Schedule and Readings

Date

Topic

Reading

1/29

Introduction, Syllabus

Please read the syllabus.

1/31

CASE: Regina v Dudley and Stephens (1884). Read section 2.

2/5

Jurisprudence and conceptual analysis

Scott J. Shapiro, Legality (2011) Ch. 1, pp. 1-18. Note: This link will lead you to the site to download the whole book as a PDF. Save the PDF to your device for future classes.

2/7

Legal facts

Scott J. Shapiro, Legality (2011) Ch. 1, pp. 18-34

2/14

Possibility puzzle and central debate

Scott J. Shapiro, Legality (2011) Ch. 2, pp 35-50.

2/21

Discuss analytical outlines, finish discussion of possibility puzzle and central debate

2/22

Positivism 1: Austin

Scott J. Shapiro, Legality (2011) Ch. 3 (pp 51-62 only)

2/26

No further reading. Analytical Outline 1 due.

2/28

Positivism 2: Hart

Scott J. Shapiro, Legality (2011) Ch. 4 (pp. 79-102 only)

3/4

No further reading.

3/6

No further reading.

3/11

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).

3/13

Dworkin, “Model of Rules,” continued. Read section VI (pp. 40-46). Paper 1 due.

3/18

Midterm Review

3/20

Midterm

3/25

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).

3/27

Constitutional Interpretation

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

4/1

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.] Analytical Outline 2 Due.

4/3

Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, 597 U.S. 215 (2022). Read the Syllabus (pgs. 1-8)

4/8

class canceled

4/10

Property

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

4/15

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

4/17

Marx, continued.

4/30

Paper 2 due by midnight.

5/1

Torts

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

5/6

Torts, continued

5/8

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.

5/13

Punishment

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

5/15

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

5/20

Final Review

5/22

Final