Handbook 1996 : Faculty of Law (Volume 3 page 221)
Law subject : Next:730-340 | Prev:730-414 | Search | Help
Optional Law subject.
Prerequisite: Torts and the Process of Law; History and Philosophy of Law.
Contact: 2 hours per week
Timetable: Both semesters
Objectives:
In undertaking the course students should acquire the following: some appreciation of the problems raised by questions such as: What is the nature of law? What is the nature of legal rules? What other types of legal standards are there, and how are they structured (if at all) into legal systems? What is justice? How do judges decide cases? Is there an obligation to obey the law? Is legal paternalism justified? Is there a satisfactory theory of punishment? How is law related to broader social phenomena such as culture, ideology, power and economic activity? Could there be a society without law?: also, acquaintance with various schools of legal theorists which have attempted to provide coordinate answers to one or more of the above questions; some ability to criticise such attempted answers; some ability to put forward answers and theories of their own; a deeper understanding of all areas of legal practice.
Content:
An introduction to the kinds of questions posed in Jurisprudence and the various theories which have emerged as co-ordinated to those questions. First half of the course - Principal modern schools of jurisprudential thought; natural law, legal positivism, legal realism, sociological jurisprudence, Marxism, feminism and critical legal studies; the nature of law; issues which are central to some theories only (such as the relationship between law and morality and the nature of legal reasoning). Second half of the course - Application of the theories already discussed relatively discrete questions in Jurisprudence, taken from the following list: the obligation to obey the law, the justification of punishment, legal paternalism, justice, the rule of law, and the role of legal theory in legal education.
Assessment:
Either Research Assignment 4,000 words (40 per cent) and Final Exam 2 hours (60 per cent); or Final Exam 3 hours (100 per cent).
Prescribed texts:
Law subject : Next:730-340 | Prev:730-414 | Search | Help
Handbook 1996 : Faculty of Law (Volume 3 page 221)
Status: Official 1996 Date created: Oct 9 1995 Last modified: Oct 9 1995 Authorised by: Academic Registrar Email enquiries: Course_Information@registrar.unimelb.edu.au
Maintained by: Faculty of Law.
Copyright © University of Melbourne 1995,1996.