Program Chairman: Dennis J. Hutchinson, LBQ 411, 702-9575

Secretary: Delores Jackson, C 330, 702-7148,

djackson@midway.uchicago.edu

Program of Study

The program in Law, Letters, and Society is concerned with law in civilian and customary legal systems, both historically and contemporaneously. The program is designed to develop the student's analytical skills to enable informed and critical examination of law broadly construed. The organizing premise of the program is that law is a tool of social organization and control, not simply an expression of will or aspiration, and that it is best understood by careful study of both rhetorical artifacts and empirical consequences of its application. Program requirements are constructed to support the organizing premise, and, because of the nature of the requirements, transfer students are not eligible to register as Law, Letters, and Society majors.

The program requires course work in three areas, although there is a reasonably broad latitude both expected and permitted in satisfaction of the distributional requirement. There is a substantial writing requirement; candidates for special honors are expected to produce further written work under the close supervision of a faculty member whose area of scholarly concern is related to the broad objectives of the program.

Application to the Program. Students must apply in Spring Quarter of their first year to enter the program in their second year. Application forms may be obtained from the Office of the New Collegiate Division in C 330. Applications are available in C 330 on Friday of tenth week of Winter Quarter and must be submitted to C 330 by noon on Friday of first week of Spring Quarter. Students are evaluated on the basis of the application statement and previous performance in the College. Because of the nature of the requirements of the program, no more than twenty-five students can be admitted per year; if more than twenty-five qualified students apply, admissions may be determined by interviews with the program chairman.

Program Requirements

Course work is required in three areas. After successfully completing the Introductory Course, students must take two courses in Letters and two courses in Society. In addition, students must complete six other courses that, while not necessarily offered or listed formally under either rubric, are substantively supportive of the topics, areas, skills, or concerns of the two areas. Courses satisfying the additional requirement are identified on a quarterly basis, and final approval of additional required course work is made by consultation between the student and the program chairman.

The Introductory Course. The Introductory Course must precede all other course work in the major, because it establishes the intellectual moorings of the program. The importance of the Introductory Course lies not in its content (indeed, its precise focus and scope may be different from year to year) but on its approach to the nature of law. In 2005-06, for example, the Introductory Course is Legal Reasoning, a study, based primarily on cases, of the classic conventions of legal argument in the Anglo-American legal system. In other years, the Introductory Course might be Roman Law or Greek Law, Medieval Law, or a text-based course on ancient legal philosophy, or a comparison of modern legal categories and policies with those of former societies and cultures. The objective is not so much to establish a historical foundation for modern studies as to demonstrate that legal systems are culturally rooted; that urgent, present concerns may obscure important characteristics of legal ideas and behavior; and that many recurrent themes in Western legal thought are shaped or driven by both common and uncommon features. Unlike many legal studies programs that attempt to orient study of the law in primarily contemporary debates, usually in the field of American constitutional law, the program seeks to organize its exploration of law as a system rather than as a forum or an instrument.

Other Course Work. After completing the Introductory Course, students must take two courses each in the Letters and Society divisions of the program, plus six other courses complementary to the required work, as outlined previously (the other six courses may be ones cross listed in the program or may be from other disciplines). Letters and Society are not meant as fixed or self-defining fields, but instead as organizational categories emphasizing two fundamental modes of examining law in a systemic fashion. Courses under the rubric of Letters (whether based in the program or in English, philosophy, or political theory) tend to be based on the study of literary and historical artifacts, such as cases, tracts, conventional literature, or other texts, and emphasize the ways in which law formally constitutes itself. Questions of interpretative and normative theory, rhetorical strategy, and the like are central to such courses. Society serves to organize studies from a variety of different disciplines (including history, political science, economics, and sociology) that try to measure, with different techniques and at different times, the effect of law on society. The combined objective is to treat law as an intellectual activity and as a phenomenon, and to emphasize that both occur in contexts that help to shape them, whether ancient or modern.

Research. In addition to satisfying the course requirements, each student in the program must produce evidence of sustained research in the form of a substantial research paper during either the junior or senior year and obtain approval of a member of the faculty, although not necessarily a member of the program faculty. Papers may be written in conjunction with Law, Letters, and Society courses, under the auspices of reading and research courses, or in a Research Seminar. (The paper is an independent requirement, however, and need not be accomplished in conjunction with enrollment in a specific course.) The scope, method, and objective of the paper, as well as its length, are subject to negotiation between the student and the instructor.

Summary of Requirements

                                  1      Introductory Course

                                  2      Letters courses

                                  2      Society courses

                                  6      other complementary courses

                                11

Honors. Students who wish to be considered for honors must notify the program chairman and their faculty supervisor in writing no later than two quarters before the quarter in which they expect to receive their degree. Eligible students must maintain a GPA of at least 3.25 both overall and in the major, and they must write a distinguished research paper. The paper must be submitted pursuant to the deadlines specified above, and the student's faculty supervisor and a second reader must agree that honors are merited. It should be noted that honors are awarded sparingly.

Reading and Research Courses. For students with a legitimate interest in pursuing study that cannot be met by means of regular courses, there is an option of devising a reading and research course to be supervised by a member of the faculty and taken for a quality grade. Such courses may not be used to satisfy the requirements of either the two-course Letters or two-course Society requirements, but up to two such courses may be used to satisfy part of the other six required courses, with the written permission of the program chairman obtained in advance of initiation of the work.

Grading. Two of the six supplementary courses required in the program may, with the consent of the instructor, be taken on a P/F basis.

Advising. Students who wish to major in Law, Letters, and Society must register for LLSO 24200 in Autumn Quarter of their second year. This requirement is not negotiable. Students should note that, as an interdisciplinary major, the program has a strictly limited enrollment and that registration for the Introductory Course is determined during the preceding Spring Quarter. Upon deciding to major in Law, Letters, and Society, students should arrange to consult with the program chairman on their course of study in the program. Students should continue to consult with their College advisers on general degree requirements.

Faculty

A. Asmis, M. L. Behnke, J. Boyer, B. Cohler, J. Comaroff, C. Gray, A. Gugliotta,
D. Hutchinson, A. Kass, L. Kass, R. Lerner, M. Lilla, J. MacAloon, S. Meredith, W. Novak,
W. Olmsted, L. Pick, J. Redfield, G. Rosenberg, R. Saller, H. Sinaiko, D. Smigelskis,
T. Steck, N. Tarcov, D. Tracy, C. von Nolcken, D. Wray

Courses: Law, Letters, and Society (llso)

I. The Introductory Course

24200. Legal Reasoning. Open only to second-year students who are beginning the LLSO major. This course is an introduction to legal reasoning in a customary legal system. The first part examines the analytical conventions that lawyers and judges purport to use. The second part examines fundamental tenets of constitutional interpretation. Both judicial decisions and commentary are used, although the case method is emphasized. D. Hutchinson. Autumn.

II. Letters

22400. Rhetorical Theories of Legal and Political Reasoning. (=HUMA 21400, IMET 32400, ISHU 22800/32800, SOSC 22400) This course uses Plato's Gorgias to raise the question of whether practical thinking is possible and considers responses to this question by such writers as Aristotle, Cicero, and Machiavelli. We study the methods and concepts that each writer uses to defend the cogency of legal, deliberative, or more generally political prudence against explicit or implicit charges that practical thinking is merely a knack or form of cleverness. W. Olmsted. Winter.

22411. Plato and Rhetoric: Gorgias and Phaedrus. (=FNDL 27411, HUMA 22207) This course offers a close reading of two dialogues that focus on the question of whether rhetoric is merely a kind of cleverness or whether it can persuade persons toward wise actions in a polity. Gorgias examines the problem of the demagogue and searches for knowledgeable persuasion. Phaedrus articulates the natures of eros and prudence as sources of persuasive speech. We analyze relations between rhetoric, eros, knowledge, dialectic, and politics. We also consider questions such as the following: Is self-controlled rhetoric superior to impassioned rhetoric? Whom ought one to consult about politics, the philosopher, or the orator? Texts in English. W. Olmsted. Autumn.

23900. Introduction to Constitutional Law. (=PLSC 28800/48800) This course is an introduction to the constitutional doctrines and political role of the U.S. Supreme Court. We focus on the court's evolving constitutional priorities and its response to basic governmental and political problems (e.g., maintenance of the federal system, promotion of economic welfare, protection of individual and minority rights). G. Rosenberg. Winter.

24300. American Law and the Rhetoric of Race. (=LAWS 59800) This course examines the ways American law has treated legal issues involving race. Two episodes are studied in detail: the criminal law of slavery during the antebellum period and the constitutional attack on state-imposed segregation in the twentieth century. The case method is used, although close attention is paid to litigation strategy and judicial opinion. D. Hutchinson. Spring.

26502. American Revolution: Culture and Politics. (=ENGL 25305, HIST 17601) This course explores the causes and consequences of independence and the creation of national identity. Readings include texts by Abigail and John Adams, Franklin, Jefferson, and Paine, as well as histories describing the contributions of ordinary people, free and unfree, and the meaning of the Revolution for later generations. E. Slauter. Winter.

26903. African-American Women: Symbols and Lives. (=AFAM 27401, GNDR 22501, HIST 27404/37404) This course explores the historical experiences and symbolic representations of African-American women in the United States during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Their negotiations of personal and collective identity are viewed from the vantage of household and community relations, work, intellectual and spiritual strivings, political mobilization, and play. J. Saville. Spring.

27401. American Originals: Franklin and Lincoln. (=FNDL 24401, NCDV 27401) PQ: Third- or fourth-year standing, and consent of instructor. We study readings from two American originals, Benjamin Franklin and Abraham Lincoln, with attention to their distinctive understanding of the worlds they inhabited, prudence and statesmanship, moral virtues and vices, the power and limits of language, and wit. D. Hutchinson, R. Lerner. Winter.

28611. Renaissance Humanism. (=HIST 22902/32902) This course focuses on the origins, development, and varieties of Renaissance humanism from the mid-fourteenth to the mid-sixteenth centuries, with special attention to the ways in which humanists responded to and interpreted their political environments and to the ways in which they brought classical thought and ancient history to bear on their ideas of the good state and the good society. H. Gray. Winter.

III. Society

20603. Early America to 1865. (=HIST 18700) This course surveys major themes in the settlement of the British colonies, the crisis of the American Revolution, and the growth of American society and politics. E. Cook. Winter.

21200. International Development: Theory, Politics, and Policy. (=ENST 24300) Why are some countries rich and others poor? How, if at all, can developed nations and international organizations promote development around the world? What are the power structures that define the meaning and implementation of international development? This course seeks answers to these questions. It provides a broad, interdisciplinary introduction to development studies. Topics include theories of economic development, Bretton Woods institutions, decolonization, gender, and human rights. M. Arsel. Winter.

21401. Eighteenth-Century Britain. (=HIST 21400/31400) This lecture/discussion course explores the main political, social, intellectual, economic, and religious developments in Britain from the Glorious Revolution to the Napoleonic wars. We emphasize the relationship between politics and the social order, as well as the evolution of modes of political behavior. E. Cook. Winter.

21700. Constitution of Community. (=FNDL 23700, HUMA 22200, IMET 21100) Attention is once again being given to how a "we," a community, establishes itself. This interest often assumes that discussion and deliberation will play a, perhaps the major role, and often coincides with the notion that the organization of the community should be through government by discussion. This course will use one major example of the constitution of a community, the United States. This course is not a repetition of the typical "historical," "legal," or "philosophical" interpretations given and uses made of these events and texts. D. Smigelskis. Winter.

21800. Liberating Narratives. (=HUMA 23900, IMET 31800) Some reflective autobiographies written in mid-career are featured. The primary texts are Maxine Hong Kingston's The Women Warrior, Bill Bradley's Life on the Run, and James Watson's The Double Helix. Each exemplifies how some people have used various resources and strategies to increase their ability to act without simultaneously diminishing the similar abilities of others in situations which require overcoming systemically oppressive obstacles. This is in part accomplished through examples of how a flourishing in certain types of activities has been achieved and the kinds of satisfactions involved. D. Smigelskis. Spring.

21900. Postwar American Culture, 1945 to 1970. (=GNDR 18200, HIST 18200) This lecture/discussion course explores the cultural politics of national identity, race, ethnicity, class, gender, and generation in the quarter century following World War II, a period of dramatic social change, political debate, and economic and spatial reorganization. We pay special attention to the impact of the war itself on notions of citizenship, gender, ethnicity, and nation; suburbanization and urban change; postwar modernism, antimodernism, and social criticism; mass culture and the counterculture; McCarthyism, the domestic cold war, and the debate over the Vietnam War; the civil rights movement; and the rise of the new social movements of the left and right. G. Chauncey. Autumn.

23100. Environmental Law. (=ENST 23100, PBPL 23100) PQ: Third- or fourth-year standing, or consent of instructor. This lecture/discussion course examines the development of laws and legal institutions that address environmental problems and advance environmental policies. Topics include the common law background to traditional environmental regulation, the explosive growth and impact of federal environmental laws in the second half of the twentieth century, regulations and the urban environment, and the evolution of local and national legal structures in response to environmental challenges. G. Davis. Autumn.

23600. The Environment in U.S. History. (=ENST 23600, HIST 19000) Contemporary environmental issues are deeply rooted in a complex history, often ignored or misunderstood. This course examines human engagement with the natural world in what is now the United States: how the expansion of the market economy impacted the natural world, how various peoples struggled to control resources, how landscapes changed from ecosystems to infrastructures, how natural resources fostered industry and agriculture, and how conceptions of the natural world evolved. We consider the politics, economics, and social and cultural development of the United States in an environmental framework. A. Gugliotta. Winter.

24000. Civil Rights/Civil Liberties. (=PLSC 29200) PQ: LLSO 23900 or equivalent, and consent of instructor. This course examines selected civil rights and civil liberties decisions of U.S. courts with particular emphasis on the broader political context. Areas covered include speech, race, and gender. G. Rosenberg. Spring.

24901. U.S. Environmental Policy. (=ENST 24901, PBPL 24701) Making environmental policy is a diverse and complex process. Environmental advocacy engages different governmental agencies, congressional committees, and courts, depending on the issue. This course examines how such differentiation has affected policymaking over the last several decades. R. Lodato. Winter.

25611. Witches, Revivals, and Revolution: Religion in Early America, 1600 to 1787. (=HIST 18402, RLST 21001) This course is a survey of religion in America from the founding of the colonies to the American Revolution. Topics include Puritanism, witchcraft, revivalism, slavery, gender, Native American religion, the coming of the Revolution, and the separation of church and state. C. Brekus. Spring.

26200. Environmental Economics. (=ECON 26500, ENST 26500, PPHA 32800) PQ: ECON 20100. This course applies theoretical and empirical economic tools to a number of environmental issues. The broad concepts discussed include externalities, public goods, property rights, market failure, and social cost-benefit analysis. These concepts are applied to a number of areas including nonrenewable resources, air pollution, water pollution, solid waste management, and hazardous substances. Special emphasis is devoted to analyzing the optimal role for public policy. G. Tolley, S. Shaikh. Winter.

26201. Economics and Environmental Policy. (=ENST 21800, PBPL 21800) PQ: ECON 19800 or higher. This course combines basic microeconomic theory and tools with contemporary environmental and resources issues and controversies to examine and analyze public policy decisions. Theoretical points include externalities, public goods, common-property resources, valuing resources, benefit/cost analysis, and risk assessment. Topics include pollution, global climate change, energy use and conservation, recycling and waste management, endangered species and biodiversity, nonrenewable resources, congestion, economic growth and the environment, and equity impacts of public policies. S. Shaikh. Spring.

26202. Economics of Urban Policies. (=ECON 26600/36500, GEOG 26600/36600, PBPL 24500) PQ: ECON 20100. This course covers tools needed to analyze urban economics and address urban policy problems. Topics include a basic model of residential location and rents; income, amenities, and neighborhoods; homelessness and urban poverty; decisions on housing purchase versus rental such as housing taxation, housing finance, and landlord monitoring; models of commuting mode choice and congestion and transportation pricing and policy; urban growth; and Third World cities. G. Tolley, D. Barker. Spring.

27100. Human Rights II: History and Theory of Human Rights. (=HIST 29302/39302, HMRT 20200/30200, INRE 36400, ISHU 28800/38800, LAWS 41300) This lecture course is concerned with the history and theory of the modern human rights regime. It sets out to answer some simple question: Why should anyone want or need human rights? Why did certain nations in the eighteenth century and the community of states in the twentieth century find it necessary to institute regimes of human rights? Along the way, we explore the similarities and differences between natural law, human rights, civil rights, and humanitarian law. In contrast to triumphalist accounts that speak of an "age of rights," we are concerned with the tenuous nature of human and, for that matter, civil rights regimes. We wonder what happens in times and in situations when there are no human rights to speak of or when rights are gerrymandered to fit prevailing political and cultural conditions. M. Geyer. Winter.

27500. Hegel's Philosophy of Right. (=FNDL 23000, HUMA 24700, IMET 36900) The course will first focus on "translating" (becoming more familiar with) what is to many the peculiar language of Hegel, a language which has set and still sets the most important boundaries and questions for many thinkers, not merely about politics but also about economics, sociology, and jurisprudence. More importantly, the possible continuing plausibility and relevance of particular arguments and especially the general strategies of Hegel's broad argument will also be explored as far as time and student interest permit. Furthermore, once some comfort with the language is attained, various strategies will be used to guard against the possible bewitchment by what will probably be for many a somewhat new language of thought. D. Smigelskis. Spring.

27701. Codes, Cultures, and Media. (=HUMA 27701, ISHU 27701) As organizations of cultural knowledge, codes create not only means of communicating but also infrastructures for communication. In our globally networked societies, digital media and technologies generate new forms of messages for us to encode and decode as well as develop new public and private environments for communications. We compare cultural case studies of earlier electronic media (telegraph, radio, television) with the re-mediating influences of digital media (computers, software, cyberspace, cellphones) on cross-cultural conceptions and practices of property, democracy, and the commons. M. Browning. Winter.

28009. U.S. Women's History. (=HIST 27000/37000) This course explores the history of women in the modern United States and its meaning for the world of both sexes. We do not study women in isolation. Rather, we focus on changing gender relations and ideologies; on the social, cultural, and political forces shaping women's lives; and on the implications of race, ethnic, and class differences among women. Topics include the struggle for women's rights, slavery and emancipation, the politics of sexuality, work, consumer culture, and the rise of the welfare state. A. Stanley. Spring.

28010. U.S. Legal History. (=HIST 19100) This course focuses on the connections between law and society in modern America. It explores how legal doctrines and constitutional rules have defined individual rights and social relations in both the public and private spheres. It also examines political struggles that have transformed American law. Topics include the meaning of rights; the regulation of property, work, race, and sexual relations; civil disobedience; and legal theory as cultural history. Readings include legal cases, judicial rulings, short stories, and legal and historical scholarship. A. Stanley. Summer.

28311. Genocide of European Jews, 1933 to 1945. (=HIST 23401) This lecture/discussion course asks the following questions: What explanations can be offered for the mass murder of the Jews in Europe? Who were the perpetrators? What were the respective roles of the German police apparatus, of the German army, of the Nazi Party, of the state bureaucracy, of ordinary Germans? What were the responses of occupied populations in Europe, of neutral countries, of the Allies, and of Jews themselves? How have historical interpretations evolved over the past half-century? B. Wasserstein. Winter.

29000. Sport, Society, and Science. This interdisciplinary course draws faculty from across the University to examine and to integrate important elements of the world of sport and competition, including sport and society; race and sport; medicine and sport; legal, economic, and public policy frameworks; psychological and neurological aspects of competition; the physics of sports; and statistical measurements of performance. D. Hutchinson, A. Sanderson. Not offered 2005-06; will be offered 2006-07.

IV. Research and Reading

29400. Research Seminar. PQ: Consent of instructor. Class limited to fifteen students. This research seminar examines problems in modern American constitutional history. Topics are selected by students with the approval of the instructor. Prior topics include inherent presidential power, due process in prisons, sexual preference and equal protection, impeachment, and Congressional control of foreign affairs. D. Hutchinson. Autumn.