i.

Course Title RML 112 Advanced Legal Theory

ii. Course Aim
To enlarge and develop a wider understanding of the nature and working of the
law as a central feature of human societies and to present the student with competing
theories of law and their function and dysfunction in society in relation to their area of
specialisation.
iii. Course expected learning outcomes
Upon completion of the course, students will be able to:
Knowledge and understanding
(a) Differentiate how different philosophical and moral approaches to law can influence
the way in which we construct legal rules and the way in which we apply those rules.
(b) Critique the theoretical foundations and central principles of the leading theories of
law.
(c) Demonstrate the need for legal theory in all aspects of law, particularly why it is
necessary to “see the bigger picture”, and to present complicated issues in simple, clear and
effective ways.
Intellectual and transferable skills
(d) Develop the ability to critically analyse and compare key conceptual issues about the
practice of law: the similarities and differences between law, force, morality, politics and
rights, and to show awareness of why legal rules are developed and adapted over time.
(e) Demonstrate knowledge of case law where legal theory has influenced the way in
which the courts have applied the law.
(f) Develop that basic understanding further and apply it to practical situations and issues,
through analysing problem-based scenarios and policy issues.
Competencies
(g) Carry out research independently and in groups, demonstrating the ability to engage
with primary and secondary legal sources.
(h) Communicate effectively and accurately the content of legal principles and provide
advice based upon the application of those.
iv. Course Status: Core
v. Credit rating Twelve (12) credits
vi. Total hours spent 120 learning hours
vii. Course Content
TOPIC ONE: LAW AND FORCE
• Austin: Law as commands laid down by the sovereign and backed up by sanctions
• Hart: Law as rules and, in particular, of law as a combination of primary and
secondary rules
• Kelsen: Law as an order of norms the validity of which rests on a presupposed
grundnorm
Case study: Uganda v. Commissioner of Prisons, Ex parte Matovu,[1966], High Court,
Kampala, 2 February 1967
TOPIC TWO: LAW AND MORALITY
• Classical natural law theory
• Finnis’s restatement of natural law theory
• Fuller’s procedural version of natural law
• Legal positivism and the separation theory
Case study: Hart v. Fuller - The Nazi grudge trials
TOPIC THREE: LAW AND POLITICS (MAINSTREAM THEORIES)
• Hart: the difference between clear cases and hard cases and the appropriate judicial
response to them
• Fuller: legal reasoning as purposive
• Dworkin: the interpretative approach and the theory of law as integrity
Case study: the judge and an unjust society - apartheid South Africa as archetypical “unjust
society”
TOPIC FOUR: LAW AND POLITICS (CHALLENGING THE MAINSTREAM)
• Legal realism
• Marxism and law
• Critical Legal Theory: critical legal studies, critical race theory, feminist legal theory
Case study: Critical Jurisprudence - the Lawrence Enquiry and critical race theory
TOPIC FIVE: RIGHTS
• The distinction between civil and political rights and socio-economic rights
• Utilitarianism: rights as constraints on utilitarian reasoning
• Critiques of rights
• Bills of rights
Case study: translating moral rights against the government into law – the Tanzanian Bill
of Rights
TOPIC SIX: POSTCOLONIAL JURISPRUDENCE
• The pre-colonial
• Colonisation and the law
• The post-colonial
Case study: Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda
viii. Teaching And Learning Activities
Lectures are designed to provide students with an overview of legal theory and
jurisprudence. At various points in the lectures, students will be introduced to areas where
further reading will be desirable. The lectures will be interactive, providing students with
the opportunity to raise questions and promote discussion. This area of study is challenging,
dynamic and diverse, and students will be encouraged to take responsibility for their own
learning experience. Seminars are designed to encourage students to develop an ability to
apply their knowledge in practical situations so as to identify issues, carry out appropriate
research and work together in teams.
To enable the full benefit to be obtained from this course, students should attend all of the
classes and activities.
ix. Assessment Methods
The teaching course assessment strategy is of integrated assessment: this includes both
formative and summative assessment to evaluate the student on his/her progress
throughout the teaching course.
Assessment will be formative to enable students to demonstrate their capacity to
understand, analyse and apply rules and principles and summative to assess ability to
synthesise primary and secondary material to solve novel problems.
For this teaching course, assessment shall be divided in the following manner:
1. Continuous assessment tasks (CATS)
One seminar paper and its presentation (20%)
Written Assignment (10%)
Test (10%)
2. Semester examination
An end of semester examination and this shall constitute a maximum of 60% of the total
mark for this teaching course.
x. Reading List
Harris, J.W., Legal Philosophies, Butterworths, London 1972
McCoubrey, H. & White, N.D., Textbook on Jurisprudence, Oxford University Press,
Oxford 1993.
Meyerson, D., Understanding Jurisprudence, Routledge Cavendish, Oxon 2007.
Wacks, R., Understanding Jurisprudence, An Introduction to Legal Theory, Oxford
University Press, Oxford 2005
Aristotle, Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, (trans. R.C. Bartlett & S.D. Collins), University of
Chicago Press, Chicago 2011.
Davies, H., & Holdcroft, D., Jurisprudence, texts and commentary, Butterworths, London
1991.
Dworkin, R., Taking Rights Seriously, Universal Law Publishing Co. PVT. Ltd., Delhi 1996.
Freeman, M.D.A., Lloyd’s Introduction to Jurisprudence, Sweet & Maxwell Ltd, London
2017.
Hart, H.L.A. The Concept of Law, postscript P.A. Bulloch & J. Raz (eds.), Oxford
University Press, Oxford 1942.
Hart, H.L.A., Positivism and the Separation of Law and Morals, 71 Harvard Law Review
4, (1958), 593-629.
Hobbes, T., Leviathan, J.C.A. Gaskin (ed.), Oxford University Press, Oxford 1996.
Kelsen, H., The Pure Theory of Law, Its Method and Fundamental Concepts, Part. I,
(Translated, with an Introduction, by C.H. Wilson), CC The Law Quarterly Review, (1934).
Kelsen, H., What is the Pure Theory of Law?, XXXIV Tulane Law Review, (1960), 275-276;
Kelsen, H., Pure Theory of Law, (trans. 2nd Ed. M. Knight), University of California Press,
Berkeley 1967.
Locke, J., Two Treatises of Government and a Letter Concerning Toleration, I. Shapiro
(ed.), Yale University Press, New Haven 2003.
McLeod, I., Legal Theory, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke 2003.
Menski, W.F., Comparative Law in a Global Context: The Legal Systems of Asia and Africa,
Platinium Publishing Ltd., London 2000.
Plato, Laws, (trans. B. Joweh), Echo Library, Teddington 2006; Plato,
Plato, The Republic, (trans. A. Bloom), Basic Books, New York 19912.
Simmons, N.E., Central Issues in Jurisprudence: Justice, Law and Rights, Sweet and
Maxwell, London 1986.
St. Augustine, The City of God against the Pagans, (trans. R.W. Dyson, [ed.]), Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge 1998.
Tebbit, M., Philosophy of Law, An Introduction, Routledge, Oxon 2005.
Wacks, R., SWOT, Jurisprudence, Blackstone Press Limited, London 1993.