Courses
LSE 7140 Law, Liberty and Morality (3 units)
- Medium of Instruction:
- English
The course will address the big question, "What acts may the state rightly make criminal?" We will discuss four liberty-limiting, or coercion-legitimizing, principles in this course even though the famous 19th century philosopher John Stuart Mill argues that the harm-to-others principle is the only legitimate liberty-limiting principle. The other principles that we will discuss are: (1) the offense principle: it is necessary to prevent hurt or offence (as opposed to harm) to others; (2) legal paternalism: it is necessary to prevent harm to the actor herself; and (3) legal moralism: it is necessary to prevent immoral conduct whether or not it harms anyone. Relevant case studies will be conducted for each of these four principles.