Course+Syllabus

Copyright Thomas Mathien

PHL 271H5 F  ETHICS AND THE LAW = MISSISSAUGA CAMPUS = Monday and Wednesday 9:00-10:30 AM   North Academic Building, NE 134 Instructor: Thomas Mathien Office: N 229; Tel: 905-828-5290 Downtown Office: 49 St. George Street, Room 205 Tel: 416-978-4136; Fax: 416-971-1397; Home: 416-979-2393 thomas.mathien@utoronto.ca  When I was young, many of my contemporaries held that it was impossible to legislate (private) morality, yet also believed that having a system of laws was socially and morally desirable. They also believed that it was wrong to callously disobey the law. Many believed that civil disobedience of the kind advocated by Gandhi or King was justified. On the other hand many also held that it would be wrong for a judge to decide contrary to the law even when to do so was to do what the judge recognized as wrong. We often allow that laws can be unjust at least in part yet still be laws. We recognize that legislation is the privilege of those who have achieved social and political power, and that it and its enforcement reflects the interests of the powerful. On the other hand, we also think it wrong to serve as an agent of an evil system of law, and have some idea of what such a system would amount to. This course will consider some issues in the relation between law and morality by looking at both theoretical materials and select case law. The text for the course is David Dyzenhaus, Sophie Reibetanz Moreau and Arthur Ripstein (eds.) //Law and Morality//, Third Edition (Toronto, U. of Toronto Press, 2007). There will be a preliminary assignment (37.5%), an essay (37.5%), and a final term test in the last class of term (25%). My office hours at Mississauga will be 8:30-9 and 10:30-12 on Monday and Wednesday and 4-6 PM Tuesday.

DATE TOPIC READING
September 9 Introduction. Theories of Jurisprudence September 14-6 Theories of Jurisprudence continued D, M&R 28-67 Legal Positivism updated (H.L.A. Hart).

September 28-30 Dworkin & Honoré on law, moral principle D, M&R 108-166
October 5-7 Judging well D, M&R 167-222 October 14 Mack, moral values and Reparations D, M&R 222-56 October 19-21 Liberty, Democracy and Rule of Law I D, M&R 306-359 Individualism, Liberty and Privacy October 26-8 Liberty, Democracy and Rule of Law II D, M&R 359-414 Community November 2-4 Freedom of Expression I D, M&R 832- 897 November 9-11 Freedom of Expression II D, M&R 897-948 November 16-18 Freedom of Expression III D, M&R 948-969 Class cancelled on Nov 18 November 23-25 Freedom of Expression IV, Review ** FINAL TERM TEST NOV. 25 ** First Assignment is due: October 5 Essay is due: November 4 Final test: November 25 I do not deduct grades for late assignments; however I will not accept an assignment more than one week late without concrete evidence of extenuating circumstances. The point of the assignments in this course is to provide an opportunity for you to develop your powers of reasoning about the law. While that thinking can include recognition and even the use of useful comments by others on a text or issue, the distinction between your work and that of others must be kept clear. Plagiarism, in the sense of an unacknowledged borrowing of the words or theories of others, is unacceptable because it defeats the purpose of the assignments given, and will be judged harshly. Grades for assignments will be available to students on Blackboard. All assignments must be submitted on paper. While secondary sources are not required, they are permitted if properly cited. Any common citation format is acceptable so long as references include the page location of a passage if relevant. The materials from primary or secondary sources that are to be cited include direct quotations (of course), close paraphrases and claims about details of a theorist’s position, and any factual claims not part of common knowledge.