Topics in American Legal History - Spring 2012 - syllabus

Topics in American Legal History ? Seminar (602--001) ? Spring 2012

Professors Ross E. Davies (rdavies@; 703-993-8049) & Richard Paschal (rpaschal@gmu.edu; 202-365-3672)

Classes: For those enrolled for 2 credits: Wednesdays, 12 noon to 1:50 p.m. For those enrolled for 3 credits: Wednesdays, 12 noon to 1:50 p.m., plus two MANDATORY, NON-SKIPPABLE all-day Saturday sessions on Jan. 21 and Feb. 11 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Library of Congress Manuscript Division Reading Room, 101 Independence Ave. SE, Room LM 101, James Madison Memorial Bldg., Washington, DC. If you miss all or part of either Saturday for any reason ? including a family emergency, a wedding, an opportunity for personal or career growth, an alarm clock that fails to chime, or anything else ? your grade will not be affected, but you will be switched to 2-credits. So, if you enroll for 3 credits, hedge your bet (by not relying on that third credit in order to graduate) or be prepared to make a sacrifice (by missing a big event, not sleeping in, postponing graduation, or whatever) in the event that you do not make it for all or part of one of those Saturdays.

Reading Assignments: are subject to change and may be supplemented depending on the direction of the course takes. Jan. 11: Brown v. Bd. of Educ., 347 U.S. 483 (1954) & 349 U.S. 294 (1955); Hutchinson, Unanimity and Desegregation, 68 Geo. L.J. 1 (1979) Jan. 25: Briefs & opinions in Eldred v. Ashcroft, 537 U.S. 186 (2003); Nachbar, Constructing Copyright's Mythology, 6 Green Bag 2d 37 (2002) Feb. 1: Fletcher v. Peck, 10 U.S. 87 (1810); Magrath, Yazoo: Law and Politics in the New Republic (Brown Univ. Press 1966)

Class schedule: Jan. 11: Brown material Jan. 18: Paul Haas presentation *Jan. 21: Lib. of Cong. all day for 3-cr; just a.m. or p.m. for 2-cr Jan. 25: Eldred material Feb. 1: Fletcher material

Feb. 8: topic discussion & selection *Feb. 11: Lib. of Cong. all day for 3-cr Feb. 15: Davies and Paschal presentations Feb. 22: 4th case and history TBA Feb. 29: student presentations (2) Mar. 7: student presentations (2)

Mar. 21: student presentations (2) Mar. 28: student presentations (2) Apr. 4: student presentations (2) Apr. 11: student presentations (2) Apr. 18: student presentations (2) May 15: paper deadline

For each class session, please:

(a) Read the assigned material. You should stay an assignment or two ahead of schedule, just in case.

(b) Leave all electronics (laptops, tablets, phones, etc.) outside the classroom or, if you must bring them with you, keep them closed and stowed (in a backpack, briefcase, or other bag) during class.

(c) Note and follow in-class instruction. That means, among other things, if you miss a class you are responsible for acquiring from a classmate notes about what happened. Make arrangements in advance as a precaution against unanticipated absences. There is a strong tradition in law of sharing notes with colleagues in need. Be a part of that tradition, but do not abuse it.

(d) Look up words you do not know. Use Black's Law Dictionary (9th ed.) for legal terms and a good general dictionary ? the OED (online or 2d ed.), American Heritage (4th ed.), or whatever works for you ? for everything else.

Presentations: They are required. Each student will deliver a 45-minute work-in-progress presentation on his or her paper.

Purpose of the course: This course is an opportunity to (a) take a close look at the history of famous and obscure cases, (b) study the place in judicial decision-making of legal history in general and case-specific background in particular, and (c) practice the deep digging and careful writing required to really make sense of judicial decisions and opinions. We begin with a famous case and a fine example of the close study of such a case. Then we will have a presentation by Paul Haas devoted to research resources and techniques, followed by a Saturday at the Library of Congress learning about how to use that extraordinary resource. After spending a couple of weeks on additional cases and histories, we will devote the February 8 class session to students' ideas about cases they would like to write about. (Students are expected to begin prospecting for interesting cases after the first day of class, so come to class prepared with at least 3 ideas.) There will be a second Library of Congress trip on February 12, by which time we hope it will be obvious that while the Library visits are required only for 3credit students, they are useful for anyone who wants to write a good paper. Finally, we will look closely at one more case and then spend a few weeks on in-class presentations, giving students a chance to evaluate each other's work before they wrap up their papers before or during the exam period. By the end of the course, all of us should be better students, scholars, and practitioners of American legal history.

Grades: Your grade will be based on a 3,000-word paper (5,000 words if you opt for the 3-credit course) and class participation. Participation includes reading your colleagues' outlines and coming to class with intelligent questions about and suggestions for their work. (N.B.: Because of the electronics ban, no one will be able to google whatever we are talking about in class and then read something off their computer screen as though it were their own thought. Rather, they will have to read and reflect and perhaps even do a little bit of their own research before class in order to be confident of having something useful to share with the rest of us.) The instructors will work with each student to identify a paper topic involving a single case. It is your responsibility to deliver and confirm delivery of (a) your outline to every member of the class no later than the Friday before your presentation and (b) your final paper to the instructors by the deadline. An outline or paper turned in late but less than one week late will result in your grade being lowered one step (e.g., from B to B-minus), one to two weeks late, two steps (e.g., from B to C-plus), two to three weeks late, three steps (e.g., from B to C) and so on. Grades may be adjusted up or down one step from the paper grade based on class participation. Fair warning: Plagiarism is forbidden and the instructors reserve the right to detect plagiarists by any reasonable means, including, but not limited to, plagiarism-detection software.

Intellectual property: We own all course content we create, regardless of form (electronic, print, audio/video, oral, etc.), including class sessions, office hours, and other meetings, and recordings of those events. You are free to share copies of course content with your classmates for the duration of the course, but other than that you and your classmates must keep all such things in any format to yourselves forever. Recording of class sessions: Is forbidden.

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