Course Catalogue

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Lawyers routinely express views about the law: they may argue that a law is good or bad, that it exceeds its legitimate boundaries, or that there is a duty to obey it. What is often missing, however, is a coherent framework for thinking rigorously about these claims. What makes a law good or bad? When and why is a given law legitimate? Are there ever any grounds for disobeying law and what might these be? This course in normative jurisprudence - a branch of legal theory concerned with what the law ought to be - provides the conceptual tools for systematic reflection on these questions.

Through engagement with theoretical arguments and real-world examples, the course illuminates the relationship between law and morality, encourages critical reflection on the moral foundations of legal order, and equips students with the conceptual resources needed to understand the values that shape legal reasoning and practice.

10 x 2-hour seminars throughout the semester

This course is open to students on both the LLB (Scots Law) and the LLB (Common Law), as well as to visiting students.

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Assessment 1: Essay (70%)

Students will submit an essay of 3,000 words

Assessment 2: Oral Assessment (30%)

Students will complete an oral assessment/participation component, the form of which will be clearly set out at the start of the course in the course document.

In recognition of the potential disability equality impact of the oral assessment, the course team will, in line with recommendations contained in the School's Disability Handbook, adopt inclusive assessment practices and implement reasonable adjustments to the assessment as required.

The aim of this course is to cultivate students' capacity for critical thinking about law, and to situate legal practices within a larger framework of moral values that ought to guide legal decision-making and inform legal practices. As such, it is particularly well-suited to support several of the University of Glasgow graduate attributes, contributing to students' development as critical and independent thinkers and ethically and socially aware citizens, as well as subject specialists who understand the values, principles and limitations of their discipline. As such, students who take the course will be better equipped to contribute to their communities as well as to disciplinary culture and practice of law.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

- Interpret texts and ideas in legal, political and moral theory

- Assess complex and abstract normative arguments about law

- Evaluate the relationship between law and wider value framework in which it is embedded

- Formulate normative questions about law, legal institutions and legal practices

-Construct sustained arguments drawing on a range of theoretical sources