Course Schedule - PHL 3070 - Fall, 2007

This is the course schedule. We will remain as close to this schedule as possible, but I may need to make adjustments to it as the term progresses. Please read the assignments by the dates listed, although we may not discuss some readings until the following class period. Any changes to this schedule will be posted here and announced in class. Most readings are in the text. If they are, page numbers are provided. Other readings will be distrbuted in class or available online. If a reading assignment is available online, there will be a link to it here.

The Nature of Law

Week 1 - Natural Law Theory
Aug. 27 - Preliminaries.
Aug. 29 - "Traditional Natural Law Theory" by Brian Bix (112) and "Summa Theologica" by Thomas Aquinas (116)

Week 2 - Legal Positivism and Legal Realism
Sept. 5 - "The Providence of Jurisprudence Determined" by John Austin (126)
Sept. 7 - "The Path of Law" by Oliver Wendell Holmes (135)

Week 3 - Legal Realism and Legal Positivism Revisited
Sept. 10 - "Realism and the Law" by Jerome Franks (139)
Sept. 12 - "Law as the Union of Primary and Secondary Rules" by H.L.A. Hart (155)

Week 4 - The Modern Debate Positivism versus Natural Law
Sept. 17 - "The Model of Rules" by Ronald Dworkin (161)
Sept. 19 -"'Natural' Law Revisited" by Ronald Dworkin (170)

Week 5 - Applicaiton to Cases
Sept. 24 - Supreme Court Case: Plessey v. Ferguson.
Opinion of the Court (full version from Legal Information Institute)
Alternative Source
Sept. 26 - Supreme Court Case: Brown v. Board of Education.
Opinion of the Court (full version from Legal Information Institute)
Alternative Source

Week 6 - Review Week
Powerpoint Summary of Theories of Nature of Law
Nature of Law - Review information.
Oct. 5 - Paper 1 is due (on the nature of law).

Rights

Week 7 - The Basis of Rights
Oct. 8 - Columbus Day. No class.
Oct. 10 - "The Federalist Papers" by James Madison and Alexander Hamilton (524) and "On Liberty" by John Stuart Mill (579)
Oct. 12 -"Metaphyics of Morals" by Immanuel Kant (to be provided)

Week 8 - Free Speech
Oct. 15 - "Of the Liberty of Thought and Disscussion" by John Stuart Mill (608)
Oct. 17 - Supreme Court Case: Texas v. Johnson (612)

Week 9 - Free Speech and Enforcing Morality
Oct. 22 - Morals and the Criminal Law by Patrick Devlin (to be provided)
Oct. 24 - Supreme Court Case: Bowers v. Hardwick
Opinion - White
Concurrence - Burger
Concurrence - Powell
Alternative Source for Bowers v. Hardwick (full version from Legal Information Institute)

Week 10 - Enforcing Morality
Oct. 29 - Supreme Court Case: Bowers v. Hardwick
Dissent - Blackmun
Dissent - Stevens
Alternative Source for Bowers v. Hardwick (full version from Legal Information Institute)
Nov. 2 - "Judicial Activism and Gay Marriage: A Debate" by Lawrence Tribe and Richard Parker (605)

Week 11 - Review Week
Review sheet on rights theorists.
Nov. 9 - "Who Should be Punished? The Case of the Dog Provette" (245) and "Crime and Punish" by Michel Foucault (to be distributed)

Week 12 - Views of Punishment
Nov. 12 - Paper 2 is due (on rights).
Nov. 14 - The Utilitarian Theory of Criminal Punishment by Richard Brant (246) and "The Principles of Morals and Legislation" by Jeremy Bentham - Chapter III and Chapter IV

Week 13 - Cases on Punishment
Nov. 19 - Selection from Metaphysics of Morals by Immanuel Kant
Nov. 21 and 23 - Thanksgiving break. No classes.

Week 15 - Review Week
Dec. 3 - Review/Catch-up day. Punishment summary sheet (Word file).

Week 16 - Final paper due
Dec. 10 - Paper 3 is due.