Course Syllabus of Zhongnan University of Economics and Law
Course Title: Jurisprudence | ||||
Course Code | 41063016 | Semester | 1st Semester | |
Teaching Hours | 32 | Credits | 2 | |
Prerequisites | Acquaintance with law major. | |||
Instructor Information | ||||
Name | LUO Xin | luoxin@zuel.edu.cn | ||
Institute | Law School, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law | |||
Applicable Object | International Students | |||
Course Objectives |
The aim of the course is to provide the students with basic knowledge, abilities and skills in the area of law. The students will study the specifics of law, interaction of law and moral, other social regulations. Studying of law as an instrument of the government, the students understand the interdependency of law, politics and economics. The students study main legal categories (law, sources of law, system of law, law enforcement, etc.). They understand the difference between basic legal categories in the countries with different legal cultures.
The students will be suggested to make comparisons of main legal theories, modern legal trends. This objective can be achieved only by providing the understanding of main legal methods, approaches to law, and of the balance between Law, Rights and Justice.
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Course Description |
The course is aimed at providing the students with the general understanding of western legal theories and Chinese legal philosophy, advanced abilities of legal thinking, logic and methods of the understanding of social conflicts, understanding of legal materials and knowledge of their main sources. It should also encourage the development of student’s ability of self-expression in the sphere of human rights, law and justice, the habit of critical reading of legal documents.
The course is also characterized by its special emphasis on the comparative understanding of the world's legal systems and philosophies, and the construction of its own national legal philosophy. | |||
Assessment Methods | Please choose the jurisprudence embedded in the law of your own country as the object of writing.
You may discuss the representative legal theories or typical characteristics of the law in your country, or you may choose to write the ratio of a specific aspect of the legal system, such as the jurisprudence of “the marriage law”, “the system of election”, “the penalty system” etc.;
Please pay attention to highlight the characteristics of the legal system, and try to compare with other nation's legal systems in certain perspective.
Minimal words: 5000; More words are welcome. | |||
Textbooks and References | A SOURCE BOOK IN CHINESE PHILOSOPHY.陈荣捷 中国哲学文献选编 Fei Xiaotong. 费孝通.The Foundations of Chinese Society.乡土中国 Jinfan Zhang. 张晋藩. The Tradition and Modern Transition of Chinese Law.中国法律的传统与近代转型 Law and Society in Traditional China. 瞿同祖. T'ung Tsu Ch'ü. 中国法律与中国社会. 中华现代学术名著丛书.158. 商务印书馆. 2011 The Tang Code. 唐律疏议. Vol.1. General Principles. Trans. Wallace Johnson. Princeton 1979 Ta Tsing Leu Lee.大清律例. George Thomas Staunton. Being the Fundamental Laws and a Selection of the Supplementary Statutesof the Penal Code of China. London. 1810 Fundamental legal conceptions, as applied in judicial reasoning. Wesley Newcomb Hohfeld. paperbound by Yale university press. 1919 Hans Kelsen.Pure Theory of Law.2nd.Revised and Enlarged.edi.tran.Max Knight.Univ. of California Press.1967 Hans Kelsen.General Theory of Norms.the final form of the Pure Theory of Law.tran. Michael Hartney.Clarendon Press.1991 William Twining.General Jurisprudence.Understanding Law from a Global Perspective. Law in Context.2009 H. L.A. Hart. The Concept of Law. 3rd edi. Clarendon law series. Oxford Univ. Press. 2012 Raymond Wacks.Philosophy of law.A very short introduction.2nd Edi.Oxford Univ.Press.2014 Lloyd’s Introduction to Jurisprudence. 9th Edition. Michael Freeman. Sweet & Maxwell. 2014 Brian Bix, Jurisprudence: Theory and Context.7th ed., 2015 Jurisprudence, themes and concepts. Scott Veitch, Emilios Christodoulidis, Marco Goldoni. 3rd. edi. Routledge. 2018 | |||
Course planning | ||||
Chapter 1 | Outline of the course; The Nature of Jurisprudence and Conceptual Analysis Brian Bix, “Joseph Raz and Conceptual Analysis,” American Philosophical Association Newsletter on Philosophy and Law, vol. 06(2), pp. 1-7 (2007), reprinted at | |||
Chapter 2 | Natural Law Theory (Aquinas) Aquinas on Law (Summa Theologica, I-II, Questions 90-97) http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/aquinas2.html Bix, pp. 67-74 Natural Law Theory, cont. (John Finnis) John Finnis, “Natural Law Theories” (2015), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/natural-law-theories/ Bix, pp. 75-81 | |||
Chapter 3 | Legal Positivism -- Austin Brian Bix, “John Austin” (2014), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/austin-john/
Legal Positivism -- Hart H. L. A. Hart, “Positivism and the Separation of Law and Morals,” 71 Harvard Law Review 593 (1958) (Hein Online) Bix, pp. 33-49 | |||
Chapter 4 | Legal Positivism -- Hart H. L. A. Hart, “Positivism and the Separation of Law and Morals,” 71 Harvard Law Review 593 (1958) (Hein Online) Bix, pp. 33-49 Lon L. Fuller, “Positivism and Fidelity to Law -- A Reply to Professor Hart,” 71 Harvard Law Review 630 (1958) Matthew Kramer, “Scrupulousness Without Scruples: A Critique of Lon Fuller and His Defenders,” 18 Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 235 (1998) | |||
Chapter 5 | Hans Kelsen’s Pure Theory of Law Hans Kelsen, “What is the Pure Theory of Law?” 34 Tulane Law Review 269 (1960) Hans Kelsen, “The Pure Theory of Law and Analytical Jurisprudence,” 55 Harvard Law Review 44 (1941) (both Hein Online) Bix, 57-66 | |||
Chapter 6 | Critical Legal Studies I Duncan Kennedy, “Legal Education and the Reproduction of Hierarchy,” 32 Journal of Legal Education 591 (1982) Morton J. Horwitz, “Rights,” 23 Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review 393 (1988) (both Hein Online) Bix, pp. 235-239 Critical Legal Studies II Mark Tushnet, “Defending the Indeterminacy Thesis,” 16 QLR [Quinnipiac Law Review] 339 (1996) John Finnis, “On ‘The Critical Legal Studies Movement,’” 30 American Journal of Jurisprudence 21 (1985) | |||
Chapter 7 | Law and Evolutionary Biology, Review Session Owen D. Jones, “Law and Biology: Toward an Integrated Model of Human Behavior,” 8 Journal of Contemporary Legal Issues 167 (1997) Ethics, Law and the Politics of Information, A Guide to the Philosophy of Luciano Floridi, Springer.2017 Mireille Hildebrandt, Jeanne Gaakeer, Human Law and Computer Law: Comparative Perspectives. Springer.2013 | |||
Chapter 8 | Jinfan Zhang. The Tradition and Modern Transition of Chinese Law. Law and Society in Traditional China. T'ung Tsu Ch'ü. 2011 The Tang Code. ol.1. General Principles. Trans. Wallace Johnson. Princeton 1979 Ta Tsing Leu Lee.George Thomas Staunton. Being the Fundamental Laws and a Selection of the Supplementary Statutesof the Penal Code of China. London. 1810 | |||
