Concept of Law

Fall 1998

Suggested Paper Topics

You may select a topic from this list or propose one yourself. Topics must be approved. Your paper should be a sustained and coherent argument for your position on the issue you select. It is primarily a thought piece rather than a research paper.
  1. Under what circumstances, if any, is one obligated to obey an unjust law? What is the source of this obligation? Under what circumstances, if any, is one morally obligated to disobey the law?
  2. What has to be true of a proposition in order for it to be a valid law?
  3. Analyze and solve the "Problem of the Grudge Informer."
  4. What is the relationship between law and morality? To what extent should what is morally right be required by law?
  5. When, if ever, should substantive justice (a just outcome) be sacrificed to procedural justice (following fair procedures)?
  6. Should the law always treat women the same as men? Consider the implications of your position for issues such as maternity leave, custody, the military draft, abortion decisions, etc.
  7. Is the "rule of law" an important benefit for everyone or an illusion that merely serves to legitimate oppression?
  8. What is the fundamental purpose of law? To what extent can changes in the law alter the existing balance of power in society?
  9. What accounts for the fact that the nine justices of the Surpeme Court rarely agree on the content of the law? Does this disagreement show that there are no right answers to the questions they address?
  10. Can an essentially unprincipled collection of laws have any binding force?
  11. Where the written law permits more than one interpretation, how should the judge decide what interpretation to adopt? E.g., should his/her personal moral or political principles play any role in this decision?
  12. Should law (ideally) seek to promote or enforce the morality of aspiration? Which is better: a society in which people fail to live up to moral ideals, or one in which they live up to those ideals only because forced to do so by the law? (e.g., Good Samaritan laws)
  13. To what extent should judges try to predict the broader social consequences of their decisions rather than seeking to do justice between the immediate parties?
  14. What role, if any, should the subjective intentions of the Founders play in constitutional interpretation?