To really understand something it is imperative to have a good grasp on the context that surrounds it. If you are a mechanic you need to appreciate the basic principles of how an engine works. If you like gardening, it is important to understand the fundamentals of what plants need to survive. The same goes for law. 
LAW455- Jurisprudence- provides you with a deep understanding of law and our legal system. The unit focuses on legal reasoning which is the core skill for lawyers. Commencing law students bring with them an intuitive understanding of what is right and wrong. They then have to learn to provide legal answers rather than provide their moral opinions. One way that the unit explores legal reasoning is by exploring the relationship between moral and legal reasoning. It is rather more complicated than one might have thought!
The theories explored are also tied to political ideologies. The theories try to come up with an approach to law that furthers justice. Getting a sharper sense of such ideologies is helpful not only for legal advice work, but the range of other work lawyers do, such as writing submissions on law reform, etc.
Angela Ryan
Dr Eric Ghosh will be coordinating LAW455 in Trimester one. Eric’s passion has its origins in childhood. His dad was a political science academic at the University of New South Wales. As you can imagine, Eric’s household was filled with reading material such as The Economist magazine. Eric also remembers dinner time conversations as being intellectually stimulating! His interest in jurisprudence was solidified when he studied law at the University of Sydney (both as an undergraduate and postgraduate student). 
Jurisprudence is an intellectually challenging unit. Past students have also indicated that they found it super-interesting! For example Angela Ryan noted ‘the content was simply fascinating. Dr Eric Ghosh ignited my passion for the philosophy and theory of the legal system.’
Eric notes that ‘those students with reasonably well-developed analytical and comprehension skills and with an interest in developing their understanding of law in general should consider taking this unit.’
Thank you Eric for offering such an important and intellectually stimulating unit!
