Philosophy of Law

Catalog description

Philosophical study of issues related to the law and legal institutions. Examines notions of the basic nature of law, its origins in society, and its validity as a system of social norms. Compares law to other normative social institutions like convention, morality, and religion. Subjects include: liberty-limiting principles; origin of legal rights; individual rights and corporate obligations to obey the law; the justification of legal punishment; problems of paternalistic interference into the lives of citizens.