Course Description:
This tutorial will explore several topics in jurisprudence. Past offerings of the tutorial have considered the following topics: the enforcement of morality; natural law; Hartian Positivism; the contributions of Ronald Dworkin; authority, obligation to obey the law, and civil disobedience.
Professor Peter Mirfield is Sir David Lewis Fellow and Tutor in Law at Jesus College, Oxford. He received his M.A. and B.C.L. from Oxford. His teaching and research interests include constitutional law, criminal law, evidence and jurisprudence. He has also a former practicing barrister and has taught in the United States, including at Florida State and Santa Clara School of Law. He currently serves as editor of the Law Quarterly Review, a peer reviewed journal covering common law throughout the world. Learn more about Prof. Mirfield here: https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/people/peter-mirfield.
Instruction replicates the Oxford University tutorial method. Each student studies selected topics in a designated field of law under the direct supervision of an English law professor and legal scholar (the tutor) with expertise in the field. When registering for the program, students select the fields of law in which they are interested. Every effort is made to give them their first choice, however tutorial choices do change each summer. Tutorials are paired with a two-unit English Legal Institution Seminar
A student meets with his or her tutor five times during the program (an average of once each week). In advance of each tutorial, the tutor poses one or more topics or questions on which the student is to write an essay (generally about 2,000 words) after reading materials provided by the tutor in an extensive relevant bibliography of required or recommended readings. During each tutorial, students will discuss the assigned topic or questions with the tutor and will be asked to present (sometimes read) and defend their essay. Some professors ask the student to submit the paper to the tutor one day in advance of the meeting. Some tutors prefer to meet with the student one-on- one; these tutorial sessions meet for approximately 1-1/4 hour. Other tutors prefer to meet with students one-on- two; these tutorial sessions meet for approximately 2 hours.
For more information about study abroad programs please visit https://law.scu.edu/international/summer-abroad/.
