This course is an advanced introduction to common law reasoning. It is designed so that those without any previous exposure to common law reasoning can be introduced to the topic, while also being an opportunity for those familiar with it to further deepen their understanding. The course is organised into 3 themes: 1) cases; 2) character; and 3) circumstances. The first explores how cases have been reported, stored, and accessed, and by whom; how cases have been occasions for dialogue, with links to norms of politeness and gender; and how cases have been written and read, via what genres and styles of communication. The second concerns the way character (of both real and imaginary parties) is made in the arguments of counsel and the opinions of judges. The third explores how advocates and judges think with circumstances (i.e., concrete examples): creating time to accumulate many examples, generating hypotheticals, and then distinguishing or grouping them. For each topic, there is a balance both between historical and contemporary material, and between theory and practice. There is an overall focus on reading cases together, and seeing what theoretical issues and problems arise from them. The course will be of interest to those who want to familiarise themselves with the techniques of common law reasoning, whether as current or future advocates or judges, or as scholars who wish to begin to think about the complexities of this practice. The scholarship we read draws widely on legal theory and legal history, literary studies, rhetorical studies, and social and political theory and history.
30 Credits