Law and the Legal System

Advisors: Lawrence Friedman, Jonathan Greenberg, Bruce Owen, A. Mitchell Polinsky, Jack Rakove

The focus of this concentration area is on the application of social science methodology to better understand and evaluate legal rules and institutions. The emphasis is on the economic, political, philosophical and other social forces affecting the development of the law, and the effects of laws on society's welfare.

Students may also want to review courses listed in the graduate Legal and Regulatory Intervention Policy Studies Concentration.

Courses in the Law and the Legal System Concentration include:

COMM 116. Journalism Law

ECON 157. Imperfect Competition
ECON 158. Antitrust and Regulation

HRP 209. FDA’s Regulation of Health Care
HRP 210. Health Law and Policy
HRP 211. Law and the Biosciences

HISTORY 135. History of European Law, Medieval to Contemporary
HISTORY 208A. Science and Law in History
HISTORY 245G. Law and Colonialism in Africa
HISTORY 251G. Topics in Constitutional History

HUMBIO 171. The Death Penalty: Human Biology, Law, and Policy
HUMBIO 172B. Children, Youth, and the Law 
HUMBIO 173. Science, Business, Law: How Scientific Discovery and Innovation are Protected and Brought to Market

PHIL 175. Philosophy of Law

POLISCI 114D. Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law
POLISCI 120C. American Political Institutions: Congress, the Executive Branch, and the Courts
POLISCI 122. Introduction to American Law
POLISCI 124R. Judicial Politics and Constitutional Law: The Federal System
POLISCI 124S. Judicial Politics and Constitutional Law: Civil Liberties
POLISCI 337R. Justice at Home and Abroad: Civil Rights in the 21

PUBLPOL 125. Law and Public Policy
PUBLPOL 302A. Introduction to Law
PUBLPOL 302B. Economic Analysis of Law

SOC 106. Political Sociology
SOC 133. Law and Wikinomics: The Economic and Social Organization of the Legal Profession
SOC 136. Society of Law
SOC 136A. Law and Society