Course Description
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
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
The course is designed to introduce students to the form of legal reasoning that judges employ in deciding cases and to provide students with an understanding of some of the major issues and controversies faced by courts in interpreting and evaluating legal arguments. 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?
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.
Syllabus