The course examines the creation of contracts, their performance, construction, and interpretation, and remedies available upon breach, as well as the Sales Article of the Uniform Commercial Code as that article relates to unsecured sales transactions. This course provides a basic understanding of the substantive criminal law for all law students and serves as a foundation for those students who will elect to enroll in advanced courses with a view toward professional involvement in the criminal justice system. The course is designed to introduce students to the underlying premises of and justifications for the criminal law. Particular emphasis is placed on the general doctrines that dictate the minimum elements necessary to impose criminal liability. Examines the historical development of Anglo-American property law in conjunction with changing currents of economic, social, and political thought.
Emphasis is placed on understanding decision making by courts in the common-law tradition.
Continues examination of the concepts introduced in Property I but shifts the focus to the limitations imposed on the use of property by private agreement and public regulation. Problem areas studied include easements, restrictive covenants, nuisance, eminent domain, constitutional limitations on public activities adversely affecting private property, zoning, and other forms of land use control. Inquiry is addressed to the relative merits of private ordering, judicial activity, legislative and administrative measures for resolving conflicts in the use of resources. The relationships between law and other disciplines, particularly economics, are explored along with questions concerning the utility of the law as an instrument for achieving specific societal objectives. This course investigates the development of tort principles, emphasizing civil responsibility for harms to tangible personal and property interests and the roles of legislatures, judges, and juries.