030348 KU Legal Realism and the Common Law (2007S)

To which extent are dogmatic rules (analogy, argumentum e contrario etc) useful? Is the law really neutral or does it favour certain groups? Why do we distinguish between policy (Rechtpolitik) and legal dogmatics (Rechtsdogmatik)? What does it mean if someone speaks about an "efficient" or "inefficient" law?
This course gives a short introduction into common law approaches and is intended to broaden one¿s horizon in both theory and practice. It will focus on 20th century movements that have had an impact on contemporary legal thought and continue to shape today¿s law. The readings include legal realism, critical legal studies and law & economics. We will compare Austrian, English and United States decisions.
We will read and discuss articles of prominent law professors. Evaluation is based on class participation and a short "reaction paper", that is, students can choose one of the course¿s topics for a short paper as a response to one of the class readings. There will be no term papers (Hausarbeiten) and no exams.
For further information please see http://homepage.univie.ac.at/judith.schacherreiter