The course focuses on the form of reasoning that judges employ in deciding cases and aims to provide students with an understanding of some of the major issues and controversies faced by courts in interpreting and evaluating legal arguments.
Athena Title
Legal Theory
Prerequisite
POLS 1101 or POLS 1101E or POLS 1101H or POLS 1101S
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student Learning Outcomes
Students will be introduced to the form of legal reasoning that judges employ in deciding cases.
Students will understand some of the major issues and controversies faced by courts in interpreting and evaluating legal arguments.
Students will learn major schools of contemporary legal theory: positivism, integrity in law, law and economics, critical legal studies, and feminist legal theory.
Students will gain the ability to read, follow and discuss intelligently the evolution of contemporary legal doctrine.
Topical Outline
The course examines the major schools of contemporary legal theory:
positivism, integrity in law, law and economics, critical legal studies and feminist
legal theory. First, the course examines positivism and H.L.A. Hart's critique of
the command model of jurisprudence as developed in the work of John Austin. After
evaluating Hart's new positivist synthesis, the course examines Dworkin's critique of
positivism and his proposed alternate theory of law (integrity on law). Finally, the
course evaluates two contemporary alternatives to integrity in law: (i) law and
economics; and (ii) critical legal studies. The central questions discussed include the following:
(i) Why do judges and legal practitioners disagree about the proper approach to
reasoning about the law?
(ii) What standard should judges apply when interpreting contested questions of law?
(iii) If judges are not bound by the literal terms of statutory law, do they then
possess unfettered discretion to amend the law?
