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Law and Society

The Curricular Committee on Law and Society administers a cross-disciplinary Law and Society major, fosters the general study of issues regarding law and society throughout the college, and encourages public presentations by visiting scholars, jurists, and lawyers. The recommended core law and society courses and research seminars, and the law-related courses, explore philosophical, political, economic, historical, sociological, ethical, scientific, and religious issues that are central to understanding the role of law and legal institutions in society.

Core law and society courses are selected with the following objectives in mind: 1) center on law and legal institutions directly; 2) explore the historical, philosophical, and ethical underpinnings of the development of law, thought, and institutions; and/or 3) provide the analytic skills necessary to understand the logic and bases of legal thinking as a language in legal institutions, the broader society, and the profession of law. Core research seminars and private reading/research courses provide to students forums to undertake research papers which meet the above objectives. Law-related courses have sections within them that meet at least one of the three objectives that are listed above or provide students an opportunity to write a term paper in which the scholarly issues of the course may be applied to legal institutions, thought, and/or the logic of legal inquiry.

Major. The major consists of at least thirty hours of courses; no more than 8 hours may be taken at the introductory level; no more than 15 hours may be taken away from campus. A minimum of four core courses (at least 12 hours) and at least three additional law-related or core courses (at least 9 hours) is required in the major. In addition, at least one core research seminar, and a private reading-research course on a law-related topic, or a second core research seminar in place of the private reading/research course, is required of all majors. Finally, no more than 15 of the first 30 hours of the major may be taken in one department. Core courses or seminars must be completed in at least three departments. Students must have two advisors from different departments and complete a major registration form, including a rationale for the major, which is submitted to the Chair of the Law and Society Committee for approval by the Law and Society Committee.

Minor. Students may pursue a minor in Law and Society by completing at least fifteen hours of work. At least three core courses (in at least two departments) and two additional law-related and/or core courses must be completed as part of the minor. Students wishing to discuss the Law and Society major, to secure a major registration form, a list of current curricular committee members, or to gain approval for a minor, please contact Ronald Kahn, Chair, Law and Society Curricular Committee, Department of Politics, Rice 232.

 

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Core Courses

Chemistry
145 Chemistry and Crime

Economics
217 Anti-Trust Economics
224 Law and Economics
253 Intermediate Microeconomics

History
259 Revolutionary America and the Early Republic

Jewish Studies
258 Introduction to the Talmud: Argument and Interpretation

Philosophy
105 Philosophy and Values
200 Deductive Logic
201 The Analysis of Reasoning
226 Social, Political and Legal Philosophy

Politics
103 Political Change in America
202 American Constitutional Law
233 American Political Theory I: To the Civil War
982 British Constitutional Law and Individual Rights

Religion
245 Moral Issues in Religious Perspective
249 Issues in Medical Ethics
271 Islamic Authorities: Law and Society

Sociology
123 Deviance, Discord, and Dismay
271 Sociology of Law and Legal Institutions
273 Criminology, Delinquency, and Legal Policy
331 Torts, Trials, and Troubles

Core Research Seminars

History
442 Democracy and Human Rights in China
Jewish Studies
353 Seminar: Moses Maimonides: Philosophy and Law

Philosophy
342 Seminar: Moralized Violence and Meaningful Life
364 Seminar: Individual Responsibility

Politics
300 Seminar in Contemporary Constitutional Theory
301 Seminar in First Amendment
321 Seminar in International Politics: International Human Rights & Law
334 Seminar: Justice and Democracy in Contemporary America

Religion
340 Seminar: Ethical Issues in Death and Dying

Sociology
472 Sociology of Law Seminar

Law-Related Courses

Classics
103 History of Greece
104 History of Rome
206 Greek and Roman Drama in Translation

Economics
206 Financial Management
219 Labor-Management Relations
231 Environmental Economics
313 Games and Strategy in Economics
317 Industrial Organization
323 Public Sector Economics
331 Topics in Environmental Economics

English
270 Scene of the Crime: Crime Stories in American Film
372 Contemporary Literary Theory in American Culture

History
147 Women's Lives, Women's Activism in American History
263 The American Civil War and Reconstruction
266 Women and Social Movements in the United States
322 Women and Power in Nineteenth Century America
390 Slavery, Antislavery and Emancipation in American History

Philosophy
204 Ethics
225 Environmental Ethics

Politics
203 Congress: Politics and Policy-making
231 European Political Theory: Classical to Early Modern
232 European Political Theory: Hobbes to Marx

Psychology
214 Abnormal Psychology
218 Social Psychology
410 Seminar in Sociocultural Psychology

Religion
247 Feminist Ethical Issues

Theater
362 Art on Trial

 

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