SemesterSpring Semester, 2020
DepartmentMA Program of Law, First Year MA Program of Law, Second Year
Course NameLegal Philosophy and Contemporary Issues
Instructor
Credit1.0
Course TypeElective
Prerequisite
Course Objective
Course Description
Course Schedule























































































週次



Week



課程主題



Topic



課程內容與指定閱讀



Content and Reading Assignment



教學活動與作業



Teaching Activities and Homework



Student workload expectation



 



In-class Hours



 



Outside-of-class Hours



1(2/27)



What is Law? I



Hart and Fuller Debate




  • H.L.A. Hart, Positivism and the Separation of Law and Morals, 71 (4) Harvard Law Review, 593, 615-621 (1958).

  • Lon L. Fuller, Positivism and Fidelity to Law—A Reply to Professor Hart, 71 (4) Harvard Law Review 630, 648-661 (1958).



2



4-5



2(3/12)



What is Law? II



Hart and Dworkin Debate: Ronald Dworkin, The Model of Rules I, II




  • Ronald Dworkin, Taking Rights Seriously, Ch.2-3



2



4-5



3(3/26)



What is Law? III



Ronald Dworkin: Law’s Empire I




  • Ronald Dworkin, Law’s Empire, Ch.1-3



2



4-5



4(4/9)



What is Law? IV



Ronald Dworkin: Law’s Empire II




  • Ronald Dworkin, Law’s Empire, Ch. 6-7



2



4-5



5(4/23)



What is a Right?



Ronald Dworkin: Right vs. Common Interests




  • Ronald Dworkin, Do we have a right to pornography? in Matters of Principle

  • Robert George, Making Men Moral, Ch.3



2



4-5



6(5/7)



Judicial Review I:



Majoritarianism vs Rights



Ronald Dworkin’s Moral Reading vs Jeremy Waldron’s Case against Judicial Review




  • Ronald Dworkin, The Moral Reading and the Majoritarian Premise, in Freedom’s Law, 1-38 (1996).

  • Jeremy Waldron, The Core of the Case against Judicial Review, 115(6) Yale Law Journal 1346-1406 (2006).



2



4-5



7(5/21)



Judicial Review II: Judicial virtue



McConnell’s objection to Dworkins Moral Reading




  • Michael McConnell, The importance of humility in judicial review, 65 Fordham L. Rev 1269 (1996-7_



2



4-5



8(6/4)



Civil Disobedience



Dworkin on Civil Disobedience




  • John Rawls, The Justification of Civil Disobedience




  • Ronald Dworkin, Civil Disobedience and Nuclear Protests

  • Joseph Raz, A Right to Dissent Civil Disobedience



2



4-5



9(6/18)



Hate Speech



Dworkin vs Waldron on hate speech




  • Ronald Dworkin, Foreword, in Extreme Speech and Democracy




  • Jeremy Waldron, Ronald Dworkin and the Legitimacy argument, in the Harm in Hate Speech, ch.7



2



4-5



Teaching Methods
Teaching Assistant

N/A


Requirement/Grading

1.  The evaluation is primarily based on a term paper, which takes up 80% of the total score. The other 20% is based on class participation. It is required that students read assigned materials in advance and participate actively in class. Absence from the class should be consented by the lecturer. As long as consent is granted and the number of classes abstained does not exceed three times (including), it won’t affect your participation score. Absence for official causes does not count toward the three times limit. 

2. Students should either comment on a judicial decision or interpretation or discuss theoretical issues related to the themes of the course. Students should discuss themes of term papers with the lecturer. 

3. Students are expected to make a sound argument in their term paper using the materials discussed during the semester. The paper is expected to be not less than 3,500 words. (English)



 


Textbook & Reference

N/A


Urls about Course
Attachment