Home

Law is a system of rules that are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior. Law provides a rich source of scholarly inquiry into legal history philosophy economic analysis and sociology. Law also raises important and complex issues concerning equality fairness and justice. There is an old saying that all are equal before the law although Jonathan Swift argued that Laws are like cobwebs which may catch small flies but let wasps and hornets break through. Legal Studies is interdisciplinary liberal arts major that engages the meanings values practices and institutions of law and legality. Legal Studies examines how law shapes and is shaped by political economic and cultural forces. The major is designed to stimulate critical understanding of and inquiry about the theoretical frameworks historical dynamics and cultural embeddedness of law. The Legal Studies grapple with important questions of social policy within the framework of significant concerns in jurisprudence and theories of justice. These concerns include individual liberty privacy and autonomy political and social equality the just distribution of resources and opportunities within society the relationship between citizens and the state democratic participation and representation  the moral commitments of the community and the preservation of human dignity. Justice is the legal or philosophical theory by which fairness is administered. The concept of justice differs in every culture. Advocates of divine command theory argue that justice issues from God.