Thursday, January 22, 2009

Is this Law School or Undergrad all over again? [John]

Its been two weeks since I started the second semester. And I definitely have to agree with Eugene that last semester was a lot more conventional and blackletter law. So far, this semester is much more philosophical. From the Theories of Punishment in Criminal Law to the Theories of the State of Nature, natural law and positive law in Constitutional Law, it feels like I am back in undergrad instead of being in law school. But I definitely understand its importance of these theories in the development of our legal system.

Especially in Constitutional Law--it was definitely an advantage for our class the my teacher decided to begin the discussion of Con Law with Locke and Hobbs theories of the state of nature. Most other sections began with Marbury v. Madison without ever studying or actually understanding the historical underpinnings of that decision. My teacher spent a full week (4 classes) on State of Nature, the Bank Debate and the theory of sovereignty, Chrisholm v. Georgia and many different speeches that the federalist and anti-federalist have wrote before and after the ratification of the Constitution. That class is a lot of work with at least 8 hours of reading per night (reading the dense assignments twice like he recommends) for 4 days per week, but I'm definitely enjoying it immensely!

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