Law, Letters, and Society
Program Chairman: Dennis J. Hutchinson, LBQ 411, 702-9575
Secretary: Delores Jackson, C 330, 702-7148
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 (other than those entering as sophomores) ordinarily are not eligible to register as concentrators.
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.
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 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 1996-97, 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.
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 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
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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.
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 consult with the program chair early in spring quarter of their first 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.
Faculty
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
ANN DUDLEY GOLDBLATT, Lecturer, Social Sciences Collegiate Division
CHARLES M. GRAY, Professor, Department of History and the College; Lecturer, the Law School; Master, New Collegiate Division
DENNIS J. HUTCHINSON, Associate Professor, Social Sciences Collegiate Division and New Collegiate Division; Senior Lecturer, the Law School; Master, New Collegiate Division; Associate Dean of the College
BARRY D. KARL, Norman and Edna Freehling Professor, Department of History and the College
RALPH LERNER, Professor, Social Science Collegiate Division; Cochairman, Committee on Social Thought
WILLIAM NOVAK, Assistant Professor, Department of History and the College
MARTHA NUSSBAUM, Professor of Law and Ethics and in the College
WENDY RAUDENBUSH OLMSTED, Associate Professor, Division of the Humanities and the College
GERALD N. ROSENBERG, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science and the College
RICHARD SALLER, Professor, Departments of Classical Languages & Literatures and History and the College; Chairman, Committee on the Ancient Mediterranean World
Courses
I. The Introductory Course
242. Legal Reasoning. PQ: Open only to LL/Soc concentrators with consent of instructor. 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
214. Introduction to American Political Thought: Benjamin Franklin (=Fndmtl 214, LL/Soc 214, SocSci 258). From year to year different writers and themes are chosen for study from the political thought of the early American period up to 1865. This time we examine the political and economic thought of Benjamin Franklin. R. Lerner. Autumn.
224. Rhetorical Theories of Legal and Political Reasoning (=Hum 214, Id/Met 324, LL/Soc 224, SocSci 224). 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. Autumn.
243/598. American Law and the Rhetoric of Race. 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. Winter.
247. The First Amendment. This course is a study, using the case method, of the theory and doctrine of the free speech, free press, and religion clauses of the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, with special emphasis on current controversies over symbolic speech, hate speech, and the right to privacy as it relates to the media. D. Hutchinson. Winter.
260. Elements of the Common Law (=Hist 221/321, LL/Soc 260). This course looks at several fundamental features of the classical common law partly with a view to their historical development and partly for their distinguishing qualities in the range of possible legal institutions. Particular attention is given to forms of action, real property, and law and equity. Reading is mainly in primary sources, such as Glanville, Bracton, Littleton, St. German, and Blackstone, with some supplementation from secondary classics such as Maitland and Allen. C. Gray. Winter.
292. Political Philosophy: Hegel (=Fndmtl 226, LL/Soc 292, PolSci 312). PQ: Consent of instructor. The text for the quarter is Hegel's Philosophy of Right. J. Cropsey. Winter.
III. Society
213. Managing the Environment (=EnvStd 213, LL/Soc 213, NCD 213, PubPol 213). PQ: Econ 198 or higher. This course analyzes human interaction with and intervention into the environment. Topics include resource management, environmental and economic policy, environmental law, business initiatives, and global environmental legislation. Also assessed are major national legislation on Superfund, resource conservation and recovery, air quality, water quality, hazardous chemicals, and endangered species. D. Coursey. Spring.
257-258. United States Legal History I, II (=Hist 283-284/383-384, LL/Soc 257-258). This two-quarter sequence explores the role of law in history, and of history in law, through a survey of American legal developments from the colonial era to the present. It treats law not as an autonomous process or science, but as a social phenomenon inextricably intertwined with other historical forces. Through lectures and discussions, this course examines the impact of law on significant events and institutions in American history while tracing historical changes within the law itself. Attention is paid to developments in private law, public law, jurisprudence, the judiciary, and the interrelationships of law, society, economy, and polity. W. Novak. Winter, Spring.
265. Hobbes's Leviathan (=Fndmtl 265, LL/Soc 265). In a close reading of Hobbes's Leviathan, we explore the connections between his psychology, his political teaching, and his treatment of divine law and religion, so that his political teaching can be understood in the light of his other concerns. We also consider Hobbes's relation to Aristotle and Aristoteliansim (St. Thomas and Marsilius) to appreciate his innovations in the study of politics. J. Macfarland. Spring.
266. Introduction to African Civilization I (=Anthro 306-1, LL/Soc 266, SocSci 225). This course sequence fulfills the Common Core requirement in civilizational studies. This course presents the political, economic, social, and cultural development of sub-Saharan African communities and states from a variety of points from the precolonial past up to the present. We focus on the social organization and political economy of several precolonial societies in southern, central, and eastern Africa. J. L. Comaroff. Autumn.
269. Medicine and the Law (=LL/Soc 269, PubPol269, SocSci 269). This course is designed as an introductory investigation of the interrelations between two essential human institutions: law and medicine. Students read and discuss a series of instances where law and medicine come into conflict. The first part of the course concentrates on conflicts among individual needs, wants, and desires, on the one hand; and professional responsibility and authority or established community standards of conduct, on the other. The second part of the course focuses on legislative, administrative, and executive powers and policies involving medicine. A. Goldblatt. Autumn.
278. Aristotle's Politics (=Fndmtl 256, Hum 256, Id/Met 316, LL/Soc 278). Special attention is given to the problems Aristotle thought important to consider and why they continue to be problems which are worthy of attention. Of particular interest is the manner in which politics is distinct from but interrelated with many other enterprises and the shaping of the inquiry as a deliberation which is meant to eventuate in choices by the readers. D. Smigelskis. Autumn.
279. The Federalist Papers (=Fndmtl 258, Hum 258, Id/Met 372, LL/Soc 279). This text is the first sustained commentary on the U.S. Constitution. It assumes that the Constitution is not self-interpreting. As such, it is read in its entirety as an introduction to the problems and possibilities of both the specifics talked about and the more generic features of a certain type of text. In addition, it is argued that much of what is provided, especially in the first fifty-one of the total eighty-four papers, is meant to be relevant to an appreciation of considerations appropriate to the making more generally of certain kinds of practical decisions. Context for these activities is provided as needed in the form of background data, as well as some other text of the same period that deal with the same kinds of problems and activities. D. Smigelskis. Spring.
281. Law and Society (=LL/Soc 281, PolSci 225). PQ: Consent of instructor. This course examines the myriad relationships among courts, laws, and lawyers in the United States. Issues include legal consciousness, the role of rights, access to courts, implementation of decisions, and professionalism. G. Rosenberg. Winter.