Instructor:
Dr. Daniel Skubik, PhD JD MDiv
Voice: 909.343.4288 / Fax: 909.343.4520
Office: James 270 (entry through J268)
Web: http://www.calbaptist.edu/dskubik
E-Mail: dskubik@calbaptist.edu
Law &
Literature
ENG 599 [Special Topics]
Mondays 5:00-8:00PM
California
Baptist University
Jul/Aug Summer Term, 2004
As several legal scholars have
observed, law is a profession of words. It is also a discipline or practice,
like religion, in which stories play a critical role. This course is designed
to examine the role and function of narrative in law, and the role and function
of law in major works of literature, to understand better both law and
literature. To do this, the course focuses upon the techniques we normally
associate with reading literature to read, understand and interpret law. We
will utilize selections ranging from Homer (Iliad), Kafka (“Before the Law” and
The Trial), Dickens (Bleak House), Dostoevsky (Brothers Karamazov), Melville
(Billy Budd), Shakespeare (“Hamlet” and “Merchant of Venice”), and the Hebrew
Scriptures (Noahic and Mosaic law), examining how literature often constructs
law; and the consequences of reading law, represented in selections from the
U.S. Constitution and U.S. Supreme Court decisions, as literature.
The course is open to all
students able and willing to engage in masters’ level study, and can be used to
fulfill undergraduate English and Philosophy major or minor upper division unit
requirements for approved students.
Required Texts
Guyora Binder & Robert
Weisberg, Literary Criticisms of Law (Princeton University Press,
2000) [B&W]
Richard Posner, Law and
Literature (revised & enlarged edition, Harvard University Press,
1998/2002) [P]
Both books are readily
available, new & used, from web shops such as Amazon.com and Barnes
& Noble, as well as from the CBU Bookshop.
Additional literature and legal references and readings
will also be scheduled throughout the term, drawing from items placed on
reserve in the Annie Gabriel Library (AGL) and available through the Internet
(such as through Bartleby, FindLaw and Lexis-Nexis).
Supplemental
titles of interest and value, recommended but not required for completion of
course
William Bishin &
Christopher Stone, Law, Language and Ethics: An
Introduction to Law and Legal Method (Foundation Press, 1972)
Sanford Levinson &
Steven Mailloux (eds.), Interpreting Law and Literature: A Hermeneutic
Reader (Northwestern University Press, 1988/1991)
Gregory Leyh (ed.), Legal Hermeneutics: History, Theory, and Practice
(University of California Press, 1992)
Richard Weisberg, Poethics and Other Strategies of Law and Literature
(Columbia University Press, 1992)
Readings & Assignments Schedule
|
Week #1 |
Intro to course / Law as Lit and Lit as
Law [Before the Law and
Telling Tales] |
|
Week #2 |
Legal Texts [Genesis 9 1-17 and Exodus 21 28
– 22 8] |
|
Week #3 |
Hermeneutics and Antinomies of the
Law [Merchant of Venice] |
|
Week #4 |
Narrative Criticism of Law [Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406
U.S. 205 (1972)] |
|
Week #5 |
Revenge and Limits [Iliad and Hamlet
and The Trial and Bleak House] |
|
Week #6 |
Rhetoric of Injustice [Billy Budd and The
Brothers Karamazov] |
|
Week #7 |
Cultural Criticism [Planned Parenthood v. Casey,
505 U.S. 833 (1992)] |
|
Week #8 |
Final Examination |
Caveat
This syllabus schedule is
composed in good faith, with a schedule of readings and assignments that will
guide us throughout the term. Still, the instructor reserves the right to make
adjustments to this schedule as deemed necessary for the overall enterprise of
the course. Any changes will be communicated as far in advance as feasible, and
you are responsible for knowing if and when any changes have been made.
Assessment & Grading Scale
|
Journaling Project = 40% |
90 - 100 = A range (90-94 = A-) |
|
Comprehensive Final Exam = 35% |
80 - 89 = B range (80-83 = B- / 87-89 = B+) |
|
Participation in-class = 15% |
70 - 79 = C range (70-73 = C- / 78-79 = C+) |
|
Participation online (Bb) = 10% |
60 - 69 = D range (60-63 = D- / 67-69 = D+) |
|
|
0 - 59 = F |
Comprehensive Final Examination
The final exam will be
comprehensive in nature, with an emphasis on analytical essay writing that
draws from the full scope of our studies. (It will not be focused to elicit
objective data, for example, linking or identifying particular theorists to
suggested positions or claims.)
The exam will be comprised
of several (~4-6) essay problems, grounded on some legal or literary selection
and requiring close analysis of the text in the light of our readings and
discussions. Students can choose to write on any two (2) of those listed
essays, each being worth 50% of the exam’s total points.
The exam will be given
during the final class meeting on Monday, August 30th, beginning at
5:00PM, and should take approximately 140 minutes to complete. Students will be
given the full three-hour (180 minutes) class period to write. Make-ups are not
usually permitted, and alternative arrangements require serious scheduling
problems before options will be considered.
Journaling Project
Students should begin
compiling an electronic journal related to this class. This means that one
should be journaling (that is, preparing written entries in some digital format
that can be transmitted to the instructor via email) for each week that the
class is scheduled to meet, irrespective of whether the student actually
attended that week’s session. A minimum of 4 substantive entries
timely-submitted are required for a student to be eligible for a passing mark
(= C level assessment), and a minimum of 6 substantive entries are required for
a student to be eligible for a superior mark (= B & A level assessment).
A substantive entry is ~500
words (minimum, lengthier entries are welcome) summarizing some key points from
a particular week’s readings and class discussions, perhaps relating to some
real world case or event, some recently read piece of literature in another
class, or simply ideas provoked. These entries can form a series of
reflections, so linking entries along the way one to another like an
intellectual diary, or can be independent musings.
To be considered timely, any
entry should be sent to the instructor’s email account (dskubik@calbaptist.edu either as plain
text within the body of the email or as a Word attachment) no later than midnight
on the Saturday of each class week for which credit is sought. Thus, for
example, a journal entry for Week 2—when we meet on Monday, July 19th—is
due no earlier than the class meeting itself and no later than midnight (local
time) on Saturday, July 24th. Entries for Week 2 that are received
before class actually convenes or after that Saturday will be accepted as part
of the overall journaling project, but that entry will not be counted towards
the minimum number of entries noted above.
Participation & Attendance
Although speaking in class, publicly putting and
defending a position or interpretation, can be daunting, you are strongly
encouraged to learn to think through your own and others’ experiences and
insights within the context of our discussions. In this setting, you are not
being evaluated for reaching “right” conclusions, but for demonstrating your
facility in forming arguments for any conclusions or ideas put, given the
material we cover.
To give direct incentive to so engage, 25% of your mark for the course will be comprised of my assessment of your participation during the semester. Participation covers in-class (15%) and online discussions (10%) during the term. Participation in-class includes substantive contributions to our discussions on a regular basis and does not include attendance; participation online includes substantive contributions and reading others’ contributions on a regular basis in the Blackboard forums.
Both because of the nature of the course and its content, attendance is expected, with a simple threshold requirement: we have eight (8) scheduled face-to-face class sessions, and you are required to attend at least five (5) class sessions in full. Should you cumulatively miss more than three (3) class sessions, you must speak with the instructor before you will be permitted to complete the course for a grade. (Absence from a full class session means wholly missing a 3-hour weekly meeting; arriving at a scheduled weekly meeting more than 30 minutes late, or excusing oneself more than 30 minutes before class ends will count as missing ½ full class session.)