Unit 1 Legal Foundations & Legal Philosophy




PROBLEM 1 → The Problem of Acting Justly
PROBLEM 1 → The Problem of Acting Justly





































PROBLEM 2 → The Problem of How to Best Judge

* WHAT IS THE JUST CHOICE?
* IS THERE ANY SOCIAL PURPOSE TO CRIMINALIZING SIMON'S ACTIONS?
* DOES ONE JUDGE BASED ON WHAT IS or WHAT OUGHT TO BE?









Positivists argue that the rules that govern law-making (i.e., called "groomed norms) are socially accepted and thus validate law ... BUT what happens if these law-making rules are rejected? At base, protests, civil disobedience, and revolution are on some level a rejection of positive law. So, does law remain valid under broad social rejection?









Additional Material → CORE 4 Legal Theories
Additional Material → CORE 4 Legal Theories

→ Law is an instrument of oppression by men against women.
→ "If
you want to know who is being hurt in society, look at what is being
done, and to whom, in pornography and then go look for them in other
places in the world." Catharine
MacKinnon
→ Legal institutions are systematically biased against women to gain positions of power & prestige.
→ Law plays a key role in women's subordinate status.
→ Who creates the law and who interprets the law?
CRITICAL LEGAL THEORY → MARXIST LEGAL THEORY
→ Law is simply a tool to deepen the status quo of capitalist class holding power over working class.
→ The inequalities in the economic system reinforced by law.
→ Law is simply class rule that enables the wealthy and protects the interests of the economic elite.
CRITICAL RACE THEORY
CRITICAL LEGAL THEORY → INDIGENOUS LEGAL THEORY
→ Studied in Unit 3 Aboriginal Law Indigenous Law



MATERIAL BELOW NOT COVERED IN 2021-2022 MODIFIED SEMESTER SYSTEM
Law as Truth-Finding
Law as Truth-Finding

Rags to Riches
The Quest
Voyage and Return
Comedy
Tragedy
Rebirth
What are the qualities of a prototypical judge?
What Do We Expect From Judges? What if a judge falls outside the archetypal judge?
E.g. Associate Chief Justice Lori Douglas (Manitoba Court of Queens Bench Family Division)
E.g. Justice Michel Girouard (Quebec Superior Court)
E.g. Justice Robin Camp (Federal Court of Canada)
How do judges judge? ENTER Positivist, Realist, Naturalist
and CLT approaches to judging. AND
Should judges, as those given the power to judge others, be judged on the basis of their skill and experience or based on their image and personal lives and choices when made public? How does public perception factor into this question?

What are acceptable versus unacceptable ways to uncover or expose "THE TRUTH"? Buried Treasure Analogy.
What if 2 different yet equally plausible "truths" are presented? How does one judge? This problem is known as the "RASHOMON EFFECT", which is a Japanese film that grapples with this problem of multiple truths that are equally likely and believable.

The "Judgement of Solomon", human nature and the use of archetypes to find the truth among multiple truths.
Archetypes can be used to help us understand the problems with, short-comings of, and challenges faced when truth-finding and judging. They can help us interpret our observations when judging and enlighten us as to why we judge the way we do.
Archetypes are RECOGNIZABLE and TYPICAL PATTERNS of BEHAVIOUR over time.
Archetype refers to a stereotype, epitome or GENERIC VERSION OF A PERSONALITY.
Archetypes can be characters, places, or things that are repeatedly presented in films.
For Example
THE JUDGE - skilled at using wisdom and compassion to rule with fairness.
THE SLAVE (THE OPPRESSED) - held in circumstance without opportunity for choice and dignity.
THE SABOTEUR - a betrayal of self to evil and subsequent return to good.
THE TRAITOR - a betrayal of others.
Carl Jung imagined 5 key archetypes that make-up our unconscious self:
THE SELF (EGO) (one's own private identity and personality or image of themselves)
THE SHADOW (the opposite image or the qualities with which the self does not identify, yet possess nonetheless)
THE ANIMA (the female image in a man's mind)
THE ANIMUS (the male image in a woman's mind)
THE PERSONA (the mask that protects the self from negative judgement, images or experiences)
CENTRAL QUESTIONS
Which archetypes are appropriate to use when judging?
Can archetypes help us judge more accurately, fairly, justly? Are archetypes necessary to judge?
Is there evidence or examples of judges or lawyers using archetypes to help judge / deliver justice?
Can studying film help us identify and debate the use of archetypes in the act of judging?
The Survival Archetypes and The Wizard of Oz

Shield - a tool of protection, equality under the rule of law.
Sword - a tool of aggression, coercion, oppression, violence, subordination.
LAW AS ARCHAEOLOGIST, LAW AS ARCHITECT


Archaeologist - uncover, discover the truth. Architect - construct, build, interpret, re-interpret the truth.
Legal Reelism: Films as Legal Texts
Legal Reelism: Films as Legal Texts


All Class Film → Michael Clayton







Arthur Edens
"I took a deep cleansing breath and I set that notion aside, I tabled it ... as true a thing as I believe that I have witnessed today ... "
"... it must stand the test of time and Michael the time is now ..."
"... that you're here ... there's a reason, a reason it's you Michael, surely you have some sense of that, how it pulls together, how it gathers ... nurse Michael, the secret hero, the keeper of the hidden sins ... tell me you can see that Michael, for Gods' sake ..."
"I could stand here and tear off my f*#king skin and not get down to where this thing is living ..."
"6 years I have absorbed this poison ... 400 depositions, 100 motions, 5 changes of venue, 85 000 documents in discovery ... 6 years of scheming and stalling and screaming ... and what do I got?"
"I've spent 12% of my life defending the reputation of a deadly weed killer ..."
"One night, one night right ... I look up and there's Marty in my office and he's got some champagne ... he tells me we just hit 30 000 billable hours on U-North and he wants to celebrate ..."
PROSTITUTE imagery ...
"... it's years, it's lives ... is this me, am I some freak organism sent here to sleep and eat and defend this one horrific chain of carcenogenic molecules ... is this my destiny, is this my fate? ..."
" ... they killed them Michael ... those small farms, family farms ... and for 50 million dollars in fees I've spent 12% of my life destroying perfect Anna and her dead parents and her dying brother ..."
"... the world is a beautiful and radiant place ... I'm not trading that for this (anti-depressant pills ...) ..."
Michael Clayton
"if it's real the pill won't kill it ..."
Arthur Edens
"I have blood on my hands ..."
Michael Clayton
"you are the senior litigating partner of one of the largest, most respected law firms in the world ... you are a legend ..."
Arthur Edens
"I'm an accomplice ..."
Michael Clayton
"you are a manic depressive ... "
Arthur Edens
"I am Shiva, the God of Death."
→ the destroyer of the world in order to re-create it.
→ responsibility for negative change in the form of death and destruction, and for positive change in the form of destroying the ego.
→ Hindus believe Shiva uses his powers of destruction and recreation to destroy the illusions and imperfections of this world, paving the way for beneficial change (i.e., justice ...?).
→ Shiva embodies untamed passion, which leads to extremes in behaviour.
Film Materials






