This is a fascinating and important subject, in part because of the immense range of intellectual endeavor it embodies.
It is generally advisable that you have taken an introductory course on Jurisprudence and Legal Theory.
If you are new to the subject, please do some basic and additional reading before you start, and be knowledgeable about the standard works and writings in the field up to LL.B standard.
At the postgraduate (Master’s) level, this requires you to:
- Think in directly practical terms: ‘Should this beneficiary receive the money to which that testator has said the estate should go?’
- Make highly abstract judgments: ‘By virtue of what does language have meaning?’
- Judge perceptively what is morally permissible: ‘Should beneficiaries who murder testators in order to ensure their inheritance, receive that money?’ and ‘If Parliament creates a statute, does it follow that anything that statute appears to permit, is morally permitted?’
Most students find the course intensely practical, but intellectually challenging.
Note: This is a double module subject.
Module A/B: Modern Legal Theory
LWM7AB
Selected topics on the development of Anglo-American legal philosophy from the origins of utilitarianism to the present day, including contemporary debates on philosophical method and the nature of law.
Module C/D: Liberty, Equality and Law
LWM7CD
Selected topics in the development of liberalism, including the ideas of liberty and equality and their relevance in the present day to our understanding of community, economics, cultural diversity and feminism.
Assessments
Each double module is assessed by a 90-minute unseen written paper.