Fall 2021 LAWS Special Topics and Descriptions
Below are the topic names and descriptions for our undergraduate and graduate selected topics courses being offered this upcoming academic year. Each semester the instructors and topics can change, review the Course Outlines for complete course information. Date and times of course offerings can be confirmed in Carleton Central or in the Public Class Schedule.
Selected Topics Courses
Fall 2021
| COURSE | CRN | INSTRUCTOR | TITLE/ TOPIC | Description |
| FYSM 1502 A | 32937 | Tasson, Stephen | Topics in Legal Studies; Exploring the Sociolegal Imagination and Cultural Approaches to Law | What does it mean to talk about the socio-legal imagination? When we think of what law “is” and how it operates in our society what images come to mind? What institutions (e.g. the courtroom, the prison, etc.) and what language (e.g. justice, order, etc.) do we think of when we think of law? Who do we think about? How do our experience of law compare to these images?
This course aims to introduce and explore these questions. We do this by looking at some of the most influential and persistent constructions of law and legal action, and the enduring debates that these idealizations provoked. These come to us not just from caselaw and “legal texts”, but through the social sciences, and crucially through the cultural representations of law and justice that surround us (e.g. books, film, etc.). As students interested in law and legal studies, this course will challenge you to examine your own views of where and how we “locate” law in our societies. Does our socio-legal imagination extend beyond “the books”, the courtroom, the police, violence? Students who take this course should be prepared to explore these questions through open and structured discussion, short written work, and structured essays. |
| LAWS 3903 A | 33804 | Husain, Atiya | Selected Legal Topics; Foundations of Race and Law | |
| LAWS 3903 B | 33805 | Jean Ketterling | Selected Legal Topics; Reproductive Rights and Justice | In this course, we will examine how reproduction is regulated, contested, and controlled in Canada. Moving beyond the binary framing of pro-choice versus anti-choice, this course draws on reproductive justice frameworks to examine a wide range of issues that impact the choice to have or not have children, and the ability to parent children in safe and sustainable communities. We will consider how law and social structures affect goals such as greater bodily autonomy and choice, and safety for parents and children. The goal of the course is to put the legal governance and regulation of reproductive health into conversation with community-driven debates about reproductive justice. Topics include abortion, surrogacy, sterilization, parenting, and the impact of racism, disability, colonialism, carceral politics, heteronormativity, and climate change on reproductive rights and justice. |
| LAWS 4209 A | 33813 | Salazar, Alberto | Topics in Business Law; Corporate Law and the New Industrial Revolution | This seminar discusses issues on Canadian and comparative corporate law and governance arising from the impact of the fourth industrial revolution. Specifically, it studies the transformative impact of both the massive deployment of blockchain technology, artificial intelligence, algorithms, smart contracts, automation, cryptocurrency and the expansion of e-commerce and big tech and platform corporations on the economy, companies and corporate law. These revolutionary changes require an examination of the ways in which business law should be adjusted to respond to the new economy and societal demands. The course will examine issues such as the new technology-driven changes to corporate law and governance; the impact of the new financial technology on business law; fiduciary duties of directors and officers and artificial intelligence; the transformation of employees’ rights, platform corporations and the gig economy; executive pay and stakeholder capitalism; corporate social responsibility in the digital economy; government intervention in recessionary economies and health emergencies; smart contracts and blockchain technology; the regulation of e-commerce; antitrust concerns associated with global big tech companies and platform corporations; consumer protection law, smart contracts and the health risk of the new technology. |
| LAWS 4209 B | 33814 | Marcoux, Jean-Michel | Topics in Business Law; Business and Human Rights | |
| LAWS 4306 A | 33820 | TBA | Criminal Law Issues; TBA | |
| LAWS 4306 B | 33821 | TBA | Criminal Law Issues; TBA | |
| LAWS 4605 A | 33826 | Richmond, Sean | Topics in International Law; International Law in International Politics | This interdisciplinary seminar examines key theories of the nature, role and limits of international law in international politics and armed conflict; relevant legal principles and rules shaping this relationship; and how these theories and rules apply to important historical and contemporary case studies. It assesses how law and politics interact in areas such as the use of military force by states and the conduct of war; international human rights; international criminal law; world trade; the law of the sea and outer space; the environment; and Canada’s Arctic policy in a time of global warming and geopolitical change. The seminar is aimed at fourth-year undergraduate students who have pre-existing knowledge of public international law. It will be run synchronously online, using Zoom. Live discussions will be held during the scheduled course time. They will not be recorded. Students are expected to prepare in advance and actively participate. |
| LAWS 4605 B | 33827 | TBA | Topics in International Law; TBA | |
| LAWS 4903 A | 33835 | Adrian, Melanie | Advanced Legal Topics; Is Religion a Human Right? | This course will consider the legal, theoretical, and theological interconnections between religion and human rights. The course will familiarize students with key concepts including religious freedom, secularism, public sphere, accommodation and neutrality. These fundamental concepts will be brought into dialogue through a series of case studies that critically examine religion and culture, boundaries of religion and state, and religious compulsion. Attention will be paid to the interdependence of legal and religious perspectives. Please note: This course will be delivered using a combination of online videos, podcasts, readings and “live” sessions using the Zoom conferencing platform. These live sessions will be held during our regularly scheduled class time. |
| LAWS 4903 B | 33836 | Littlechild, Danika | Advanced Legal Topics; Indigenous Relations, Ethics and Law | |
| LAWS 4903 C | 33837 | Adrian, Melanie | Advanced Legal Topics; Is Religion a Human Right? | This course will consider the legal, theoretical, and theological interconnections between religion and human rights. The course will familiarize students with key concepts including religious freedom, secularism, public sphere, accommodation and neutrality. These fundamental concepts will be brought into dialogue through a series of case studies that critically examine religion and culture, boundaries of religion and state, and religious compulsion. Attention will be paid to the interdependence of legal and religious perspectives. Please note: This course will be delivered using a combination of online videos, podcasts, readings and “live” sessions using the Zoom conferencing platform. These live sessions will be held during our regularly scheduled class time. |
| LAWS 4904 A | 33838 | Oklopcic, Zoran | Advanced Legal Topics; Popular Sovereignty in Contemporary Western Democracies | |
| LAWS 4904 E | 33839 | Hashmi, Rehana | Advanced Legal Topics; Patriarchy, Human Rights and Informal Justice . Non-LAW students require Departmental permission to register into this course |