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Go to: Program Requirements
Go to: Summary of Requirements
Go to: Faculty
Secretary: Delores Jackson, C 330, 702-7148
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.
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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 an annual basis, and final approval of additional required course work is made on the basis of consultations between the student and the program chairman.
The Introductory Course. The introductory course must precede all other course work in the concentration, 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 tends to be different every year--but on its approach to the nature of law. In 1995-96, 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, presentist 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.
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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
above (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.
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Research. In addition to satisfying the course requirements, each
concentrator must produce evidence of sustained research in the form of two
substantial papers. Normally, this requirement is satisfied during the junior
and senior years by papers prepared on the basis of work done in conjunction
with courses offered in the program (although the paper may or may not be part
of the routine requirements of the 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
Concentration 1 Introductory Course
2 Letters courses
2 Society courses
6 other complementary courses
11 (total)
Honors. In Law, Letters, and Society, the primary requirement for honors is
a distinguished senior paper. After completion of the first half of the writing
requirement in the junior year in conjunction with regular course work, the
student chooses an instructor to decide mutually whether the student does
research and submits a paper for honors. Papers submitted pursuant to such
agreements are examined by a second reader, who must agree with the primary
instructor that special honors are merited. No formal grade requirement
supplements these conditions.
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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 graded, like other NCD 298 courses, on a Pass/Fail
basis. 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 Pass/No Credit
basis.
Advising. Students who wish to concentrate in Law, Letters, and Society
should notify their College adviser during the spring quarter of their freshman
year, at which time the students arrange to consult with the program chairman
on their course of study in the program. Students should continue to consult
their College advisers with respect to general degree requirements.
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JOHN W. BOYER, Professor, Department of History and the College; Chairman,
Council on Advanced Studies in the Humanities & Social Sciences; Dean of
the College
JOHN COMAROFF, Professor, Departments of Anthropology and Sociology and the
College; Chairman, Department of Anthropology
STEPHEN G. GILLES, Assistant Professor, the Law School
ANN DUDLEY GOLDBLATT, Lecturer, Social Sciences Collegiate Division
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Faculty
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