





Legal Systems Very Different from Ours

Spring 2008



The idea of this seminar is to look at a variety of different legal systems in order to make sense of how they work and understand the different ways in which different systems have handled problems common to all. Unlike the usual course in comparative law, we are not going to be looking at systems close to ours such as modern Civil Law or Japanese law. Instead we will be examining systems from the distant past (Athens, Imperial China), from radically different societies (Plains Indians, saga period Iceland, Sharia), or contemporary systems independent of government law (gypsy law, Amish).

If you have suggestions for additional legal systems we ought to be covering, tell me and they may get included.

The main requirements for the course are class participation and a paper due at the end of the semester. Students are expected to hand in a draft several weeks before the end of the course and invited but not required to present it in class for discussion.



The two books that I intended to make required reading appear to be out of print. You can either try to see if you can find a second hand copy at a reasonable price online, or use the copies I will have on reserve in the library. The books are:



Derk Bodde and Clarence Morris, Law in Imperial China, Harvard University Press 1967



K.N. Llewellyn and E. Adamson Hoebel, The Cheyenne Way, U of Oklahoma Press 1941.

Syllabus



Paper Requirement

Reading List

Links to relevant material online (students are invited to contribute more)



Some papers from past years.



Lecture notes



Office: Bergin 204

Office Hours: T 2:45-3:45; other times by arrangement

Virtual Office Hours by email: ddfr@daviddfriedman.com