Jacob Gersen : Courses and Seminars
Workshop: Public Law and Legal Theory
LAWS 63402
The Public Law and Legal Theory Workshop, a new offering for 2009-10, brings together the former workshops on Law and Politics, Crime and Punishment, and Legal History. Working from a variety of methodological orientations, the workshop examines questions arising at the intersections of public law, legal theory, and interdisciplinary work in law and the social sciences. Sessions are devoted to the presentation and discussion of papers by faculty members from other institutions. Students must enroll for the entire year and will receive one pass/fail credit. Students are required to read the papers, attend the workshop, ask questions, and to submit one reaction paper per quarter on a paper of their choosing.
Autumn 2009
Jacob Gersen, Bernard E. Harcourt, Alison LaCroix, Jonathan Masur, Richard H. McAdams, David A. Strauss
Workshop: Public Law and Legal Theory
LAWS 63402
The Public Law and Legal Theory Workshop, a new offering for 2009-10, brings together the former workshops on Law and Politics, Crime and Punishment, and Legal History. Working from a variety of methodological orientations, the workshop examines questions arising at the intersections of public law, legal theory, and interdisciplinary work in law and the social sciences. Sessions are devoted to the presentation and discussion of papers by faculty members from other institutions. Students must enroll for the entire year and will receive one pass/fail credit. Students are required to read the papers, attend the workshop, ask questions, and to submit one reaction paper per quarter on a paper of their choosing.
Winter 2010
Jacob Gersen, Bernard E. Harcourt, Alison LaCroix, Jonathan Masur, Richard H. McAdams, David A. Strauss
Workshop: Public Law and Legal Theory
LAWS 63402
The Public Law and Legal Theory Workshop, a new offering for 2009-10, brings together the former workshops on Law and Politics, Crime and Punishment, and Legal History. Working from a variety of methodological orientations, the workshop examines questions arising at the intersections of public law, legal theory, and interdisciplinary work in law and the social sciences. Sessions are devoted to the presentation and discussion of papers by faculty members from other institutions. Students must enroll for the entire year and will receive one pass/fail credit. Students are required to read the papers, attend the workshop, ask questions, and to submit one reaction paper per quarter on a paper of their choosing.
Spring 2010
Jacob Gersen, Bernard E. Harcourt, Alison LaCroix, Jonathan Masur, Richard H. McAdams, David A. Strauss
Executive Branch Design
LAWS 68711
This seminar will explore selected topics concerning institutional design of the executive branch. Topics covered will include hierarchical control, signing statements, inherent executive authority, executive immunities, civil service, executive statutory interpretation, spending powers, and presidential transitions. Additional or alternative topics may be added depending on student interest.
Winter 2010
Jacob Gersen
Administrative Law
LAWS 46101
This course examines the structure of the administrative state, its relations to the other branches of government and private citizens, and the constitutional, statutory, and common law rules that govern the substance and procedure of administration action and inaction. The course focuses on some constitutional topics, including the non-delegation doctrine, presidential control over administrative agencies, and the delegation of adjudicative authority to non-Article III officers. Substantial attention is given to the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and other statutory requirements for lawful agency action. Covered topics include the proper role of agencies in interpreting statutory and regulatory law; judicial review of agency decisions; public participation in agency rulemaking; and non-traditional approaches to regulation, including negotiation and privatization. A central theme of the course is how the law manages the tension between rule of law values (e.g., procedural regularity, accountability, and substantive limits on arbitrary action) and the desire for flexible, effective administrative governance. The student's grade is based on a final examination.
Autumn 2009
Jacob Gersen
Independent Research
LAWS 49901
Second- and third-year students may earn course credit by independent research under the supervision of a member of the faculty. Such projects are arranged by consultation between the student and the particular member of the faculty in whose field the proposed topic falls.
Autumn 2009
Jacob Gersen
Torts
LAWS 30611
The focus of this course, offered over two sequential quarters, is on the Anglo-American system (mainly judge-created) of liability for personal injury to person or property. Special stress is laid on the legal doctrines governing accidental injury, such as negligence and strict liability, assumption of risk, and the duty requirement. The rules for determining damages in personal-injury cases are discussed. Alternative theories of tort liability, e.g., moral and economic, are compared. The student's grade is based on a single final examination.
Winter 2010
Jacob Gersen
Environmental Law
LAWS 46001
The course offers an introduction to the legal regulation of environmental quality. The course covers the principal environmental statutes, particularly the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Liability Act (the Superfund statute), the Endangered Species Act, and the National Environmental Protection Act. Illustrative topics include the theoretical foundations of environmental regulation, including economic and non-economic perspectives on environmental degradation; the objectives of environmental regulation; the valuation of environmental benefits; the distributional consequences of environmental policy; and the choice of regulatory tools, such as command-and-control regulation, taxes, marketable permit schemes, liability rules, and informational requirements. The student's grade is based on a final examination.
Spring 2010
Jacob Gersen
Independent Research
LAWS 49901
Second- and third-year students may earn course credit by independent research under the supervision of a member of the faculty. Such projects are arranged by consultation between the student and the particular member of the faculty in whose field the proposed topic falls.
Winter 2010
Jacob Gersen
Independent Research
LAWS 49901
Second- and third-year students may earn course credit by independent research under the supervision of a member of the faculty. Such projects are arranged by consultation between the student and the particular member of the faculty in whose field the proposed topic falls.
Spring 2010
Jacob Gersen
