School of Law  
 
 
LAW-30082 Jurisprudence  
Co-ordinator: Prof Anthony Bradney    Room: CBC2.022, Tel:33018  
Teaching Team:  
Lecture Time: See Timetable...  
Level: 3 Credits: 15 Study Hours: 150  
School Office: Tel: 01782 733218
 
 
 
Programme/Approved Electives for
Law Dual Honours (Level 3)
Law Minor (Level 3)
Law Single Honours (Level 3)
Available as a Free Standing Elective
No
Barred Combinations
None

Prerequisites
None
Description

Jurisprudence is concerned with the question of what law is and how it differs, if it does, from other forms of regulation. Jurisprudence thus does not focus on specific legal rules but, rather, on law itself. Jurisprudence takes as its subject-matter all law and not just the law that is specific to one legal system. The notion of what jurisprudence has altered radically over the last few decades with scholars taking very different positions to each other. Material that is examined in this course ranges from anarchist theories to studies in legal anthropology and work done on popular culture. The course looks both at substantive ideas about the nature of law and also methodological questions about how we assess and analyze those ideas.
Aims
To introduce students to contemporary debates about the nature of Jurisprudence. The module will look at both two canonical notions of jurisprudence, natural law and positivism, and challenges to those notions that have come from disciplines like anthropology and new theories about the nature of law such as legal pluralism. The module will be concerned both with the substantive concepts that are involved in both canonical and non-canonical jurisprudence and also questions relating to what method should be used in put forwarding and analyzing those concepts.
Intended Learning Outcomes
understand and analyze a range of different ways of looking at the nature of law will be achieved by assessments: 1
understand and analyze arguments about the relationship that various notions of jurisprudence have both to other legal subjects and other disciplines to be found in the university. will be achieved by assessments: 1
understand and analyze how notions of jurisprudence in British universities have changed over the last 150 years. will be achieved by assessments: 1
be able to independently research ideas relating to jurisprudence using both legal and non-legal materials. will be achieved by assessments: 1
put forward structured arguments that critically assess the concepts that they have come across in their reading. will be achieved by assessments: 1
Study hours
Seminar attendance: 18 hours
Seminar preparation: 36 hours
Additional reading: 36 hours
Assignment preparation: 60 hours
Total = 150 hours

Total: 150 hours
Description of Module Assessment
01: Essay weighted 100%
Research essay of 4000 words.
A research assignment in which students are required to select a question from a set list, research material relevant to that topic, including material that has not been directly discussed in seminars, and provide an appropriately structured 4000 word assignment.
Version: (1.05A) Created: 01/Oct/2013

This document is the definitive current source of information about this module and supersedes any other information.