Professional Documents
Culture Documents
LAW016M (G04)
Professor Jinkee De Ocampo Bantug
1st Term SY 2015-2016
Saturdays, 0900-1100 (A1406)
j-bantug@onu.edu
This is only a working syllabus. Since this is my first time teaching this course, I admit that I
still have to a lot of readings and re-readings to do to come up with a really solid course
syllabus that would serve the objectives of the course.
Law is a set of conventional rules that regulate the conduct of every member of society.
Every day we live our lives observing them without really questioning them or assailing them
except when they inconvenience us or harm us in any way. As future lawyers, it is not
enough that we know the positive aspect of law (e.g., what the law is) but also the normative
aspect of it (e.g., what the law ought to be). When we speak of normative, we depart from
being merely investigative where we explain the content of a particular legal system to being
evaluative with the objective of taking a stand on what is the better rule or set of rules in a
particular legal context. This would enable us to not just merely apply or observe the law in a
parochial way but observe and critique it and arrive at a reasoned judgment.
Course Objectives:
1) Know and understand the different theories or school of thought about the nature of
law;
2) Understand the different practical problems (within the legal context) involved in
responding to law;
3) Construct and defend arguments in support of or in opposition to particular
propositions in the Philosophy of Law.
There is no required textbook but the links in the assigned readings are found here and can be
found in internet-accessible sites. I would assign additional readings throughout the course.
Schedule of Readings:
Every class takes its own pace, so it is difficult to tell in advance how many sessions we will
spend on each topic. But I have structured below a working schedule to guide us on the topics
we would be taking for each session but of course, this would have to be modified as we go
along.
1
The Nature of Jurisprudence and Conceptual Analysis
Brian Bix, Joseph Raz and Conceptual Analysis, American
Philosophical Association Newsletter on Philosophy and Law,
vol. 06(2), pp. 1-7 (2007 reprinted at
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=948766.
Lon Fuller
Lon L. Fuller, Positivism and Fidelity to Law -- A Reply to Professor
Hart, 71 Harvard Law Review 630 (1958)
http://people.brandeis.edu/~teuber/Positivism%20and%20Fidelity%20to%20Law%20-
%20A%20Reply%20to%20Professor%20Hart.pdf.
2
Ronald Dworkin
Ronald M. Dworkin, The Model of Rules, 35 University of Chicago
Law Review 14 (1967)
http://www.umiacs.umd.edu/~horty/courses/readings/dworkin-1967-model-of-rules.pdf.
Precedent
Frederick Schauer, Precedent, 39 Stanford Law Review 571 (1987)
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1836384.
Legal Rights
Justice (Rawls)
John Rawls, Justice as Fairnesss: Political not Metaphysical, 14
Philosophy and Public Affairs 223 (1985),
http://philosophyfaculty.ucsd.edu/faculty/rarneson/Philosophy%20167/Rawlsjusticeasfairness
.pdf.
Punishment
Antony Duff, Legal Punishment, The Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/legal-punishment/.
Legal Realism
Oliver W. Holmes, Jr., The Path of the Law, 10 Harvard Law Review
457 (1897)
http://www.constitution.org/lrev/owh/path_law.htm.
3
Legal Realism, cont.
Lon L. Fuller, American Legal Realism, 82 University of Pennsylvania
Law Review 429 (1934)
* I will provide the link on this article shortly
James Boyle, Legal Realism and the Social Contract: Fullers Public Jurisprudence of Form
Private Jurisprudence of Substance, 78 Cornell Law Review, 371 (1993)
scholarship.law.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2481&context=clr.
Historical Jurisprudence
Robert E. Rodes, Jr., On the Historical School of Jurisprudence,@
49 American Journal of Jurisprudence 165 (2004)
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=931650.
Feminist Theory
Christine A. Littleton, Reconstructing Sexual Inequality, 75 Cal., L. Rev., 1279 (1987)
http://politicalscience.tamu.edu/documents/faculty/Littleton-Reconstructing.pdf.
4
Martha L. A. Fineman, Feminist Theory and Law, 18 Harvard Journal
of Law & Public Policy 349 (1995)
http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/irpweb/initiatives/trainedu/igrfp/readings06/Fineman.HJLP.95.pdf.
Course Requirements:
I. Papers:
1) Two Short Papers- no less than two but no more than three pages (typed, double-
spaced, 1 inch margins and 12 sized-font, Times New Roman) in length. You pick a
topic from among the topics covered in the syllabus. Your task is to make an original
critical evaluation of the argument/theories/principles from one or more of the
readings we have covered in class. I will announce the dates of submission for these
papers.
2) Term Paper should be between 12-15 pages (typed, double-spaced, 1 inch margins
and 12 sized-font, Times New Roman) in length. You are free to pick any topic on
Philosophy of Law (even beyond the scope of this syllabus in which case you should
consult with me first). Pick an issue or controversy regarding this topic and your task
is to defend a claim or proposition. This paper is due two weeks before the final exam
date for the course.
3) Peer Review - On November ____ (I will announce the exact date shortly), turn in a
completed draft of your term paper. This draft will be given to another student in class
5
and you in turn will receive a paper from one of your fellow students. Your task is to
write a 2-page peer evaluation of the draft term paper of your fellow student.
II. Oral Report- pick a topic that is scheduled to be discussed on a certain date and
present the topic to the class (theory, proponents, debate involved, etc.) This is more
of an expository rather than an argumentative presentation. There is no written report
required for this. The report will be minimum of 15 minutes and maximum of 20
minutes.
Grading:
Term Paper: 40%
Oral Report: 20%
Short Paper I (pre-midterm) 10%
Short Paper II (post-midterm) 10%
Quizzes 10%
Participation 10%
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Total 100%