Bachelor degree.

An introductory course in Sociology of Law is an advantage.

In modern society law and lawyers are extending their domain and the legal sphere is getting increasingly more complex. Juridification of politics, politicization of legal cases, human rights and globalization means that the legal profession meets new challenges and many lawyers and judges may work in the intersections between politics, law and economy and also between the national and international. These processes challenge the positivistic comprehension of the neutrality of law which was dominating in the building of the modern western state and in the comprehension of law which is promoted around the world by entrepreneurial lawyers.

This course also seeks to shed light on non-legal characteristics such as policy, economy and globalization which transforms international relations and law.

This course aims at getting an understanding of socio-economic structures behind law and tries to examine law from its socio-economic relations.

The purpose of the course is thus to give the students a thorough understanding of the relationship between law and society. Moreover the purpose of the course is to discuss different socio-legal methods in order to make the students comfortable with empirical examinations within the socio-legal realm and give the students skills and competences to question different orthodoxies reproduced in the legal domain.

The course supports the undergraduate course "Legal history, jurisprudence and sociology of law" - an undergraduate course in Sociology of Law at the Law school in Odense.

The course starts by introducing distinctions in the sociology of law such as classical sociologists (Durkheim, Weber and Marx) who have examined the relationship between law, economy and society.

Drawing on basic sociological concepts, distinctions and classical theoretical frames the course introduces new socio-legal theories and their view on the relationship between law, economy and society.

Examining law from its generative socio-economic relations the course focuses on how law is constructed by various dominant groups of society and major organizations and how these constructions affect the internal operations of law. In order to understand how to examine law in modern society another aspect of the course is methodological.

The students should be able to reflect on the relationship between law, economy and society and to analyze the hidden socio-economic mechanisms behind law and to discuss on which socio-economic paradigms and common public assumptions law is produced and is reproducing. The students should also demonstrate a thorough understanding of the relationship between law and society in that way they are able to discuss and apply different theories on the relationship between law and society as well as to reflect on various socio-legal methodologies. Moreover the students should be able to criticize theoretical and empirical studies of the relationship between law and society.

The literature will be extracts from selected sociologists and legal theorists. The literature will consist of both primary and secondary literature. Syllabus is given at the start of the semester.

Spring.

The course is offered with 30 lectures. The form is 10 x 3 hours during the semester. Lectures are organized in a combination of lectures, group work, student presentations and discussions.

1 ECTS is equivalent to 27 working hours. An estimated retail distribution of the workload of the average student can be:

Activity	Hours
Lectures	30
Preparation for lectures	128
Preparation for exams	64
Exam	48
Total	270

Ordinary examination in June. Re-examination in August.

Participation in re-examination requires that the student has participated in the examination in June.

None.

Written exam.

Written paper.

The paper has to be submitted within the current deadlines in order to be able to be examined. At the re-examination it is not necessary to change the topic. If the examination is not passed, the student can rewrite the paper.

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Duration: Date for submission will appear from the examination plan.

Location: Home assignment.

Internet Access: Necessary

Hand Out: Course page in Blackboard

Hand In: Via SDUassignment in the course page in Blackboard.

Extent: Maximum 10 pages.

Exam Aids: All exam aids allowed