Criminal law is among the most theoretically rich areas of law. It raises fundamental questions about human agency, moral responsibility, the rule of law, and the limits of legitimate state coercion. In this course we will study the theoretical underpinnings-conceptual, moral, and political-of both the institution of criminal justice as a whole and various criminal offences and defences. Potential topics include (but are not limited to): the justifying aims and moral limits of punishment; the criminal law's conception of moral responsibility; the limits of legitimate criminalization; punishment versus alternative modes of behavioural regulation; the theory of possessory offences, attempts, and hate crimes; the foundations of justification and excuse in general; and the structure of specific defences such as self-defence, provocation, duress, and entrapment.
Criminal law is among the most theoretically rich areas of law. It raises fundamental questions about human agency, moral responsibility, the rule of law, and the limits of legitimate state coercion. In this course we will study the theoretical underpinnings-conceptual, moral, and political-of both the institution of criminal justice as a whole and various criminal offences and defences. Potential topics include (but are not limited to): the justifying aims and moral limits of punishment; the criminal law's conception of moral responsibility; the limits of legitimate criminalization; punishment versus alternative modes of behavioural regulation; the theory of possessory offences, attempts, and hate crimes; the foundations of justification and excuse in general; and the structure of specific defences such as self-defence, provocation, duress, and entrapment.
