Syllabus
Philosophy of Law
Spring 2018

NOTE: The following is provisional only. There will unquestionably be changes (mostly deletions) in the course of the semester.

The articles should be immediately available through the links if you are on campus. If you are off campus, go to the W&M library webpage, search for the article by name and you will find online access - the same is true for access to books.

I. Anarchism: Is there a duty to obey the law?
    M.B.E. Smith, Is There a Prima Facie Obligation to Obey the Law?, 82 Yale L.J. 950 (1973) [available on JSTOR]
Study Questions
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Study Questions
    William A. Edmundson, State of the Art: The Duty to Obey the Law, 10 Legal Theory 215 (2004) [available here or try here] pp. 245-52 only

II. What is a (legal) right? 
Luís Duarte d'Almeida, Fundamental Legal Conceptions: The Hohfeldian Framework, 11 Philosophy Compass 554-69 (2016) available here
James Penner, On the Very Idea of Transmissible Rights, in Philosophical Foundations of Property Law 244-71 (James Penner & Henry E. Smith eds. 2013) available here

III. Is a duty to obey the law necessary for political legitimacy?
    Arthur Isak Applbaum, Legitimacy without the Duty to Obey, 38 Philosophy and Public Affairs 215 (2010) [available on Wiley]
    Read: Introduction ( p. 215); sections II-IX, pp. 217-39.
Study Questions

IV. The idea of theory of law
    Scott J. Shapiro, Legality (2011) Ch. 1 (go to the W&M library webpage, search for the book and you will find online access)

V. Theories of law: The possibility puzzle
  Shapiro, Legality Ch. 2 (go to the W&M library webpage, search for the book and you will find online access)

VI. Austin's command theory of law
  Shapiro, Legality Ch. 3 - read pp. 51-73 only (go to the W&M library webpage, search for the book and you will find online access)
  H.L.A. Hart, The Concept of Law Ch. IV

VII. Hart's practice theory of law
   Shapiro, Legality pp. 79-102 (go to the W&M library webpage, search for the book and you will find online access)
   Andrei Marmor, Legal Conventionalism in Hart Postscript (Jules Coleman ed. ) [available here]

VIII. Hart's theory applied: What is the rule of recognition for the American legal system?
    Kent Greenawalt, The Rule of Recognition and the Constitution, 85 Mich. L. Rev. 621 (1987) [available on WESTLAW] - do not read Part II, pp. 624-30, or Part VIII.C, pp. 662-70
Study Questions

IX. Hart's theory applied: The paradox of self-amendment
    Alf Ross, On Self-Reference and a Puzzle in Constitutional Law, 78 Mind 1-24 (1969) [available on JSTOR] - read ONLY pp. 1-7 and pp. 20-24.
Study Questions

X. Dworkin's critique of Hart
    Scott Shapiro, The Hart-Dworkin Debate: A Short Guide for the Perplexed [on SSRN] (read only up to p. 41)
Study Questions

XI. The planning theory of law
     David Plunkett, The Planning Theory of Law I and II, in 8 Philosophy Compass 149-58, 159-68 (2013) [available here and here]

XII. Inclusive and exclusive legal positivism
    Shapiro, Legality Ch. 9 pp. 269-77 only  (go to the W&M library webpage, search for the book and you will find online access)

XIII.  The puzzle of authority
    Scott Shapiro, Authority- up to p. 52 only

XIV. Legal realism and rule-skepticism
    Felix Cohen, Transcendental Nonsense and the Functional Approach, 35 Colum. L. Rev. 809 (1935) - pp. 809-12, 820-21, 834-49 only

XV. The moral impact theory of law
    Mark Greenberg, The Moral Impact Theory of Law, 123 Yale L.J. 1288 (2014)
    Scott Hershovitz, The End of Jurisprudence, 124 Yale L.J 1160 (2015)

XVI. International law
    Ronald Dworkin, A New Philosophy for International Law, 41 Phil. & Pub. Affairs 2 (2013)