Jurisprudence Cases and Materials

Book excerpt: Jurisprudence Cases and Materials begins with two chapters on the ancient Near Eastern, biblical, and classical origins of law and jurisprudence. It offers chapters that trace the systematic development of the Anglo-American analytic canon and modern critical responses. It also analyzes jurisprudence in the courts. The result is a book that attains unusual breadth and richness of treatment of the web of law and philosophy. The book uses cases to make jurisprudence more meaningful to students and to explore the "relevance" of jurisprudence, exploring how jurisprudential assumptions implicitly or subconsciously dominate the thinking of jurists and therefore play a role in driving the law. Jurisprudence is at the very heart of law and the book tries to make that clear. Having in mind the different ways that people like to teach jurisprudence, the authors sought to design a flexible book. Students can be taken sequentially through the ancient Near Eastern, Biblical, and Classical origins of law and jurisprudence, the Anglo-American canon, modern critical responses, and how it is all reflected in the courts. The book can be taught sequentially or topically. Materials are provided which can be combined in a rich variety of ways to suit the professor's preference. The authors provide suggestions from their experience of different ways to structure the course from the materials.