This course surveys law and society literature from the perspective of how law helps to define and reproduce power relations in society. We will study household law, property law, employment law, and the law of the post-Reconstruction South using theoretical and historical frameworks borrowed from a diverse array of disciplines, including social history, economic theory, legal history, and sociology. Emphasis will be on readings and some limited case analyses.

This course explores the historical origins of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in immigrant, religious, and indigenous communities in the U.S. Why have advocates in the legal, commercial, labor, educational, and community sectors promoted its use? What has their impact been on the various forms of ADR? Whose interests are served by ADR? A critical analysis of mediation, arbitration, and negotiation in comparison to the judicial system include attention to how issues of power imbalances and identity impact ADR.

This course will explore issues of inequality within the construction and application of the law. Why are some actions defined as criminal and not others? Why are some groups more likely to come into contact with the criminal justice system than others? This course will examine the historical construction of the American criminal justice system. It will also explore the interplay between law, crime and various social institutions like the family, the welfare system, and the economy.

Not available at this time

Not available at this time

Explores themes that span the legal studies curriculum and many other courses on campus: the various relationships between law, societies, and justice on a global scale. While each instructor will assign different readings and emphasize different subject matter that will be identified in the course description on each syllabus (see below), the general themes and goals of this course are shared across sections.

The course will focus on the impact of the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Amendments in criminal trials. The course will study the historical perspective, the current application and the likely future applications of the amendments. A fundamental understanding of the criminal trial process is required. Prerequisite: LEGAL 250

This course provides a structured context for students to reflect on their own learning in their GenEd courses. It utilizes social and behavioral sciences - as well as natural and applied sciences, the humanities, law, and even the arts from time to time ? to practice constitutive socio-legal inquiry, and applies this theory to multiple real world settings. We are going to use the ?angle? of sight as our vehicle for attempting to gain a better understanding of the way that law shapes our realities ? and in turn how those set the parameters for law. Simply, what we see around us ?

How have legal scholars addressed the status of women in society? We will consider different approaches to thinking about women and the law, discussing the significance of law with respect to topics such as reproductive health issues, education and the workplace.