Courses

    The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the worlds of lawmaking and implementation. With the aid of participatory exercises and guest lecturers, we will look at the inside deliberations and outside influences that culminate in the language of proposed legislation and its subsequent enactment into law. We will look as well at how one reads the statutory language once a bill is enacted. Such language can reflect an intentionality of precision, a determination to paper over differences with ambiguous language, or a lack of proper care. Whichever is the case, the law as enacted must be interpreted by a variety of actors who want to comply (or prefer to evade its reach), and by judges who have to adjudicate disputes over its meaning. We will look at the tools of interpretation and the techniques to use in forming arguments to support differing conclusions about the meaning of the language.

The issues of lawmaking and interpretation will occupy somewhat more than half the course. The focus will turn then to a particular venue in which interpretation occurs – the regulatory agency, which is charged with elaborating on the statutory language in ways that must be consistent with it but may go into a level of detail not specifically contemplated by the legislators. We will look at the legal framework that governs the regulatory process and the ways in which regulatory agencies act to develop regulations that fill out the contours of the statute they are charged with administering.

The material covered in this course serves as a building block for later study at the Law Center as well as for work after graduation whether in the private, public, or nonprofit sector (and will be helpful as well in summer stints while in law school). We tend to study the common law during the first year. This course is a partial introduction to the public law which is the basic mainstay of the legal issues that one encounters much more frequently in most areas of practice.