Entries by Title

• 01.A: Lecture Outline
• 01.B. What is This Course About?
• 01.C. Why This Course is Relevant
• 01.D. Course Organization
• 01.E. Teaching Philosophy and Method
• 01.F. Course Rules
• 02.A: Lecture Outline
• 02.B: Class Announcements
• 02.C. Review
• 02.D. Trial of Jesus (introduction)
• 02.E The Trial of Jesus (showing the purpose of the trial)
• 02.F. Trial of Jesus (Trial Procedure)
• 02.G: The Trial as Ritual: Witch Trials (Grace Sherwood)
• 03.A: Lecture Outline
• 03.B: Class Announcements
• 03.C: Review of Last Lecture
• 03.D: Does the Attorney's Role in the Adversary System Subvert the Search for Truth?
• 03.E: Do Civil Settlements Disclose the Truth?
• 03.F: Are Adversary Trials Designed to Maximize the Truth?
• 04.A: Lecture Outline: The Purpose of Juries in the Adversary System.
• 04.B: Class Announcements
• 04.C: Your First Quiz!
• 04.D: Understanding the Professor's Slide Technique: How to Takes Good Notes
• 04.E: Review of Previous Lecture
• 04.F(1): Class Discussion: Why Do You Think We Use Juries?
• 04.F(2): Why Not Get Rid of the Jury in the Adversary System?
• 04.G: Layperson Justice: Why Juries Are Used in the Adversary System
• 04.H: Jury Nullification
• 04.I: The Adversary System: A Layperson Ritual Premised Upon Structured Conflict.
• 05.A: Lecture Outline: The Structure, Organization and Culture of American Courts.
• 05.B: Class Announcements
• 05.C: Review of Previous Lecture
• 05.D: The Rules of the Game: What You Will Learn About Legal Procedure
• 05.E: The Trial Court and Its Function in the American Judiciary
• 05.F: The Magistrate Court in the American Judiciary
• 05.G: The Basic Structure of the State Court System
• 05.H: The Federal Court System in the Ameican Judiciary
• 05.I: The Culture of Different Courts in the American Judiciary
• 05.J: Your Field-Research Paper
• 06.A: Lecture Outline: Jurisdiction, Jeopardy and Forum Shopping
• 06.B: Class Announcements
• 06.D: More About Your Field Research Paper
• 06.E: Getting Perpective: Learning the Trial Court Instruction Manual
• 06.F: Federal Question and Diversity Jurisdiction
• 06.G: Playing Home and/or Away: the Game of Forum Shopping
• 06.H: How the Legal System Structures Goals and Remedies
• 07.A: Outline of Lecture: Pleadings, Frivolous Cases and Winning Early
• 07.B: Class Anouncements
• 07.C: Summary of the Previous Lecture
• 07.D: Getting Perspective: Where We Are In The Trial Court Instruction Manual.
• 07.E: Commencing Litigation: Indictments, Informations, Complaints, Etc.
• 07.F: What Mechanisms Protect You Against Frivolous Lawsuits and Prosecutions?
• 07.G: Winning Without Combat: Summary Judgment and Other Such Dispositions
• 08.A: Lecture Outline: Civil and Criminal Discovery
• 08.B: Class Announcements
• 08.C: Review of Previous Lecture
• 08.D: Where We Are in the Trial Court Instruction Manual
• 08.E: How Discovery Works in Civil Cases
• 08.F: How Discovery Works in Criminal Cases
• 09.A: Lecture Outline -- Settling Cases, Trial Procedure & Picking a Jury
• 09.B: Class Announcements
• 09.C: Review of Previous Lecture
• 09.D: Getting Perspective: Where We Are in The Trial Court Instruction Manual
• 09.E: Settlement Culture in Criminal Versus Civil Cases
• 09.F: The Game of Jury Selection: Pools, Qualification, Strikes & Strategy
• 09.G: Trial Procedure: Opening, Closing, The Case, Jury Indoctrination & Deliberation/Verdict
• 10.A: Lecture Outline: Witnesses, Interrogation & Privileges
• 10.B: Class Announcements
• 10.C: Review of Previous Lecture
• 10.D: Introduction to the Rules of Evidence
• 10.E: Lay and Expert Witnesses
• 10.F: Evidence Objections Based Upon the Form of the Question
• 10.G: Move It or Lose It: The Evidence Game
• 10.H: Techniques in Direct Examination
• 10.I: The Witness as Parrot: Good Techniques of Cross Examination
• 10.J: From Mistake to Lie: Impeaching Witnesses During Cross Examination
• 10.K: Secrecy in Evidence: The Law of Privileges
• 11.A: Lecture Outline: Setting the Table for Judicial Discretion: Relevance and Hearsay
• 11.B: Class Announcements
• 11.C: Review of Previous Lecture
• 11.D: Introduction to the Rules of Evidence
• 11.E: What is Relevance?
• 11.F: Basis and Anti-Basis: The Peculiar Structure of the Rule of Relevance
• 11.G: Class Discussion: How Many Photos Does the Relevance Rule Require?
• 11.H: Photographic Evidence: How The Ilusion of a Relevance Rule Sanctions Free Choice
• 11.I: The Basic Structure of the Hearsay Rule
• 12.A: Lecture Outline -- Review Standards: An Introduction to the Politics of Trial Judging
• 12.C: Review of Previous Lecture
• 12.D: Why Trial Judges Have So Much Discretion: Examining Appellate Standards of Review
• 12.E: The Fiction of Law? Judging Under the Abuse of Discretion Standard
• 12.F: More Judicial Discretion: The Clearly Erroneous Standard of Review
• 12.G: The Significance of "Harmless Errors" and of Trial Discretion
• 13.A: Lecture Outline --The Politics of Trial Judging: Review Standards, Discretion & Local Power
• 13.B: Class Announcements
• 13.C: Understanding The Politics of Trial Judging: Standards of Review
• 13.D: Umpire and Participant? Understanding How Review Standards Congifure Judging Choices
• 13.E: Lawlessness Versus Intelligent Design: The Harnessing of Local Power Into the Judicial System
• 14.A: Lecture Outline -- Trial Judging: When Law and Discretion Collide
• 14.B: Class Announcements
• 14.C: Trial Judging: Summarizing Discretion and Conceptualizing Legality
• 14.D: If Trial Judge Has Discretion, Does that Mean that "Law" Fails? (Answer: It Depends)
• 14.E: Your Midterm Examination.
• 15.A: Lecture Outline: Part II of the Course; an Introduction to Contracts
• 15.B: Class Announcements
• 15.C: What Part II of the Course is All About
• 15.D: My Plan of Attack for the Contracts Lectures
• 15.E: What are Contracts All About?
• 15.F: Contracts: Prerequisites to Formation
• 15.G: Contracts: The Basic Rules of Assent
• 16.A: Lecture Summary: Contracts: Defenses, Excuses, Fictions & Writings
• 16.B: Class Announcements
• 16.C: Review of Previous Lecture
• 16.D: Contracts -- Defenses to Assent
• 16.E: Contracts -- Excuses for Performance
• 16.F: Summary of Contracts Law
• 16.G: Contracts by Operation of Law
• 16.H: The Primacy of the Writing: How Lawyers Steal Your Expectations
• 17.A: Lecture Outline: Contract Damages and Their Ultimate Significance
• 17.B: Class Announcements
• 17.C: Review of Previous Lecture
• 17.D: Understanding Contract Damages and Remedies
• 17.E: An Illustration of How Contract Damages Work
• 17.F: The Politics of the Remedy: Suing Prom Dates for Breach of Contract
• 18.A: Lecture Outline: An Introduction to Torts
• 18.B: Class Announcements
• 18.C: Review of Previous Lecture
• 18.D: What is Tort and Injury Law?
• 18.E: Understanding Tort Damages
• 18.F: Intentional Torts (an Introduction)
• 18.G: Non-Intentional Torts (an Introduction)
• 19.A: Lecture Outline: How the Tort of Negligence Really Works
• 19.B: Class Announcements
• 19.C: Review of Previous Lecture
• 19.D: Understanding Theories of Tort Liability
• 19.E: Understanding the Tort of Negligence
• 19.F: How Lawyers Invent Liability
• 19.G: Defenses to Negligence
• 19.H: Inside information -- Who Gets the Money and How Lawyers Think About Liability
• 20.A: Lecture Outline: Marriage, Love & Brain Science
• 20.B: Class Announcements
• 20.C: Review of Previous Lecture
• 20.D: The Injury Game From an Inside Perspective -- What the Lawyers do, and Why
• 20.E: Getting Some Perspective About Marriage
• 20.F: Love is a Temporary Chemical Brain State
• 21.A: Lecture Outline: Marriage, Annulment, Divorce, Equitable Distribution & Alimony
• 21.B: Class Announcements
• 21.D: The Legal Formation of Marriage and Grounds for Annulment
• 21.E: Grounds for Divorce
• 21.F: Sharing Assets and Liabilities: an Introduction to Equitable Distribution
• 21.G: Equitable Distribution -- The Game of When the Sharing Ends
• 21.H: An Introduction to Alimony
• 22.A: Lecture Outline: The Politics of Children and Gender Fairness
• 22.B: Class Announcements
• 22.D: The Politics of Children -- How "Custody" Takes Children Away From (Usually Male) Parents
• 22.E: The Politics of Family Transfer Payments -- Are the Incentives Proper?
• 22.F: Shared Parenting and Fatherhood: How to Reform Custody and Support Laws so That Divorce is Fair to Men.
• 22.G: The Nature of the Divorce Transaction -- An Insider's Perspective
• 22.H: Introduction to Criminal Law -- Mens Rea & the Actus Reas