Course Catalog

In today’s increasingly borderless world, a growing number of juridically significant events — both consensual and accidental — implicate actors from, and interests of, more than one jurisdiction. The occurrence of such events raises the issue of which jurisdiction’s law should control the legal consequences flowing from them. Conflict of laws jurisprudence frames a series of rules (sometimes also called choice of law) which determine which jurisdiction’s laws, among a choice of several possibilities, will govern the legal rights and responsibilities flowing from these events.
The course and casebook — Felix and Whitten’s American Conflicts Law: Cases and Materials (5th ed.) — will focus on three areas of inquiry. The first is so-called “horizontal” choice of law. Where two or more jurisdictions which are juridical co-equals (two or more states, for example, or two or more countries) have a connection with a juridical event, which jurisdiction’s laws apply? The rules governing this question are more complicated than they appear at first blush, and there is a lack of uniformity in the operative conflict of laws rules among coordinate jurisdictions.
The second is so-called “vertical” choice of law. This topic area addresses the interplay between federal law and state law and the circumstances under which each will govern a legally significant event which implicates both federal and state interests. The course will analyze in detail the Supreme Court’s seminal holding in Erie v. Tompkins and Erie’s progeny as part of this inquiry.
The final focus will be a detailed analysis of judgments and their effects in other jurisdictions, and rules relating to personal jurisdiction which allow courts to adjudicate the legal interests of actors who have connections with jurisdictions other than the forum court.
While conflict of laws began as a highly theoretical discipline, the advent of modern technology has expanded exponentially the number of events which have multijurisdictional facets. The discipline is thus of critical importance to understanding the legal consequences of an enormous number of events.

• Type: Upper Class

Rules of Play: Sports and Games as Legal Systems – This course operates from the premise that sports and other games are legal systems that present a rich array of legal problems, interesting in their own right and often also interesting because of their analogy to problems that arise in other contexts. Among the topics to be discussed are:
(1) How should competition be structured? For example, what metrics should be used to determine a winner? How (if at all) should ties be broken? What standards should be used for eligibility (for example, in the case of transgendered and “bionic” athletes)?
(2) How should the bounds of acceptable conduct be determined? For example, when should deception or stalling be punished, and when should they be treated as acceptable parts of the game? How should misconduct be punished?
(3) What are appropriate remedies for official errors?

• Type: Upper Class

This seminar explores the ways in which the problems considered, analytical techniques used, and conceptual models developed by theologians can provide useful insights to students of the law. Specific subjects addressed may vary depending upon the backgrounds and interests of class participants, contemporary legal developments, and the availability of guest speakers, but are likely to include: identifying and defining sources of authority; the interpretation of complex texts composed by multiple authors; the significance of ritual; the tension between justice and mercy; the importance of storytelling; and the role of mystery. Active class participation and preparation of a research paper will be required.

• Type: Seminar

This seminar explores the ways in which the problems considered, analytical techniques used, and conceptual models developed by theologians can provide useful insights to students of the law. Specific subjects addressed may vary depending upon the backgrounds and interests of class participants, contemporary legal developments, and the availability of guest speakers, but are likely to include: identifying and defining sources of authority; the interpretation of complex texts composed by multiple authors; the significance of ritual; the tension between justice and mercy; the importance of storytelling; and the role of mystery. Active class participation and preparation of a research paper will be required.

• Type: Seminar

In today’s increasingly borderless world, a growing number of juridically significant events — both consensual and accidental — implicate actors from, and interests of, more than one jurisdiction. The occurrence of such events raises the issue of which jurisdiction’s law should control the legal consequences flowing from them. Conflict of laws jurisprudence frames a series of rules (sometimes also called choice of law) which determine which jurisdiction’s laws, among a choice of several possibilities, will govern the legal rights and responsibilities flowing from these events.
The course and casebook — Felix and Whitten’s American Conflicts Law: Cases and Materials (5th ed.) — will focus on three areas of inquiry. The first is so-called “horizontal” choice of law. Where two or more jurisdictions which are juridical co-equals (two or more states, for example, or two or more countries) have a connection with a juridical event, which jurisdiction’s laws apply? The rules governing this question are more complicated than they appear at first blush, and there is a lack of uniformity in the operative conflict of laws rules among coordinate jurisdictions.
The second is so-called “vertical” choice of law. This topic area addresses the interplay between federal law and state law and the circumstances under which each will govern a legally significant event which implicates both federal and state interests. The course will analyze in detail the Supreme Court’s seminal holding in Erie v. Tompkins and Erie’s progeny as part of this inquiry.
The final focus will be a detailed analysis of judgments and their effects in other jurisdictions, and rules relating to personal jurisdiction which allow courts to adjudicate the legal interests of actors who have connections with jurisdictions other than the forum court.
While conflict of laws began as a highly theoretical discipline, the advent of modern technology has expanded exponentially the number of events which have multijurisdictional facets. The discipline is thus of critical importance to understanding the legal consequences of an enormous number of events.

• Type: Upper Class