Torts (Hoffman,A) - Sec 3B
Faculty
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| Allison K. Hoffman William Maul Measey Professor of Law ahoffman@law.upenn.edu |
Additional Information
Skills Training
Oral Presentations
Grading
100% Exam
Exam
Essay,
In Class,
Open-Book
No
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:
- I will make PowerPoint slides or other class materials routinely available on the course site to everyone in the class.
- Students who miss class for illness, religious observation, or emergencies are excused. Please email me and the TAs, and we will send you a link to a recording of the missed class.
Meeting Times/Location
MTW 10:30AM - 11:45AM
Silverman Hall 245A
Category
First-Year
Credits
4.0
At its simplest, tort law seeks to answer the following question: when should someone be required to make monetary payment for conduct which harms another?
Our primary aims in this course are to:
• Learn the “rules” of torts and how they have developed over time. This demands more than simply memorizing what might be called doctrine or black-letter law, of which there is little in tort law. Rather, we will examine how and why the law has developed and changed over time, including what principles, policies, and purposes underlie this evolution.
• Uncover and develop the skills of legal reasoning that lawyers and judges use to apply these rules to a particular situation. This is the art of lawyering and one of the most important things you’ll learn in law school. This class is particularly good for examining the lawyering behind the cases and for developing critical thinking and reasoning skills for your own career.
• Examine the development of tort law critically. Is the law what it should be? Does it make sense? To answer these questions, we will step back and critique the law and its application and consider whether there might be better ways to organize liability (from an economic, administrative, or moral perspective).
NB: Laptops and other electronic devices may not be used in class. Be sure to purchase a hard copy of the casebook.
Textbooks
"The Forms and Functions of Tort Law" by Kenneth S. Abraham |