The Individual and Technology Legal Studies

• The nature of individual rights Individual rights refer to the freedom of each individual to pursue his or her life and goals without interference from other individuals or the government. – Public law vs private law Conditions for review: spring 2023 This course first introduces students to the origins of the problem of access to justice, paying attention to the different impacts by race, class and gender. It examines how the cost of legal services, and therefore tuition fees, has risen steadily over the past few decades. Using historical and comparative case studies, students are then encouraged to think creatively about who can represent people in court. Another source of inspiration comes from contemporary case studies outside of North America and Europe. Finally, students have the opportunity to undertake a guided research project on a historical, comparative or contemporary aspect of access to justice, which sheds light on possible solutions today. Access to Justice: Comparative and Historical Perspectives: Read More [+] Terms offered: Spring 2017, Spring 2015, Spring 2014 This course is an introduction to the comparative study of different legal cultures and traditions, including common law, civil law, socialist law, and religious law. Part of the class is devoted to comparing the colonial and postcolonial legal process in Latin America and Africa. Comparative Perspectives on Legal Standards and Traditions: Read More [+] Terms offered: Spring 2014, Summer 2013 10-week session, summer 2013 First session of 6 weeks This course will examine how feminist theory has shaped legal conceptions, as well as a range of feminist legal theories, including equality, difference, dominance, intersectional theories, poststructural, postcolonial. He asks how these theories have shaped legal interventions in areas such as the workplace/access to education, sexual coercion, work-family conflict, “cultural” defense, and globalized sweatshop work. Feminist jurisprudence: Read more .. [+] Terms offered: Spring 2023, Fall 2022, Summer 2022 First 6-week session This course examines recent American legal and social history in relation to reproductive and sexual behavior. We will examine two theoretical aspects of the problem: first, theories about how the law regulates social behavior, and second, more general theories about how reproduction is socially regulated.

Armed with these theoretical perspectives, the course will then examine in detail a range of legal/social conflicts, including sterilization, abortion, and contraception. Gender, reproduction and law: Read more .. [+] Course Objectives: Students will be able to demonstrate an understanding of the evolution of legal rules and institutions in the United States. Students will be able to demonstrate an understanding of the legal rules that channel government activities and the relationship between state and individual. Students will be able to assess the role and effectiveness of legal institutions, including courts, powers of attorney, police, and the Bar Association. Durations: Spring 2023, Fall 2021, Fall 2020 It is a political philosophy conference focused on liberal political theory that emphasizes the protection of individual freedom against social demands, the maintenance of social and economic equality, and the neutrality of the state under conditions of cultural and religious pluralism. By studying mainly modern authors, we will try to understand the meaning of these goals and the possibility of their common realization. Particular attention is paid to the work of John Rawls, the problem of moral and political disagreements, and the relationship between the “ideal” thinking of justice and the thought of justice under conditions of racial and gender hierarchies. Theories of Justice: Read More .. [+] Terms offered: Fall 2022 This course provides an overview of the history of U.S.

monetary law from its beginnings to the emergence of cryptocurrencies. We begin with a discussion of monetary issues in colonial times and during the American Revolutionary War. We then examine the framework established at the Constitutional Convention. We cover the 19th century and New Deal Supreme Court cases, which shaped U.S. monetary law as we know it today. Finally, we discuss current legal dilemmas such as the regulation of Bitcoin and stablecoins, the creation of central bank digital currencies, workarounds to the US debt ceiling, and the debate over the range of the Fed`s legal powers. We conclude with some classic questions about the nature and functions of money. Monetary law and regulation: Read more .. [+] Terms offered: Fall 2019, Fall 2017, Fall 2013 Psychology is the study of the human mind and its effects on behavior.

The law seeks to regulate behaviour through norm-setting, policing and punishment. This course provides an overview of the natural connection between law and psychology. Here, we will examine the psychology of legal systems, crime, and policing, and what happens in the courtroom, including criminal prosecutions, jury selection, testimony, prosecutions, and convictions. Throughout the process, we will analyze theoretical and empirical evidence as it applies in general and to specific population groups (children, persons with disabilities, people with mental illness, and racial and sexual minorities). Psychology and Law: Read More .. [+] Terms offered: Not yet offered This course explores policing and mass incarceration in today`s United States. The first half of the course explores policing and examines how the modern police force came into being, whether police reduce crime, and why police violence continues. The second half of the course will examine mass incarceration and examine how the United States came to imprison people at a higher rate than any other country in history, as well as the individual and social consequences of incarceration.

With regard to both policing and mass incarceration, we will focus particularly on the prospects for reform. Criminal Justice in the United States: Policing, Mass Incarceration, and Pathways to Reform: Read More [+] Conditions offered: Fall 2021 This course explores the logic and lived reality of authoritarian law, with the goal of complicating the popular notion that authoritarian law is merely an instrument of state repression. We will mix a more theoretical reading on legal approaches and the logic of courts with empirical studies on the functioning of law in two historical environments (Nazi Germany and East Germany) and two contemporary cases (China and Russia). Some of our attention will be focused on elite politics, particularly the reasons why leaders transfer power to the courts and the surveillance strategies they employ to keep judges, lawyers, and plaintiffs at bay. At the same time, we will pay special attention to everyday legal life and how ordinary citizens deal with the legal system. Law and Rights in Authoritarian States: Read More [+] Terms offered: Spring 2023, Spring 2022, Spring 2021 This course provides an introduction to constitutional law using Israel as a case study. The topics covered are: constitutionalism and judicial review, State neutrality and self-determination, minority rights, the State and religion, human rights, the concept of “defensive democracy” and the prohibition of non-democratic political parties, legal aspects of the fight against terrorism, freedom of expression, equality and anti-discrimination, social rights and constitutional restrictions on privatization. Comparative Constitutional Law: The Case of Israel: Read More [+] Course Objectives: Application of Critically Relevant Laws to Hypothetical Scenarios with Racial Groups. Demonstrate an understanding of relevant laws previously applied to racial groups.

Describe the four main schools of thought on law and race (i.e., neoconservative, liberal, critical legal studies, and critical racial theory). Explain the relationship between law, race, and racism in a variety of analytical frameworks, including those listed in course objective #1.