Jurisprudence – 6615

Spring 2014
This course will be a general survey course of American legal movements and conceptions of the law. The course will examine foundational legal questions: What is law, why are we obligated to follow laws, and when if ever, are we not? What is the Rule of Law? When if ever can we condemn a law as unjust and, if so, must we obey it? We will also examine how different legal movements have attempted to answer these questions from the beginnings of \"legal science\"" and formalism; to the Legal Realists and the responses to them; to the more recent movement to unite law with moral philosophy; to Critical Legal Studies; and responses to the Critical Studies movement. We will compare and contrast these movements with basic conceptions of the law-positivism and natural rights."

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