Legal Studies Minor

Legal studies programs are available in the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences divisions as well as in the Daniels College of Business and The Women's College. Different degree programs involve slightly different paths. The "Ethics and Legal Studies" minor is open only to students pursuing the BSBA. Please contact the Daniels College of Business for details. The "Law and Society" program is open only to students enrolled in The Women's College. The "Legal Studies" minor is available to students pursuing the BA or BS in the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences divisions. Please contact Assistant Dean Sidra Smith Wahaltere at 303-871-2152 or via email Sidra.Wahaltere@du.edu for advising.

Requirements

The legal studies minor in the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences divisions consists of 24 quarter hours. Students must take 10 hours of required courses, selected from two of the following categories: Reasoning; Constitutionalism; and Law and Society.

Reasoning: In these philosophy courses, students learn the principles, aims and methods of legal reasoning; the relationship between legal and moral reasoning; and how to identify and understand real arguments. Options include Practical Logic (PHIL 2040), Philosophy of Law (PHIL 2150), Symbolic Logic (PHIL 2160) and Morality and the Law (PHIL 3175).

Constitutionalism: These political science courses examine constitution making, judicial review, freedom of speech and the distribution of governmental powers. Options include Constitutional Law and Politics (PLSC 2860), Constitutional Development (PLSC 2861) and Taming Tyranny (PLSC 2880).

Law and Society: This sociology/criminology course provides an overview of theory and research about the relationship between law and society: legal rules, roles, organizations and interinstitutional relations; activities of the legal profession; courts and juries; and legislatures and regulatory agencies. Course: Law and Society (SOCI 2750).

The remaining 16 hours of coursework should be chosen from a list of appropriate courses offered by various departments in the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences divisions. Students should contact Assistant Dean Sidra Smith Wahaltere to discuss which courses they should take. She will send the necessary approval forms to the Registrar's Office so that courses will count towards the minor. It is the student's responsibility to verify that they have the appropriate prerequisites for each course. No course may be counted twice towards a student's major and towards the minor.

Courses for Academic Year 2009-2010

Here is a sample of the courses that have been offered in previous years that counted toward the Legal Studies minor:

Autumn Quarter 2009

INTS 2770 Intro to International Law
LGST 2960 Employment Law & Ethics
PHIL 2040 Practical Logic
PHIL 2180 Ethics
PLSC 2700 Tpcs: Law, Sex and Marriage
PLSC 2880 Taming Tyranny
SOCI 2250 Criminology
SOCI 2760 Discipline and Punishment
SOCI 2770 Kids and Courts
SOCI 2830 White Collar Crime

Winter Quarter 2010

LGST 3700 1 International Business Law
LGST 3700 2 International Business Law
MCOM 3040 Mass Communications Law
MCOM 3120 Ethics and Responsibility
PLSC 2840 International Law & Human Rights
PLSC 2861 Constitutional Development
SOCI 2550 Criminology
SOCI 2701 Tpcs: Crime & Inequality
SOCI 2750 Law and Society
SOCI 2820 Drugs and Society

Spring Quarter 2010

ENVI 3000 Environmental Law
GEOG 3740 Environmental Justice in the City
LGST 3700 1 International Business Law
LGST 3700 2 International Business Law
MCOM 3700 New Media Law & Regulation *
PHIL 2200 Social and Political Philosophy
PHIL 3180 Socratic Ethics
PHIL 3xxx Meta-ethics
PLSC 2001 Law, Politics and Society
PLSC 2620 Political Theory Contemporary
PLSC 2704 Topics: Politics of International Environmental Law
SOCI 2250 Criminology
SOCI 2260 Deviance and Society
SOCI 2785 Family and the Law
SOCI 2790 Policing Society