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August 10–16, 2008
Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, NJ
The Witherspoon Institute
email: phough@winst.org
The Witherspoon Institute is pleased to announce the first annual summer seminar on the Moral Foundations of Law, a comprehensive week-long program investigating the interaction among moral thought, legal theory, and the nature of moral legislation. Led by Gerard V. Bradley of Notre Dame Law School, in collaboration with Robert P. George of Princeton University and John M. Finnis of Oxford University, the seminar takes place from August 10 to 16, 2008 on the campus of the Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, N.J. Guest lecturers will include Judge Edith B. Clement (Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals) and Judge Edith H. Jones (Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals).
Guided by its mission to promote public understanding of the principles of free and democratic societies, the Witherspoon Institute brings three of the United States’ and England’s leading legal minds to lead an intense discussion of some of the most profound moral and legal questions facing students in top law school programs, including issues such as the compatibility of political constitutions with morals legislation, religious institutions, the institution of marriage, moral neutrality in law, legal positivism, and the legal and moral understanding of a right to privacy. Extensive readings from recent legal theory, chiefly from the analytical tradition, will accompany both seminars and directed discussions.
Seminar Readings
Monographs:
John Finnis, Natural Law and Natural Rights, Clarendon Law Series (Oxford University Press, 1980).
Robert George, Making Men Moral; Civil Liberties and Public Morality (Oxford University Press, 1993).
Gerard Bradley, A Student's Guide to the Study of Law (Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 2006).
Articles and Selections:
John Finnis, "Natural Law: The Classical Tradition", Coleman and Shapiro, The Oxford Handbook of Jurisprudence and Philosophy of Law (Oxford University Press, 2002).
"Natural Law: The Classical Tradition", part 1
"Natural Law: The Classical Tradition", part 2
John Finnis, "Natural Law Theories", Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Online).
For more information, please contact Patrick Hough at phough@winst.org
Participating Faculty
Gerard V. Bradley is a professor of law at Notre Dame Law School and a noted scholar in the fields of constitutional law as well as law and religion, having taught previously at the University of Illinois. Admitted to the New York Bar in 1981, he practiced law as an assistant district attorney with the New York County District Attorney’s Office from 1980 to 1983. With Professor John Finnis, he has served as director of Notre Dame’s Natural Law Institute and as co-editor of the institute’s American Journal of Jurisprudence since 1996. He is president of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars, vice president of the American Public Philosophy Institute, member of the board of advisors of the Cardinal Newman Society, chair of the Federalist Society’s Religious Liberties Practice Group, member of the Ramsey Colloquium on Theological Issues and member of the board of advisors of the Society of Catholic Social Scientists. He earned his B.A. from Cornell University in 1976 and his J.D. from the Cornell Law School in 1980.
John M. Finnis is a chaired professor in law at Oxford University and an adjunct Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Notre Dame. He has served as associate in law at the University of California at Berkeley, as professor of law at the University of Malawi (Africa), and as the Huber Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law at the Boston College Law School. He is admitted to the English Bar (Gray’s Inn). Professor Finnis’ service has included the Linacre Centre for Health Care Ethics, the Catholic Bishops’ Joint Committee on Bioethical Issues, the International Theological Commission, the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, and the Pontifical Academy Pro Vita. He has published widely in law, legal theory, moral and political philosophy, moral theology, and the history of the late Elizabethan era. He earned his LL.B. from Adelaide University (Australia) and his doctorate from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar.
Robert P. George is the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and founding Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University, and the Herbert W. Vaughan Senior Fellow of the Witherspoon Institute. He is a member of the President’s Council on Bioethics and formerly served as a presidential appointee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights. Professor George was a Judicial Fellow at the Supreme Court of the United States. His books include Making Men Moral: Civil Liberties and Public Morality and The Clash of Orthodoxies: Law, Religion, and Morality in Crisis. A graduate of Swarthmore College and Harvard Law School, he holds a doctorate in legal philosophy from Oxford University.
Judge Edith Brown Clement sits on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Judge Clement worked in a private practice as a maritime attorney in New Orleans, Louisiana, before being commissioned in 1991 to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana by President George H. W. Bush. In 2001 her nomination by President George W. Bush to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit was confirmed. Judge Clement is a member of the Maritime Law Association of the United States, the Federal Bar Association, the American Law Institute, the Federalist Society, the Tulane Law School’s Inn of Court, and the Committee on the Administrative Office of the Judicial Conference of the United States. She is a graduate of the University of Alabama and received her J. D. from Tulane Law School.
Judge Edith H. Jones is the Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. As a lawyer, Judge Jones worked in private practice specializing in bankruptcy law and became the first female partner of the firm of Andrews, Kurth, Campbell and Jones. She was nominated to the Fifth Circuit by President Ronald Reagan and confirmed by the United States Senate in 1985. In 2006, she became Chief Judge of the Fifth Circuit. Judge Jones is a member of a number of committees of the American Bar Association, and sits on the board of directors of the Garland Walker American Inns of Court. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Cornell University and her J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law.
Updated April 28, 2008