Law and Society

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Abstract/Syllabus

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Law and Society

Spring 2003

Signs demonstrating the pervasiveness of law in everyday life. (Image courtesy of Daniel Bersak.)

Course Highlights

This course includes a general Guide to Reading Social Sciences, which is located in the study materials section.

Course Description

Law is a common and yet distinct aspect of everyday life in modern societies. This course examines the central features of law as a social institution and as a feature of popular culture. We will explore the nature of law as a set of social systems, central actors in the systems, legal reasoning, and the relationship of the legal form and reasoning to social change. The course emphasizes the relationship between the internal logic of legal devices and economic, political and social processes. Emphasis is placed upon developing a perspective which views law as a practical resource, a mechanism for handling the widest range of unspecified social issues, problems, and conflicts, and at the same time, as a set of shared representations and aspirations.

We will explore the range of experiences of law for its ministers (lawyers, judges, law enforcement agents and administrators) as well as for its supplicants (citizens, plaintiffs, defendants). We will examine how law is mobilized and deployed by professionals and ordinary citizens. We cannot cover all aspects of the legal system, nor focus on all the different actors. A set of topics has been selected to develop understanding of the situational and systemic demands within which actors in the legal system operate and perform their roles; at the same time, we will try to discover systematic patterns in the uses and consequences of law. Throughout the course there is concern for understanding what we mean by legality and the rule of law.

Syllabus

Books Recommended for Purchase

Abel, Richard L., ed. The Law and Society Reader. New York: New York University Press, 1995.
Burnett, D. Graham. A Trial by Jury. New York: Vintage Books, 2002.
Carter, Leif, and Tom Burke. Reason in Law. 6th ed. New York: Longman, 2001.
Ewick, Patricia, and Susan S. Silbey. The Common Place of Law: Stories From Everyday Life (Language and Legal Discourse). Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998.
Harr, Jonathan. A Civil Action. New York: Vintage Books, 1996.
Sutton, John. Law/Society: Origins, Interactions, and Change. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge, 2001.

Recommended Books on Writing

Cuba, Lee. A Short Guide to Writing About Social Science. 4th ed. New York: Longman, 2002.
Strunk, William, and E.B. White. The Elements of Style. 4th ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1999.

Course Requirements and Expectations

Reading, film viewing, and class participation. The most basic requirement for this course is that you come to class prepared to participate. Most often, I will lecture, but there will be times when the learning in class will depend on your participation. Generally, you will find the lectures more informative and interesting, and your participation in class discussion more productive for you and your classmates, if you have read the materials before hand. Each week, I will collect your notes on at least 2 readings. I will assess your notes in an effort to gauge your progress and involvement. If you hand in all notes and they are satisfactory, you will receive full credit for them. With each assignment missed, you will lose a percentage point. There are no make ups. Several films are essential to the course material and will be screened once a week for class discussion the following week. Thus, students need to be prepared to attend 2-4 mandatory film viewings. (10% of grade)
Three short papers. In addition to attendance, participation in class discussion, and reading, you are expected to complete three short, 5-6 page papers. Each paper will analyze a film (chosen from a list provided by your instructor) to illustrate how some aspect of the law or legal system works. Instructions for written assignments will be distributed in class and are available on the web site. (50% of grade)
Mid-term exam. (20% of grade)
Final paper. Students will select one of the three short papers to revise and expand for a final paper. (20% of grade)

All papers will be graded on the basis of mechanics (spelling and grammar) and good argumentative writing skills (clarity, conciseness, evidence). We will go over in class what counts as good argumentative writing, and, in addition, you should consult Cuba, Writing about Social Science for general instructions on writing social science papers, and Strunk and White, Elements of Style, for the mechanics of good writing.

Additional Helpful Hints

Here is a set of instructions for different ways of reading, with suggestions about how to work through heavy reading assignments.

Keep a copy for yourself of all work submitted for this course.

If you are going to miss a class, make sure to ask someone to bring your assignment in for you. Two unexcused absences will lower your grade by 1/2 a grade. For example, with two unexcused absences your grade will drop from a B to a B-, with four unexcused absences your grade will drop from a B to a C+.

Finally, it is always helpful to contact the instructor if you are having difficulty completing the work assigned, understanding the assignments (reading or written assignments), or the class lectures. I am most accessible.

NOTE: MIT Criteria for HASS CI Subjects. Communication intensive subjects in the humanities, arts, and social sciences should require at least 20 pages of writing divided among 3-5 assignments. Of these 3-5 assignments, at least one should be revised and resubmitted. HASS CI subjects should further offer students substantial opportunity for oral expression, through presentations, student-led discussion, or class participation.

*Some translations represent previous versions of courses.

Calendar

LEC / VIEWING #	LECTURE NOTES	READINGS / VIEWINGS	ASSIGNMENTS


I. Introduction What is Law? What Does Law Do? What Does Law Not Do? Natural Law, Legal Positivism, and Legal Realism "Justice?--You get justice in the next world, in this world you have the law." --William Gaddis, A Frolic of His Own (1994: 13)


Lec #1		Abel, Richard L., ed. "What Do We Talk About When We Talk About Law." In The Law and Society Reader. Burnett, G. Graham. A Trial by Jury. Pp. 3-76.


Lec #2, 3	Jurisprudential Paradigms )	Sutton, John. Law/Society. Pp. 135-160. Holmes, Oliver Wendell. "The Path of the Law."


Viewing #1		Real Justice, District Court.


II. Law as a Social Process: The Organization of the Criminal Justice System "To what degree was the law a thing apart from people - an abstract system laid over the messy reality of individuals and their specific situations - and to what degree did the law emerge from the texture and character of people and the details of their cases?" --D. Graham Burnett, A Trial By Jury (2001: 137)


Lec #4, 5	Criminal Justice System (Lec #4)	Currie, Elliott. "The Control of Witchcraft in Renaissance Europe." Black, Donald. "Social Organization of Arrest." Emerson, Robert. "Holistic Effects in Social Control Decision-Making." In The Law and Society Reader. Blankenburg, Erhard. "The Selectivity of Legal Sanctions: An Empirical Investigation of Shoplifting." In The Law and Society Reader. Feeley, Malcolm. The Process is the Punishment. (Excerpts) Alschuler, Albert W. "Plea Bargaining and It's History." In The Law and Society Reader. Radelet, Michael, and Glenn L. Pierce. "Race and Prosecutorial Discretion in Homicide Cases." In The Law and Society Reader. Heumann, Milton, and Colin Loftin. "Mandatory Sentencing and the Abolition of Plea Bargaining: The Michigan Felony Firearm Statute." In The Law and Society Reader. Daly, Kathleen. "Structure and Practice of Familial-Based Justice in a Criminal Court." In The Law and Society Reader.


Viewing #2		Real Justice, Superior Court.


III. Law as a Social Process: The Civil Side


Lec #6, 7, 8	Civil Justice System (Lec #6) Civil Justice System (Continued) (Lec #7)	Harr, Jonathan. A Civil Action. Engel, David. "The Over Bird's Song: Insiders, Outsiders, and Personal Injuries in an American Community." In The Law and Society Reader. Merry, Sally. "Going to Court: Strategies of Dispute Management in an Urban Neighborhood." In The Law and Society Reader. Felstiner, Abel, and Austin Sarat. "The Emergence and Transformation of Disputes: Naming, Blaming and Claiming." Galanter, Marc. "Why the 'Haves'' Come Out Ahead." In The Law and Society Reader. Tanase, Takao. "The Management of Disputes: Automobile Accident Compensation in Japan." In The Law and Society Reader.


IV. Players in the System: Judges, Lawyers, Litigants


Lec #9, 10, 11, 12	Players in the System: Judges (Lec #9, 10) Legal Profession (Lec #11, 12)	Carter, Lief, and Thomas Burke. Reason in Law. Pp. 1-126, 158-162. Paul, Jeremy. "Changing the Subject: Cognitive Theory and the Teaching of Law." Sutton, John. Law/Society. Pp. 221-278. Sarat, Austin, and William Felstiner. "Law and Social Relations: Vocabularies of Motive in Lawyer/Client Interaction." In The Law and Society Reader. Conley, John, and William O'Barr. "Lay Expectations of the Civil Justice System." In The Law and Society Reader.	First Paper Due (3 days before Lec #9) Mid-Term Exam (Tentative Date - 3 days before Lec #11)


V. Alternatives to Law


Lec #13, 14	Alternatives to Law: Varieties of Dispute Processing (Lec #13, 14)	Burke, Thomas. Lawyers, Lawsuits and Legal Rights: The Battle over Litigation in American Society. (Excerpts) Hensler, Deborah. "Suppose It's Not True." Silbey, Susan. "The Emperor's New Clothes: Mediation Mythology and Markets." Cobb, Sara. "The Domestication of Violence in Mediation."	Second Paper Due (Lec #13)


VI. Law and Social Change: The Consequences of Logic and Organization


Lec #15, 16	Evolutionary Theories of Social Change: Maine and Durkheim (Lec #15, 16)	Sutton, John. Law/Society. Pp. 23-60. Telpner, Brian. "Constructing Safe Communities: Megan's Law and the Purposes of Punishment." Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. Pp. 75-88. (Excerpts) Berman, Paul. "An Observation and a Strange but True 'Tale': What might the Historical Trials of Animals tell us about the Transformative Potential of Law?"


Lec #17, 18	Law, Class Conflict and the Economy: Marx (Lec #17, 18)	Sutton, John. Law/Society. Pp. 61-98. Chambliss, William. "A Sociological Analysis of the Law of Vagrancy." Hay, Douglas. "Property, Authority, and the Criminal Law." Thompson, E. P. "The Rule of Law."


Lec #19, 20, 21	Law and the State: Weber (Lec #19, 20) Law and Social Change (Continued) (Lec #21)	Sutton, John. Law/Society. Pp. 99-132. Hall, Jerome. Theft, Law and Society. (Excerpts) Sutton, John. Law/Society. Pp. 161-220. Ekland-Olson, Sheldon, and Steve J. Martin. "Organizational Compliance with Court-Ordered Reform." In The Law and Society Reader. Gilboy, Janet. "Penetrability of Administrative Systems: Political 'Casework' and Immigration Inspections." In The Law and Society Reader. Silbey, Susan. "The Consequences of Responsive Regulation."	Third Paper Due (Lec #19)


VII. The Rule of Law, Legal Culture, and Everyday Life "To the pig keepers ... the law was a domain of conflict in whose construction they participated." --Hendrik Hartog, "Pigs and Posivitism" (1985)


Lec #22, 23, 24, 25	Law and Everyday Life, The Common Place of Law (Lec #23, 24, 25)	Ewick, Patricia, and Susan S. Silbey. The Common Place of Law: Stories from Everyday Life. Carter, and Burke. Reason in Law. Pp. 127-157. Sherwin, Richard. When Law Goes Pop:The Vanishing Line Between Law and Popular Culture. (Excerpts)	Final Paper Due (Lec #25)

Readings

Texts

Abel, Richard L., ed. The Law and Society Reader. New York: New York University Press, 1995.

Burnett, D. Graham. A Trial by Jury. New York: Vintage Books, 2002.

Carter, Leif, and Tom Burke. Reason in Law. 6th ed. New York: Longman, 2001.

Ewick, Patricia, and Susan S. Silbey. The Common Place of Law: Stories From Everyday Life (Language and Legal Discourse). Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998.

Harr, Jonathan. A Civil Action. New York: Vintage Books, 1996.

Sutton, John. Law/Society: Origins, Interactions, and Change. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge, 2001.

Additonal Readings

Berman, Paul. "An Observation and a Strange but True 'Tale': What Might the Historical Trials of Animals Tell Us About the Transformative Potential of Law?" Hastings Law Journal 52 (November 2000): 123-180.

Black, Donald. "The Social Organization of Arrest." In Policing Society. Edited by W. Clinton Terry III. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1985, pp. 290-309.

Burke, Thomas F. Lawyers, Lawsuits and Legal Rights: The Battle over Litigation in American Society. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002, pp. 1-59, 194-231, 259-260.

Chambliss, William J. "A Sociological Analysis of the Law of Vagrancy." Social Problems 12 (1964): 67-77.

Cobb, Sara. "The Domestication of Violence in Mediation." Law & Society Review 31, 3 (1997): 397-441.

Cuba, Lee. A Short Guide to Writing About Social Science. 2nd ed. New York: Harper Collins, 1992. (Recommended book on writing)

Currie, Elliott P. "Crimes without Criminals: Witchcraft and Its Control in Renaissance Europe." Law & Society Review 3, no. 1 (1968): 7-32. Reprinted as chap. 19 in The Social Organization of Law. Edited by Donald Black. New York: Seminar Press, 1973, pp. 344-367.

Feeley, Malcolm. The Process is the Punishment. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1992, chap. 1.

Felstiner, William L.F. , Richard L. Abel, and Austin Sarat. "The Emergence and Transformation of Disputes: Naming, Blaming, Claiming..." Law & Society Review 15, no. 3-4 (1980-1981): 631-654.

Hall, Jerome. Theft, Law and Society. 2nd ed. Indianapolis, Ind.: Bobbs-Merrill, 1952. (Excerpts)

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter and Selected Tales. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1979, pp. 75-89.

Hay, Douglas. "Property, Authority and the Criminal Law." Chap. 1 in Douglas Hay et. al., Albion's Fatal Tree: Crime and Society in Eighteenth Century England. New York: Pantheon, 1975.

Hensler, Deborah. "Suppose It's Not True: Challenging Mediation Ideology." Journal of Dispute Resolution, no. 1 (2002): 81-99.

Holmes, Oliver Wendell. "The Path of the Law" (1897). In The Sociology of Law: Interdisciplinary Readings. Edited by Rita James Simon. San Francisco: Chandler, 1968, pp. 19-28.

Paul, Jeremy. "Changing the Subject: Cognitive Theory and the Teaching of Law." Brooklyn Law Review 67, no. 4 (2002): 987-1022.

Real Justice, District Court. PBS Video, Frontline Series, 1999. (Screening)

Real Justice, Superior Court. PBS Video, Frontline Series, 1999. (Screening)

Sherwin, Richard K. When Law Goes Pop: The Vanishing Line Between Law and Popular Culture. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000, chap. 1, 2, 9.

Silbey, Susan. "The Consequences of Responsive Regulation." In Enforcing Regulation. Edited by J. Thomas and K. Hawkins. Boston, The Hague and London: Kluwer Nijhof, 1984, pp. 147-170.

Silbey, Susan. "The Emperor's New Clothes: Mediation Mythology and Markets." Journal of Dispute Resolution, no. 1 (2002): 171-177.

Strunk, William, and E. B. White. Elements of Style. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1999. (Recommended book on writing)

Telpner, Brian. "Constructing Safe Communities: Megan's Law and the Purposes of Punishment." Georgetown Law Journal 85 (June 1997): 2039-2068.

Thompson, E. P. "The Rule of Law." In The Essential E. P. Thompson. Edited and Introduced by Dorothy Thompson. New York: The New Press, 2001, pp. 130-137.