Interpretation Theory and Methods

LAW7028
Section 1, Spring 25

Schedule Information

Enrollment: /44
Credits: 3
Days Time Room Start Date End Date

Tue

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Wed

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Fri

 		0850-0950 WB105

Course Description

The interpretation of legal texts is an important component of a wide variety of legal subjects. In constitutional law, courts and scholars debate originalism and living constitutionalism. In the statutory realm, there is a related debate about textualism, purposivism, intentionalism, and pragmatism. Similar issues arise in the interpretation of rules and regulations as well as private law text, including contracts, trusts, and wills. With the rise of textualism and originalism, judges, lawyers, and scholars are increasingly concerned with the role of interpretation in determining the meaning of legal texts. "Interpretation Theory and Methods" will explore legal theories of interpretation and construction, linguistics, and the philosophy of language. Topics will include: (1) theories of constitutional interpretation, (2) theories of statutory construction, (3) approaches to contract interpretation, (4) the nature of meaning, including semantics and pragmatics, and (5) tools for the investigation of the meaning of legal texts, including corpus linguistics and artificial intelligence.

Course Requirements

Exam Information

Final Type (if any): None

Description: None

Written Work Product

Students will be assigned approximately six graded short papers (due directly to the instructor and not via EXPO), and participate in oral in-class exercises (such as simulated appellate arguments). The in-class exercises will be graded on a completed/not-completed basis. Non-1L students may submit a "special request" form (available via LawWeb) to Prof. Solum asking to augment one of their short papers into a substantial research paper satisfying the upper-level writing requirement standard. The request form must be initiated by February 25, 2025. No work will be required after the last week of class, except that students who plan to submit a paper for their upper-level writing requirement must do so via EXPO by noon on May 8, 2025.

Other Work

Students will participate in oral in-class exercises (such as simulated appellate arguments) graded on a completed/not-completed basis.

Other Course Details

Prerequisites: None Concurrencies: None

Exclusive With: None

Laptops Allowed: Yes

First Day Attendance Required: No

Course Resources: To be announced.

Graduation Requirements

Satisfies Understanding Bias/Racism/Cross-Cultural Competency requirement: No

Satisfies Writing Requirement: No

Credits For Prof. Skills Requirement: No

Satisfies Professional Ethics: No

Additional Course Information

Schedule No.: 125218812

Modified Type: Lecture

Cross Listed: No

Waitlist Count: 0

Concentrations: Law, Philosophy, and Humanities

Evaluation Portal Via LawWeb Opens: Sunday, April 13, 12:01 AM

Evaluation Portal Via LawWeb Closes: Sunday, April 27, 11:59 PM

Information reflected on this page was last refreshed at: Friday, June 28, 2024 - 7:02 AM *

*During open enrollment periods, live enrollment data may be found in SIS.