This first year required course serves as an introduction to the intellectual tradition of The Catholic University of America, and its reason for being. By also serving as an introduction to the study of law largely within the framework of Catholic thought, the course is not intended to be exclusive or limited to those of the Catholic faith. Rather, given the ecumenical faculty and student body of our university, the course is grounded in this discrete body of work (the social teaching of the Church) to invite better scholarly and human appreciation for a number of interrelated issues: the transcendent dignity of the human person, the relationship between law and morality, as well as the concept of justice and its connection to the source of law in society. The course will often focus on Catholic writings that reach back to the ancient, medieval, and early modern Church and constantly move forward to the great social questions of twenty-first century. Examples of the typical questions, problems, and challenges covered by the course are issues concerning marriage, family, crime, property, obligations and duties to the poor, elderly, and minorities, the common good, and human rights.   A secondary, but important, goal of the course is to introduce (or re-introduce) you to some of the great lawyers of the past:  Ulpian, Gratian, Grotius, Edward Coke, William Blackstone, John Austin, and others and to give you some idea about how and why the Common Law and the Civil Law systems differ in their conceptions of law, justice, and equity.

The questions raised in the course will be religious, moral, and political. Consequently much of the class will be devoted to discussions of sensitive issues about which we all have firm, deeply held, opinions. I will insist that you show courtesy and respect for the opinions of others. Anyone who treats another student (or me!) without respect will be asked to leave the classroom.   I hope that you will present your opinions with panache and passion but without denigrating the convictions of others.    You are studying a legal system that is always characterized as being "adversarial" (in contrast to the Civil Law Systems).  A lawyer also spends much time working out compromises during his career.   Dealing with controversy will be a key element in your professional lives.  A professional lawyer needs a thick skin, compassion, and  a lot of skill in anger management ─ what we used to call patience.  We will probably not reach many compromises this semester, but our goal will be to understand the intellectual, political, and emotional commitments of others better than we do now.  More importantly we will dwell on the legal foundations of these thorny questions.