RULE OF LAW: PHILOSOPHICAL AND HISTORICAL MODELS

HISTORY/LEGALST 261

Surveys the development of American law down to the U.S. Civil War. Reviews the English historical background, and examines how law changed in colonial America, culminating in the framing of the U.S. Constitution. Explores how territorial expansion, democracy, and slavery shaped nineteenth-century American law. Emphasis is on how law interacts with political, social, and cultural change, with a focus on the origins of modern civil and constitutional rights.

HISTORY/LEGALST 476

Introduction to the central historical developments of law and legal institutions in the European middle ages (400-1500).

HISTORY/LEGALST 426

Examines punishment across a vast range of historical traditions, examining how wrongdoing and punishment have been figured in law, literature, art and philosophy. Examines ancient, medieval and modern traditions.

HISTORY/LEGALST 262

Surveys the development of American law from the Civil War to the early Twenty-First Century. After a review of the U.S. Constitution and its modification by the Civil War amendments, examine the legal dimensions of such topics as race relations and the Civil Rights movement, the growth of modern business, the New Deal, labor rights, the women's movement, the individual rights revolution of the postwar period, and the contemporary conservative reaction. Emphasis on how law interacts with political, social, and cultural change.

LEGALST 213

Introduction to the dynamic relationship between law and the humanities, examining how legal systems both shape and are shaped by cultural, historical, and philosophical contexts. Through the study of literature, philosophy, history, pop culture, religious studies, and the arts, critically engage with the fundamental question of what law is and reframe legal concepts such as justice, rights, authority, and morality. Engage in the discussion of representative works of the discipline, different methodologies, and the ideas of key thinkers to highlight the humanistic dimensions of law. By analyzing court cases, historical sources, fiction, films, and philosophical writings, develop a deeper understanding of how law functions, how it tells stories, and how law is not only as a set of rules but a cultural and moral artifact.