Legal System and Method

Catalog description

The history of Western law is that of the two Romes, of the Papacy and law - papatus and imperiatus. It is a narrative of codification and the books of law, of scriptural texts and the casuistry that they generate. The first moment of legal study is that of inaugural texts and collections, of sovereignty, its representation and its textual delegation. The course will introduce the hierarchy of sources of law, the process of enacting law, the concepts of norm and rule, and then the plural regime of legal interpretation of sources, the hermeneutics of practice. Beginning with the concept of the code, the course will proceed to the topics of statutory interpretation, systems of precedent, and forensic rhetoric in distinct substantive legal disciplines. As the English legal sage Sir Edward Coke put it, inevitably in Latin, nemo nascitur artifex - no one is born a lawyer. To this end, the methods course will also entail and be supported by a vigorous legal writing and research program.