The purpose of the course will be to explore in a seminar setting the rich diversity of cultural, historical, philosophical and religious traditions within which legal concepts and rules have been formulated, implemented, and currently function. The course will take a comparative approach in exploring the legal traditions and thoughts of the Western societies of Europe and North America and those of at least two non-western civilizations such as those of the Chinese/Confucian, Indian/Hindu, Islamic and African worlds. The course will inquire into the ways in which these traditions are distinctive, as well as their shared norms and world views. The course will seek to emphasize the ways in which legal norms and rules reflect and are accommodated by socio-historical developments, and the ways in which contemporary international societies and legal orders merge into or reject transnational norms and practices.

A paper written for this seminar may be used to satisfy the Advanced Writing Requirement.