Legal Systems Very Different from Ours
Spring 2010

Office Hours April 29th: Thursday Noon-2:00 and by arrangement

The idea of this seminar is to look at a variety of different legal systems in order  to make sense of how they work and understand the different ways in which different systems have handled problems common to all. Unlike the usual course in comparative law, we are not going to be looking at systems close to ours such as modern Civil Law or Japanese law. Instead we will be examining systems from the distant past (Athens, Imperial China), from radically different societies (saga period Iceland, Sharia), or contemporary systems independent of government law (gypsy law, Amish).

If you have suggestions for additional legal systems we ought to be covering, tell me and they may get included.

The main requirements for the course are class participation and a paper whose final version is due at the end of the semester. A draft is due several weeks before the end of the course; the final weeks will be devoted mostly to discussions of the paper drafts.

A number of the books we will be using are currently out of print. You can either try to find a second hand copy at a reasonable price online or use the copies I will have on reserve in the library.

Syllabus

Paper Requirement

Reading List

Links to relevant material online (students are invited to contribute more)

Some papers from past years.

Lecture notes

Recordings and White Boards from classes

Office Hours: office hours Thursday 12:00-1:00, 5:00-6:00; other times by arrangement,

Virtual Office Hours by email: ddfr@daviddfriedman.com