LAW 737LEC - Topics in Jurisprudence

This course is a general survey of the main problems and approaches of jurisprudence, the theoretical study of legal orders, legal concepts, and areas of law. The first part of the course focuses on analytical jurisprudence, exploring the question of the nature of law, including a study of legal positivism, natural law, and contemporary non-positivist theories. The second part of the course is a survey of the main questions of normative jurisprudence concerning law’s authority, obedience, and justified disobedience to legal requirements; theories of legal reasoning concerning the justification of legal decisions, and theories of particular areas of law focusing on constitutional, criminal, and tort law. The final section explores the ethical duties of lawyers. Previous knowledge of legal philosophy is not necessary. This course is recommended to students considering careers in academia, including LLM and SJD students.

Credits: 3