Droit - L1 : Legal theory & philosophy of law

This course is designed to introduce students to the key concepts of legal philosophy and legal theory and their relevance to an understanding of the law in its social and political context. It will cover the main schools of thought in general jurisprudence (natural law, legal positivism, socio- logical jurisprudence, legal realism, Marxist theories of law, critical legal studies, and feminist legal theory, etc.). Topics to be covered include the question of the definition of law, the moral content of law, obligations to obey the law, the right for the state to interfere in the lives of its citizens, and the role of legal education in the reproduction of social hierarchy. Students will be encouraged to relate these questions to their own expe- riences and to form their own opinions.

• The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy : http://plato.stanford.edu/
• Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy : http://www.iep.utm.edu/
• The Wikipedia Law portal : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Law