Ethics/Jurisprudence/Legal History

General Advice

Unlike all other listed courses, courses in ethics, jurisprudence and legal history cannot be connected with any single field of legal study. Rather, these offerings are relevant to all fields of law and are about the way you understand law and yourself as a lawyer. Legal History displays the development of legal thought in a particular social context. More specifically, it explores the relationship between legal argument and social change. Jurisprudence includes both the philosophical inquiry into law and the study of the history of legal philosophy. Courses of the first sort attempt to scout out the nature of law, its relation to other things (particularly thought and action), and the mechanism of laws occurring. History of the philosophy of law courses explores the development of legal philosophy and its relation to social change. Legal Profession courses concern themselves with the question, "What ought a person do as a lawyer?" in all of the contexts in which a lawyer functions in our social system. It does so both in the narrow context of applicable rules of professional conduct and in the broader cultural context in which these rules are understood.

Not belonging to any specific area of the "practice" of law, they are offered in the hope that students will graduate as a well-rounded lawyer. Beyond that, the course in Legal Profession is required for admission to the bar of every state. Students may fulfill this requirement through the 3 hour Legal Profession course.

Specific Courses and Frequency of Offering:

• Legal Profession (3 hrs) (every spring/day; alternating years/evening)
  
• Jurisprudence (2 hrs.) (every year/day; occasionally/evening)
  
• American Legal History (2 hrs.) (usually every year/day or evening)

Seminars (usually offered in late afternoon)

• American Legal History (2 hrs.) (occasionally)
  
• Canon Law (2 hrs.) (occasionally)
  
• Various jurisprudence topics (2 hrs.) (occasionally)
  
• Law, Religion, and Morality (2 hrs.) (every other year)

Sequencing of Courses

Since every student needs to pass the Legal Profession course in order to graduate, this course takes obvious priority. Full-time day students are required to take Legal Profession in their second year. Evening students are required to take the course at the earliest possible opportunity. Each of the offerings listed, except Legal Profession, satisfies the Humanities requirement.