730-312 Advanced Legal Concepts

Legal Method and Reasoning; Legal Theory or in each case their equivalents.

The subject draws on developments in the theory of separate doctrinal areas over the past two or three decades, such as the theory of tort, contract, crime, property and administrative law. Recent cross-doctrinal theoretical work has been dominated by law and economics scholars, bet there is now a much broader input from philosophers, sociologists, organisational theorists and other social scientists.

The aim is to examine various central concepts and the connections between them. The selection will vary from year to year. Typical concepts are: harm wrongfulness, fault, responsibility, causation, liability, punishment, regulation, restitution, compensation, negligence, intention, fraud and moral luck.

One major theme is the interrelation between different branched of the law, and more generally, the claimed distinction between private and public law. Another major theme is the conflict between economic, justice and other types of explanations of different branches of the law, and the problems these explanations raise. No in depth knowledge of any doctrinal area of law is presupposed.

Research essay, topic to be selected in consultation with the lecturer, 5000 words in length (due end of semester) 100%. Attendance at at least 75% of classes is a hurdle requirement.