Jewish Law Jurisprudence: From the Bible to the Rabbis (SC)

Jewish law is among the most, if not the most, ancient legal systems in the world, which remains active in contemporary times. Moreover, doctrines and principles of Jewish Law jurisprudence have had a lasting influence on the Western legal tradition. While some of its innovations have been incorporated into general legal thought to a degree that they seem obvious to most, other conceptions of Jewish Law remain unique, and are fundamentally diverge from prevailing legal theories. Thus, the contribution of Jewish Law jurisprudence is not merely historical; it retains the power to challenge our legal world by exposing new directions in legal thought. In this course, we will focus on two of the formative periods of Jewish law – biblical law and rabbinic law – as well as the transition between these periods. We will highlight some of the main legal themes which were formed and crystallized during these periods, and which still possess the power to provoke creative legal thought even today. Among the topics we will discuss are the following: the jurisprudential tension between revelation and wisdom; the status of natural law; various theoretical models of legal development; the role of legal pluralism; the difference between a rights-based discourse and a duty-based discourse; and the concept of ownership. The purpose of the course is to analyze Jewish law jurisprudence on these topics, while comparing it to contemporary jurisprudential theories. In this manner, we shall attempt to provoke new directions of thought on familiar legal issues.