Legal Philosophy
The University of Wisconsin Law School is known for its "law in action" legal philosophy. This philosophy proposes that to truly understand the law, students must not only know the "law on the books," but also study how the law is actually practiced by professionals. The law school's classroom discussions, involvement with other campus departments, scholarship, and clinicals all emphasize the interplay between law and society.
Within the law school community, some professors emphasize law-in-action more than others. One trusts and estates professor, for instance, devotes a portion of every lecture to the law in action concept. Other classes have their overall structure designed to emphasize law-in-action, for example, starting a contracts course with the concept of remedies rather than formation of contract, or starting a criminal law course with sentencing. Still, some law professors at the University either never mention the theory, or do so only to gently lampoon its touchstone status.
Read more about this topic: University Of Wisconsin Law School
Famous quotes containing the words legal and/or philosophy:
“If he who breaks the law is not punished, he who obeys it is cheated. This, and this alone, is why lawbreakers ought to be punished: to authenticate as good, and to encourage as useful, law-abiding behavior. The aim of criminal law cannot be correction or deterrence; it can only be the maintenance of the legal order.”
—Thomas Szasz (b. 1920)
“The proper method of philosophy consists in clearly conceiving the insoluble problems in all their insolubility and then in simply contemplating them, fixedly and tirelessly, year after year, without any hope, patiently waiting.”
—Simone Weil (1909–1943)