Prerequisites: None

Exam Type: Please refer to the Fall 2020 Tentative Exam Schedule

This course will introduce and explore basic themes in jurisprudence. Topics include: competing explanations of the concept of law (among legal positivists, legal realists, natural law theorists, critical legal studies theorists), the role of social and political contest in lawmaking and law application, reason and rationality in legal argument, the role of virtue in judging and lawyering, and the values that do or should guide legal factfinding. Readings are from legal theorists and philosophers, and illustrative materials from cases, statutes, and constitutional provisions.

Open to cross-registrants from other schools.