In the College of Arts and Sciences .
The Law and Society minor provides an opportunity for focused study of the interaction between law and society from an interdisciplinary perspective predominantly rooted in the social sciences and humanities: anthropology, comparative literature, economics, government, history, philosophy, psychology, science and technology studies, and sociology.
The Law and Society minor is open to all undergraduates. Though many of those who register for the minor have intentions of going on to law school or a law-related profession, Law and Society is not designed as a minor only for students interested in entering law school. The best candidates for the Law and Society minor are students interested in broader relations between legal institutions and historical and contemporary societies. This broader topic is, and should be, of interest to many students, regardless of whether they intend to enter the legal profession. A large selection of courses and on-campus events is available for completing the minor. The benefits of a student’s participation depend on the particular courses and events selected, and the effort and interest invested.
Faculty
Co-directors: R. Lieberwitz (ILR), 361 Ives Hall, rll5@cornell.edu, and Julia Markovits (Philosophy), 220 Goldwin Smith Hall, markovits@cornell.edu
Registration and Requirements
To allow sufficient time for a coherent program of study to be developed and completed, students who have an interest in the law and society minor should register using the online Registration Form before the start of the second semester of their junior year. Under extenuating circumstances, late registrations may be accepted at the discretion of the directors, but only if the registrant has a plan already formulated for completing the minor’s requirements. Late registrants can use the standard online registration form, which will also serve as their completion plan.
- Students are required to successfully complete (with a letter grade of B- or better) five courses of 3 or 4 credits from an Approved Course List, covering at least 3 (of 5) categories, with no more than 2 courses in any one category.
- Category 1: Legal Institutions
- Category 2: Law and Policy
- Category 3: Law and Social Structure
- Category 4: Law and Culture
- Category 5: Law and Ethics
- In addition, students must attend 2 approved events and submit an Event Report Form for each.
- On completion of the course and event requirements, the Certification for Graduation Form summarizing the completed requirements is required.
Information about, and forms required for, the law and society minor can be found at philosophy.cornell.edu/epl/las/.
The law and society minor is administered by Ethics and Public Life (EPL), a program of the Sage School of Philosophy. For more information, consult the web site or contact the EPL administrative assistant at 218 Goldwin Smith Hall, epl@cornell.edu, (607) 255-8515.