Introduction to Jurisprudence
Political Science 444
Spring 2012
11:00-12:50 Tuesdays & Thursdays, Dwight Beeson Hall, Room 207
** Turn in your final
exam to room 208 (or to Ms. Valerie Price in room 239) Robinson
Hall no later than
4:30 on Tuesday, May 15. **
Class presentation topics (in
no particular order) --
RONALD DWORKIN:
Justice
for Hedgehogs (2010) and browse his blog
SOCIAL JUSTICE:
Michael Novak, Defining Social
Justice (First Things, Dec. 2000), www.firstthings.com/article/2007/01/defining-social-justice-29
and Friedrich Hayek, Law, Legislation and Liberty, vol. 2, pp.62-73
(see DeBow for copy)
CAPITALISM AND FAIRNESS (pro-capitalism)
www.aei.org/article/society-and-culture/free-enterprise/winning-the-fight-on-fairness/
and browse arthurbrooks.aei.org/
and
www.valuesandcapitalism.com
CAPITALISM AND FAIRNESS (anti-capitalism)
occupywallst.org/
FEMINIST JURISPRUDENCE
cyber.law.harvard.edu/bridge/CriticalTheory/critical3.htm
and Melissa Burchard, Feminist
Jurisprudence (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2004/2009), www.iep.utm.edu/jurisfem/
CRITICAL RACE THEORY
cyber.law.harvard.edu/bridge/CriticalTheory/critical4.htm
CRITICAL LEGAL STUDIES
cyber.law.harvard.edu/bridge/CriticalTheory/rights.htm
and 2 brief book reviews (by Andrew
Morris and Robert Gordon, 1999), http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/lawbooks/revapr99.htm#Feature
ENVIRONMENTAL
JURISPRUDENCE
www.gaiafoundation.org/earth-centred-law
and www.gaiafoundation.org/earth-law-principles
PLUS
-- any relevant topic that interests you (within reason).
Required texts
Raymond
Wacks, Understanding
Jurisprudence: An Introduction to Legal Theory (Oxford
Univ Press, 2d ed. 2009)
$70 -- 416
pages Book's online
resource center
Author's
bio
Shirley Letwin, On
the History of the Idea of Law (Cambridge Univ Press, 2005)
available (free!) as
an electronic
book
via the Samford Library
reviewed
Pollock & Maitland, The History of English
Law Before Edward I (1895), available (free!) on Google Books
(search for "pollock and
maitland")
The Hein database includes most of the law review articles we will
discuss. Click
here and then click the link for
"HeinOnline."
What is our subject? -- Feb. 2
Wacks, chapter 1
Recommended (browse):
Judge Posner's website
and the Becker-Posner Blog.
Hans Rosling's video, "200 Countries, 200
Years, 4 Minutes" and his website.
In-class presentation of
Richard Posner, The
Decline of Law as an Autonomous Discipline, 1962-1987,
Harvard Law Review, vol. 100, pp.
761-780 (1987).
Available through Hein Online (see "Required texts" for link).
Rule of law -- Feb. 7
Lawrence Solum, Legal Theory Lexicon, The
Rule of Law
Paul Johnson, Laying
Down the Law (Wall St. Journal, 1999)
Alan Macfarlane, What
Makes Law Effective? (Times Higher Education Supplement, 2005)
John K.M. Ohnesorge, The
Rule of Law, pp. 99-103 (Annual Review of Law & Social Science,
2007)
Recommended (browse):
Jeremy
Waldron 2011 lecture on The Rule of Law and
Human Dignity video here
and here (Cambridge)
World Justice Project Rule of Law
Index
John Hasnas, The Myth
of the Rule of Law, Wisconsin Law Review, vol. 1995, pp. 199-234
(1995).
Anthropology and law -- Feb. 9
Wacks, chapter 8
C.S.
Lewis, The
Abolition of Man,
Appendix: Illustrations of the Tao (1943).
No reaction paper for this meeting.
Anthropology and law -- Feb. 14
Geoffrey Miller, The
Economics of Ancient Law (2010)
In-class presentation of
Tom R. Tyler, Why People Obey the Law (2006) (Ms.
Armstrong)
No reaction paper for this meeting.
Recommended (browse):
Matt Ridley,
The Origins of Virtue: Human Instincts
and
the Evolution of Cooperation (1997)
Henry Maine, Ancient
Law
(1861) on Avalon
and Wikisource
Ancient Israel -- Feb. 16
Geoffrey Miller, The
Dark Age: How Biblical Narratives Demonstrate the Need for Law and
Government
and his The Book of
Judges:The Hebrew Bible's Federalist Papers (both 2010)
No reaction paper for this meeting.
Recommended (browse):
For
more from Miller, see his SSRN
page or NELLCO page
and his recent book,
The
Ways of a King: Legal and Political Ideas in the Bible (2011)
Ancient Israel (continued) & ancient Greece -- Feb. 21 &
23
Exodus chapters 19-23; Deuteronomy chapter 5 (several translations
available through the Bible
Gateway)
chapters 1 & 2 (Plato & Aristotle) of Letwin, On the History of
the Idea of Law (click on link above in "Required Texts" --
search under "Catalog" for "Letwin" as "Author,"
then click on the
e-book button)
Reaction paper: Give 2 (or more) questions that are raised in
your
mind by today's reading.
Feb. 28 class cancelled.
Roman (civil) law -- March 1
The
Twelve Tables (circa 450 BC) (Internet History Sourcebook) (or here -- click
on link #18 on the left side of the page, "Lingua Anglica")
chapter 3 (Cicero) of Letwin, On the History of the Idea of Law (see
link above)
biographical information on Cicero
(106-43 BC) (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Justinian's Institutes
(535 AD) (Internet History Sourcebook) (or here -- click
on link #18 on the left side of the page, "Lingua Anglica")
Aquinas and natural law -- March 6
Jeremiah 31:31-34, Matthew 21:15-22, Romans 2:11-16 and 13:1-7, I Peter
2:13-17
Section 7 of John Finnis, "Aquinas'
Moral, Political, and Legal Philosophy" (Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosopy)
Recommended (browse):
Homepage for Gratian
Studies (Yale)
Aquinas, continued --
March 8
Thomas Aquinas, "Treatise on Law," the Summa
Theologica, especially Questions 94 & 95 from First
Part of the Second Part, Questons 90-97
chapter 4 (Aquinas) of Letwin, On the History of the Idea of Law (see
link above)
Wacks, pp. 12-20
English common law -- March 13
Sections I & II only (from the bottom of p. 81 to the middle of p.
98) of John Hasnas, "Hayek, the Common Law, and Fluid Drive,”
online at http://faculty.msb.edu/hasnasj/GTWebSite/NYUFinal.pdf
Henry I, Charter
of Liberties (1100) see especially #13
Recommended (browse): Anglo-American
Legal Timeline (with links)
Anglo-Saxon
Dooms, 560-975 (Internet History Sourcebook)
Coronation oath
Alan
Macfarlane, F.W.
Maitland and the Making of the Modern World (2002)
English common law (cont'd) -- March 15
Sections III.A.1 and III.A.2 of Todd Zywicki, "The
Rise and Fall of Efficiency in the
Common Law," Northwestern U. Law Review, volume 97, pages 1567-1578
(2003).
Copies are available from my secretary, Valerie Price, in room 239,
Robinson Hall. You can also access the article through the HeinOnline database
available on the Law Library's website.
Possible student presentation of papers by on Peter Leeson on Ordeals (55 J.L.
& Econ. 691 (2012)) and Trial by Battle
Spring Break.
Field trip -- March 27 NOTE THE TIME CHANGE!
Those of you who don't have a class scheduling conflict should attend
the lecture by Prof.
Hadley Arkes at The Summit Club, 1901 Sixth Avenue North, from
12:00 to 1:00.
To get the most out of his talk, you should read this
short essay of his in advance.
Further discussion of Prof. Arkes's "Manifesto" -- March 29.
Utilitarianism and Positivism -- April 3 & 5.
Wacks pp. 20-27 and chapter 3
Reaction paper: What is your initial reaction to reading about
Bentham? Are you convinced he's right? Or that he's
wrong? Or immoral? Or unoriginal? Or what?
Recommended (browse): The Bentham Project
Utilitarian
Philosophers
Utilitarianism
Resources
H.L.A. Hart -- April 10
Wacks pp. 93-110
Reaction paper: Read this
article from the Washington Post and write at least a page, but not
more than 2 pages, on your reaction to the idea of using happiness as a
guide to public policy.
Recommended (browse) : The
Legacy of H.L.A. Hart (Oxford Univ Press, 2008) (webbed book)
Nicola Lacey, H.L.A.
Hart's rule of law: the limits of philosophy in historical perspective
(2007)
Nicola Lacey, A
Life of H.L.A. Hart: The Nightmare and the Noble Dream (2004)
Review by Frederick Schauer, Harvard Law Review,
vol. 119, pp. 852-___
(2006)
Candace J. Groudine, Authority: H.L.A.
Hart and the Problem with Legal Positivism (1980)
Videos
of a series of
talks commemorating 50th anniversary of "The Concept of Law"
Hans Kelsen and Joseph Raz --
April 12 & 17
Wacks pp. 110-136
Natural law revival -- Law and morals
-- April 19
Wacks pp. 27-48.
Natural law revival -- Law and morals
-- April 24.
Wacks pp. 48-62.
Ronald Dworkin -- April 26.
Wacks pp. 141-159.
Ronald Dworkin -- May 1.
Wacks pp. 159-170.
Justice -- May 3.
Wacks pp. 254-276.
Rights -- May 8.
Wacks pp. 279-294.
The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights (1948)
The duty to obey the law-- May
10.
Wacks pp. 318-322.
Final exam -- Turn in your final
exam to room 208 (or to Ms. Valerie Price in room 329) Robinson
Hall no later than
4:30 on Tuesday, May 15.
**********
Modern views of natural
law/natural rights
Natural Law, Natural Rights and
American Constitutionalism
Robert
P. George, Natural
Law, Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, vol. 31, pp.
171-___ (2008)
Ronald Dworkin
Archive of columns for NY Review
of Books
Blog for his Justice
for Hedgehogs (2011)
Guardian review
of Hedgehogs
Symposium
on Hedgehogs, Boston University Law Review (2010)
Arthur Leff
Unspeakable Ethics, Unnatural Law,
1979
Duke L.J. 1229.
Online texts
Online Library of Liberty
--
AALS, Aquinas, Aristotle, Bentham, Blackstone, Coke, Dicey, Gaius,
Grotius, Hobbes, Hume, Leoni, Locke, Maine,
Maitland, Napoleonic Code,
Pollock,
Pollock & Maitland, Pound, Pufendorf, Sandoz,
Smith, Zane
Fordham Internet
History Sourcebooks Project
Jurisprudence
Readings (Professor G. William Rice, University of Tulsa law school)
PhilPapers: Online Research in Philosophy -- Philosophy of law
and Justice
The Washington
University Jurisprudence Review "the only student-edited,
in-print journal of
jurisprudence in the United States"
Guest, Gearey, Penner & Morrison, chapters 1-4 of
Student
guide in Jurisprudence & Legal Theory, U of London
international programmes
Encyclopedias
Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy -- "Nature of law," including
sub-entries on interpretivisit theories, legal positivism, natural law
theories, and pure theory of law
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
-- Philosophy of law, natural law, legal positivism, law and economics,
analytic philosophy
Lawrence Solum, Legal Theory
Lexicon -- "All the concepts that fit."
Videos, podcasts, online courses, etc.
Michael Sandel's Justice: A
Journey in Moral Reasoning (Harvard) (readling list also here)
Deirdre McCloskey's website,
including a list of video and audio
clips
Law and philosophy centers/programs
Arizona
State
Berkeley
Catholic
Chicago
Columbia
NYU
Cambridge
Penn
Oxford
Rutgers
San Diego
Southern Cal
McMaster
Stanford
Osgoode Hall
Texas
Toronto
UCLA
Western Ontario
Yale
This page is www2.samford.edu/~medebow/pols444.html