Textbooks =
| Midterm Examination | 40% |
| Final Examination | 40% |
| Classroom Participation | 10% |
| Assignments | 10% |
| DATE | READINGS | YOUR TASKS | ASSIGNMENTS & NOTES |
| 09.04.08 | Legal Padawan- Introduction to Jurisprudence: concepts, history, and development. | Think about whether it is ever defensible to eat a human being. | W: Introduction |
|
09.11.08 |
The nature of law, the meaning of law, the meaning of words: "...came whiffling through the tulgey wood and burbled as it came...", | Think about "How do words define our world and especially the law". | |
| 09.16.08 | You make me feel like a natural philsopher; Lifeboat ethics from the natural point of view, and why jurisprudence. | Think about whether there are universal truths. | W: Ch1 |
| 09.18.08 | Natural Law: You make me feel... like a natural philosopher.... | How do we know right from wrong? | W: Ch1 |
| 09.25.08 | Doing it the old fashioned way: Legal Postivism The Morality of Law: Relativism vs. absolutism. "The law is what the judges say it is". | Think about whether a laws are always correct. | W: Ch2 |
| 09.30.08 | Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, and Finnis | Do we have the right to disobey bad laws? | W: Ch2 |
| 10.02.08 |
Modern legal positivism: "But officer, the bartender told me it was non-alcoholic beer".; |
Is law merely regulation of human behavior in a society to maintain order. | W: Ch3 |
| 10.07.08 | Bentham and Austin; "The Law said the judge as he looked down his nose...". | How does Bentham compare with Austin? | W: Ch3 |
| 10.14.08 | The modern approach to legal positivism | Updating Bentham: did he go too far? | W: Ch4 |
| 10.16.08 | Hart, Kelsen, and Raz | Compare the three philosophers of law | W: Ch4 |
| 10.21.08 | Law as interpretation: Assault on the bastion of positivism | W: Ch5 | |
| 10.23.08 | Law as: Dworkin | Is Dworkin's approach radical compared to the other theorists who we have read? | W: Ch5 |
| 10.28.08 | Morality as myth and hard reality | Is there a distinction between law and morality? Why or why not? | W: Ch6 |
| 10.30.08 | How judges decide cases really. | What is the duty of a judge beyond applying the law correctly? | W: Ch6 |
| 11.04.08 | The Realists | Isn't realism an obvious and necessary part of deciding cases? | W: Ch7; D: Start |
| 11.06.08 | MIDTERM EXAMINATION | ||
| 11.11.08 | Finish Americana - Holmes, Llewelyn, Frank; Scandanavia: Roass, Oivercrona. Human Psychology weighs in and Social theory in law | Is law casuistic? Should social theory influence legal decisions | W: Finish Ch 7,Ch8 |
| 11.13.08 | Pound, Ehrlich, Durkheim, Weber, Marx, Foucault, Habermas | What is "autopoiesis? | W: Ch8 |
| 11.18.08 | Theories of Justice: economic models and utlititarianism | What is justice? Prove it!!! | W: Ch9; D: Finish |
| 11.20.08 | Nozick and Rawls | Justice as fairness | W: Ch9 |
| 11.25.08 | Rights theories: Animal, vegetable, mineral | Do animals have rights? | W: Ch10 |
| 12.02.08 | Applications in contract and civil rights | Why don't I have the right to yell fire in a crowded theater? |
W: Ch10 |
| 12.04.08 | The Feminists and Critical Race Theory | Are the fems and the racialists in the same camp? |
W: Ch11 |
| 12.09.08 | Postmodernism and critical theory | If it feels good it must be right? | W: Ch11 |
| 12.11.08 | Critical Legal Theory: Not dead yet | Does Wacks write a premature obituary for CLS? | W: Ch12 |
| FINAL EXAM | 3:15 PM |