Phi 213—Philosophy of Law
Spring 2016—Glen Helman

Instructor: Glen Helman, Assoc. Prof. of Philosophy and Acting Chair

E-mail: helmang@wabash.edu

Office: Center 311, (765) 361-6334

My posted hours currently are 3:10-4:10 on M and 1:10-2:00 on F (but this can change). I usually arrive on campus between 8 and 10 and leave between 4 and 6, and you stand a good chance of finding me in my office whenever I am not teaching. My other classes meet at 10 MWF and 2:40 TTh (the latter in the second half semester only). (While I am in my office most noon hours, the noon hour is also a common time for meetings and other events, as is the afternoon after 4.)

Home: 314 W. Wabash Ave., (765) 362-0428

This is your best bet evenings and weekends, but try my office too.

Cell phone: (765) 366-0791

Texts

In the bookstore:

H. L A. Hart, The Concept of Law (Oxford University Press, 2012)—the current edition is the 3rd, but any edition will do

On JSTOR:

Andrew Altman and Christopher Heath Wellman, “A Defense of International Criminal Law,” Ethics, vol. 115 (2004), pp. 35-67 (on JSTOR at 10.1086/422895)

Ronald Dworkin, “The Model of Rules,” The University of Chicago Law Review, vol. 35 (1967), pp. 14-46 (on JSTOR at 1598947)

Ronald Dworkin, “Hard Cases,” Harvard Law Review, vol. 88 (1975), pp. 1057-1109 (on JSTOR at 1340249)

Kimberly Kessler Ferzan, “Justifying Self-Defense,” Law and Philosophy, vol. 24 (2005), pp. 711-749 (on JSTOR at 30040369)

George Fletcher, “Fairness and Utility in Tort Theory,” Harvard Law Review, vol. 85 (1972), pp. 537-573 (on JSTOR at 1339623)

Wesley Hohfeld, selections from “Some Fundamental Legal Conceptions as Applied in Judicial Reasoning,” The Yale Law Journal, vol. 23 (1913), pp. 16-59 (on JSTOR at 785533)

Oliver Wendall Holmes, Jr., “The Path of the Law,” Harvard Law Review, vol. 10 (1897), pp. 457-478 (on JSTOR at 1322028)

John Rawls, “Two Concepts of Rules,” The Philosophical Review, vol. 64 (1955), pp. 3-32 (on JSTOR at 2182230)

Steven Shavell, “Why Breach of Contract May Not Be Immoral Given the Incompleteness of Contracts,” Michigan Law Review, vol. 107 (2009), pp. 1569-1581 (on JSTOR at 40380344)

Seana Shiffrin, “‘Could’ Breach of Contract Be Immoral?” Michigan Law Review, vol. 107 (2009), pp. 1551-1568 (on JSTOR at 40380343)

In PDF format (to be available on the website and Canvas):

“Some ideas of natural law,” selections from Aristotle, Cicero, the Roman jurists, and Aquinas

John Austin, The Province of Jurisprudence Determined, lecture I, selections from lecture V, and selections from lecture VI

Hugo Grotius, selections from Grotius on the Rights of War and Peace: An Abridged Translation.

John Stuart Mill, selections from On Liberty

Fuller contexts for many of these selections can be found in HTML format on the course Canvas site.

Grading

Requirements: (1) Two papers (the first paper 3-4 pp. and the second paper c. 6-7 pp.) on topics arising from the texts you read; in both cases, I will suggest the form of the paper but you will have substantial freedom in choosing the topic. (2) Two tests—the first the Fri. after midsemester and the second during exam week—including both short and longer essay questions on key concepts from the course. (3) Attendance and participation in class (which may include completion of occasional brief writing assignments). Your final grade will be based on these in the following way: 15%, and 35% for the papers, 15% and 20% for the tests, and 15% for class participation.

Attendance and due dates: As part of my evaluation of your participation, I will be keeping a record of your attendance. You will be automatically excused if you notify me in advance that you will miss a class (e-mail or voice-mail messages are fine). After the fact, you will be excused if you give me a good reason or a dean’s excuse. Due dates for the papers are subject to negotiation. In each case I have set a default due date for the class (2/10 and 4/13) and but I am willing to set individual due dates (within reason) for those who find the default dates inconvenient. My policy on missed deadlines is similar to that on missed classes: I’ll re-negotiate the deadline (again within reason) if I hear in advance, but after the fact I’ll expect an excuse. Unexcused missed deadlines will have an effect on your participation grade.

Calendar

Calendar. The assignments below are approximate and tentative. Sometimes a reading-guide handout will specify the details of an assignment, and it may include passages that are part of your assignment. Boxed dates are dates of tests or default due dates for papers (the latter are links to paper assignments when bold).

1/18  some ideas of natural law—handout
1/20Austin The Province of Jurisprudence Determined, lecture I—handout
1/22  ibid., lecture I cont’d and selections from lecture V—handout
1/25  ibid., selections from lecture VI—handout
1/27Holmes “The Path of the Law”—on JSTOR at 1322028
1/29  no class
2/1Hart The Concept of Law, ch. 3 §1
2/3  ibid., ch. 3 §3, ch. 4 §1
2/5  ibid., ch. 5
2/8  ibid., ch. 6 §§1-2
2/10  ibid., ch. 7 §1
2/12  ibid., §§2-3
2/15  ibid., ch. 9 §1 pp. 192f, §2, §3 (vi), note to p. 208 (on pp. 303f)
2/17Dworkin “The Model of Rules,” §§I-III—on JSTOR at 1598947
2/19  ibid., §§IV-V—on JSTOR at 1598947
2/22  “Hard Cases,” §§I-II—on JSTOR at 1340249
2/24  ibid., §§III-IV.A.1—on JSTOR at 1340249
2/26  ibid., §§IV.A.2-B.1—on JSTOR at 1340249
2/29  ibid., §§B.2-3—on JSTOR at 1340249
3/2  ibid., §V—on JSTOR at 1340249
3/4Hart The Concept of Law, ch. 8, §1
spring break
3/14Hohfeld “Some Fundamental Legal Conceptions as Applied in Judicial Reasoning,” pp. 16-20, 28-44—on JSTOR at 785533
3/16  ibid., pp. 44-59—on JSTOR at 785533
3/18 test 1
3/21Rawls “Two Concepts of Rules,” §§I-II—on JSTOR at 2182230
3/23  ibid., §§III-IV—on JSTOR at 2182230
3/25Mill sels. from On Liberty—handout
3/28Ferzan “Justifying Self-Defense,” intro. and §I (pp. 711-728)—on JSTOR at 30040369
3/30  ibid., §§II-III.B (pp. 728-739)—on JSTOR at 30040369
4/1  ibid., §§III.C-IV (pp. 739-749)—on JSTOR at 30040369
4/4Fletcher “Fairness and Utility in Tort Theory,” §§I-II.A (pp. 537-551)—on JSTOR at 1339623
4/6  ibid., §§II.B-III (pp. 551-564)—on JSTOR at 1339623
4/8  ibid., §§IV-V (pp. 564-573)—on JSTOR at 1339623
4/11Shiffrin & Shavell Shiffrin, “‘Could’ Breach of Contract Be Immoral?” intro. and §I (pp. 1551-1563)—on JSTOR at 40380343
4/13 Shiffrin, §II and concl. (pp. 1563-1568)—on JSTOR at 40380343; and Shavell, “Why Breach of Contract May Not Be Immoral Given the Incompleteness of Contracts,” intro. and §I (pp. 1569-1575)—on JSTOR at 40380344
4/15  Shavell, §II and concl. (pp. 1575-1581)—on JSTOR at 40380344
4/18Grotius sels. from Grotius on the Rights of War and Peace: An Abridged Translation.—handout
4/20Hrt The Concept of Law, ch. 10 §§ 1-3
4/22  ibid., §§ 4-5
4/25Altman & Wellman “A Defense of International Criminal Law,” intro. and §§I-III (pp. 35-51)—on JSTOR at 10.1086/422895
4/27 ibid., §§IV-V (pp. 51-62)—on JSTOR at 10.1086/422895
4/29  ibid., §§VI-VII (pp. 62-67)—on JSTOR at 10.1086/422895
5/5 test 2 (Thurs., 1:30 p.m.)