Contains course descriptions and materials.

Synopsis:

This course is intended to introduce students to the politics of law and its administration at the lower level of the judiciary in state and federal systems. In particular, this class will focus upon the politics of the trial process by examining the following: juries, the adversary system, the rules of procedure, discovery and evidence, the rules governing lawyer-client relations, and decision mechanisms used by trial judges. Particular attention will be paid to whether paradigm notions about the legal system are true, equivocally true or whether they are completely mythical. For example, we will periodically ask ourselves throughout the course whether and to what extent "law" really operates as a constraint upon system participants; whether and to what extent the system is actually designed to uncover "the truth;" and whether and to what extent "laws" and "rules" really matter both within and outside the system. Students will also learn the legal mechanisms used by trial court judges to decide issues and will consider whether judges having such mechanisms really manage trials by simply “following law.”

In addition, the class will focus upon the politics of law as manifested in common legal transactions. Students will learn how the definition of legality affects the filing and prosecuting of lawsuits in the areas of contract, tort and family law. Students will be given an interesting examination of how these legal transactions are structured and adjudicated from the perspective of a legal participant. Students will be exposed to the basic legal framework for decision and will see the incentives that legality creates in these specific areas. Finally, students will be given a strong introduction to the politics of crime and prosecution, paying particular attention to the law of sentencing and the power that the police state has amassed to search, seize, arrest and extract criminal evidence from suspects.

At the very end of the course, students are given an introduction to the education of lawyers and what to anticipate in a legal career. Students will also be asked at the end of the term to consider whether or to what extent the system that they have learned is "political," and, if so, what that term might mean across different contexts and situations. The purpose of the linguistic exercise to acquaint students with the grammar of the expression “law and politics.” Any student who is interested in attending law school will find this class of immense value.

Course Lectures:

The lectures for this course can be accessed online. Anyone is free to listen. To hear the lectures, simply use the menu tab titled "web lectures" at seanwilson.org. Or, select select from one of two lists immediately below. The first is a chronological organization; the second is an alphabetical subject index.

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