Jurisprudence and legal theory

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Academic Direction

UCL, Queen Mary University of London

Also part of

LLM Postgraduate Laws

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It is generally advisable that students on this course have some previous general acquaintance with Jurisprudence and Legal Theory. A student absolutely new to the subject must undertake some extra reading. As a postgraduate student, you should use this chance to develop your depth of understanding of this difficult but fascinating and important subject. Jurisprudence is a fascinating subject because of the immense range of intellectual endeavour it embodies. It is difficult to think of another subject that requires you to:Think in directly practical terms: ‘Should this beneficiary receive the money to which that testator has said the estate should go?’ ­Make highly abstract judgments: ‘By virtue of what does language have meaning?’ ­Judge perceptively what is morally permissible: ‘Should beneficiaries who murder testators in order to ensure their inheritance, receive that money?’ and ‘If Parliament creates a statute, does it follow that anything that statute appears to permit, is morally permitted?’Most students find that it is the intensely practical but intellectually challenging nature of the subject that is its main attraction.