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19-319 Law and the Engineer
Fall and Spring: 9 units

Basic legal concepts of interest to the general business/industrial setting are examined for their relevance to the engineering profession. From this foundation, the specific areas of consumer, commercial and environmental law will be studied from the viewpoint of their effect on the practicing engineer, both as a corporate employee and as a professional in private practice. The case study method will be utilized and students will engage in supervised research projects dealing with current legal issues in specific areas of interest. Prerequisite: junior standing or permission of instructor.

19-321 Law and Technology
Fall: 9 units

The interaction of law and technology is considered in several areas: the environment, safety and health, product liability and patents and trade secrets. The public policy which emerges as law in these areas arises from forums such as public hearings or courts of law. The focus of the course is twofold: (1) understanding present law in these areas, and (2) using the data from prior public hearings in at least two of these areas to evaluate critically the nature and validity of the technological input used in reaching the public policy decision. Prerequisite: 19-319 (Law and the Engineer) or 70-361 (Foundations of Law).

66-183 or 66-184 Topics in Law
Fall: 6 units, mini-course
Last Offered: Fall 2000, usually offered annually
Graded: Pass/Fail

This course is essentially a professional writing/public speaking/oral argument course, couched in a legal/courtroom context. Its theoretical focus is on the structure and rules of US court procedure, with a heavy applied emphasis on trial procedure (e.g., the functions, rules and techniques of oral arguments in American courtrooms [e.g., opening and closing statements], the functions, rules and techniques of witness examinations [direct and cross-examinations]), how and why these rules vary with different case types (e.g., criminal vs. civil trials), etc. The course has no prerequisites, and is open to any undergraduate. There will be a non-binding relationship between this course and an intercollegiate mock trial tournament that Carnegie Mellon hosts each November. However, enrollment in the course will not require participation in the mock trial tournament; conversely, participation in the tournament will not require enrollment in the course.

70-361 Foundations of Law
Fall and Spring: 9 units
Last Offered: Spring 2000, usually offered both semesters

This course examines law as a social process for the resolution of disputes. The course considers the development and role of law in modern society with particular reference to the application of basic legal principles to modern industrial administration. The objective is to engender a fundamental understanding of the role of law, including understanding the process of constitutional development through judicial interpretation of the law in the United States. The course stresses understanding of legal reasoning as well as familiarization of legal procedures and processes.

70-364 Business Law and the Regulatory Environment
Fall: 9 units
Last Offered: Fall 2000, usually offered annually

The external political, social and legal environment of the firm and its managers. Legal and regulatory matters, United States and multinational, will be considered, including restrictive trade practices laws and regulations, acquisitions and mergers, licensing, franchising, officers' and directors' responsibilities and liabilities, manufacturers' responsibilities and liabilities, securities regulation, environmental protection, intellectual property, labor unions, trade associations, employee rights and duties, the attorney-client relationship; values in a business society; social implications of business policies, and corporate social responsibility. The effects of laws upon day-to-day business administration. Contracts, sales, commercial paper, the Uniform Commercial Code, credit transactions, bankruptcy, insurance, agency, partnership, incorporation and corporate governance. Prerequisite: sophomore standing.

70-365 International Trade and International Law
Fall: 9 units
Last Offered: Fall 2000, usually offered annually

This course provides an understanding of the international legal system and legal principles and processes as they affect the economic decisions of enterprises and governments. It focuses on the specifics of trade policy; explores the concept of industrial policy in the US and other countries; and examines how businesses are affected by international efforts to regulate foreign investment and multinational companies and by the concerns of developing countries about the international economic system. Key international economic institutions such as GATT and IMF and the European Community are examined. Prerequisite: 73-100 (Principles of Economics) or 73-110 (Social Decision Making: A Laboratory Approach).

73-354 Law and Economics
Intermittent: 9 units

In recent years, the use of economics to analyze legal issues and decide legal controversies has been extended far beyond its original domain of antitrust and public utility regulation. Now not only scholars but also courts and regulatory bodies routinely apply economic principles to issues as diverse as the control of crime, accident law, contract damages, judicial administration, financial regulation, and pollution. This course reviews the major findings of the scholarly literature on law and economics, and emphasizes the application of economics to specific problems. Absolutely no knowledge of law is presumed or required. Prerequisite: 73-250 (Intermediate Microeconomics)

79-333 Family, Law, and Social Policy
Fall or Spring: 6 units, mini-course

This course focuses on a variety of policies and legal practices that regulate marriage and divorce in American society. Changing ideas concerning such matters as division of marital property, spousal support, child custody, and child support are examined from the dual perspectives of history and contemporary public policy. In addition, the course introduces students to several other contentious areas in the current practice of family law, including adoption, the determination of paternity, and spousal abuse.

79-346 International Environmental Law and Policy
Fall or Spring: 9 units
Last Offered: Spring 2000

This course examines international legal and policy issues relating to the global environment, and the bilateral, regional and multilateral agreements, institutions, mechanisms and policies developed to address them. Topics to be covered will include and overview of historical developments, the 1972 Stockholm Conference and Declaration on the Human Environment, the 1992 Rio Conference on Environment and Development, stratospheric ozone depletion and the Vienna Convention and London and Montreal Protocols, global warming and the 1992 climate change convention, 1997 Kyoto protocol and 1998 Buenos Aires conference, marine environmental protection and the Law of the Sea Convention, biological diversity, forest protection, desertification, Anorectic, nuclear plant safety and the Convention of Nuclear Safety, the export and transportation of hazardous wastes and the Basel Convention, the Convention of Long Range Transboundary Air Pollution, and bilateral and regional environmental protection instruments and Mechanisms.

80-236 Philosophy & Law
Alternate Years (Spring): 9 units
Last Offered: Spring 2000

While philosophy and human values may seem intractable realms of disagreement and conflict, philosophic concepts and human values infuse the most prosaic laws of the land. While the law is continually contested and subject to revision, it remains a relatively stable and consensual framework of rules and principles for regulating life and negotiating conflict in civil society. Thus, while the law is steeped in the intractabilities of conflicted human values, it must also be very practical and decisive. While the law must weigh and balance human values, it must also embody rigorous evidentiary standards for findings of fact. This course will explore the nature of law as an institution, rationales for limiting liberty and the justification of coercion, methods of legal reasoning, processes of legal decision-making, and crucial contested concepts such as our rights and justice under law. For depth of perspective on these general topics, we will focus on controversial cases and problematic defenses to charges of criminal homicide (such as insanity, duress, self-defense, the battered woman syndrome) underlying which are perennial philosophic issues of justifiability, culpability, and responsibility.