This course is about law, and not about theories of law. More specifically, it is about what law is (and what it is not); what law does; who law serves; what law's values (and limitations) are; and how we should go about asking and answering those questions.
For some of its advocates, Jurisprudence is the subject that elevates the study of law from a technical enterprise into an academic endeavour. We will not take that claim at face value. The course will begin with an interrogation of the content and value of jurisprudence. Why should we care about the key questions in jurisprudence, and what are they? For example, does it matter how, (if at all) law and morality are connected, or what law’s connection is to justice, or equality, or autonomy? How should we think theoretically about the law?
We will approach these questions through a series of topics that cover key ‘building blocks’ of jurisprudence. Note that in such a short course, the syllabus must be selective, and will leave out vast amounts of important ideas and literature within this subject. As we go along, there will be opportunities for you to challenge and engage with this selectivity.
The Course is structured in four parts, addressing interrelated themes:
1. A critical assessment of law and legal theory – why study jurisprudence? What critical insights does jurisprudence raise? What perspectives does it offer and challenge? What does jurisprudence tell us about who law is for, what it is like, and what it does?
2. What is law? What is the relationship between law and the State? What role does coercion play in the law? Does law claim or have authority? Are we obligated to obey the law? What is the relationship between law and morality? What are the roles of law’s agents, and who are they?
3. The values of law. What (if any) values does law carry? What is meant by ‘the rule of law’? How does law respond to disagreements about values, or value pluralism? What is law’s relationship to liberal democracy and justice? Who should law be for? Does law serve people equally?
4. The relationship between the State and other legal orders. How do interactions between State law and tikanga Māori challenge our understandings of law, its values, and its operation? Does jurisprudence help us to understand both pluralist and monist responses to the practical challenges raised by interaction?
During this semester, students will read a combination of primary and secondary sources in law and philosophy and will be encouraged to engage with their content. Students will be exposed to analytical and critical methods, and develop the capacity to understand, compare and contrast, and then evaluate, competing theoretical accounts of the law. The course examines provocative questions, and the course is designed to be as discursive as possible in a large class. Students will be expected to come prepared, having done the readings, to engage in class discussions.