Universität Wien

030502 KU An Introduction to Legal Theory (2015W)

also for diploma and doctoral students

6.00 ECTS (4.00 SWS), SPL 3 - Rechtswissenschaften
Continuous assessment of course work
Moodle

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Monday 12.10. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal Rechtswissenschaften Schenkenstraße 8-10, 4.OG
  • Tuesday 13.10. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal Rechtswissenschaften Schenkenstraße 8-10, 4.OG
  • Monday 19.10. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal Rechtswissenschaften Schenkenstraße 8-10, 4.OG
  • Tuesday 20.10. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal Rechtswissenschaften Schenkenstraße 8-10, 4.OG
  • Tuesday 27.10. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal Rechtswissenschaften Schenkenstraße 8-10, 4.OG
  • Tuesday 03.11. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal Rechtswissenschaften Schenkenstraße 8-10, 4.OG
  • Monday 09.11. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal Rechtswissenschaften Schenkenstraße 8-10, 4.OG
  • Tuesday 10.11. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal Rechtswissenschaften Schenkenstraße 8-10, 4.OG
  • Monday 16.11. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal Rechtswissenschaften Schenkenstraße 8-10, 4.OG
  • Tuesday 17.11. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal Rechtswissenschaften Schenkenstraße 8-10, 4.OG
  • Monday 23.11. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal Rechtswissenschaften Schenkenstraße 8-10, 4.OG
  • Tuesday 24.11. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal Rechtswissenschaften Schenkenstraße 8-10, 4.OG
  • Monday 30.11. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal Rechtswissenschaften Schenkenstraße 8-10, 4.OG
  • Tuesday 01.12. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal Rechtswissenschaften Schenkenstraße 8-10, 4.OG
  • Monday 07.12. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal Rechtswissenschaften Schenkenstraße 8-10, 4.OG
  • Monday 14.12. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal Rechtswissenschaften Schenkenstraße 8-10, 4.OG
  • Tuesday 15.12. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal Rechtswissenschaften Schenkenstraße 8-10, 4.OG
  • Monday 11.01. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal Rechtswissenschaften Schenkenstraße 8-10, 4.OG
  • Tuesday 12.01. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal Rechtswissenschaften Schenkenstraße 8-10, 4.OG
  • Monday 18.01. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal Rechtswissenschaften Schenkenstraße 8-10, 4.OG
  • Tuesday 19.01. 11:30 - 13:00 Hörsaal Rechtswissenschaften Schenkenstraße 8-10, 4.OG

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

This class begins with a claim. It says that legal theory--as a genre--is intimately tied to the crisis of legal knowledge that arose when nineteenth "century legal science" came under attack on both sides of the Atlantic. This moment of attack is epitomized by the ascendency of the Freirechtsbewegung in Germany and the Legal Realist revolution in America. To this day, the impact of the latter on the intellectual standing of "legal science" has been devastating.
One school of legal thought attempted to accommodate some of the challenges posed by both movements while also restoring the integrity of legal knowledge. This school is legal positivism. Not by accident, in the narrative underlying this class, positivism is cast in the role of the hero of modern legal theory. It defends the intellectual respectability of legal analysis proper vis-à-vis more open-ended modes of resolving cases with resort to moral reasoning or policy analysis.
Not surprisingly, the focus of modern legal theory has frequently rested on the question whether legal positivism is defensible. For if legal positivism is sound, legal knowledge is possible.
But what if legal positivism is doomed to failure?
The class will study samples of legal theory, thereby drawing, among other things, on American legal realism, Kelsenian and contemporary legal positivism, Ronald Dworkin, Critical Legal Studies and Social Systems' Theory. The class offers a thoroughly transatlantic introduction to legal theory.

Assessment and permitted materials

Classroom participation, written final exam (2 hours).

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

Offers a solid historical overview of the genre of legal theory and an introduction to contemporary debates

Examination topics

Reading list

Downloadable resources

Association in the course directory

Last modified: Mo 07.09.2020 15:28