CLAS 295 - Topics in Classical Civilization

Credits: 3
When Offered: Offered when interest is expressed and departmental resources permit.

Selected subject areas in classical civilization. The topic selected varies from year to year. May be repeated for degree credit with permission and if the topics are different.

Topic for Winter, 2010:

CLAS 295: Ancient Greek Law: Law, Litigation and Democracy in Ancient Greece (3). In this course, we study the rise and evolution of law in ancient Greece, and the role that social formations (specifically, the city-state) and political arrangements (specifically, democracy) had in shaping the rise of law. We study ancient legal codes but consider as well several philosophical and literary texts showing the complex movements in thinking about law. We also study several forensic speeches from the 4th century. We explore constitutional and criminal law, as well as legal procedure and forms of advocacy in ancient Greece. In addition, we wll look at several parallel developments in recent American jurisprudence in order to show the continuing pertinence of the Greek materials, and also to illuminate the issues inherent in the rule of law. CrottyStaff.