A Classical Approach to Law. This course consists of two main parts. The first part will be a standard course on Roman private law. Using Barry Nicholas’ Roman Law, students will study the essential features of classical Roman law: persons, property, successions, obligations, and actions. Students will also study basic legal problems through study of select cases, recorded in Justinian’s Digest. The second part of the course will then introduce students to major texts and debates in jurisprudence, such as legal positivism, modern natural law theory, and interpretivism. This is an upper-level undergraduate course. Latin is not required, but students will be expected to learn key legal vocabulary in Latin.
Subfields: Political Theory and Public Law
PS117L "Jurisprudence" used to be numbered PS116L "Roman Law". Students who have taken PS116L "Roman Law" in Spring 2023 cannot take PS117L "Jurisprudence" due to the substantial course overlap.