Theories of Law (Katz/Moore) - online
Faculty
|
|
| Leo Katz Frank Carano Professor of Law lkatz@law.upenn.edu |
Additional Information
Satisfies Senior Writing RequirementNo
Class meets online.
Meeting Times/Location
T 4:30PM - 6:30PM
Online
Category
Seminar
Credits
3.0
Legal Theory: The Moral Underpinnings of the Criminal Law This is a joint seminar taught at both the University of Illinois and the University of Pennsylvania by Michael Moore (at Illinois) and Leo Katz (at Penn). Because of the disparate locations of the students at two different universities, and because of the regular presence of guest-commentators from yet other universities, the seminar is Zoom only. There are no prerequisites for the seminar; because the topics covered differ from those covered in any prior years, the seminar is open to enrollment by those who took the Legal Theory Seminar in previous years. The title of this year’s seminar is: Legal Theory: The Moral Underpinnings of the Criminal Law. It meets on Tuesdays from 3:30 to 5:20, Central Time. The readings will consist of a new book (under contract but not yet published) on criminal law theory; the authors are Michael Moore and Heidi Hurd. The topics of the chapters discussed in the seminar are: what makes a law a part of criminal law? Is the attainment of retributive justice the goal or function of criminal law? Why is criminal law divided between a “General Part” and a Special Part?” What makes certain behaviors “not the law’s business” when it comes to deciding what should be criminalized? What formalities must criminal legislation honor if criminal law is to conform to the ideal of the rule of law? What constitutes both culpability and wrongdoing that are said to alone deserve criminal punishment? Should criminal law exclude all liabilities that are either strict (i.e., without culpability) or vicarious (i.e., without wrongdoing)? Can the criminal law justly punish either inadvertent negligence or the bad attitudes of hatred and bias? What are the attributes that make for moral agency such that animals and some (very young or very crazy) humans lack such agency whereas corporations possess it? Do persons need to have free will in order to be morally blamable and criminally punishable? Sequence and Prerequisites: None Evaluation: There is no examination for the seminar. Instead roughly every other week students prepare short papers (750 words) on 7 of the sessions, and these short papers will serve as the basis for the discussion of the chapter that their papers discuss. In addition, for one session of the seminar each student will pair up (one Illinois student with one Penn student) to prepare written questions for discussion of the reading for that one session.