SMNR: Causation in Tort Law
- Semester: Spring 2018
- Course ID: 397S
- Credit Hours: 3
-
Unique: 28950
Course Information
- Course Type: Seminar
- Grading Method: Pass/Fail Allowed (JD only)
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
Meeting Times
Day | Time | Location |
---|---|---|
WED | 2:15 - 4:05 pm | JON 5.208 |
Evaluation Method
Type | Date | Time | Location |
---|---|---|---|
Paper |
Description
Tort-law causation bifurcates into factual and legal (proximate) causation. Both subjects are potentially covered by this seminar. Factual causation is a more difficult and more interesting area, but student choices of topics will be respected, up to a point. Each student will propose a topic--this must occur before our first meeting--which will then be accepted, refined, or rejected by the seminar as a group. The first meeting will be a ruthless critique of each other's suggested topics.
The ultimate objective is a publishable article on a significant aspect of present-day tort law. After our first meeting--where topics are accepted, rejected, refined, changed--we will hear weekly reports and review drafts. Each student must produce at least one finished draft--on a schedule to be determined--which will then be extensively edited by the instructor, criticized by the seminar, and returned to the author. Each student must then produce a final draft on or before a to-be-announced and emphasized deadline. Ultimately each paper must come in around 30 double-spaced pages (with single-space footnotes), ca. 10k-12k words.