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2008-2009 UNDERGRADUATE CALENDAR

<Undergraduate Courses and Programs

Law and Society


Law is one of the most significant expressions of a society's social and political development. In recent years social scientists from many disciplines have begun to analyze the interplay between law and society. We live in a period of widespread public interest in law that arises from a concern with problems of social justice, social control and social deviance. Academic disciplines such as anthropology, economics, history, philosophy, political science, psychology and sociology have increasingly focused on such issues as the nature and origin of law; law-making and law-breaking; rights and obligations; freedom and responsibility and law as social policy. These are matters of increasing concern to teachers, social workers, businessmen, doctors and public servants whose professional responsibilities demand a knowledge of the relationship of law to their own fields.

The goals of the program may be stated briefly: to affirm the intellectual importance of the study of law and society and law in society; to provide a framework within which faculty and students may explore, within disciplines and between them, descriptive and analytic approaches to the subject; and to sharpen the appreciation of law as part of the active daily life of the student.

The program must be seen within the context of a liberal education. It is not a pre-law school program or a prerequisite for law school admission. It is designed for interested undergraduate students, whatever their future career orientation.

Faculty of Arts