This course provides an overview of the major theories of legal philosophy, and contextualizes them within examples of judicial reasoning and explores their effect on positive law. The course uses old and modern cases, classic secondary commentary, and hypothetical opinions in order to demonstrate the reasoning of the different schools of thought and how they animate judicial and scholarly thinking.Grading and Method of Evaluation
The grade in the course will be based on class presentation and either a closed book final examination or a 25 page research paper. Students will have the option to sit for an examination or to write a paper. The paper may be utilized to fulfill the BLS upper-class writing requirements.