LL209: Law, Society and Morality: Contemporary Controversies in the Courts

We live in a time of ‘culture wars’ and increasing polarisation: political debates about topics such as climate change, gender identity, or abortion are frequently conducted in a shrill and unproductive manner.

This course will introduce the students to a range of high-profile controversies by viewing them through the prism of the law. It will enable the students to transcend the culture wars by critically engaging with the moral, political, and legal issues at stake and by becoming skilled participants in the respective debates.

We will engage with some of the most important and controversial political issues of our time, including abortion, same-sex marriage, euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, religion in the public sphere, hate speech, life imprisonment, prostitution, gender, populism and democratic backsliding, biopolitics in the age of Covid-19, climate change and the courts, and AI and the law.

These issues will be approached by studying and comparing landmark judgments from the world’s most influential and powerful courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, the Canadian Supreme Court, the South African Constitutional Court, the European Court of Human Rights, the U.K. Supreme Court, and the German Federal Constitutional Court. The courts’ decisions serve as a springboard for a critical and analytical discussion of the respective issue.

Prerequisites: An introductory course in a social science subject (for example law, history, sociology, politics, international relations, economics), philosophy, or a related discipline.

Level: 200 level. Read more information on levels in our FAQs

Fees: Please see Fees and payments

Lectures: 36 hours

Classes: 18 hours

Assessment: One examination and one essay

Typical credit: 3-4 credits (US) 7.5 ECTS points (EU)

Please note: Assessment is optional but may be required for credit by your home institution. Your home institution will be able to advise how you can meet their credit requirements. For more information on exams and credit, read Teaching and assessment

The course is ideal if you are interested in exploring connections between politics and law.

You should consider this course if you are enrolled in a humanities or social science programme and would like to take a law course in order to get a better understanding of how the law approaches controversial political questions or with a view to studying law at a later stage.

You should also consider this course if you are already enrolled in a law programme and are interested in improving your understanding of the entanglement of the law with political and moral controversies.

The goals of the course are, first, to introduce the students to the important and controversial political, legal, and moral debates with regard to the above-mentioned topics and, second, to develop the students’ skills to construct convincing arguments about these issues.

The design of this course is guided by LSE faculty, as well as industry experts, who will share their experience and in-depth knowledge with you throughout the course.