Legal Studies

This is a special studies course involving an internship with a corporate, public, governmental, or private organization, arranged with the Study Center Director of Liaison Officer. Specific internships vary each term and are described on a special study project form for each student. A substantial paper or series of reports is required. Units vary depending on the contact hours and method of assessment. Graded P/NP only.

This course examines basic philosophical and theoretical problems about law in constitutional democracies—its origins, its nature, its grounds for legitimacy, and its scope and force. The course introduces theories of law from the natural rights tradition, social contract theory, legal positivism, and legal realism. It concludes by examining theories of law influenced by interpretive theories (hermeneutics), by various schools of critical theory, including critical race theory and feminist theory, and by scholars working in law and society. The course examines several influential theorists and philosophers from the Western legal tradition, although it pays some attention to contemporary Korean legal theorists and philosophers. Students read important works by Thomas Aquinas, John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, John Stuart Mill, Karl Marx, H.L.A. Hart, John Rawls, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Hannah Arendt, Brian Tamahana, Jurgen Habermas, Jeremy Waldron, Roberto Unger, Mari Matsuda, Derrick Bell, and Mark Tushnet. 

This course introduces the spatial effects the law has in everyday life's urban spaces, problems related to geography in general, and cities in specific. It examines the relationship between space and law, and how law and legal theory are essential starting points in understanding cities and vice versa. The course also confronts legal and social theories using architecture, literature, film, art, and legal ethnographic approaches. It addresses inquiries such as how law creates space; how national and international laws construct cities; how law, literature, and film represent cities; and how it is possible to do legal research in this field.

This course provides students interested in Forensic Psychology and Law with an introduction to topics typical for this field. Examples of such topics are paraphilic disorders, substance use disorder, child abuse, the fallibility of eyewitness memory, lie detection, and alcohol-related amnesia. In each tutorial, research articles and case material descriptions related to a theme are studied and discussed. The examination consists of writing a paper about a topic related to the field of Forensic Psychology or Psychology and Law and active participation during the tutorials through giving presentations and actively discussing the reading materials.

This course gives an introduction to a wide range of questions about offending behavior, crime, and its control, drawing on criminological theory and research. The course introduces the origins and development of thinking about crime, patterns of offending behavior, the problems of determining what we know about crime and the implications for how we should respond. In particular, the course encourages students to think independently and critically, and to apply theoretical ideas to real-world problems of crime and its control.

Carriage of goods by sea has been the backbone of international trade since ancient times. This age-old yet sophisticated commercial activity remains to this day of importance to traders selling and purchasing goods across territorial borders for profit. English law enjoys a long-standing predominance in the international shipping market, as it is frequently chosen by the parties to govern their contracts of carriage. A vast amount of goods is carried around the world under contracts of carriage governed by English law. This course covers all facets of CIF and FOB sales, ranging from contract formation to remedies, focusing on the problems when the interlocking contracts are not back-to-back. It also covers the main principles of the law of carriage of good by sea, offering an essential study of the two main forms of contract of carriage, namely charterparties and bills of lading.

This course introduces students to the study of crime and its prevention. It begins by considering the challenges with how we define and measure crime, and the implications these have for interpreting key crime trends. Special attention is devoted to how crime patterns manifest in space and time, and how they can be analyzed. Next, the key sociological, psychological, and ecological theories relating to criminal behavior are critically examined. Lastly, the formal structures and machinery in place to respond to crime and security problems are outlined. This includes the role and functions of the police, courts, and corrections as the chief components of the criminal justice system, as well as the role of government in setting crime policy. Students are encouraged to critically assess the strength of different theoretical approaches throughout the course.

This course introduces a wide range of questions about offending behavior, crime, and its control, drawing on criminological theory and research. The course introduces the origins and development of thinking about crime, patterns of offending behavior, the problems of determining what we know about crime and the implications for how we should respond. In particular, the course encourages students to think independently and critically, and to apply theoretical ideas to real-world problems of crime and its control.