Alison LaCroix : 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
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
Alison LaCroix
Constitutional Law I: Governmental Structure
LAWS 40101
This course analyzes the structure of American government, as defined through the text of the Constitution and its interpretation. The major subjects covered are the allocation of powers among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches; the function of judicial review; and the role of the states and the federal government in the federal structure. The student's grade is based on class participation and a final examination.
Winter 2010
Alison LaCroix
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
Alison LaCroix
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
Alison LaCroix
History of American Federalism: Origins to the Civil War
LAWS 97602
This seminar examines the history of American federalism, both as a constitutional value and as a product of intellectual history, from its European antecedents to modern political and constitutional debates. The federal idea has not been stable throughout the history of the Republic. Controversy over the meaning of federalism has stood at the center of many of the nation's greatest conflicts, from the Constitutional Convention to the Civil War. What was the origin of federalism's central principle of divided sovereignty? How has the meaning of federalism changed throughout American history, and how has it remained constant? This seminar will examine historical questions of causation and influence, as well as the structure and workings of the American legal system, through extensive reading and discussion of primary-source materials. This seminar may be taken for fulfillment of the Substantial Writing Requirement. Students' grades will be based on a series of short papers and class participation.
Spring 2010
Alison LaCroix
American Legal History, 1607-1870
LAWS 97601
This survey course examines major themes and interpretations in the history of American law and legal institutions from the earliest European settlements through the Civil War. Topics include continuity and change between English and American law in the colonial period, the American Revolution and its consequences for state and national law, changing understandings of the U.S. Constitution, the transplantation of the common law, the varied meanings of and debates over federalism, commerce, the law of slavery, and the constitutional and legal consequences of the Civil War. The student's grade will be based on a take-home final examination and class participation.
Spring 2010
Alison LaCroix
Greenberg Seminar: Gender, Power, and the Novel
LAWS 95972
The rise in popularity of the novel accompanies many developments in law and politics relating to the status and opportunities of women. We will discuss the way in which British novels of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries reflect these developments but also give a rich and nuanced commentary on them. We will discuss: Daniel Defoe's MOLL FLANDERS; extracts from Samuel Richardson's CLARISSA; Wilkie Collins's NO NAME; Anthony Trollope's THE LAST CHRONICLE OF BARSET; and George Eliot's MIDDLEMARCH - along with the views of some key commentators. We will meet six times, twice during each quarter. The last meeting will be a festive play reading of a play from the period.
Autumn 2009
Martha Nussbaum, Alison LaCroix
