| Unit name | Jurisprudence |
|---|---|
| Unit code | LAWD20004 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | I/5 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 4 (weeks 1-24) |
| Unit director | Professor. Gammage |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | University of Bristol Law School |
| Faculty | Faculty of Social Sciences and Law |
Jurisprudence aims to enhance the understanding of law by considering the nature of law from general analytical, normative and empirical perspectives. Students will be expected to grapple with complex theoretical positions and should thereby be enabled to exercise critical judgment in their study of law and demonstrate the relationship between particular aspects of law and their theoretical foundations. The unit will cover theories of adjudication, theories of legal systems, the analysis of legal concepts, the moral purpose of law, theories of justice and the sociology of law. Liberal, Marxist, feminist and post-modern critiques of law will be considered. Students will be expected to read theoretical texts closely, summarise arguments succinctly and clearly, and engage in debate, both oral and written, concerning current controversies within jurisprudence.
Jurisprudence attempts to answer some important general questions about the nature of law. We will look at a variety of attempts to answer these questions focusing on the Western philosophical tradition. Specifically we will consider answers to the following questions: (i) What is jurisprudence?; (ii) What is a legal system? (iii) Does law have any necessary moral purpose? (iv) How should judges decide cases? (v) What are rights? (vi) What is justice? (vii) What is the role of law in modern society? (viii) Whose interests does the law serve?
The skills that jurisprudence aims to develop are the ability to master abstract thought, thinking and speaking about law in general categories. It should help you to expose the presuppositions and assumptions of lawyers, and evaluate competing theoretical approaches to law. You should be enabled to place law in the wider context of human affairs. You will be expected to be familiar with the ideas outlined in the unit contents, and to achieve the unit objectives . However, in short, the general skills which this jurisprudence unit specifically seeks to enhance are the critical analysis of texts and oral argument.
By the end of this unit a successful student will be able to:
1. describe various answers to general questions about law;
2. identify different approaches to answering such questions;
3. evaluate other authors’ criticisms of these theories;
4. contextualise these theories in both a historical context and with reference to other substantive areas of law;
5. communicate (1) to (4) both in written and oral forms.
20 lectures and 8 two-hours seminars
2 formative assessments: 1 x 1,000 word coursework and 1 x 1 hour exam in the January Examination period. Formative assessments do not count towards final mark and can be optional.
1 summative assessment: 1 x 3 hour exam in the Summer Exam Period. Summative assessments do count towards final mark.
The assessments will assess all of the intended learning outcomes for this unit
Lloyd & Freeman’s, Introduction to Jurisprudence (9th ed, Sweet and Maxwell, 2014)
