"Moral Foundations of Law"

This summer seminar, "The Moral Foundations of Law", sponsored by the Witherspoon Institute at Princeton, might be of interest to MOJ readers who are law students:

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 – 16, 2007 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 the top law school programs and political philosophy departments, 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.