LAW-6350 EARTH JURISPRUDENCE SEMINAR
In this course students will explore and help create principles of an "Earth-based" jurisprudence. Cormac Cullinan in Wild Law proposes there is a "Great Jurisprudence" established by how Earth functions to sustain life. Catholic social teaching emphasizes moral principles that are at the base of a well-ordered society. Modern jurisprudence, in contrast, emphasizes the "positive law" -- laws are simply what humans decide in advancing their personal, ideological and moral interests. This course allows students to step beyond the positive law to question how law may serve the social contexts for Earth-based jurisprudence, modern theories of jurisprudence, Wild Law, principles of an ecological worldview, the 1982 US Charter for Nature, the Earth Charter, legal concepts of indigenous people, Catholic social teaching, and possible legal and equitable remedies for an Earth jurisprudence. Each student will be asked to write a paper either on a theory or an application of Earth Jurisprudence.
Distribution
Law