Affiliated Course Offerings
By the School of Law
-
Seminar in Law and Economics (L713)
The seminar explores recent and classic articles on the economic analysis of law. The seminar begins with a thorough discussion of the Coase Theorem, its assumptions and implications, and then continues with a survey of the law and economics literature on property, torts, contract and criminal law. The seminar concludes by examining the question of whether the law does or should promote efficiency.
-
Seminar in Law and Psychology of Crime, Culpability, and Punishment (L748)
The seminar, which is open to both law students and psychology graduate students, uses psychology research to seek a better understanding of the doctrines of the substantive criminal law. Why do we treat premeditated murder as worse than impulsive murder? Why do we punish those who cause death, even accidentally, during the course of a felony at the same level as those who commit premeditated murder? Why is voluntary manslaughter (the so-called "heat of passion" doctrine) traditionally limited to those who kill immediately after being provoked? The answers to these questions, and many others in the substantive criminal law, are shaped by the psychology of legal decision-makers: legislators, lawyers, judges, jurors, and society at large. The seminar examines the doctrines of the substantive criminal law through the lens of psychology.
Co-taught by Professor Joseph Hoffmann (Law) and Professor Jim Sherman (Psychology)
- Seminar in American Legal History (L778)
Law, legal processes, and legal institutions have long played a pivotal role in American political and economic development. One of the fundamental aims of this seminar is to examine how the law - broadly conceived - has affected, and been affected by, the emergence of a market economy in the United States from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. Proceeding both chronologically and thematically, the course will survey a range of topics including, the development of property rights, the emergence of accident law, the creation of public and private pensions, and the evolution of tax policy. In addition to class discussion, each student will be responsible for a brief formal presentation, a short book review, and a final research paper. Taught by Ajay K. Mehrotra
- Anthropology: Law and Culture (E675)
Focusing on the relationship between law and society cross-culturally this course examines systems developed by societies, small and large, for resolving conflicts and for maintaining continuity and stability over time. Consistent with the values and structures of a society, legal systems set standards and establish rules, but they also provide for the negotiation or resolution of disputes and differences through courts or other dynamic sites of interaction. Moreover, in most societies one finds more than one legal system operating, creating a situation of legal pluralism. Building on these perspectives, the class will explore anthropological studies of law within the following categories: early studies by anthropologists of legal systems considered "customary," "folk," or "indigenous,"; more recent studies that take up problems such as "legal pluralism," "law and colonialism," or the relationship between indigenous systems and the state, or "access to justice" in any context. We will conclude with attention to questions of human rights and intangible cultural property. The course emphasizes the actual performance and practice of legal issues in courts or other contexts.
The various legal systems represented in the readings and presentations will include selected ones from Native American, African, Trobriand Islands, and Islamic societies, as well as studies addressing contemporary issues such as human rights, gender and law, cultural justice, and intellectual property. Guest speakers will speak on specific problems in the anthropology of law. Taught by Beverly Stoeltje. [See its syllabus]