Philosophy 265
Philosophical Problems in the Law
Spring 2007
Prof. Duncan
Ithaca College

Handouts and Other Items

Syllabus
Guidelines for Writing Papers

Handout on Common Grammar Mistakes
First Paper Topics

Moot Court Pairings
Moot Court Topics and Instructions

Mid-term Exam Review Sheet
Second Paper Topics

Final Exam Review Sheet

Lecture Notes

The Rule of Law

Natural Law Theory
Lon Fuller on the Nature of Law

Ronald Dworkin on the Nature of Law

Austin's Legal Positivism
Hart's Legal Positivism
Judicial Review
Notes on Griswold v. Connecticut
Scalia on Textualism

Notes on Roe v. Wade
Notes on Planned Parenthood v. Casey
Racial Equality and the Constitution
Defining Racism
The Benefits of Marriage
The Law and Same-Sex Marriage
Reiman on Punishment

Capital Punishment and Deterrence:
Murder rates in large U.S. cities
International murder rates
International prison rates (and here)

        Comparisons between states with and without the death penalty
General Comparison
Comparisons between neighboring states

Reading Links

Note:  Moot Court Briefs are posted on the WebCT page for our course.

• Lon Fuller, The Problem of the Grudge Informers
• Riggs v. Palmer (you can skip the questions at the end, if you wish)
• Griswold V. Connecticut (please read Justice Douglas's opinion and the dissents by Justice Black and Justice Stewart; you can skip the other opinions. You needn't read the footnotes either.  In the text there are many references to earlier court cases you won't be familiar with.  I don't expect you to know the meaning of these.  Still, I think the gist of the Justices' arguments is accesssible even without knowledge of these earlier cases; do your best to grasp the main ideas presented.  At various points, too, the Justices refer to other parts of the Bill of Rights.  For the text of constitutional amendments, click here.)
• Roe v. Wade
• Planned Parenthood of Southeastern PA. v. Casey
• Lawrence v. Texas
• William Saletan, Incest Repellant?
• Andrew Sullivan, Marriage or Bust:  Why Civil Unions Aren’t Enough
• Goodridge v. Dept. of Public Health (you need only read the “Unofficial Synopsis”—the first 15 inches or so)
• John Corvino, Homosexuality and the PIB Argument
  

Miscellaneous Links

• Click here for the humorous chain story example I used in class during our discussion of Ronald Dworkin's theory of law.