Schedule and Readings

Date

Topic

Reading

9/9

Introduction, Syllabus

Please read the syllabus.

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

9/16

Analytical Outlines and Four Sentence Papers

None

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.

9/23

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. Four-sentence Paper (based on Outline 1) due.

Legal facts

Shapiro, “What Is Law (and Why Should We Care)?” Ch. 1 in Legality (2011) (pp. 25-30)

9/30

Possibility puzzle and central debate

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

Ch. 2, continued.

10/7

Positivism 1: Austin

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

Austin, continued. Analytical Outline Exercise 2.

10/15 [TUES]

Positivism 2: Hart

Scott J. Shapiro, “Hart and the Rule of Recognition.” Ch. 4 in Legality (2011) (pp. 79-102 only). Four-sentence Paper (based on Outline 2) due.

Hart, continued.

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).

Midterm Review

10/28

Midterm

11/4

Property

Locke, John. “V. Of property,” from Second Treatise of Government, ss. 25-51. Discuss Argument Papers and Academic Integrity.

Locke, continued. Analytical Outline Exercise 3.

11/11

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

Marx, continued.

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).

Coleman, Jules. 1982. “Corrective justice and wrongful gain.” The Journal of Legal Studies 11 (2): 421-440. Read all. Argument Paper (based on Outline 3) due.

11/25

Criminal

J.S. Mill, “Of the limits to the authority of society over the individual.” Chapter IV of On Liberty. Read pp. 49-60. *Note: this link downloads several chapters, be sure to start reading at pg. 49.

Mill, continued. Analytical Outline Exercise 4.

12/2

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).

Constitutional Interpretation

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

12/9

Dworkin, Ronald. 1996. “The Moral Reading of the Constitution.” The New York Review of Books, March 21, 1996. Read all. [**Note: you may need to create a free account to read this article.] Argument Paper (based on Outline 4) due.

Final Review

12/16

Final