| American Legal System Hopkins-Nanjing Center |
DH Kaye Fall 2007 |
| SYLLABUS | |
| This course is an introduction to the American legal system. It examines the nature of legal reasoning and surveys major fields of U.S. law. Students are expected to participate in classroom discussions of the assigned readings and to complete short written exercises by specified dates. Grades will be based on these exercises, class participation, and a moot court exercise. |
| The following schedule is tentative and will be revised as the course progresses. It is extremely unlikely that we will cover all the topics listed. Supplemental readings and the exercises will be posted in my folder in the Academic Access area of the Hopkins-Nanjing network server.. |
| Week | Class | Reading | Topic |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9/18 | M 3-6 | Overview of US Legal System |
| 9/20 | M xxi-xxii; B 1-7, 11-23; M 6-10 |
Rules and Cases Exercise 1: Case Brief (due 9/25) |
|
| 2 | 9/25 | B 25-40; US v. Lopez (html | pdf) | Analogical Legal Reasoning
Exercise 1 is due. |
| 9/27 | B 43-78 | Deductive Legal Reasoning Exercise 2: Case Synthesis (due 10/11) |
|
| 3 | 9/29 | To be determined | To be determined |
| National Day Holiday | |||
| 4 | 10/9 | B 97-134; M 19-25 | Purpose in Legal Reasoning |
| 10/11 | M 26-29, 31-36; Hamdan v. Rumsfeld |
The Judicial Branch
Exercise 2 is due |
|
| 5 | 10/16 | M 36-57 | Jury System |
| 10/18 | M 59-91 | Legal Profession | |
| 6 | 10/23 | Goldberg v. Kelly M 277-294, 300-301 |
Procedural Due Process |
| 10/25 | M 93-102, 373-376 | Substantive Due Process | |
| 7 | 10/30 | M 103-105; Korematsu; Brown; M 105-107 M 108-113 |
Equal Protection Statutory Protections of Rights |
| 11/1 | M 113-135 | Freedom of Expression and Religion Exercise 3: Opinion (due 11/8) |
|
| 8 | 11/6 | M 137-145, 150-163 | Civil Procedure |
| 11/8 | M 165-179 | Contracts: Formation | 9 | 11/13 | M 179-190 | Contracts: Consideration, Proof and Remedies |
| 11/15 | M 191-200 | Intentional Torts | |
| 10 | Fall Break | ||
| 11 | 11/27 | M 200-205 | Negligence: Duty and Standard of Care |
| 11/29 | M 206-208, Ybarra, Sindell, Daubert | Negligence: Causation and Proof | |
| 12 | 12/4 | M 208-214 | Negligence: Remedies, Mass Torts |
| 12/6 | M 214-219 | Product Liability Exercise 4: Memorandum (due 12/13) |
|
| 13 | 12/11 | M 221-246 | Real and Personal Property |
| 12/13 | M 247-275 | Intellectual Property | |
| 14 | 12/18 | M 315-330 | Business Associations, Securities Regulation |
| 12/20 | M 331-342 | Antitrust and Bankruptcy Law | |
| 15 | 12/25 | Christmas Holiday | |
| 12/27 | M 377-395, 396-408 | Administrative Law | |
| 16 | 1/1 | New Year’s Holiday | |
| 1/3 | M 277-294, 300-301 | Criminal Law | 17 | 1/8 | Review |
| 1/10 | Final Examination | ||
|
M = McAllinn et al., An Introduction to American Law (2005)
B = Burton, An Introduction to Law and Legal Reasoning (3d ed. 2007) |
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