Selected Topics in Jurisprudence: THE DUTY TO OBEY THE LAW Syllabus (7296/9181)
Prof. Edmundson
Fall 1997
Thursday 4-5:30; room 325A
My office #: 458; tel.: 2136; e-mail:law7296wae@gsulaw.gsu.edu
Required reading: Plato, Apology and Crito (any edition will do, but the bookstore is stocking The Last Days of Socrates (Penguin)
The Goals of this Course
The topic of the course is the duty to obey the law or, as it is sometimes termed, political obligation. The major goal is to get you to think seriously and carefully about this topic. A secondary goal is the assembly of an anthology of recent articles on the subject. There are no prerequisites.
How the Course Is Designed to Achieve Its Goals
We will spend the first several meetings discussing Plato’s Crito and (incidentally) Apology. The Crito will serve as our introductory text. The remaining meetings will consist of individual presentations by you, the students, of an article or other work from the attached Readings List. Each student is encouraged to read all of the readings on the Readings List, but none are required unless and until it has been scheduled for presentation to the class. I will try to schedule the presentations in an order corresponding to the presented piece’s date of publication.
The Grading System Explained
There will not be a final examination. Your grade will be based upon class participation and an 8-15 page (typed, double-spaced) paper, on the article you have chosen to present (or, with my permission, on another topic). Your paper will be due at noon on the last day of the examination period. This course should count toward satisfying the writing requirement for graduation.
Attendance policy
Roll will be taken at each class meeting. Two or more unexcused absences will be grounds for the assignment of a failing grade. Please also note that class nonparticipation may influence your final grade. Because absences due to illness or conflicting family, legal, military or business duties are routinely excused, please do not telephone me to ask that an absence be excused.
Office Hours
I have an “open door” policy on meeting outside class. I encourage you to thrust yourselves past the bodyguards at the fourth floor security checkpoint at any time or, if you like, call me to make an appointment. My number is 651-2136, and I can be found in office 458, all day, Monday through Friday. E-mail is the most efficient means of communicating with me when I am not available in person.
E-mail Discussion List
There is an e-mail discussion list for this course. You are strongly advised to open a “panther” or other e-mail account and to subscribe to the list by sending a message to:
majordomo@gsulaw.gsu.edu
with no subject or signature and the following body:
subscribe law7296wae email.address
If you are late in subscribing, and want to see what has transpired, the list archive can be found at:
http://gsulaw.gsu.edu/lists/
Except for personal matters, please direct all e-mail to me in care of the list.
READINGS LIST
Richard Wasserstrom, The Obligation to Obey the Law, 10 UCLA Law Review 780 (1963)
John Rawls, Legal Obligation and the Duty of Fair Play, from Law and Philosophy, Hook ed. (NYU Press, 1964)[alternatively, The Justification of Civil Disobedience in Civil Disobedience, H.A. Bedau, ed. (Pegasus, 1969)]
Robert Paul Wolff, from In Defense of Anarchism, 3-19 (Harper & Row, 1971)
M.B.E. Smith, Is There A Prima Facie Obligation to Obey the Law? 82 Yale Law Journal 950 (1973)
Stanley Milgram, Obedience to Authority (Harper & Row, 1974)
John Simmons, from Moral Principles and Political Obligations, chapter 5 (Princeton U.P., 1979)
Rolf Sartorius, Political Authority and Political Obligation, 67 Virginia Law Review 3 (1981)
Joseph Raz, The Obligation to Obey: Revision and Tradition, 1 Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics, and Public Policy 139 (1984)
Kent Greenawalt, The Natural Duty to Obey the Law, 84 Michigan Law Review 1 (1985)[alternatively, chapter 2 of Conflicts of Law and Morality (Oxford U.P., 1989)
George Klosko, Presumptive Benefit, Fairness, and Political Obligation, 16 Philosophy & Public Affairs 241 (1987)
Philip Soper, Legal Theory and the Claim of Authority, 18 Philosophy & Public Affairs 209 (1989)
Nancy J. Hirschmann, Freedom, Recognition, and Obligation: A Feminist Approach to Political Theory, 83 American Political Science Review 1227 (1989)
Tom R. Tyler, Why People Obey the Law (Yale U.P., 1990)[any Part]
Jeremy Waldron, Special Ties and Natural Duties, 22 Philosophy & Public Affairs 3 (1993)
Leslie Green, Who Believes in Political Obligation? from For and Against the State 1, Sanders & Narveson eds (Rowman & Littlefield, 1996)
Model Penal Code §3.02 “Justification Generally: Choice of Evils,” and commentary
Model Rules of Professional Conduct, Rule 1.2(d), 8.4(b), and commentary