed to PLE for adults and outside of school.[10]

  1. ^ What is legal literacy? Examining the concept and objectives of legal literacy (Accessed on 31 Mar 2013)
  2. ^ Ashok Swain, Ramses Amer Globalization and Challenges to Building Peace (Accessed on 1 April 2013)
  3. ^ Bharadwaj Study Package For CLAT Page vii "Legal Awareness is the most important component for the students preparing for LL.B. entrance tests. It is altogether a new subject for the students preparing for the said examinations. In the absence of any comprehensive book on this topic in.."
  4. ^ Marshall, Anna-Marie (2005). "Idle Rights: Employees' Rights Consciousness and the Construction of Sexual Harassment Policies". Law and Society Review. 39 (1): 83–124. doi:10.1111/j.0023-9216.2005.00078.x.
  5. ^ Gander, Lois (2003). "The Changing Face of Public Legal Education in Canada" (PDF). Canadian Forum on Civil Justice Newsletter (6): 4.
  6. ^ McDonald, Susan (1998). Public Legal Education in Ontario Legal Clinics (PDF). pp. 53–57.
  7. ^ McDonald, Susan (1998). Public Legal Education in Ontario Legal Clinics (PDF). pp. 50–53.
  8. ^ "Community Legal Education services". Legal Aid Western Australia. Archived from the original on 2007-04-23. Retrieved 2007-03-23.
  9. ^ "Community Legal Education course". Center for Legal Aid Education. Archived from the original on 2007-08-29. Retrieved 2007-03-23.
  10. ^ Cassidy, Wanda (2000). "Law-Related Education: Promoting Awareness, Participation, and Action", 297–98, in Weaving Connections: Educating for Peace, Social and Environmental Justice (Tara Goldstein & David Selby, eds.). ISBN 1-894549-01-5.