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Course Details

Conservative Political and Legal Thought (Wax)

Fall 2024   LAW 956-001  

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Faculty
Amy Wax

Robert Mundheim Professor of Law

awax@law.upenn.edu
Additional Information

Skills Training
Oral Presentations
Expository Writing
Other Professional Skills:

Grading
15% Participation,
85% Paper

Satisfies Senior Writing Requirement

Yes

Location

Class meets in person.

Course Continuity
Students are encouraged to stay home if you are ill or experience flu-like symptoms. If you miss a class for any reason, it is still your responsibility to make up the work missed.

I offer the following to students who miss class due to illness:

- If you are absent, due to illness or some other unavoidable circumstance, email me and I can ask for volunteers among your classmates to share their notes with you.

Meeting Times/Location
T 1:15PM - 2:59PM
Golkin Hall 238

Category
Seminar

Credits
1.5

This year-long seminar, which meets every other week, will explore the conservative intellectual tradition in Anglo-American and European thought and its ramifications for law, including, inter alia, the role of tradition, precedent, autonomy, contractarianism, liberty, equality, rights, civil society, the family, legal regulation and interpretation, the administrative state, national sovereignty, ethnic and sexual identity, and the roles of the criminal law and the welfare state. Readings include works by Edmund Burke, Alexis de Tocqueville, Sir James FitzJames Stephen, Richard Weaver, Russell Kirk, Michael Oakeshott, James Burnham, and other more recent works in conservative law, politics, and policy. Students will be assigned to lead discussions and to prepare discussion questions once a semester. There will be paper due, on a topic of the students' choice, at the end of each semester. Grading is based on the presentation and papers. Readings will be online, and also from one or two volumes to be announced.

Course Concentrations

Constitutional Law Learning outcomes: Demonstrate a core understanding of constitutional law; Perform legal analysis in the context of constitutional law; Communicate effectively on topics related to constitutional law; Demonstrate an understanding of constitutional law affects other areas of law.

Courts and the Judicial System Learning outcomes: Demonstrate a core understanding of both substantive and procedural issues in the operation of our legal system; Perform legal analysis in the context of procedural issues and the judicial process; Communicate effectively on topics related to procedure and the judicial process; Demonstrate an understanding of how procedural issues and the judicial process affect all other area of our legal system.

Criminal Law and Procedure Learning outcomes: Demonstrate a core understanding of criminal law and procedure; Perform legal analysis in the context of criminal law and procedure; Communicate effectively on topics related to criminal law and procedure; Demonstrate an understanding of the role criminal law and procedure play in society and their impact on other areas of law and society.

Perspectives on the Law Learning outcomes: Demonstrate an understanding of how the law affects, and is affected by, the individual course topic; Perform legal analysis in the context of the individual course topic; Communicate effectively on the legal and other aspects of the individual course topic; Demonstrate the ability to use other disciplines to analyze legal issues relevant to the individual course topic, including economics, philosophy, and sociology, as appropriate.

Administrative and Regulatory Law Learning outcomes: Demonstrate a core understanding of administrative and regulatory law and the administrative process, including the role of statutory authorization and work of administrative agencies; Perform legal analysis in the context of administrative and regulatory law; Communicate effectively on topics related to administrative and regulatory law; Demonstrate an understanding of the role administrative and regulatory law play in our legal system and in society as a whole.

Public Interest Learning outcomes: Demonstrate a core understanding of the varied legal aspects of public interest law; Perform legal analysis in the context of public interest law; Communicate effectively on topics related to public interest law; Demonstrate an understanding of how public interest law is connected to and affected by a wide variety of legal and regulatory structures and doctrines.

Equity and Inclusion Learning outcomes: Demonstrate a core understanding of the varied legal aspects of equity and inclusion; Perform legal analysis in the context of topics related to equity and inclusion; Communicate effectively on the legal aspects of equity and inclusion; Demonstrate an understanding of how equity and inclusion are connected to and affected by a wide variety of legal and regulatory structures and doctrines.


Textbooks

"Conservatism: An Anthology of Social and Political Thought from David Hume to the Present" by Jerry Z. Muller (ed.)
Edition: 1997
Publisher: Princeton
ISBN: 9780691037110
Required

"Ideas Have Consequences " by Richard M. Weaver
Publisher: Unvi of Chicago Press
ISBN: 9780226090061
Required

"The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Eliot " by Russell Kirk
Edition: 7th rev. ed. 1985, 2014 r
Publisher: Washington: Regnery Pub
ISBN: 9780895261717
Required