Legal Theory and Legal Philosophy 2200-1K003-ERA
1. Law as a means of coordinating human behavior – introductory lecture
Different perspectives: philosophical, axiological, anthropological, sociological, legal.
The concept of law as a reflection of these perspectives; theories of law as command, contract, fact, emotion, or symbol; legal conventionalism; key legal theories of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Law and violence.
2. Law and other normative systems
Processes of moral norm positivization (e.g., law as the minimum of morality).
Pros and cons of such positivization.
Morality and other normative systems as checks on legal obligations (e.g., legal disobedience).
3. Law as command
The idea of original (hard) positivism:
Anglo-Saxon tradition: Hobbes, Bentham, Austin.
Continental tradition: Napoleonic Code, German legal positivism vs historical school, normativism.
Limitations on lawmaking: rule of law, separation of powers, human rights protection, legal internationalization, constitutionalism.
4. Law as a system of norms
Hans Kelsen: legal hierarchy, conditions of validity.
Constitutional courts and legal coherence.
Legal systemicity and global systemicity (language, economics, globalization).
5. Philosophy of language and law
Linguistic turn in philosophy and legal theory.
L. Wittgenstein, J.L. Austin, speech act theory.
Legal speech acts, R.G. Millikan's biosemantics and law.
6. Law as a union of primary and secondary rules
H.L.A. Hart: primary/secondary rules.
Rules of change and adjudication.
Rule of recognition, legal validity, language, legal practice, international law.
Refined positivism and its critics.
7. Legal validity – obedience and disobedience
From natural law to inclusive positivism.
Legal disobedience: Gustav Radbruch's "statutory injustice," Berlin Wall cases.
Civil disobedience: Aquinas, Arendt, Gandhi, Alexy.
8. Judiciary in positivism and political liberalism
From "the least dangerous branch" to interpretative revolution.
Constitutional courts, judicial activism, "juristocracy."
Judicial independence: institutional and ethical aspects.
9. Discretion in law
Law as non-mechanical practice.
Vagueness and open texture.
Discretion in administrative law.
Tradition of general clauses.
10. Legal realism and its successors
Anti-formalism in U.S. jurisprudence: Holmes, Llewellyn, Pound.
"Law in action" vs "law in books."
Legal engineering.
Dworkin's critique of positivism and realism; Judge Hercules metaphor.
11. Legal interpretation
Analytic, hermeneutic, and argumentative theories.
Constitutional interpretation and judicial lawmaking.
Objectivity, dynamic vs static interpretation.
Rule of law vs legal formalism.
12. Theories of legal argumentation
From Greek rhetoric to Perelman, MacCormick, Łętowska, Stelmach.
Legal and political eristics.
Law as discourse and dialogue.
13. Postmodernism
Postmodernism in law: collapse of legal paradigms.
Anti-logocentrism, Kozak, Sulikowski.
Law and trust: Bauman, Giddens.
14. Justice
Substantive and procedural justice.
Perelman's principles, rule of law interpretation.
Rawls' liberal theory, Sandel's critique.
Social justice as constitutional principle and myth.
Tryb prowadzenia
Koordynatorzy przedmiotu
Efekty kształcenia
Learning outcomes:
Upon completion, students will:
• understand the meaning and complexity of key legal concepts (e.g., norm, system, validity, disobedience, interpretation, justification);
• recognize how legal concepts carry assumptions about human nature and social processes;
• distinguish their legal understanding from competing views;
• identify types of arguments and counterarguments in legal and ethical disputes;
• analyze social and legal processes critically, use norms and rules to solve problems with awareness of professional limits;
• appreciate law’s societal role and legal professionals' ethical responsibilities
----------------------------
Requirements:
• Knowledge of lecture topics.
• Understanding of discussed texts.
• Emphasis on comprehension and independent analysis over rote memorization.
Evaluation criteria:
• Understanding of basic legal concepts and theoretical constructs;
• Ability to reconstruct and critique legal-philosophical arguments;
• Capacity to formulate and defend personal viewpoints.
Kryteria oceniania
Learning outcomes:
Upon completion, students will:
• understand the meaning and complexity of key legal concepts (e.g., norm, system, validity, disobedience, interpretation, justification);
• recognize how legal concepts carry assumptions about human nature and social processes;
• distinguish their legal understanding from competing views;
• identify types of arguments and counterarguments in legal and ethical disputes;
• analyze social and legal processes critically, use norms and rules to solve problems with awareness of professional limits;
• appreciate law’s societal role and legal professionals' ethical responsibilities
----------------------------
Requirements:
• Knowledge of lecture topics.
• Understanding of discussed texts.
• Emphasis on comprehension and independent analysis over rote memorization.
Evaluation criteria:
• Understanding of basic legal concepts and theoretical constructs;
• Ability to reconstruct and critique legal-philosophical arguments;
• Capacity to formulate and defend personal viewpoints.
Literatura
G. Radbruch, Five Minutes of Legal Philosophy (1945), Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, Vol. 26, No. 1 (2006), pp. 13–15.
G. Radbruch, Statutory Lawlessness and Supra-Statutory Law (1946), Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, Vol. 26, No. 1 (2006), pp. 1-11.
H. Kelsen, Introduction to the Problem of Legal Theory: A Translation of the First Edition of the Reine Rechtslehre or Pure Theory of Law, Clarendon Press, Oxford 2002, pp. 55-75 (chapter V).
J. Frank, Law and the Modern Mind, Stevens & Sons Ltd., London 1949, pp. 3-13, 32-47
H.L.A. Hart, The Concept of Law, Clarendon Press, Oxford 1994, pp. 124-154 (chapter VII).
M. Romanowicz, Clara... vs Omnia... czyli język a proces stosowania prawa [Clara... vs Omnia... or language and the process of applying law] (in:) A. Mróz, A. Niewiadomski, M. Pawelec (eds.), Prawo, język, etyka [Law, Language, Ethics], Warsaw 2010, pp. 198-208 [Author's translation].
R. Dworkin, Law’s Empire, Harvard University Press, Cambridge (MA), London 1986, pp. 15-20, 31-33, 164-175, 225-232, 254-258.
Ch. Perelman, L. Olbrechts-Tyteca, The New Rhetoric. A Treatise on Argumentation, University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame, London 1971, pp. 13-35.
H.-G. Gadamer, Truth and Method, Continuum, London, New York 2006, pp. 320-336.
M. Krygier, Four puzzles about the rule of law: why, what, where? And who cares?, Nomos Vol. 50, 2011, pp. 1-21.
C. Schmitt, Political Theology. Four Chapters on the Concept of Sovereignty, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, London 2005, pp. 5-15.
P. Skuczyński, Typy myśli krytycznej w prawoznawstwie. Od krytyki poznania do walki o uznanie [Types of critical thought in jurisprudence. From criticism of cognition to the struggle for recognition] (in:) M. Zirk-Sadowski, B. Wojciechowski T. Bekrycht (ed.), Integracja zewnętrzna i wewnętrzna nauk prawnych [External and internal integration of legal sciences], part 1, Łódź 2014, pp. 133-148 [Author's translation].
J. Rawls, A Theory of Justice. Revised Edition, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge (MA) 1999, pp. 10-24.
N. Fraser, Feminist Politics in the Age of Recognition: A Two-Dimensional Approach to Gender Justice, Studies in Social Justice, Volume 1, Number 1, Winter 2007, pp. 23-35.
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