Schedule and Readings

Date

Topic

Reading

8/28

Introduction, Syllabus

Please read the syllabus.

9/4

CASE: Regina v Dudley and Stephens (1884). Read section 2, “Facts of the Case.”

9/9

Jurisprudence and conceptual analysis

Shapiro, “What Is Law (and Why Should We Care)?” Ch. 1 in Legality (2011) (pp. 1-18). Note: Instead of downloading one chapter at a time, consider downloading the whole book as a PDF and saving it to your device for future classes.

9/11

Legal facts

Shapiro, “What Is Law (and Why Should We Care)?” Ch. 1 in Legality (2011) (pp. 18-34)

9/16

Louis Michael Seidman. “Let’s Give Up on the Constitution.” New York Times, December 30, 2012. *NB: To read this you may need to enter your CUNY email address. CUNY students have free access to the NY Times. Analytical Outline Exercise 1.

9/18

Possibility puzzle and central debate

Shapiro, “Crazy Little Thing Called ‘Law’.” Ch. 2 in Legality (2011) (pp 35-50).

9/23

Ch. 2, continued.

9/25

Positivism 1: Austin

Scott J. Shapiro, “Austin’s Sanction Theory.” Ch. 3 in Legality (2011) (pp 51-62 only)

9/30

Austin, continued. Analytical Outline Exercise 2.

10/7

Positivism 2: Hart

Scott J. Shapiro, “Hart and the Rule of Recognition.” Ch. 4 in Legality (2011) (pp. 79-102 only)

10/9

Hart, continued.

10/15 [TUES]

Dworkin’s critique of positivism

Dworkin, Ronald M., “The Model of Rules” (1967). The University of Chicago Law Review, 35(1):14–46, 1967. Read section III (pp. 22-9). Analytical Outline Exercise 3.

10/16

Dworkin, “Model of Rules,” continued. Read section VI (pp. 40-46).

10/21

Natural Law

Jackson, Justice Robert H. “Opening Statement before the International Military Tribunal,” International Military Tribunal, Nuremberg, November 21, 1945.

Read the first section, up to the section entitled, “The lawless road to power” (approximately 9 PDF pages).

10/23

Midterm Review

10/28

Midterm

10/30

Constitutional Interpretation

Amy C. Barrett. 2017. Originalism and Stare Decisis, Notre Dame L. Rev. 92 (5), 1921-1943.

11/4

Dworkin, Ronald. 1996. “The Moral Reading of the Constitution.” The New York Review of Books, March 21, 1996. [**Note: you may need to create a free account to read this article.]

11/6

Property

Locke, John. “V. Of property,” from Second Treatise of Government, ss. 25-51. Analytical Outline Exercise 4

11/11

Locke, continued.

11/13

Marx, Karl. “Estranged Labor.” In Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844. Translated: by Martin Milligan. Progress Publishers: Moscow 1959.

11/18

Torts

Posner, Richard A. 1972. “A theory of negligence.” The Journal of Legal Studies 1 (1): 29-96. Read sections I + II (pgs 29-36).

11/20

Coleman, Jules. 1982. “Corrective justice and wrongful gain.” The Journal of Legal Studies 11 (2): 421-440. Paper 1 due by midnight.

11/25

Criminal

J.S. Mill, “Of the limits to the authority of society over the individual.” Chapter IV of On Liberty. Read pp. 51-63. *Note: this link downloads the whole book, which contains two different chapter IVs. Please begin reading at page 51. Analytical Outline Exercise 5.

12/2

Mill, continued.

12/4

Patrick Devlin, “The Enforcement of Morals”.

Read pp. 135-146 (begin with the first full paragraph on 135, end with the last full paragraph on 146).

12/9

Punishment

Hampton, Jean. 1984. “The Moral Education Theory of Punishment.” Philosophy and Public Affairs 13 (3): 208–38. Read pp. 208-221.

12/11

Michel Foucault. 2008. “‘Panopticism’ from Discipline and Punish.” Race/Ethnicity: Multidisciplinary Global Contexts 2(1): 1-12.  Paper 2 due by midnight.

12/16

Final Review

12/18

Final